Binging after work

scorpius93

Anybody have any tips on how to control your appetite after work?

I do so well all day. I eat a good breakfast, and good lunch. My job is very active so I get plenty of exercise.
Then I get home, and I'm tired. I've been fighting off junk food all day. I have nothing to distract me or keep me busy so I grab a plate full of snack foods and eat like I'm starving. It's so hard to not. My roommate buys junk food, and it's always in the house. Its no use telling her not to. She won't do it.

angsamp

I do the same thing. I've tried having healthy alternatives to fill up on, even just fruit for the sweet, but the junk just tastes so good and is so much less effort so I struggle making good choices. Hopefully someone has helpful advice!!

dark_sparkles37019

I struggle with the same thing. If you can get yourself to microwave a pack of California blend veggies and eat that first it might help.

Prince_of_Mind

Try preparing your dinner the night before so that when you get in you can just heat it up and start eating.
I'm sure once you've had a nice filling meal it will be a lot easier to ignore the junk food in the house.

kommodevaran

Trying to deprive yourself when surrounded by temptation is not going to work. Willpower is a limited resource. Don't aim to "do well", aim to eat well, all day, every day. Eat enough, and eat food you like for every meal. Have dinner ready, or ready to cook, when you get home, and always choose something you look forward to.

You can't tell your roommate to not buy stuff, but you can ask her to keep her stash in her room. Tell her that seeing it makes it harder than necessary for you to stick to your plan.

laurasjourney88

Wow when I saw this thread I thought it had been written by me!!! This is me all over. Lately I have found that I still have xmas chocolate/biscuits/cake left in the house so when I get home usually when I am cooking dinner, I snack on all the bad food.

What I found helped for me to lose the weight on here before which is what I am going back to doing, is logging all my foods I am going to eat the day before. I will even include treats if I want within my calories. That way when I come home I know what I can eat and what I cant.

I know this isn't for everyone but it works for me!!!

delmontfp1

I can also relate to this.
Try keeping a high fiber or high protein snack in your car for the commute home. That has worked for me in the past. Greek yogurt w/crunchy granola or a bag of air-popped popcorn.

laurasjourney88

lordgod1488 wrote: »

great idea!!! thanks!!! btw, love your pic. pusheeen mew mew

I'm 28 years old and love Pusheen! I used to have a picture of me as my profile but my self confidence went out the window! So while I'm working on that Pusheen is taking over

callsitlikeiseeit

so i totally took an all or nothing approach to the leftover xmas crap.

i ate it all. in one weekend. figured i was going to eat it anyways, and the sooner i got it out of the house, the sooner it would no longer be a temptation.

that pan of fudge was divine, by the way.

and now its gone. and im sad. but not really. cause now ... its no longer there for me to obsess about.

FWIW .... the weight gain was about a pound and a half. no biggie.

Pierre_is_a_cat

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

so i totally took an all or nothing approach to the leftover xmas crap.

i ate it all. in one weekend. figured i was going to eat it anyways, and the sooner i got it out of the house, the sooner it would no longer be a temptation.

Oh my goodness. I love you. That's hilarious! (are you on YouTube? I'm sure I saw a video with your username today!)

Anyway, hey @scorpius93, what works for me is drinking a big glass of water as soon as I get home, *immediately* preparing my dinner and then eating it (back when I ate dinner..I intermittent fast now and stop eating around midday), then crowding out any "bad" foods with fruits and veggies. Just what works for me.

Since starting intermittent fasting, I've trained myself not to eat at night. I've had great success.

Hope this helps.

tk2222

I have a bad evening eating habit as well...one approach that helps sometimes is just to decide that i'll have it for breakfast instead. I try to shake up my day by staying out a bit later (going swimming, usually ;-)) and then when I get home just resisting eating long enough to get into bed and fall asleep early...and then its morning, and i'm up early and hungry enough to have a decent breakfast (rather than skipping it, as I usually do) but the junk food binge crave is usually gone. It's not a perfect method, but it works for me pretty often.

mgmalek

I absolutely hear you and feel your pain! This is EXACTLY what happens to me!
One thing that really works for me is Protein. I absolutely hate the stuff but if I have even a few bites of a high Protein bar, I won't feel hungry at all for about 4 hours. So, what I do is I keep one in my car for when I finish work. I'll have a few bites and by the time i get home Im not even a little bit hungry anymore and can wait for dinner

nowine4me

Can you eat dinner right when you get home to fill up, then have a snack later in the evening if needed?

I cannot, because I wait for my spouse, so I have a 100 calorie bag of popcorn and a piece of fruit to hold me over.

Packerjohn

Go exercise after work instead of going home and plopping down on the couch with junk food.

fellowtraveler87

Tell your roommate to hide the junk?

I have the same problem though...even "healthy" foods can be detrimental in excess. I am a big fan of the frozen veggies that you can microwave - some of the green giant ones in light sauce you can eat the whole bag for ~100 cals and its enough volume to keep you full for a bit.

Another possible strategy - delay the decision. Don't tell yourself "NO" just shelve it, go for a walk, tell yourself that "if I still really want it in an hour I'll have some" - sometimes delaying the decision makes it easier to say no later.

goldthistime

I'm surprised it's ok with your roommate that you eat all her food. Even junk food costs money. Do you replace it? I'm definitely with the posters who advise you to ask her to keep it in her room or in an opaque bin somewhere.

I understand coming home from a stressful day and comforting yourself with junk food. I did it for years. The advice to exercise, get yourself to go for a walk, or find some other stress reducing activity is excellent. I know it's not easy to follow but just being here posting tells me you might be willing to try.

SingRunTing

1. Plan your food. Either make dinner immediately when you get home, or have a snack right when you get home to hold you over until dinner.

2. Keep yourself busy. It sounds like you're eating more from boredom/habit than because you are hungry. Fill your evenings up with fun things to do and distract yourself from wanting to eat. Build new habits.

dv3177

I eat a late afternoon protein snack at work such as Greek yogurt, beef stick or piece of cheese. Completely fixes my eat everything problem when I get home from work and can prep and eat dinner without being starving when I walk on the door.

not_a_runner

It helps me to eat another meal mid day (around 3-4pm) like chicken veggies and sweet potato. If I'm going to the gym before supper I'll have another snack after this as well (toasted english muffin with peanut butter is my favorite). Then I eat a large meal for supper, and if I still have calories left, I will have some sweets then. Sometimes I'll plan sweets ahead, but I always wait until after my other meals are done first.
Rather than just trying not to think about food, I eat lots of volume food through out the day to prevent that "starving need snack right now" feeling that I also get.

LivingtheLeanDream

Sounds like you need a more filling/sustaining lunch. I find if I have a protein/fat heavy lunch that keeps me going right up til dinner. Or have a mid afternoon snack to tide you over.

namelesshere

If you want to eat right when you get home, you need to plan for it to make sure you have the correct foods. Perhaps having a container in the fridge that will hold your portioned snacks will help. I find a sliced cucumber, sliced apple, maybe some celery sticks will provide the munch and crunch that I need but with few calories. Again, weigh and log your snacks. Just remember, if you didn't buy it, it is not yours to eat so the roommate can have her junk food and it will not be a temptation to you. That said, you can have a serving (check the package to see what a serving size is and weigh it out and log it) once in a while. There are no forbidden foods as long as what you eat fits into your daily caloric goal. You may need to take a walk around a few blocks to get some exercise points so you can fit treats in.

TeaBea

scorpius93 wrote: »

Anybody have any tips on how to control your appetite after work?

I do so well all day. I eat a good breakfast, and good lunch. My job is very active so I get plenty of exercise.
Then I get home, and I'm tired. I've been fighting off junk food all day. I have nothing to distract me or keep me busy so I grab a plate full of snack foods and eat like I'm starving. It's so hard to not. My roommate buys junk food, and it's always in the house. Its no use telling her not to. She won't do it.

Bring your after work snack.....to work. Eat it right before you go home, or in the car on the drive home. That way you walk in the door.....you've already had your snack.

I've done the grazing thing myself. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Then I log the calories and I'm shocked.....it all adds up.

kshama2001

scorpius93 wrote: »

Anybody have any tips on how to control your appetite after work?

I do so well all day. I eat a good breakfast, and good lunch. My job is very active so I get plenty of exercise.
Then I get home, and I'm tired. I've been fighting off junk food all day. I have nothing to distract me or keep me busy so I grab a plate full of snack foods and eat like I'm starving. It's so hard to not. My roommate buys junk food, and it's always in the house. Its no use telling her not to. She won't do it.

I wonder if you're not eating enough during the day so are truly hungry, and that is leading you to make bad choices.

I agree with the advice to have a snack before you get home.

My breakfast is really filling so I often don't get around to lunch until 3 ish, which makes it easy for me to last until dinner. But if for some reason I am up earlier and having my meals earlier, I have easy, go to snacks to get me through.

quiksylver296

kshama2001 wrote: »

scorpius93 wrote: »

Anybody have any tips on how to control your appetite after work?

I do so well all day. I eat a good breakfast, and good lunch. My job is very active so I get plenty of exercise.
Then I get home, and I'm tired. I've been fighting off junk food all day. I have nothing to distract me or keep me busy so I grab a plate full of snack foods and eat like I'm starving. It's so hard to not. My roommate buys junk food, and it's always in the house. Its no use telling her not to. She won't do it.

I wonder if you're not eating enough during the day so are truly hungry, and that is leading you to make bad choices.

I agree with the advice to have a snack before you get home.

My breakfast is really filling so I often don't get around to lunch until 3 ish, which makes it easy for me to last until dinner. But if for some reason I am up earlier and having my meals earlier, I have easy, go to snacks to get me through.

I had the same thought.

I hold off on breakfast until about 9:30, even though I'm up at 5:00. Lunch around 1:00. Snack around 3:00. Gym after work, dinner around 8:00.

I also pre-log my meals as much as possible. By logging first thing in the morning, I know how many calories I have to play around with. I have some chocolate or ice cream pretty much every night.

pacingoamy

I eat something on the way home (a banana, granola bar, etc.) because I could easily do this as well. I also snack while I cook and proactively eating something keeps me from snacking more.

peaceout_aly

Pre-log! Best advice I can give. Pre-log all that stuff that you know you're inevitably gonna eat into your diary, but in smaller portions.

horror_mama

I know this is an older post, but my goodness, this is me every day. I get up in the mornings and get myself and my son ready for school and I work while he's in school. I get home and I have to get dinner together, homework done, baths, clothes and lunches for the next day within 3 hours because once my husband gets home, it's dinner, and I think I have 30 minutes to unwind and I usually just cave and eat whatever. I eat really healthy through the day, but once I'm home, it's all over.

New_Heavens_Earth

Why are you binging?

If stress, put dinner on then take a shower while it heats. Tea is nice too.

If hungry, eat a small snack before leaving work. Then have a salad or veggie appetizer while dinner heats. Or preplan a ready to eat snack for yourself to have when you get home.

If the food helps you relax or wind down, get a relaxing hobby like reading, journaling, or crocheting.

I have the same problem, but replacing the binge with a healthier habit helps.

puffbrat

@horror-mama you could pre-log some snacks that fit into your calorie goal to eat during that time. Pre-logging them might help you keep the binging to a minimum. Do you have to wait for your husband to get home before eating dinner? Also, like the poster above said, you can try finding other hobbies to keep your mind and hands busy.

sydlovesscience

i struggle with the same thing, but i find that planning out what im going to have when i get home and pre logging it helps me stick with what i have planned for. sometimes i have something on top of it, but i find if its once a week its not to bad as, i am maintaining.

KaylaMack013

I used to be in your shoes. I have found that when I meal prep all of my meals I have no excuse.

Also I recommend you get balanced meals throughout the day. Your body is obviously craving carbs so perhaps add some more healthy carbs.