"I've always heard that if you eat late at night it turns to fat...and I don't want that to happen. So I try not to eat after 7 p.m."

Weight-loss plans often have all kinds of rules to remember. One we hear all the time is never to eat past 8 p.m. If you work late like me or have a hectic schedule, that advice be can be hard to swallow. But the latest research suggests you may not have to.

A study involving female monkeys found that eating at night is not associated with weight gain.

Ditto for most human research, which has turned up no link between nighttime meals and weight gain or obesity

The theory behind the advice is that our metabolism slows down during sleep, so calories consumed late in the evening aren't burned as readily.

While that may be true, our bodies do continue to burn calories while we sleep.

More important than when we eat is how much we eat. In studies where late-night eating was tied to weight gain, people often snacked or ate additional meals at night.

Obviously, chowing down on pizza or ice cream all night can lead to extra pounds.

But the reason is the calories, not the clock.

There is one instance where the timing of meals does make matter. Studies show that skipping breakfast is associated with weight gain. So start eating early and stop after dinner. That's timeless advice that can benefit us all.