Getting used to reduced calories

kittkat100

If you truly are a night time eater and you can't get it under control just yet, perhaps until you do, try calorie shifting. Eat lighter in the day and save some calories for night.

You can slowly work way out of this later by increasing day time and reducing night time calories but for now..you can go with it as long as what you do at night isn't binge eating.
I say instead of fighting the night time urge just ensure you save some calories for night.
I will say in night eating it is better to have a meal than snacks (at least for me.) Snacks make me want more snacks. When I am hungry at night I am wanting that fuller feeling so I sleep better. I would plan for night time calories so you can have this.

I actually don't snack much. I just eat meals. Snacks feel like a waste for me. They do nothing more than appease a sense of taste (which only lights up my appetite.) I would rather feel satisfied. I skip "snack calories" and move them into meal calories. Would much rather have good meals that keep me full until next meal any day. I feel eating when not hungry (for me that is snacking) just re-enforces mindless eating.

Another thing in planning my meals is knowing when I am hungry. I know in the morning I just need enough to get through..same with lunch, so those calories are less. In a 1200 cal day for instance I would do 200 cal breakfast (eggs or oatmeal fill me for the small cal amount) 300 lunch, 400 dinner, then a 300 cal night meal. If doing 1500 calories I would just add the extra calories to dinner (700 dinner is filling!) to really hold me. You could also do 600 cal dinner and 400 night meal if that holds you better personally. On 1700 cal plan, I would do same as 1500 cal day, plus a bonus 200 reserved for whenever I chose. This is where snacks would finally play in. There can be lots of flexibility in 1500-1700 calorie diets without feeling restricted at all.

This type of eating isn't for everyone. It is just what works for me. If I want something for taste i will have a bite and log it..but I keep this to 100 cal a day max and I either exercise it off or subtract it elsewhere in food.