Night time eating disorder? anyone else with this problem?

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jlgarcia85631
jlgarcia85631 Posts: 57 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Sady ever since I was a child as far back as I can remember I have woken up in the middle of the night to eat. I dont remember a time in my life where I did not. I am going to be 30 this year. I wake up 2-3 times a night goto the kitchen and eat. Usually snack foods cookies, chips, peanut butter, what ever is there. I feel the urge of hunger that wakes me up and it just takes over. It didnt have any effect on me as a child or teenager because I was so active. I did (about 4 years ago after I had lost a good 35 pounds... I had sucessfully lost weight, and was excercising to maintain my 150lbs. ) get it under the best control then having it down to waking only once and sticking to a 100 calories...After having two babies back to back I gained that weight back and the habit true to its old form. I have been currently dieting since begining december and I have my good weeks where I tend to keep the night eating under some control..and then there is weeks when I have no control. I also upon waking have the biggest erge to eat. Does anyone else suffer from this?? I get so frustrated because I will excercise and be right on for calories for the day and at night I wreck it. Anyone have suggestions??

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  • Marcy79
    Marcy79 Posts: 41 Member
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    I don't have this exact same problem however I do have an issue with snacking in the evening. I've tried all the stuff they say to do like brushing your teeth and taking a bath, the only thing that I have found that works is eating one spoon of nutella and one spoon on peanut butter. It sounds strange but it takes me a while to eat it and it's so rich it fills me up. Have you ever tried taking something like Tylenol PM, I use it occasionally and I stay asleep during the night. Maybe if you took it for a week or so, your body would get used to sleeping through the night and you wouldn't need it anymore. Good Luck!
  • robbienjill
    robbienjill Posts: 456 Member
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    i use to do this. Its a mind over matter kinda situation. U wake up and u automatically think u have to eat... I keep a glass of water with ice in a glass beside my bed to drink when I wake up. If that does not do it I will have a dark chocolate Hersey kiss (and MORE ice water) that has been chilling in the fridge. Give it a try..works 4 me!
  • gennyvieve
    gennyvieve Posts: 83
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    when i worked overnights i would wake up like clockwork around lunchtime and couldn't get back to sleep until i went and had something small---i would get the chewy granola bars, they are only 90 calories and if you have it with some water it's really quite filling....other than that i would just suggest keeping a stash of healthy low cal snacks on hand for when this happens---that way even if you have to get up and eat you won't wreck your calories for the day....

    also----have you tried adding fiber supplements? i started taking 3 fiber capsules every night before bed and i never wake up hungry any more---except for nights when i forget to take my vitamins! i'd give the fiber capsules, or even a glass of metamucil(the orange kind is pretty tasty) before bed to fill you up!

    good luck!!!
  • Dom_m
    Dom_m Posts: 337 Member
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    You may be deficient in some particular nutrient you aren't aware of. Sometimes when you get hungry its not because you need more calories but because you need more of something very specific. Play around with what you eat during the day, and pay attention to your micro-nutrients. Unfortunately that involves a fair bit of trial and error and could take a long time, and may not be the solution anyway.

    If you want a quick fix that's sort of a 'second best solution', try including your nighttime snacks in your daily meal plan. Just accept that you do this, and plan for it! That way, at 4 in the morning when you've finished eating, you'll finally be at the day's target calorie level. This isn't a long term solution, because eating at night isn't as useful as eating during the day. Your metabolism is lower for a start. But it may help with the depressive part of night time snacking, which might in turn help you with your diet more generally.
  • mvl1014
    mvl1014 Posts: 531
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    Does it actually wake you up, or do you eat while sleeping? Specifically, not remembering you got up, just finding remains of wrappers and such?
  • nightangelstars
    nightangelstars Posts: 337 Member
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    All those suggestions sound good to me, and as a master's student in psychology I would also ask if you find that there are any particular psychological variables that factor in to when you have trouble managing this behavior? For example, do you find that stress affects it? If you know it's coming, you can take steps to help manage it better. Personally, because this isn't something I've really heard of before, I would make a point of bringing it up with your doctor at your next physical - it may be a symptom of something else that you should be aware of, and he or she may know something about this that will prove helpful. Research it yourself too - you might find some useful stuff if you pick and choose your resources wisely. Knowledge is power!
  • jlgarcia85631
    jlgarcia85631 Posts: 57 Member
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    Thank you all for your suggestions....I will give them a try and see if any of them will work for me or even help the situation a bit.:happy:

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