AAAAAHHH - ANOTHER MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT BINGE!!

lreintsma

I work out a lot and I have lost a lot of the weight . Most days I burn between 600 to 1000 calories. Recently I have started waking up in the middle of the night and sleep eating. Last night I ate almost 800 calories in the middle of the night. I try to eat balanced meals and macro nutrients through out the day and I don't go to bed hungry. It is SOOOOO frustrating to do great all day long and then mindlessly blow it at night. This is causing me to slowly gain weight and to wake up with a huge bloated rock in my stomach. Any tips would be appreciated.

Sabine_Stroehm

How many calories are you eating during the day? What's your height/weight/age?

abatonfan

Are you eating enough Calories? Especially when you're burning so much through exercise, you need to eat back at least half of them (300-500 Calories) or achieve a net Calories consumed of at least 1200 Calories.

This might be a really crude solution, but if you are sleep eating a ton, could you "lock" both the pantry and fridge with duct tape until the morning?

Phrick

Do you take any sleep medications? Some, such as Ambien, can cause sleep walking, sleep eating, etc. if you are taking such a med it sounds like it'd be worthwhile to see your doc about switching to something else or, if possible, addressing your sleep issues in other ways ("if possible" because I'm intimately familiar with chronic idiopathic sleep issues and know it gets SO frustrating when no one can grasp that there's no good solution aside from what you're already doing).

After exhausting other options, if you get nowhere, what about accepting and preparing for your nighttime eating? If you can't stop it, you can at least have lower calorie foods at the ready for your sleepy self, and by saving calories for your nighttime eating you can ensure that you stay within your calorie range (or try to!).

Myhaloslipped

I used to have this problem. I made sure that I drank plenty of water throughout the day, and I also started drinking a big protein shake before bed. That cured the middle of the night munchies for me. As Phrick mentioned, sleep medications do commonly cause this as well.

johnbatzer

Not to call BS - but if you're actually sleep-eating, how do you know how many calories you're consuming? I've had this problem, in the past, but I'd wake up with a pile of chips/cookies around me, and no real way for me to actually qualify the binge. I'd worry that you're consciously doing this - waking in the middle of the night, hungry, thinking "screw it, I worked out hard yesterday" and going after stuff in a conscious moment (albeit one of low-willpower).

For combatting nighttime eating, ensure that you're getting enough water through the day. The body asks for weird things when it's dehydrated. Change-up your macros to reduce carbs, especially before bed (I can't see your diary to make suggestions, but I ended up replacing the nighttime ice cream with equivalent calories made up of berries on top of cottage cheese or greek yogurt and I got my sweet kick while going to bed with enough in my belly to keep me from waking hungry in the middle of the night -- waking to pee, well, that's another story).

softblondechick

Casein protein pudding before you go to bed. Not whey.

The casein is slow acting, takes longer to digest. Meant to be eaten at night, by people who do serious workouts, and their bodies need nutrition. This will fill you up, be healthy, and no weight gain.

lreintsma

I am 5" 1/2 inch tall . I am about 128 lbs .. I am very muscular for the most part. I eat about 1400-1500 calories during the day..

0somuchbetter0

Are you really sleep eating? That's a rare disorder. See your doctor for treatment.

PRMinx

You should probably eat more during the day. 1500 calories - 600 (min) = 900 calories net. You're probably eating because you are hungry.

lreintsma

Its not actual "sleep eating" .. I am waking up ravenously hungry and eating too much in the middle of the night.. this not a medical condition..LOL

lreintsma

Thanks for that bit of information softblondechick . I will try that

lreintsma

softblondechick , can you recommend a brand of the pudding?

mymodernbabylon

You should be eating a LOT more than what you are - no wonder you are hungry.