In the machining process of aircraft monolithic parts, the initial residual stress redistri-bution and structural stiffness evolution often lead to unexpected distortions. On the other hand, the stress redistribution and stiffness reduction during the machining process depend on the mate-rial removal sequence. The essence of the stress redistribution is releasing the initial elastic strain energy. In the present study, the influence of the material removal sequence on the energy release is studied. Moreover, a novel optimization method is proposed for the material removal sequence. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed method, the mechanism of the machining dis-tortion is firstly analyzed based on the energy principle. Then a calculative model for the machining distortion of long beam parts is established accordingly. Moreover, an energy parameter related to the bending distortion and the procedure of the material removal sequence optimization is defined. Finally, the bending distortion analysis and material removal sequence optimization are performed on a long beam with a Z-shaped cross-section. Furthermore, simulation and experiments are carried out. The obtained results indicate that the optimized sequence results in a low distortion fluctuation and decreases the bending distortion.