Too hungry to sleep?!?

AdAstra47

Nothing wrong with eating before bed, as long as you pay attention to *what* you eat. My doctor told me to eat something with protein in it right before bedtime. A protein shake, a hard-boiled egg or a cheese wedge or something. It fills your stomach & makes you comfy so you can sleep.
Why protein? Carbs provide quick bursts of energy for active times, so if you eat carbs right before bed, and then don't use them, they may end up stored as fat. But protein burns slowly and steadily, and also aids in fat-burning. So if you eat protein, it will be burned gradually (along with some of your stored fat) just to sustain your normal metabolic processes while you sleep.

eelstail

My favorite night time snacks are:

cheese and crackers
celery with a small teaspoon of peanut butter (Celery has a negative calorie effect..it takes more calories to burn it that the calories that are in it.)
an apple
a glass of chocolate milk
a lean protien such as a boiled egg, a slice of ham or turkey
a small salad
a skinny cow ice cream if I'm craving something sweet
peanut butter crackers
a cup of soup

714rah714

There is nothing worse then going to sleep or waking up feeling hungry/ravenous. Thats why I do what most people tell you not to do, and that is eat a big meal in the late afternoon/early evening, doesn't work for everybody but it works for me.

tashajayne2011

Yeah I know logically I have been eating the wrong things (its better than what I was eating before though lol), we went food shopping today so it will hopefully be a little easier this week

Feel free to patronise me with ideas on what to have to take the edge off before bed, seriously I am clueless lol

Chairless

literally a small portion of anything light, have the snack, give it 10 minutes to see if you are still hungry if so have another! Any of the suggestions given here will do the trick.

shillyburg

I have the EXACT same problem. For the folks mentioning a veggie snack, or an apple, for the big folks it JUST doesn't cut it. My success has only been realized with protein shakes at night...It's the only thing that doesn't hinder my weight loss and keeps me full.

eagle_01

I've only started having that this week! Last night and the night before, and I think the amount of exercise I did just made me really ravenous, lol, and I even ate some of my exercise calories back though wanted to leave alot free to get my body to burn fat. I tend to find myself craving carbs, but if I decided I really had to have something my choice would be protein for the reasons AdAstra47 gave.

kateroot

Sorry if someone's already mentioned this, I haven't read the whole thread.. But if I'm hungry before bed I have a cup of decaf tea. It helps make me sleepy, and fills me up enough that hunger pangs don't keep me up. If I have calories left for the day and I'm really hungry, I'll have a snack of some protein and fat - peanut butter and celery sticks or a couple pieces of cheese. I avoid carbs and sugars before bed (even fruit).

marycmeadows

I'd be hungry too if I ate less than 1000 calories. Those aren't "good" days, those are you not eating enough. Eat! Have a bedtime snack.

agreed -- according to your diary (i only looked back a few days) but you only at 995 calories one day, and 1011 calories another day -- Unless you haven't tracked all you ate, that is NOT ENOUGH FOOD! You should never be eating less than 1200 calories....bottom line, and I think that is even a little low.... but at a minimum 1200 calories. you're hungry because you haven't eaten enough - you need to eat to lose weight - i have lost 98lbs since I started my weight loss journey on january 1 2011 -- only a year in -- and 98lbs gone. and I was NEVER hungry.

I have breakfast, a mid morning snack, lunch, an afternoon snack (2 if I gym -- one pre gym, and one post gym), dinner, and then another high protein snack before bed. It works.

crunchybubblez

A handful of raw or lightly roasted organic nuts and seeds,
raw organic granola w/ a nut milk such as almond...
An apple with organic, sugar free peanut butter,
sprouted grain bagel with hummus,
sprouted grain toast with fruit spread, or hummus,
Sugar free plain oatmeal with berries added,
Plain or light butter popcorn with nutritional yeast sprinkled on.

crunchybubblez

I eat a small breakfast
Work out
Eat a medium lunch

Eat a small lunch like a salad or something super healthy when I'm hungry again.

Then dinner about 3-5 hrs before I go to sleep.
If I'm hungry, I'll have a snack.

bcattoes

You do not have to feel hunger to lose weight. You may choose to eat fewer high calories foods instead of lots of lower calorie foods, which could leave you hungry. But if you choose your foods correctly and exercise to earn more calories, there is no reason you to be hungry.

kimclaws

I would try adding more lean protein , I was getting about 50 grams of protein per day, and my train said I needed to raise it, now I am at 100-120 g per day and I am never hungry, it really helps, because I was hungry at night too, but I just chug 16-20 oz of water before bed, but then you will for sure be getting up in the middle of the night lol

lillya20

Hi, I'm there with you on this!! Sometimes I feel like my stomach is going to just eat itself at night!! I agree with others about maybe eating something healthy or whatever... but a lot of times you can mistake hunger for being thirsty. So maybe drink some water... it seems to help me!! Good luck!!

shipwreck3

I would say coffee withsplenda and a dash of milk...for that whole hot coco feeling.. but u are trying to get to sleep. LOL I drink coffee all day so I am used to it usually. How about decaf coffee with splenda and a dash of milk... Also sugar free jello is good too for that late night muching!

JackieLM

I have the EXACT same problem. For the folks mentioning a veggie snack, or an apple, for the big folks it JUST doesn't cut it. My success has only been realized with protein shakes at night...It's the only thing that doesn't hinder my weight loss and keeps me full.

I am a "big" person and the veggie snack doesn't have to be 1 piece of celery... it could be a whole cup full... along with some crackers, or a pouch of tuna, or even celery with peanut butter... there are lots of ideas. Anything with protein will fill you up which is why the protein shakes work well. It's not about how big you are... its about taking in the right things...

jellyedge

AdAstra is correct. eat some protein before bed.

Krijs

I'm sorry to bump this thread but I felt a need to post a reply.

Your eating habits are very inconsistent. One day you are eating ~900 calories then the next you're jumping up to ~2200 calories. Going almost 1000 calories over your daily goal seems a bit excessive to me. Try to stick as close to your goal as you can each day - this should help your body get comfortable with the intake you've been set.

You need to be eating every meal, every day. Skipping breakfast is an absolute no-no! I think I saw some days where you skipped either lunch or dinner as well - both equally as bad. You need a good breakfast in the morning to kick-start your metabolism and keep hunger at bay for a few hours.

Don't avoid snacks! Bridging the gap between your 3 core meals (Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner) with snacks is a good idea. This helps keep your metabolism rolling and stops hunger creeping up on you (often causing you to over-indulge when meal time hits). When I say snacks, I mean something healthy, not a pack of crisps, a chocolate bar or a bottle of coke. With a small caloric intake per-day like yours, these are huge, wasteful deficits. Replace them with something else like a plain/greek non-fat yogurt, a handful of unsalted nuts, celery with 1tbsp. peanut butter, a piece of fruit etc. etc.
Try to aim to have a snack between breakfast and lunch and another one between lunch and dinner. If you still feel hungry around bedtime, intake some protein as said before.

Keep your hydration up. I noticed you haven't logged any water in your diary. I don't know if that means you don't drink water or you just don't count it, but you should be aiming for at least 2 litres a day. People often get hunger and thirst confused. If you feel an urge to consume something, just take a second to think about whether you're actually hungry, or just thirsty. When that feeling strikes, have a glass of water (don't gulp it down) and see how you feel after about 10 minutes. If that hasn't done anything then you're most likely hungry, in which case: eat! it's probably around snack time anyway. Personally I take 3 500ml bottles of water to work with me (I'm a software developer so I am at my desk constantly throughout the day) and could quite easily up this to 4 bottles. 4 of these bottles would be the minimum 2 litres a day. I then usually have glasses sporadically throughout the rest of the day after coming home from work.

Ditch McDonalds. It's not doing you any favours.

Switch white bread/bread rolls for the whole-grain/brown stuff. Same with pasta and rice if you eat it. White bread/rice/pasta are bad (high-GI) carbs - they will cause your metabolism to slow and reduce which means you will working with reduced digestion and greater fat storage. Not only that, but it'll make you feel sluggish - not a feeling you want when you're trying to lose weight and/or muster the willpower to go workout.

Try plan out what you're going to eat for the week and prepare in advance. This way you won't be reaching for the quick options (the unhealthy ones). This also allows you to scrutinise what you're eating in more detail, allowing you to stick to your guidelines much easier. You'll find tons of healthy recipes and dishes online - just have a browse through Google. Ideally though for a meal (for instance: dinner) you'll want a good portion of some sort of lean meat (fish such as wild salmon - also good), a nice helping of veggies (watch out for potatoes though, I would class these as a carb rather than a vegetable) and perhaps a blast of carbs (brown/wild rice, whole-grain/brown pasta, small helping of (sweet) potatoes, etc.) - the carbs will help if you're lacking energy.

Since you work from home, I would assume that means you have access to cooking facilities. If you need a quick to prepare lunch, make a stir fry. Chop up veg, chop up meat, splash a bit of olive oil into wok, heat it up, throw in veg+meat and in less than 10 minutes you have a great tasting lunch. You may want to add a small helping of a type of sauce to give it a bit of extra flavour.

I apologise for the long post, but I hope it helps if you get around to reading it.