Late Night snacking
yecatsmn
Posts: 54 Member
I feel that i've been eating relatively healthy (definitely in comparison to a year ago), but i'm still having trouble losing weight even with the added daily work outs. I have a pretty good feeling its due to my constant late night snacking or meals. Often my husband and I can't eat until 7-9 pm for dinner. A bit frustrating, but meh. The biggest issue is my snacking. I'm already a grazer, I can't eat large meals and I eat numerous times throughout the day. I always seem to snack from 9pm to 1am. I try not to, but sometimes I just can't help it! A lot of the time, i'm not even extremely hungry, but some times it is because of hunger. Horrible habit, indeed.
Anyone else have this issue? If so, what do you do to fight it?
Anyone else have this issue? If so, what do you do to fight it?
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Replies
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I broke that habit my scheduling 6 small meals a day. Period. So if I knew I wanted desert, I knew I had to save one snack for that and I'd save it till, say, 10 or 11. But scheduling my meals really helped me break some bad habits.0
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Snacking has always been a big problem for me.
What I've started doing this year is try to eat my meals at about the same times each day, and have a set number of calories as my goal for each meal. I try to eat every three hours so I don't get too hungry, although I usually am a little bit by my next meal.
I have a 1,600-calorie goal, so here's my meal breakdown on most days (not including exercise calories, which I try to save for dinner and my after-dinner snack):
Breakfast- ~7 or 8 am- 350 calories
>(extra cup of coffee around 10 or 11 when I feel a little hungry, included in breakfast calories)
Lunch- 12pm- 300 calories
Afternoon Snack- 3pm-200 calories
Dinner- ~6, 6:30pm- 500 calories
After Dinner Snack- ~8pm- 200 calories0 -
I eat a light dinner and budget my calories so I can have a light dessert around 9pm. Not eating after dinner doesn't work for me!0
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if your eating within your calories for the day then it really doesnt matter when you eat them. I stay up late so i literally count up to midnite. Anything after midnite goes into the next day.
Disclaimer- i know many believe that you shouldnt eat after a set time in the evening. especially carbs. I am just stating above that I do not have a problem eating throughout the evening. so please dont thrash me
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Don't keep easy snacking food in the refrigerator. If you must have crackers, cookies, etc., in the house , put them in a container, lock it every night and give your husband the key. Or put them on a very high shelf.0
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I don't know that this is particularly helpful in YOUR case... but I don't do ANYthing about it. I have always been a night eater. It's a habbit that I tried to break in the past by chewing gum, watching tv in bed (hubby hates crumbs in the sheets!!), a jug of water, etc. NOTHING seemed to break me..... So what do I do? I make sure that I have PLENTY of calories left at the end of each day to have a night/evening snack. If you can't beat it...make it work for you! :flowerforyou:0
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if your eating within your calories for the day then it really doesnt matter when you eat them. I stay up late so i literally count up to midnite. Anything after midnite goes into the next day.
Disclaimer- i know many believe that you shouldnt eat after a set time in the evening. especially carbs. I am just stating above that I do not have a problem eating throughout the evening. so please dont thrash me
You are NOT alone! :flowerforyou:0 -
Just budget your calories for snacks.
It doesn't matter when you eat.
Sometimes, I have dinner at 5pm and sometimes I have dinner at 10pm.
I usually eat 500-800 calories worth of snacks every day. I eat all day. I'm hungry all day, so this works for me! :laugh:
Listen to your body and do what's good for you.0 -
i know for me when i first started losing weight i eliminated all snacking throughout day and night.....ate 3 meals a day and nothing else for months and the weight flew off0
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I have a great idea! I confess that I too have been struggling with this lately only to feel awful about it the next day!
UGHH!!! AND I am not seeing the same results as I did before when I was much more controlled about not eating those late night goodies.
So here is my idea... let's be accountability partners! Whaddaya say?
If you are game.. send me a friend request!
God Bless YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kimi!0 -
sounds more like mind hunger, if u ask me. try going to bed instead of hanging out til the wee hours or find a "quiet" non-food related hobby like knitting or crocheting if for no one special but to donate caps, gloves, scarves, or throws to a local shelter. sometimes out of sheer boredom "hunger" hits and in order for you to get under control, you have to busy yourself with sleep or activities that will steer you away from the fridge and pantry.0
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I don't know that this is particularly helpful in YOUR case... but I don't do ANYthing about it. I have always been a night eater. It's a habbit that I tried to break in the past by chewing gum, watching tv in bed (hubby hates crumbs in the sheets!!), a jug of water, etc. NOTHING seemed to break me..... So what do I do? I make sure that I have PLENTY of calories left at the end of each day to have a night/evening snack. If you can't beat it...make it work for you! :flowerforyou:
This is so true for me too. I've tried to stop late night eating and haven't been able to yet (although I like the idea of breaking the habit) Doesn't make it any easier that I have a baby who still wakes me up at night. I got tired of beating myself up over it so I keep about 200-300 calories for my night eating. That way I don't feel defeated come morning. I also will count calories after midnight into the next day's diary.0 -
Have low calorie snacks on hand - kellog's crispy chips - you can eat 30 for 110 cals I believe it is; have some fruit; pick a day of the week and bake healthy snacks that you have on hand (go to skinnytaste or look here in the blogs for recipes). Usually on Sundays, I will spend it making zucchini recipes or banana recipes and I'll freeze them so I can pull one out when I want it. If you know you're going to eat late, then make sure you save calories for then. You can always chug a glass of water when you're feeling hungry - usually that will make the idea of being hungry slide right past me. Other times, I just give in as long as I have calories to do it. I often will make a bag of Pop Secret Homestyle popcorn for 120 calories a bag. As someone else mentioned, if it is after midnight then I count it towards the next day.0
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I save about 200-300 calories for my late night snack, so it all works into my meal plan.0
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Since you know you like to eat late at night, I think you should just plan the food you are going to eat at night and log it when you do. Save up to spend at night!
Keep cut up veggies ready in the fridge - carrots and celery work for me.
I drink hot tea with sweetener too.
Good luck0 -
I wake up in the middle of the night, and have some peanut butter or a slice of cheese sometimes. Hell, I don't even always wake up in the middle of the night, because I'm already awake, reading mountains of homework and assignments for class while everyone else in my house sleeps, so I just get a snack and count it into my daily food. Hasn't hurt me at all, because I don't have a lot of time to eat large meals during the day, so it all works out evenly.
Where people usually get in trouble with snacking isn't the snacking itself, or the time, because time is irrelevant, and hasn't been correlated with weight loss. What HAS been correlated with weight loss issues is the fact that snacking usually is hard to keep track of (so people eat more calories and can't count them), and people tend to eat more overall with snacking than they would otherwise. A snack is just a few bites of something, but many times people turn "snacks" into meals, and those meals add up really quickly.
If you wake up hungry, and want a snack, just plan for something small and filling. I usually go with things that have protein, like a spoonful of peanut butter or cheese, because I find that gets rid of the hunger, and doesn't keep me up.0 -
I had a bad habit of eating my favorite cereal at night. I pretty much kicked the habit...though I did have a half of cup yesterday
But normally...I will grab a big freeze pop and then go to bed. It takes me a while to eat and I'm usually satisfied. 0 -
When you've eaten all your calories for the day, go to bed!
I'm only half-way kidding. My drive to eat compulsively increases exponentially when I'm tired. Your body produces leptin (the hormone that is responsible for feeling full) while you sleep, and getting adequate rest is important for your muscle growth and repair and your mental health. Also, if you're working out hard during the day, it should help you to sleep better, in case you need motivation to work out every day or in case you have trouble falling asleep.
I know that everyone doesn't function in a 9 to 5 world -- I used to be a night shift worker for years -- but you can allot enough calories and small meals to get you through your waking hours, and then stop. I don't have my diary set up in a breakfast, lunch and dinner format -- I use 6 small meals instead, spaced at regular intervals. Try not to eat too many of your calories early in your day. I save the most for meal 5 & 6, which are dinner and an after-dinner snack.0 -
I agree with those who say keep enough allowance in hand to allow a little evening snacking, Try and find something which meets the criteria without too much damage. For me a packet of wafer thin chicken 100g and 150 cals does the trick.
Someone also said wisely on another thread "if it isn't hunger then food isnt the answer", That helps me too.
Good luck0 -
Thanks for the amazing replies everyone! They are all so helpful. I have my goal set to be losing 2 lbs per week which sets me at an allowance of 1500 calories per day. I don't think i've ever gone over that. Plus when the "extra" calories I get for working out are put in, i'm way under.
I'll definitely be using some of those healthy snack ideas. Time for a grocery trip me thinks. It also doesn't help I love carbs too much, and thats what my cravings are usually. Bread, mmmmm. But either way, describing it as "mind hunger" is so right. Just have to kick this terrible habit.
I had always thought that eating after a certain time, but so many of you are telling me that it doesn't even make a difference in weight loss, that maybe the guilt will go away and I won't snack so much? Viscous cycle mayhaps??
Tonight is me and my husband late dinner night, so hopefully the snacking afterwards will go ok! (It also comforts me that i'm not the only one with this weakness)0 -
I tend to always do that at night. Is it when you are having a hard time or typically? Water some say help!?0
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I don't eat after 7pm. I realized that the "hungry" I was feeling was my body WANTING food not NEEDING food. I know I only have lost 10bls but I lost 100lbs in 2006. Then I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer and gained 70 lbs of it back.0
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Thanks for sharing these tips! I really think I would be more successful if I didn't do as much late night snacking.0
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if your eating within your calories for the day then it really doesnt matter when you eat them. I stay up late so i literally count up to midnite. Anything after midnite goes into the next day.
Disclaimer- i know many believe that you shouldnt eat after a set time in the evening. especially carbs. I am just stating above that I do not have a problem eating throughout the evening. so please dont thrash me
This. I couldn't have said it better- I don't usually finish work till 9-10pm and I am starving after it. As long as you are logging every single bite and you are under your cals- don't stress. Or perhaps replacing what you are snacking, my fav munchies at the moment are carrot and celery sticks with hommus, and wasabi rice crackers.0 -
<~~~~ Grazer. It's a boredom thing maybe, I don't know. I don't eat anything that's not allowed on my Paleo diet (usually!) but even if i have one handful of nuts (especially cashews or pistachios) I'll have another and another..... and I agree it slows down or stops the weight loss because things like nuts add up WICKED fast. I've just tried to stay away from the snacking after dinner, and that's that, but once in a while I still do it, sigh, even though I'm not hungry. I just had a plastic spoonful of almond butter I wished I wouldn't have because I wasn't hungry. Yikes. :ohwell:0
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I don't fight it. I just plan things so that I have plenty of calories left for night. And then I eat
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Ugh. i'm such a grazer as well.
I have to either hide the food/snacks.... or go for a piece of fruit if I just can't fight it off.... so I'll choose an orange or maybe a few Claussen pickles .0 -
I don't eat after about 8. If i do get "hungry", I wait 11 minutes... If i'm still hungry I slice an apple* in half and eat one half. Drink a glass of water, and save the other half for Breakfast or a snack. I also do this before bed to keep my metabolism running through my Sleepy time, lol.
*I stick to a Green apple, but you can do bananas/ other fruits.0 -
I don't fight it. I just plan things so that I have plenty of calories left for night. And then I eat
i second this notion 0 -
What kind of snacks are you having?0
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