Late night/"relaxation" hunger.. what to do?

NareenaTheGypsy

Ok so I worked my butt off all day, did my workout and was active at work. My measly 1230 cals ended up being more like 1800 allowable cals if I eat them all back. It's after dinner by a few hours now, I don't have to be up early for work tomorrow and all of the sudden I am craving some type of food or another.. different every time this happens. For hubby, he says he's craving meat.. hamburger meat in tacos, or a fast food burger, etc. Tonight, I'm craving ice cream. Not just Skinny Cow ice cream though (I love them!). Tonight my stomach is screaming for some "real" ice cream. Something with heavy cream in it and a solid bit of chocolate in it.
It's after midnight (I'm always up late even on work nights), and while I've not eaten every single available calorie for the previous day (Sat), I know I won't make it through Sunday if I eat 200 or 300 cals of ice cream before I even make it to bed for tomorrow.
Any suggestions on what to do to curb my cravings? I've tried ice water til I feel like I'll start dripping water from my pores, to no affect. I've tried hot tea or small bits of fruit (tangerines are my fave). I can't find a real fix to this issue, as the cravings aren't always the same. A few nights ago, I was craving cheese for crying out loud. I've never even liked cheese til I started watching my cals on MFP! LOL. I'm 42 lbs down, another 70'ish to go. I want to learn this lesson as soon as possible, so I don't sabotage my weight loss. Thanks!

chellebublz

Try to find something to take your mind off of it maybe? It sounds like you aren't really hungry just wanting the ice cream. Sometimes if a big glass of ice water doesn't work, I have to brush my teeth and go to bed. Other times I will distract myself browsing the web or playing a game. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But in my experience every time I've had a craving that intense, I wasn't hungry I just wanted the taste really really bad..

CassieReannan

Hi Nareena,

Firstly, is your daily allowance 1200 calories? Have you figured out your BMR and TDEE and your -20% cut? I have a feeling you are hungry because... well... you're hungry!!

Vailara

What works best for me is going to bed early, silly as it sounds. If you have your last meal early in the evening, then a few hours later I think you can be genuinely hungry and it's difficult to satisfy that with the usual distractions. The trick is going to sleep before the hunger kicks in.

Apart from that, I sometimes leave a bit of my calorie allowance for the evening, just in case. Like you, I might have a tangerine, or a low-cal hot chocolate. But sometimes I've given and eaten something, so I usually have small portions of snack foods in the house.

TrishaLeighNelson

I think many would agree that your calories are too low. maybe buy those Little cups of ice cream with chocolate swirls that come with wooden spoons? I like to go for broccoli, avocado or something with peanut butter. oh or a granola bar or yogurt bar

NachoEverydayChick

I'm confused- you have 1230 or 1800 cals to eat?

First of all, if you have 600 calories of exercise and you're only eating 1230 calories a day, it's no wonder that you're starving. Even with 1800 calories, 1230 is really low. Being hungry and having cravings may be a sign (almost definitely is a sign) that you're not eating enough calories overall. If you eat an appropriate amount of calories, you probably won't find yourself in such a bind wanting snack foods in the future.

NareenaTheGypsy

Cassie,
My daily cals not including my exercise cals is 1230/day, yes. I eat those and usually about 50-75% of the workout cals as well, depending on how many I've "earned" that day. I usually do around 425-450 for my daily workout (30DS at the moment) and another 500-700 from my job, where I am pretty active all day. Yesterday for instance after my exercise cals were added in, MFP said I had 2,040 cals for the day. I ate 1,729 of them.. Trust me when I say I am not one of those people who has a hard time making myself eat 1200/day lol. I usually eat around 1350 just in meals, and the rest is in small snacks during the day.

[Edit] I didn't say I am "only eating" 1230 cals a day.. MFP starts my case cals at 1230.. I eat well over that, unless I am a slug that day and don't move much from the bed.

TrishaLeighNelson

you should be eating at least 1500 BEFORE eating exercise cals

NareenaTheGypsy

you should be eating at least 1500 BEFORE eating exercise cals

If I ate 1500 + my exercise cals, I'd be somewhere in the range of 2500-2800 cals a day.. At best, I'd be losing 0.5 lb a week, assuming I could make myself eat all that food.. Good grief. Where did 1500 before exercise cals come from? MFP says 1230 as base.

TrishaLeighNelson

what are your stats? and, so that means you have mfp set to sedentary? because that's the only way you can use your work calls as ' exercise' cals

CassieReannan

you should be eating at least 1500 BEFORE eating exercise cals

If I ate 1500 + my exercise cals, I'd be somewhere in the range of 2500-2800 cals a day.. At best, I'd be losing 0.5 lb a week, assuming I could make myself eat all that food.. Good grief. Where did 1500 before exercise cals come from? MFP says 1230 as base.

She is right! Look, I am 199lb and borderline 5'6 and I eat 1900 a day and am losing more consistently than eating 1400 a day! Fuel your body, if you are an active person your activity level should be set high on MFP! 1200 a day is wrong... Theres no way an active person like you should be on 1200 a day unless you are like 100lb... :noway:

TrishaLeighNelson

I am 210 lbs 5'9" and everything I've looked up says 1500 at the least. and I used your picture to judge your weight and height so that's where I got 1500 but you van give me your st at s and I'll do it for you

CassieReannan

Please read this
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

NareenaTheGypsy

I'm active 5-6 days a week, with work. I don't set myself to high active simply because on Sundays or holidays when I'm off from work, I don't move anywhere near as much as while I work. At work, I walk an average of 4 miles a day. My off days, I'd be lucky to get in 1.5 miles. I understand the idea behind eat more to weigh less, but if I should be eating more, why does MFP say 1230? If you look at my profile info, I am only 5' 2"... I should have said that in the initial post but wasn't thinking about my height at the time. Maybe that's why my cals are set so low. I just don't see 1500 being an everyday average for calories to eat at my size. I started in Aug 2012 at 240 lbs.. I'm settling right around 198 lbs currently, and have about 70'ish more to go in the coming months/year. I'm not in a major rush to lose it all, but I don't want to be still in the 190 range 3 months down the road either.

nubian218

I agree with other post something is wrong because i am allowed 1500 something cals to eat!

tigersword

My suggestion is to eat the ice cream. That's what I do.

I noticed you say you're craving ice cream, and you were craving cheese, both dairy items. Are you getting enough calcium?

Julesconan

Hay, know how you feel, but im on a measley 500 cals per day, The best thing is to get on the floor and do 60 sit ups, go have a shower and then bed, read a book if your not tired, keep busy, and think of something else. prehaps also calcium supplements, or a cold low cal milk milo??

tigersword

500 calories? Why do you want to starve to death?

CassieReannan

I'm active 5-6 days a week, with work. I don't set myself to high active simply because on Sundays or holidays when I'm off from work, I don't move anywhere near as much as while I work. At work, I walk an average of 4 miles a day. My off days, I'd be lucky to get in 1.5 miles. I understand the idea behind eat more to weigh less, but if I should be eating more, why does MFP say 1230? If you look at my profile info, I am only 5' 2"... I should have said that in the initial post but wasn't thinking about my height at the time. Maybe that's why my cals are set so low. I just don't see 1500 being an everyday average for calories to eat at my size. I started in Aug 2012 at 240 lbs.. I'm settling right around 198 lbs currently, and have about 70'ish more to go in the coming months/year. I'm not in a major rush to lose it all, but I don't want to be still in the 190 range 3 months down the road either.

I dont think you are quite getting it... Your activity level should match what you do and you just admitted to being more active than let on to MFP Thats WHY MFP has your calories so low. If you would allow me to have your age I could find your proper calorie goal.

Assuming you are mid 20's your calorie goal should be 2077 day NOT including exercise.

NachoEverydayChick

I'm active 5-6 days a week, with work. I don't set myself to high active simply because on Sundays or holidays when I'm off from work, I don't move anywhere near as much as while I work. At work, I walk an average of 4 miles a day. My off days, I'd be lucky to get in 1.5 miles. I understand the idea behind eat more to weigh less, but if I should be eating more, why does MFP say 1230? If you look at my profile info, I am only 5' 2"... I should have said that in the initial post but wasn't thinking about my height at the time. Maybe that's why my cals are set so low. I just don't see 1500 being an everyday average for calories to eat at my size. I started in Aug 2012 at 240 lbs.. I'm settling right around 198 lbs currently, and have about 70'ish more to go in the coming months/year. I'm not in a major rush to lose it all, but I don't want to be still in the 190 range 3 months down the road either.

MFP says 1230 because your activity level is wrong. If your job is active, then your activity level should reflect that. Having an active job is not the same as working out, you should not be adding those calories back every day. Your body 'expects' that level of activity and your metabolism reflects that, whether you go to work every day or not. Your metabolism does not reset on a day-to-day basis, it's a constantly chugging thing. I'm short too, and my weight loss goal is 1500 before exercise, to lose 1 lb/week. You're going to stall with calories so low, not to mention you're already experiencing the triggers to binge that it comes with. Nobody loses weight while binge eating- it's best to avoid that

celestemoller

I always crave ice cream at night-try a fudgsicle the ones I bought have only 40 calories so if u splurge on 2 it's better than a bowel of ice cream - good luck!