Tracking evening snacks... Honestly

maggskelly

I struggle with tracking what I eat past 6pm because it's usually a binge of junk food that way exceeds my calorie goal. I feel ashamed to input all of what I end up eating. Any tips for overcoming this?

amritamalu

i keep a Greek salad or any salad with minimal dressing ready in my fridge or blueberries ,popcorn . Low calorie options which I can munch on . Also having a protein snack around 4 pm like peanuts really keeps me full for the next 3 hours .hope that helps:)

TavistockToad

maggskelly wrote: »

I struggle with tracking what I eat past 6pm because it's usually a binge of junk food that way exceeds my calorie goal. I feel ashamed to input all of what I end up eating. Any tips for overcoming this?

keep you diary private if you don't want others to see... but at the end of the day your body shows every calorie you over eat anyway.

if you log it you may be able to see what treats you could actually fit into your weekly goal so you don't feel deprived and binge.

dulinh

If I eat it, I log it. I don't think there is much point to only logging a partial day... Personally I find that if I have to log it, I might decide not to eat it and I ultimately end up making better choices.

I'm currently logging a massive amount of Christmas cookies... even so I can still stay within my calorie goals.

I don't think I'm qualified to address the feelings of shame that you mention. Sometimes I look at my log and think 'holy smokes I ate too much' but my feelings don't much further than that. I just move on and make better choices next time. Logging everything helps me make the connection that 'yep, that was too much' and also helps me see my better choices moving forward.

concordancia

The act of weighing out each serving might help put the brakes on.

Add notes to your log about what you are feeling when you binge.

Try snacking on more filling or richer foods. I can eat Cheetos all day, but I can only handle half a serving of parmesan whisps.

To break the habit, find a new one. It is hard to eat while knitting, walking, doing yoga, reading nutrition books....

callsitlikeiseeit

stop buying foods you over eat on. i dont buy junk food often because i cant leave it alone. when i do buy it, i take out my portion and leave whatever it is on the counter for the boy and the man to devour. they gobble it up quick too, they know i dont buy it much LOLOL

lvose5119

Logging forces you to look at your habits and allows you to reasses. Do I want a record of the McDonald’s meal I had? No way! But I did, and my perceptions of those foods changed and I don’t find myself craving it like before

janejellyroll

Do your best to take the moral component out of it.

Your log is just a record of what you ate, shame doesn't have to be a factor.

Some people find that being consistent with logging actually helps them bring the behavior into control.

If you are truly having binges (I'm not clear if you're talking about a real binge or just in the informal term of eating more than you wish you had), please consider getting some professional help. You aren't alone and many people have found that getting help improves quality of life.

jjpptt2

Figure out why you're binging... only then can you work to correct the issue.

colmarie96

Very wise advice, glad I tuned in. I also eat at night, and I know that it is loneliness. Thank you all for the strategies.

Tacklewasher

colmarie96 wrote: »

Very wise advice, glad I tuned in. I also eat at night, and I know that it is loneliness. Thank you all for the strategies.

I find it worse this time of year. At least in the summer I can go out and keep myself occupied, but winter is too dark for a walk or run, so it's in front of the tube and a snack comes out.

Bleh

PumpJockeyy

Could also try pushing your last meal and hour or 2 later than 6pm, may trick you into not wanting to snack on anything or not as much atleast

Amerek412

I thing that people say on here that I find helpful is to "eat what you log, not log what you eat". Meaning it's best to plan what you eat to ensure you are eating within your calorie goal, rather than winging it only to find you allowed yourself to go way over.

Around mid-day, think about a nice treat your craving that you can allot 300-400 cals for after dinner. Log it right then and there and promise yourself that's all you're going to have. Breaking the habit is the hardest part.

deannalfisher

i stopped binging in the evening when i started planning some evening snacks into my diary (i do a bowl of cereal right before bed which helps)

jjpptt2

Amerek412 wrote: »

"eat what you log, not log what you eat"

I've never heard it phrased that way, but I like it, and I agree with it, and I'm going to steal/use it.

kami3006

deannalfisher wrote: »

i stopped binging in the evening when i started planning some evening snacks into my diary (i do a bowl of cereal right before bed which helps)

Pre-logging for the evening definitely help me. I eat every evening before bed.

Panini911

are you possibly under eating the rest of the day leading to the binging?

I eat before bed. Whatever calories I have left in teh day (a minimum of 100) before bed. I keep appropriate snack food i enjoy but not foods i may have a harder time using self control on (like say a big bag of chips)

kimny72

I just wanted to agree and highlight what's already been posted:

1. Make sure your calorie goal is appropriate. If you are trying to lose weight fast with a very low calorie goal, that could easily be what's causing you to lose control. Faster isn't necessarily better.
2. Save some calories for an after dinner treat.
3. Weigh and log your portion FIRST, then eat it. Prelogging as much as I could as often as I could made it so much easier for me to moderate, and to decide whether I was really hungry or really making the best choice.
4. If there is something else causing you to binge - stress eating, boredom, loneliness, etc - figuring that out can make it easier to come up with a strategy.

Good luck!

margbarco

Sometimes logging that second, third, fourth, or fifth serving of chocolate helps me stop before I have yet another. Otherwise, it’s easy to say, “Oh, I’ll just have another bite,” not realizing you’re eating serving number seven or eight, for example.

I don’t mind my calories being in the red by a few hundred (100-250) once in a while. But if I see the number exceed -300/400, I stop right there!

If I wasn’t logging I’d have no clue by how many servings or calories I’d gone over, and a lot of the times it’s not as bad as I think. Nothing an extra walk won’t cure the next day. Whereas if I hadn’t logged, I’d think the worst and maybe want to give up / sabotage my progress.

So, logging every bite keeps me on track.

AnnPT77

It's food, not sin. Logging it is just data collection. Drama is optional (and burns no extra calories).

This won't work for everyone, but I found that if I got a solid breakfast with plenty of protein, and enough protein through the day, then evening cravings were much reduced. Experiment with your eating (food choices and timing) to see whether a different variation helps you.

Many things can lead to evening snacking: Undereating during the day, insufficient sleep the night before, insufficient nutritional balance, stress, emotion, boredom, habit, and more.

If the underlying problem is not actual hunger, don't try to solve it with food. Strategies include going to bed earlier; closer attention to nutrition; exercise or hot aromatherapy bubble baths or meditation for stress; new or revived hobby as a distraction (ideally one that requires clean hands, like sketching, needlework, or playing a musical instrument; or creates dirty ones, like painting, carpentry, or gardening).

Figure out what's going on, and address the root cause.

jennifer_417

Forcing yourself to log honestly may be exactly what you need to begin to take control. Seeing the cut-and-dry info in black and white can help you see what's really happening, removed from the emotional aspect.

bobsburgersfan

"Just do it" is bad advice in that it doesn't offer any practical tips to help you, but it's my advice nonetheless. Just start telling yourself you HAVE to track it, and make yourself do it until it becomes habit. Sometimes it sucks to see the reality, but I think it's always better to be honest with yourself than to pretend something didn't happen, if it did happen. (Also, see lots of practical advice above. )

I tend to be an after-the-fact tracker, and even that has helped me rein in a lot of extra snacking. But this thread has really gotten me thinking about pre-tracking. "Eat what you log, not log what you eat" is something I really need to work on.

allieeveryday

I'm also a snacker, and I sometimes snack, decide that I should just write those calories off and not log them ... then the next morning I go in to the previous day's diaries and log it all anyway. Data collection. Sometimes it's not as bad as I thought it was.

Today is the first day I pre-tracked all my meals and planned work-snacks, and I'm excited for the after-dinner snacks because I have room for them in my budget!

kshama2001

Panini911 wrote: »

are you possibly under eating the rest of the day leading to the binging?

I eat before bed. Whatever calories I have left in teh day (a minimum of 100) before bed. I keep appropriate snack food i enjoy but not foods i may have a harder time using self control on (like say a big bag of chips)

I was wondering about under eating the rest of the day as well.

Also look into tweaking your dinner to see if you can make it more filling. For example, I find potatoes and protein very filling, and bread not filling at all. If I don't get enough protein, I get the munchies, and can eat and eat and eat and not feel satisfied until I feel sick.

I do get hungry again a few hours after a good dinner, so do budget for a bed time snack.