Bing Eating

cyndeeguerraa

I do great all day!! I get up at 5am, workout, and eat right. Then as soon as I get home at 9:30pm, it's raid the fridge time. I hate myself for doing it.

deedwards999

do you think you could visualise yourself doing something different?
Or have specific healthier snacks that are alllwed at 9.30?
good luck!

AnnPT77

Hello, and welcome!

The situation you describe is neither uncommon nor surprising.

When we wake up - or soon after for morning-sluggish people like me 😉 - we tend to be at our sharpest and most energetic, refreshed from that sleep. That's true even if sleep wasn't perfect.

In that state, things like willpower are stronger, getting out of the rut of old habits is easier.

As the day goes on, we get increasingly distant from that most recent sleep/recovery. We do things physically, and that depletes energy. Even mild activity depletes energy, let alone vigorous activity! We experience stress. That also depletes energy. Lower energy usually means fatigue, usually weaker willpower. The further from rest/recovery, the more fatigue increases and willpower withers.

Then comes evening. We're fatigued. What do our bodies do, when fatigued? Seek energy. Food is energy. Sugar is quick energy. Voilà, cravings! Cravings + low willpower? Raid the fridge.

Like I said, not surprising. What to do? Some strategies folks mention here, thing that you could try to see if they help you:

• If sleep quality/quantity is sub-ideal, improve that if possible.
• Save some calories to spend on late-night snacks.
• Have some easy-to-grab, reasonably tasty, reasonably filling snacks already prepared and waiting for you when you get home.
• If sugar cravings are part of the equation, consider increasing whole fruit.
• Establish a routine that gets you overall good nutrition through the day, because sub-par nutrition can also spike appetite.
• If stress is part of the situation, eliminate any stressors you can, and consider using direct stress management techniques to avoid stress build-up. There are dozens of options, but a few common ones are breathing exercises, brief low-intensity exercise like a short walk, prayer or meditation, stretching/yoga, calming music, warm shower or bubble bath, journaling, creative activities, etc.
• Stay hydrated through the day. I'm not talking gallons of water, but aiming for adequate. Under-hydration adds to fatigue, too.
• Try something like hot herb tea, maybe one of the bedtime blends.
• Avoid over-exercise: The definition of that depends on current conditioning and fitness level.

I'm sure there's more, and others may suggest some things. That list may give you a few ideas, dunno. I'm not saying do that, or any other whole long list of things, all at once. Pick a thing, and try it.

There's also a habit-based side to eating routines. It takes some time for the body to get comfortable with new habits. There are lots of reasons we feel hungry, but one is that at first we'll feel hungry at times and in situations where we're accustomed to eating.

One person here compared changing our habits to training a puppy: Consistency - even when hard - gives better and faster results. Give in routinely to the fussy, undisciplined puppy of our old habits, and improvements may not happen. Toughing it out temporarily can groove in the new habits faster and make them easier than they seemed at first, even make them an automatic routine.

Another thing I'd add: You may differ, but for me, self-recrimination, self-hatred, and other negative reactions to my own behavior are not helpful for progress. Yes, some people say that guilt helps motivate them to improve. But for me, high emotion about my behavior is just another stressor, costs energy that I can't then spend on self-improvement, doesn't help me value myself enough to invest in productive change, and feels disempowering.

For me, what worked better was to treat this whole process as if it were a fun, productive science fair experiment for grown ups. That approach assumes a series of experiments. Some experiments succeed, and became part of my plan going forward. Other experiments fail, and are an opportunity to learn from that, and cross personally unhelpful tactics off my list. Over time, the plan improves, and also improves odds of success. It's like a long series of problem-solving opportunities.

Believe me, I know it's hard to control one's own thought processes, mindset, attitudes. But if anything is entirely in my own control, it's that. Well, that, and things like what I decide to put in my mouth, chew and swallow. 😉 Both of those are powerful tools, if we can harness them.

Best wishes for success - IME, the quality of life improvement from success is more than worth the effort it takes to get there. As a bonus, working through weight loss helped me learn skills I could apply in other parts of life that require chipping away at a big goal in tiny increments over a long period of time, and there are lots of those (career, education, fitness, finances, learning complex new skills, etc.)

I'm cheering for you to succeed!