Any tips for late night munchies?

Poupet

Help! I eat well all day then blow my whole day with after dinner munching. This is a pattern for me and I can't seem to break the habit. Even if I can manage to resist for a few days, I eventually give in again. Anyone that has any useful tips to stop the late night munching that is sabotaging my diet I would greatly appreciate it

dwh77tx

sugarless gum. and I weigh every morning now. That keeps me on track!

herblackwings39

Save some calories for after dinner so you can snack. There's nothing wrong with eating after dinner so long as you have the calories reserved for it.

choijanro

I eat banana,, drink milk or drink casein protein

thinklivebefree

GUM!!!!! ALOT OF IT ALL AT ONCE! LITERALLY ABOUT 10 PIECES AND CHEW CHEW CHEW CHEW I PROMISE YOULL FALL SLEEP DUE TO HEADACHE PAINS BEFORE YOU EAT LOL

GardenGnomeHat

I only recently started and what's worked for me is sugarfree gum/lifesavers mints and a bunch more water

cassandraallegre

Go for something with protein and little, if any, carbs. I like to go with a protein mug cake - scoop of protein, 1 egg white and a leedle water. Nuke it for ~:30-:60 and voila!! I top mine with Walden Farms chocolate syrup and marshmallow fluff. Mmmm..

AlastairKB

Try keeping some of your dinner for later...and drink lots of water.

donyellemoniquex3

I try to aim for 500 cals burned so I can have a little wiggle room in case I unintentionally eat that pint of ice cream -_-

shakira9634

Sugar snap peas are great, low in calories, crunchy, sweet. Carrots, jicama, celery with peanut butter or cream cheese and grape tomatoes, cucumbers are nominal in calories too. Try popcorn made on the stove with cocoanut oil (you won't need butter) and sprinkle with your favorite seasoning or make your own.

nursenelson

are you eating because you are hungry or just bored and craving?
if not hungry, drink a big glass of water with some lemon in it, or chew (lots) of gum, and I also find brushing your teeth right after dinner helps (sometimes)
good luck

theseus82

I had struggled with this for a long time as well.

It turns out, some new studies are indicating that a lot of people make poorer food choices later at night. People that stay up past 10 PM regularly eat an average of 300 to 400 more calories than their early-to-bed peers.

Also, eating right before bed can cause many people to have greater difficulty falling and staying asleep. Eating foods that raise your blood sugar will cause your insulin levels to raise after bedtime. When the insulin kicks the sugar out of your blood stream, this can cause you to wake up an hour or two later feeling wide awake / alert.

About a month ago I came to the boards looking for suggestions about how to avoid late night snacking / binging. A lot of unhelpful people told me it basically came down to willpower and that I just shouldn't do it. Others told me it didn't matter what time of the day I ate my calories. Both of these pieces of advice were unhelpful. I've found that reading books, watching documentaries, and reading up on health articles has given me a lot of useful insights about how to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

That is all preface stuff. Here is my suggestion: set a cutoff time for the evening. A time that you will eat all of your calories by and fast for that time afterwards. My cutoff time is 7 PM. If I absolutely must eat a meal that I missed I will eat during the 7 o'clock hour. Otherwise, I eat supper before 7 PM, and nothing after 7 PM.

It has become a habit in the last 2 weeks to do this. This, for me, has completely eliminated late night snacking. I have screwed up many a week by going over calories and over program late at night. Now I'm sleeping better and have built this habit up so that it is no longer a challenge to do this.

If you eat in the middle of night regularly, you will get to a point where your body will naturally wake up at the appointed hour because your body begins to "expect" a meal at that time. This is a very destructive cycle to get started. It eventually gets broken by just insisting on staying in bed and not resorting to eating. For me, trouble sleeping could always be fixed late at night by eating a bunch of food. This would always help me fall asleep if I couldn't fall asleep after bedtime. But now, I fall asleep within 20 minutes of going to bed, and I never get up to eat in the middle of the night anymore.

I'm a person who has struggled to fall asleep my whole life. Only during a couple periods of my life was falling asleep easy: mainly when I was in cross country and track in high school. Most my life, I recall it taking about an hour about every night to fall asleep after going to bed. It has been miserable. I have always been envious of my girlfriends who can fall asleep within 5 minutes of going to bed. That has never been me. But now, with a fast after 7 PM, I am sleeping easier and getting more restful sleep.

New evidence is emerging that suggests that not eating for 2 to 3 hours before you go to bed is probably a better way for you to prime your body for sleep. It isn't necessarily about weightloss in this case, it's about letting your body know that you are preparing for sleep. Technically, the time of day you consume calories doesn't really matter. But for many of us, eating our calories late at night actually means that we will make poorer food choices--often reaching for comfort foods and maybe eating too much of them.

I hope this helps. If you fail at any given time, just starting over the next day is always key!

shakira9634

Very very good advice!! Well done theseus82!

Tashabradshaw

I am going to give this a try Thanks!

jhloves2knit

Can anyone recommend a good sugarless gun? I haven't found any that don't taste stale and dry out my mouth after a short time.

Shesaid_destroy

Maybe start a new ritual of brewing yourself a nice cup of organic herbal tea? ( i know it sounds real grandmotherish but it's good, it takes a while to drink in small sips and it has 0 calories )

mittakiwi

I've always been terrible with the late night munchies. The only thing that has worked for me, is not staying up late. I have had to force myself to change my bedtime routine - I used to go to bed between midnight and 1am but now I'm retraining myself to go to bed at 10pm.

I still have a little snack after dinner, but now instead of having two chocolate bars I have a Chobani yogurt. It's sweet tasting which satisfies the cravings but has no fat and far less calories than the chocolate!

I find gum doesn't work well for me, all that chewing and nothing going into my tummy just makes me more hungry!

IronSmasher

Eat dinner later.

Eat more vegetables.