Late Night Binge?

officiallymrswhite

Sending out an SOS...I do great all day and then I get home from work and I could (and do) eat EVERYTHING! Anyone else have/had that problem? How do you avoid it?

namelesshere

Maybe if you have some easy to grab snacks like baby carrots, or slice up a cucumber or an apple, that will tie you over til supper. I have found I need to eat in like 3 hour intervals in order to stave off the munchies. I also munch cereal but have premeasured that and put it in baggies for the week.

BodyByButter

I just plan my day around four meals - breakfast, lunch, dinner, and an evening snack/meal. It helps me to know something is coming at X time and I tend to not eat in between.

plbazer

I used to have that problem, and still do if I am home doing nothing. But since I've changed my work outs to the evenings I've done much better, as I have less time to stuff my face and I feel healthier and motivated after working out.

officiallymrswhite

plbazer wrote: »

I used to have that problem, and still do if I am home doing nothing. But since I've changed my work outs to the evenings I've done much better, as I have less time to stuff my face and I feel healthier and motivated after working out.

Maybe I will try that. Right now, I get up at 5AM and am at the gym around 6:15. I usually work out for a good 45 minutes/hour doing mainly cardio. Then, I am working all day and do not get home until 6ish. Then it's dinner snack

Sydking

No, cook dinner and consume your calories then. Snack if you have cals left over

katherine_startrek_fan

Try to schedule a moderate sized snack between 3-4 pm. It should reduce the major craving right after getting home from work. It has worked wonders for me!

ana3067

Just... eat when you are hungriest and make your calories work in your favour. I eat up to half of my day's calories after I get home at night.

Blueseraphchaos

I find I'm much less likely to be hungry at night if i just eat more during the day. I pre-log most stuff, too, so i know how many calories i have left at the end of the day to just waste on stuff. Also, as someone else said, when i feel like eating a bunch of stuff, if i exercise for even 5 minutes, i feel less hungry....that could just be me, though.

ana3067

Blueseraphchaos wrote: »

I find I'm much less likely to be hungry at night if i just eat more during the day. I pre-log most stuff, too, so i know how many calories i have left at the end of the day to just waste on stuff. Also, as someone else said, when i feel like eating a bunch of stuff, if i exercise for even 5 minutes, i feel less hungry....that could just be me, though.

And see, I found out I'm the opposite. I was previously eating 3 meals a day, eating 2/3rds of my calories by lunch time. Was getting hungry in the evenings after my dinner. Without changing my macros or increasing calories, I stopped planning how many calories I eat during the day (meaning no pre-logging) and found that I am just naturally gravitating towards 400-500 calories on most days (unless I feel like eating something high fat) for my first two meals. Now I can eat way more in the evening and go to bed super full, which I love. So YMMV; I personally would recommend trying eating more at night first to see if that helps, and if feeling too hungry during the day then to try the approach you suggest. But if both methods leave OP hungry, then it's clearly a macro and/or calorie goal issue.

Only lifting leaves me less hungry. I did 30 mins of cardio today and was starving.

0somuchbetter0

Major problem for me too, especially lately. I just spent an hour on the treadmill just to avoid the munchies. I hate to do it, but I may have to stop buying cookies for awhile, too. My kids will not be happy with me!

HAS415

I eat most of my calories at night. I lost 135 lbs from April 2013 to end of June. My trainer says I went to far now he's bringing me back up to 165 lbs. I started at 278. I'm 5' 10". I lost the weight the wrong way, eating one meal a day. And for the first month or two before my trainer got involved it was just a salad. My trainer says I have developed anorexia. I'm not so sure. I am definetly confused and have a fear of eating during the day and have a "burn to earn" mentality toward food. i.e., I have to workout like hell to earn a meal such as a piece of chicken, sweet potato and broccoli for dinner. I'm trying hard now to find the balance with the help of my trainer. Balance is the key here for all of us. Balance. Just balance plain and simple. Good luck to you guys!

ana3067

HAS415 wrote: »

I eat most of my calories at night. I lost 135 lbs from April 2013 to end of June. My trainer says I went to far now he's bringing me back up to 165 lbs. I started at 278. I'm 5' 10". I lost the weight the wrong way, eating one meal a day. And for the first month or two before my trainer got involved it was just a salad. My trainer says I have developed anorexia. I'm not so sure. I am definetly confused and have a fear of eating during the day and have a "burn to earn" mentality toward food. i.e., I have to workout like hell to earn a meal such as a piece of chicken, sweet potato and broccoli for dinner. I'm trying hard now to find the balance with the help of my trainer. Balance is the key here for all of us. Balance. Just balance plain and simple. Good luck to you guys!

Have you looked into mental help? There clearly are some issues that need to be worked on that a PT won't be able to help you address, and once you do address them you'll feel much better.

Blueseraphchaos

Yup, everyone is different. About half the time, i still eat half or more of my calories at night. I've just noticed that if i DO eat more during the day, I'm less hungry at night, and i have noticed that not eating enough during the day leading to binging at night is a pretty common thread here.

Also, a full session of cardio would probably leave me famished. But 5 or 10 minutes seems to get my adrenaline going just enough that I'm no longer hungry.

I guess the biggest factors here would be how much is being eaten during the day and then WHAT is being eaten.

ana3067

I think if I wasn't so determined I would have binged on days I ate too much during the day LOL. I think I like eating more at night like this though because it works with my "snacker" preference. So when I'm at home at night I can just graze as I please. If I eat too much during the day I can't do this. Although I do find that eating a lot in the morning and lunch works well if I wake up late, like if I don't eat until noonish! Probably because then I'm only eating within a 10hr window or something.

I haven't tried short cardio like that for hunger.. although on lifting days I DO perform 10 mins cardio after, maybe that contributes to curbing my appetite until I get home hours later?

OP will need to do some self-experimentation to figure out how to make the many variables work best for him/her!

ashley92188

officiallymrswhite wrote: »

Sending out an SOS...I do great all day and then I get home from work and I could (and do) eat EVERYTHING! Anyone else have/had that problem? How do you avoid it?

Yup I have this problem too. I've been doin good for about 2 weeks now and tonight I gave into temptation song.

MKEgal

I was going to confess my 2am cinnamon roll binge early Tuesday morning (I ended up being up all night), but that's not what you're talking about.

I try to eat a large breakfast (about half my calories), medium lunch (2/3 of what's left), and a small snack for dinner. MOST of the time I'm not hungry in the evening.

But I agree with what other people have suggested:
* have a late-afternoon snack, even if it's just an apple & some greek yogurt (fiber & protein help you feel full)
* have healthy snacks easily available for when you get home, while you're cooking dinner
* if you can, save some of your calories to spend on your snack

MKEgal

HAS415 wrote:

My trainer says I went to far now he's bringing me back up to 165 lbs. I started at 278. I'm 5' 10".

Going by BMI you should be 130 - 170. So yeah, you're at the low end of OK & it would be healthier if you were at least in the middle of the range (150), esp. if you put it on in muscle. That's going to take work though.

I lost the weight the wrong way, eating one meal a day.

I wish MFP would ban the "OMAD" group, & any positive references to them.

My trainer says I have developed anorexia. I'm not so sure. I am definetly confused and have a fear of eating during the day and have a "burn to earn" mentality toward food.

If he's not a health professional, it's not really good to rely on his diagnosis, but yes, there's some disordered eating & thoughts going on there that you should address with a counselor.

drabbits3

Build it into your daily calories. I am a big cookies and tea person, and I will happily save some calories for one or two of my favorite cookies at night. If I don't have the calories left then I will have an orange or carrots or cucumber slices-something I can have a lot of for little calories. And drink tons of water with your late night whatever. Fills you up quicker.