Binge Eating at night.. HELP!

BrownEyedBetty

I have ALWAYS has this problem. I eat well during the day but once 7pm hits...all I want to do is binge eat. I just don't understand I eat balanced meals and healthy snacks during the day. I shouldn’t want to eat but my unconscious mind tells me otherwise. Have you ever felt like you were on autopilot and when you come out of it you realize you’ve eaten the entire bag of chips or roll of cookie dough? Because that is how it is for me. My mind tells me I want something I know I don’t need or if I consciously thought about it I wouldn’t want. How do I control this? Weight loss is such a psychological roller-coaster and I feel like once I have tamed this issue it will really help me. Any tips or tricks you guys use to not binge eat at night? I started reading a book The HeadSpace Diet and it really is showing my how my unconscious mind is controlling what I eat.

mamafazz

Some tips: "close" your kitchen after dinner, drink a cup of hot tea instead, go brush your teeth so you won't eat anything else before bed. I have done it too though, you can really wreck your diet so easily this way.

TropicalParaMonster

ALL THE TIME.
I've been told before it's because we underestimate our hunger in the morning/during the day, so we often don't eat enough until night comes along and we overdo.

But in my opinion it's a habit.
We've started to associate nights with binging just because we can.

My tips:

• Have a heavy breakfast or late lunch (if I have a heavy lunch at around 3, I tend not to eat anything except yogurt or carrots after)
• Schedule eating periods. Sometimes it's easier to eat when you're not 100% hungry because you end up sticking to your healthy choices
• Do a quick HIIT workout at night when the hunger strikes. It works up a sweat, you drink loads of water and that puts your eating at bay.
• I practice positive affirmations. Tell yourself you're not hungry, you're not going to binge eat, you're going to stick to plan so you won't regret it tomorrow or whenever you weigh in.

It's psychological like you said. Just have faith in your abilities to make good choices.

maidentl

BrownEyedBetty wrote: »

I have ALWAYS has this problem. I eat well during the day but once 7pm hits...all I want to do is binge eat. I just don't understand I eat balanced meals and healthy snacks during the day. I shouldn’t want to eat but my unconscious mind tells me otherwise. Have you ever felt like you were on autopilot and when you come out of it you realize you’ve eaten the entire bag of chips or roll of cookie dough? Because that is how it is for me. My mind tells me I want something I know I don’t need or if I consciously thought about it I wouldn’t want. How do I control this? Weight loss is such a psychological roller-coaster and I feel like once I have tamed this issue it will really help me. Any tips or tricks you guys use to not binge eat at night? I started reading a book The HeadSpace Diet and it really is showing my how my unconscious mind is controlling what I eat.

Are you trying to tell yourself you can't eat after 7:00? If so, there's no reason to do that. If you allow yourself a nighttime treat and budget the calories for it, you might not feel the need to "binge."

lexidear

This is me too - on autopilot sometimes and don't even realise it. Other times I know how bad it is and how I will regret it but for some reason do it anyway. I'm going to try for 7 days not to binge on chocolate or cookies at night (or before dinner!) - my worst times.

gueritachula22

I have had the same probelm for a long time... I watch my calories and what i eat all day but once i'm home and it's night I'm like one little bit won't hurt and after that i go crazy like if i was starving for a month. I've noticed that makes it even worse and end up gaining double the weight. I started making a chart or just writhing it on mfp what i'm planning to eat all day and i try to stick to eat i make sure i eat something every two hours, a yogurt, string chesse fruit. It's really helped me i feel full through out the day and when i get that feeling at night i drink a protien shake or I bought popcorn that is really low in calories and fat and that kinda fights the feeling to pigout a little. Goodluck if u mess up one night dont give up tomorrow is a new day.

sarieth05

That's totally me (although it has only happened ONCE in the past couple months, so I'm lucky) but I seriously just kind of stood at the pantry, munching on chips and was just lost in thought and suddenly most of the bag was gone. =P

jenluvsushi

I have the same problem....I don't always overcome the urge but drinking hot tea or chewing gum does help a little. Sometimes I just go to bed earlier. I try not to keep trigger foods in the house as well.

kiwigirl007

Been there The worst thing for me is that if I go the TINIEST bit over my calorie goal, all hell breaks loose and I'm an eating machine... my irrational head says I've already blown it. Try drinking LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of tea/water. Also, I find that having a high-protein meal later in the day helps. I eat carbs in the morning ONLY. If I'm REALLY munchy, I make dinner a GINORMOUS salad with some deli meat or boiled eggs on it. Maybe even a big smoothie for dessert. Protein really helps.

daybehavior

maidentl wrote: »

BrownEyedBetty wrote: »

I have ALWAYS has this problem. I eat well during the day but once 7pm hits...all I want to do is binge eat. I just don't understand I eat balanced meals and healthy snacks during the day. I shouldn’t want to eat but my unconscious mind tells me otherwise. Have you ever felt like you were on autopilot and when you come out of it you realize you’ve eaten the entire bag of chips or roll of cookie dough? Because that is how it is for me. My mind tells me I want something I know I don’t need or if I consciously thought about it I wouldn’t want. How do I control this? Weight loss is such a psychological roller-coaster and I feel like once I have tamed this issue it will really help me. Any tips or tricks you guys use to not binge eat at night? I started reading a book The HeadSpace Diet and it really is showing my how my unconscious mind is controlling what I eat.

Are you trying to tell yourself you can't eat after 7:00? If so, there's no reason to do that. If you allow yourself a nighttime treat and budget the calories for it, you might not feel the need to "binge."

This. You might want to consider moving up your meal times. Meal timing has no effect on weight loss. Personally I prefer to eat later in the day for the very reason you mention. Eating earlier does nothing to stave my appetite later in the day. I'd rather backload the calories for later.

maidentl

daybehavior wrote: »

maidentl wrote: »

BrownEyedBetty wrote: »

I have ALWAYS has this problem. I eat well during the day but once 7pm hits...all I want to do is binge eat. I just don't understand I eat balanced meals and healthy snacks during the day. I shouldn’t want to eat but my unconscious mind tells me otherwise. Have you ever felt like you were on autopilot and when you come out of it you realize you’ve eaten the entire bag of chips or roll of cookie dough? Because that is how it is for me. My mind tells me I want something I know I don’t need or if I consciously thought about it I wouldn’t want. How do I control this? Weight loss is such a psychological roller-coaster and I feel like once I have tamed this issue it will really help me. Any tips or tricks you guys use to not binge eat at night? I started reading a book The HeadSpace Diet and it really is showing my how my unconscious mind is controlling what I eat.

Are you trying to tell yourself you can't eat after 7:00? If so, there's no reason to do that. If you allow yourself a nighttime treat and budget the calories for it, you might not feel the need to "binge."

This. You might want to consider moving up your meal times. Meal timing has no effect on weight loss. Personally I prefer to eat later in the day for the very reason you mention. Eating earlier does nothing to stave my appetite later in the day. I'd rather backload the calories for later.

Yes! I eat more than half of my calories at night. I can skip breakfast, eat a light lunch and I am fine all day long. But after dinner, I want to eat! So I just save most of my calories for dinner and beyond.

Christine_1027

I also struggle with binge eating at night, you're not alone! when I go for late night binges, I usually go for unhealthy stuff such as instant noodles--horrible thing to do.
but recently, what I have found to be helpful for me is, whenever I get the urge to binge, instead of bingeing on my usual unhealthy binge-favourites, I go for healthy and low calorie alternatives to satisfy the desire for food without feeling the guilt afterwards. I like to have healthy and low calorie homemade soups at night when I feel like bingeing, and it has helped!

uconnwinsnc1

Just get a big ol' bowl of lettuce and dump hot sauce on it.

kar2083

TropicalParaMonster wrote: »

ALL THE TIME.
I've been told before it's because we underestimate our hunger in the morning/during the day, so we often don't eat enough until night comes along and we overdo.

But in my opinion it's a habit.
We've started to associate nights with binging just because we can.

My tips:

• Have a heavy breakfast or late lunch (if I have a heavy lunch at around 3, I tend not to eat anything except yogurt or carrots after)
• Schedule eating periods. Sometimes it's easier to eat when you're not 100% hungry because you end up sticking to your healthy choices
• Do a quick HIIT workout at night when the hunger strikes. It works up a sweat, you drink loads of water and that puts your eating at bay.
• I practice positive affirmations. Tell yourself you're not hungry, you're not going to binge eat, you're going to stick to plan so you won't regret it tomorrow or whenever you weigh in.

It's psychological like you said. Just have faith in your abilities to make good choices.

I have this problem as well. It has been really bad since the summer and it doesn't help that I work weird hours. Lately I've been eating mostly greasy junk at night or have been so busy that I've worked through my lunch. I hopped on the scale this morning to give myself a reality check and boy oh boy do stretch jeans help you stay in denial. I like the suggestion above, so I'll give it a try.

af1973

I have this problem too...but it's almost like I can't sleep until I get a high carb feast in me. I hate it because it completely sabotages all my healthy efforts for the day. But when I am still batting my eyes at 2 am I give in and hit the fridge

HeidiHirtle

Yup, I know exactly what you're talking about! My current strategy is, when I am able to, I delay my supper until around 7pm or so, and I eat lighter (but very healthy) during the day. That way I still have a good amount of calories left, but I spend my nighttime calories on healthy choices. That way I feel like I'm still snacking and ya maybe eating more than usual, but I'm not going over my calories for the day.

I fully admit, even getting to this point took a lot of willpower, but now that I've developed this new habit, it has gotten easier to resist temptation.

jennyburns2015

I just drink lots of water. Because i read in an article that said when that binge feeling comes on its due to lack of hydration. So that's what I've been doing and it's worked. Sometimes I end up drinking three glasses of water. But i think I need it. However if i still feel hungry i just take an apple or a handfull of baby carrots and eat that and i'm not hungry anymore. This article also said that if you are increasing your exercise then you are expelling a lot of water through sweat and so the unnecessary feeling of hunger is due to water deficiency. Hope that helps. I wish I knew where I read that article so I can share it. But C'est la vie. Happy weight loss!!

Nckr66

I do the same, and for me its entirely a habitual thing. I'm certainly not hungry and even if I am, the amount of food I eat does not reflect how hungry I was. Plus, it's always junk food.

I have associated night time with junk food. I can be as good as anything all day and when the evening comes, I find myself struggling to fight the cravings. I had just about broken the habit before I got pregnant, but what I did was replaced the binge junk food with something else, and created a new association.

For me, it was just a drink of tea or weak coffee. I personally can't moderate junk food, I have to avoid it all together. I think it's a case of breaking an association, just like when I used to smoke, I would get intense cravings at certain times of the day, which were the times I was used to smoking and when I had told my brain to expect it. Its not easy but I was told the more a craving or urge popped up and the more it was denied/resisted, the less powerful it would be next time.

fat__loser

I have this same problem! But I have something that works.

The secret for me is... eat a small portion of something healthy! I usually get REALLY hungry about 9pm. So first I decide to make something that is not junk food. This is great success. Second, I make a tiny portion, like maybe 1/4 or 1/3 the size of what I want to eat. Naturally, I scarf. But after it sets for a minute, I get the baseline feeling of not-quite-full-but-comfortably-hungry. That's where I am now.

LovesPudding

This has been my biggest struggle, eating at night. Over the past month I've become hugely in love with sweets, candy, chocolate, pastries, ice cream, gourmet popcorn. The strike to eat these is while cooking dinner or late at night. Or if I follow thru on something I reward myself with something sweet. (I know totally ridiculous) it's my way of saying it's okay to indulge.
My past trainer said the best thing to do was to drink a glass of water and give myself a cup of Greek yogurt with granola and/or fruit. This always seems to help curb that constant nightly sweet tooth.