Super Hungry at nighttime?

toripiv

Hey all!

I started on this website a while ago, but I've never been able to get a handle on my eating until about a few weeks ago. The past year or so I've lost 12 pounds, but it wasn't until recently that I got incredibly sick of my weight and decided to be serious about it.

Anyway, that being said, I have a question:

I usually sleep in/go to bed late, since I work on my schoolwork best at night. I eat breakfast at around 10-11, if I have time, sometimes I'm rushing to get to class and don't have time to eat. (I try to keep it really high in fiber and protein, and around 300-500 calories)

Whether I've eaten in the morning or not, I'm usually hungry by 2-3 in the afternoon, so that's when I eat lunch. (Same as breakfast, something healthy and around 300-550 calories)

Then I ride my horse, which burns a good amount of calories because I'm walking quite a but, but I don't factor these into my exercise.
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I usually sit down for dinner with my family, but I'm a vegetarian so most of the time I don't eat much, and I'm rarely hungry. (About 0-150 calories at 6 PM)

I exercise from 7-9 usually, most of the time I Castor board or skateboard, I'm not a huge fan of "formal" exercise, but a few times a week I do intervals on an elliptical for 45 minutes.

And after this, I'm STARVING. I try to aim for anywhere between 1200-1500 calories per day. I'm pretty tall and I have a lot of muscles (you couldn't tell though, blah). So, I usually eat another meal, most of the time I've worked up to about 900-1100 calories by now, but sometimes I'm SO hungry that I cannot just eat a light meal. I can sleep slightly hungry, but not ravenous. O_O

Does anyone have any advice for how I can avoid being SOOOOOO hungry late at night? I can change my schedule quite a bit if it will really help, but I've been exercising at night for years and that's one thing I would have a lot of trouble changing.

I do try to eat healthy and drink a lot of water, but I've been used to eating around 2000+ calories a day. (I lost 12 pounds by eating that many calories and exercising as I described above)

I just don't know why I'm always starving.

Sorry for the length of this post!

asallen7

Have a light protein shake, egg whites, or some other form of protein. While you sleep your body will use it to repair and rebuild itself and it will curb your hunger.

tgburkert

Are you eating any of the calories you earn from exercising? That might add a few hundred calories that you could put towards a more filling evening snack. I eat a bag of popcorn every night, and try to make those calories come from my workouts. Just a thought...

marshy221

Instead of eating large meals throughout your day, eat 5 small meals. That way your metabolism is constantly working but you are also constantly eating so you won't feel as hungry, peanut butter is also an appetite suppressor.

toripiv

Are you eating any of the calories you earn from exercising? That might add a few hundred calories that you could put towards a more filling evening snack. I eat a bag of popcorn every night, and try to make those calories come from my workouts. Just a thought...

I try not to eat up my exercise calories (usually around 800 a day, but sometimes I'm so hungry I can't help but eat some of them, sometimes even ALL of them. O_O

The protein shake is a great idea! The volume of it would be very filling.

thanks guys.

Russellb97

I eat about 75% of my daily calories at night.
From morning until 5 or 6pm I eat mainly protein snacks like 2% cheese sticks, jerky, low-carb protein shakes, chicken, or anything that is mainly high protein & fiber, and low carb and fat.

Then after 5 or 6pm I eat my remaining calories and a balance of good carbs, protein, and fat.
Eating this way has literally gotten me ripped down to 8% bodyfat, I never go to bed hungry, and I can eat normal dinners with my family.

This works out great for me because I am definitely a night-time eater.
By the way not eating at night and avoiding carbs because of weight gain, is a huge and stupid myth.

rileysowner

Why are you concerning about eating at night? Is it because you tend to go over the calories you are allowed for the day, or because you think eating at night is going to slow down your weight loss? From all the reading I have read, the second worry, that eating late at night will slow down your weight loss, is completely unfounded. All the studies in places like the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that I have read seem to show it really doesn't matter when you eat or how many meals you eat in a day except in terms of what will make you less likely to give up of cheat on the number of calories you eat in a day.