Starving in the evening!

penguinattackstudios

I'm really proud of myself for logging in every day and logging my food; I've been doing well enough to start feeling good about myself. This past week has been exceptionally rough with cravings and a NEED to eat (mostly hits late in the evening).
Now Aunt Flo is here to visit and that makes things 2x more difficult to deal with - does anyone have any suggestions on how to curb this insatiable hunger in the evening? Admittedly the holiday has thrown my diet a little worse-for-wear so I know my diary isn't as good as it should be.

A little info about me: I'm 27, 5'5", Starting weight 172 - down to 168 for now, ~1800 cal is maintenance weight, currently have cals set to 1650.

Francl27

It's normal to be hungrier before your period. But the rule is typically less carbs (but plenty of fiber), more protein and fat.

sammyliftsandeats

You could also give yourself the maintenance calories for those days. It will slow your loss a bit but it may keep you from feeling deprived and eating over your calories.

kd_mazur

I find that I am not as hungry early in the day but for a long time I would eat breakfast every day because I felt like I should. I found by not eating my first meal until after my lunchtime workout, I didn't eat as much through the rest of the day.
Maybe if you lower your calories or reschedule your meal times you will have more calories to eat in the evening when you are most hungry.

Soyviz

I have the exact same issue, Penguin! Throughout the day I'm good, logging faithfully, pretty satisfied. Then afer dinner, I want the chips and sour cream. There's nothing wrong with having a snack. But it can lead to a binge. My solution (I'm trying, anyway) is to eat a dinner very high in protein: Chicken breast, lean beef filet, tuna fish w/a bit of mayo, sardines. Eat the protein until you are good and full. When I've done this I don't have much room to snack post dinner. I'm on 1500 cal daily and have lost about 9 lb in 2 mos.

hope516

I agree upping your protein during this week is really important. You burn more calories during your period but the cravings added to this usually causes us to overeat and generally in my case bust the deficit I had worked so hard on. For me I've made it all mental. I tell myself I am really not hungry or try to distract myself. Drink plenty of water and hot tea to soothe the hunger.

great job on the loss!!!

penguinattackstudios

For the most part I do pretty well on the protein, I honestly think it's 90% mental and 10% hunger

LenGray

If you're pretty sure it's mostly in your head, maybe this would help.

I used to eat chips a lot at night and it felt really weird not to just sit around and gnosh on them when I started trying to be healthier. So, instead of buying chips I would separate a bag of salad into 5 sandwich baggies and then grab one whenever I felt like nibbling on something. I'd eat it out of the bag like chips, feel full because I ate something, and only 'spend' about 20 calories. Plus, it helps build up your fiber count for when you're on your period, especially if you add carrots, celery, or green peppers in with the salad. Adding spinach or broccoli can also help with iron levels during that time of the month.

ritzvin

caffeine & munching on something with almost no calories (veggies like carrots/celery/etc with a little hot sauce/balsamic glaze, sauerkraut, edamame) that take a while to eat.

penguinattackstudios

I ended up doing it again, I couldn't take the rumbling stomach and being hangry. I might try to eat breakfast a bit later and see if that'll help.

thelovelyLIZ

Is it real hunger or just your body tricking you? I like to have a cup of tea and see where I'm at. If I'm still hungry then I eat.

trigden1991

Unless you are literally starving, which is highly improbable, you don't NEED to eat.

Drink water, chew gum, eat zero calorie jelly, go for a walk or exercise some self-control.