Eating most calories later in the evening

whatsername79

Hi everyone

I lost 3 and a half stone over 3 years and I still need to lose 2 more stone. I never dropped off the pounds really quickly I would say it was a steady 1 - 2 pounds a week with no really big losses and that worked fine for me. Recently I have been having problems keeping in control of my calories. I even dropped the loss to half a pound on my MFP app.

I do OK during the day time and manage to keep meals to a reasonable number of calories, breakfast about 220, lunch around 350 calories and my dinner at about 400 - 500 calories. I do have snacks too but I notice as the day goes on I seem to get more and more hungry. Until in the evening I am snacking and cant seem to get full. Sometimes I will go to bed and get up after one or two hours to get something to eat. I do feel hungry so I am not just doing it because I am bored but it is wrecking all my efforts during the day time.

I have tried experimenting with eating at different times and having different snacks and I do a little better if I have my evening meal later but even after that I will do the getting up at night thing. It is almost like I have an anxiety about it now where I panic I will get hungry in the night so I start eating to compensate.

Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks

fluffeesquirrel

I eat a lot of calories in the evening after I work out... If you're going to do it, I would try and just eat healthy things within your calorie goals... I like to eat pistachios, strawberries, grapes, peanut butter/banana on a whole wheat tortilla... things that satisfy my urge to crunch, but don't make me go over my daily goals. Good luck.

AussieRachG

I'm not sure I have any advice - but I have a similar issue and would love to get some help!

I am really good at keeping the calories down at the start of the day but I find I end up with so many calories left by the end, that I feel like I have to use them all up and over-eat, even though I am not hugely hungry. This happens particularly on my high-exercise days and I find I have this incessant need to eat. I don't ever lose much weight, and when I do, it goes back on very quickly, even though I am still always keeping within my calorific range for loss.

ryansgram

I do the same thing, but i try to eat healthy. I eat a bag of lite popcorn everynight. Or i munch on nuts or whole grain crackers. I haven't gained because of it. Good luck

Jordant107

If you stay under your goal for the day, don't stress it. Calories are calories- they don't know if they're been eaten at night or in the morning!!!!

chub_b_gone

I would try eating a bigger breakfast and lunch w/ a lot of your good carbs and protein to keep you from feeling really hungry at the end of the day..if you eat most of your calories during the day your dinner should be in the 300-400 cal. range and you should still feel satisfied..

susiebear29

I think evenings are the most difficult time for a lot of people, have you tried increasing your calories at breakfast and lunch? what sort of things are you snacking on? I always have a cup of tea if i start to feel peckish and then if i still feel hungry after i will have something to eat, i try not to have anything too sweet because this makes me more hungry later on!! good luck and don't feel bad you have done so well!!

Oishay

I'm like that too so I've tried to add in a few more calories throughout the day to my main meals and that's helped stop the craving a bit. I'm also ensuring I drink more water throughout the day too & leave 200 cals for my evening splurge! It's tough finding a solution that you can work with, good luck

joyzeejay

My biggest trick when I get hungry in the night: drink a big cup of Sleepytime Extra tea, with a tsp or two of creamer, an ounce of soy milk and a packet of Splenda (all for 20/30 cals). It kills the sweet tooth and the hunger (big time) and puts me to sleep. If the hunger starts a couple of hours before I go to sleep (and I've used up all my cals), then I'll have a cup of Honey Vanilla Chamomile with the creamer, soy milk, Splenda, THEN have the Sleepytime Extra right before going to sleep. (Don't want to take 2 servings of Sleepytime Extra).

Killing_Perfection

Do you always get hungry around the same time of the night? Because that might just be your body being used to this - especially if you give in. I used to get hungry around midnight some time, because I had to work until 10PM and started eating after work - my body got so used to this that I felt hungry every night, always around the same time. I also used to never eat breakfast some years ago, and really had to force it down when I started with it. Now I wake up and after some minutes I feel incredibly hungry.

The thing here is to ignore it, as harsh as it sounds - but if it's really just your body clinging to this habit and you want to get rid of it, you'll have to break it. It's not pretty and it will take time, but for me it worked.

Another possibility is to switch your meals up a little. Do you eat lots of carbs and sugar? Those don't keep you filled for very long, contrary to, for example, protein and dietary fibers.

I'm not sure I have any advice - but I have a similar issue and would love to get some help!

I am really good at keeping the calories down at the start of the day but I find I end up with so many calories left by the end, that I feel like I have to use them all up and over-eat, even though I am not hugely hungry. This happens particularly on my high-exercise days and I find I have this incessant need to eat. I don't ever lose much weight, and when I do, it goes back on very quickly, even though I am still always keeping within my calorific range for loss.

Your problem might be not how much you eat but what you eat. From a look at your diary I see quite a lack of self-made dinners and a lot of sugar and carbs. You stay under your calories (although I see you didn't log some days - don't skip out, those days can be dangerous!), but what I see is not exactly considered clean and healthy eating. It's okay on some days, and we all deserve our treats every once in a while, but it's most important to prepare your own dinners - and chose healthy meals.

Also, you might want to consider eating more protein, especially when you're weight training, like your diary suggests. Try lean fish, meat, even protein shakes if that's your cup of tea. Your muscles need protein to repair themselves.

Also, if you need a quick calorie boost, try nuts.

AussieRachG

Your problem might be not how much you eat but what you eat. From a look at your diary I see quite a lack of self-made dinners and a lot of sugar and carbs. You stay under your calories (although I see you didn't log some days - don't skip out, those days can be dangerous!), but what I see is not exactly considered clean and healthy eating. It's okay on some days, and we all deserve our treats every once in a while, but it's most important to prepare your own dinners - and chose healthy meals.

What do you mean by 'self-made dinners' versus 'prepare your own dinners'? I do all my own cooking unless I am at someone's house for dinner or out at a restaurant. All the 'RACHs' items are my own recipes that I've inserted into MFP in order to get correct calorie counts.

I really do need to cut back on the 'treats'... I don't know when that bad habit began, but it probably comes down to stress/emotional eating stemming from job security issues in this wonderful economy. Still... no excuse! I rarely skip days - unless I'm overseas and have no internet connection and have no idea what I've been eating... or like this weekend when MFP was down and I couldn't log anything!

Killing_Perfection

What do you mean by 'self-made dinners' versus 'prepare your own dinners'? I do all my own cooking unless I am at someone's house for dinner or out at a restaurant. All the 'RACHs' items are my own recipes that I've inserted into MFP in order to get correct calorie counts.

I really do need to cut back on the 'treats'... I don't know when that bad habit began, but it probably comes down to stress/emotional eating stemming from job security issues in this wonderful economy. Still... no excuse! I rarely skip days - unless I'm overseas and have no internet connection and have no idea what I've been eating... or like this weekend when MFP was down and I couldn't log anything!

They are self-made? I thought they were not. Apologies, I'm not familiar with what's sold in the UK. (We actually have a famous cook over here called Rach, so that led me a bit astray it seems ")

It was down for so long? Guess I was lucky with my timing then. (A bit scary how much I depend on that thing now, lawl)

The only other things I can think of are really the snacks, because you do eat back exercise calories and eat a decent amount in general. Hmmmmm.... Maybe try cutting those down first. If that doesn't work, maybe it's something medical? Some sort of allergy? Becasue I'm running out of ideas ""

jfan175

Well, you have 1070 calories for meals, plus whatever you eat for snacks. Not knowing what you daily alotment is, you can probably eat your largest meal late and go to bed with a full belly while not starving the rest of the day. I love eating late, and it helps me sleep well.

AussieRachG

They are self-made? I thought they were not. Apologies, I'm not familiar with what's sold in the UK. (We actually have a famous cook over here called Rach, so that led me a bit astray it seems ")

Ha! I'm famous!!

I have updated the past few 'missed' days, now that everything is up and running again. I knew it would be a bad weekend - overseas friends in town and we did a baking class... a good cook always tastes their wares! And then we did a roadtrip which ended up with me having to drive 10 hours in one day, due to road closures and accidents... so boredom nibbling on bad petrol station food made that day a shocker!

I know my issue is that I'm such a foodie! I love dinner parties and going out to the latest popular eating hole. I'm not massively overweight, which is also why it's hard to lose anything. It's just those last 10 pounds that will never go away. A lot of that is genetics... I look at food and put on weight. My mum is a chef... her mum was a chef... not a skinny person in that line of geneology! Just a good taste bud for cordon bleu cooking!

If I just cut out the alcohol... I would probably be exactly where I want to be weight-wise... I just love wine.

Sigh.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions, though! If you hadn't said anything, I probably wouldn't have bothered backtracking on the days I couldn't log my intake and I've thrown out the rest of the leftovers from the baking class!!!!!

xx

peasantgirly

I'm not sure whose thread this is anymore but this is for the OP:

I agree with another poster that said you could probably eat a bit lighter during the day and then have a bigger dinner so that you go to bed full.

Since we can't see your diary it's hard to offer advice because we don't know what sort of food you're eating, but if you use your calories wisely (on foods heavy on protein and fiber, versus high-calorie junk) that will go a long way towards filling you up.

You described eating around 1000-1100 cals/day. I don't know how tall you are but I'm 5'4" and I would be STARVING on 1000/day. I eat 1400--1500/day and still lose 1-2 pounds/week. If you truly can't eat more than that without gaining, then do what I do and "earn" some more by exercising. Some days I'm hungrier than others so I just get some extra activity in so that I can eat more without messing with my deficit.

Good luck!

Hendrix7

If you stay under your goal for the day, don't stress it. Calories are calories- they don't know if they're been eaten at night or in the morning!!!!

This^^^^^

total calorie/macro intake is far far far more important than meal timing.