Eating at night is the hardest part of my day.....

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  • brynnsmom
    brynnsmom Posts: 945 Member
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    Save calories for nighttime, by eating slightly less during the day.

    I just skip breakfast so I have more calories to spend later. Then at night, I eat them.

    ^this.
    ^seconded.
    I almost always have at least 1000 of my calories after 6 pm. Works fine.

    Same here.
  • tree618
    tree618 Posts: 21
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    THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!! I have beaten myself up over this issue for years BECAUSE YOU AREN'T SUPPOSE TO EAT AFTER SUPPER!!!!! :cry: But what you all have given me is power! It seems so easy but until now I haven't been able to give myself 'permission' to do this! HA who knew. I see many of you that commented have lost weight and you still eat after supper! Wow I wish you could see the joy in my eyes right now! Now I just have to plan accordingly, which I think I can do just fine! Plan for my snacks after dinner just like I plan for them earlier in the day! Seriously, this is huge! :flowerforyou: :tongue: :laugh: I am thrilled. I debated about posting this question but I am so glad I did!
  • ines25
    ines25 Posts: 107 Member
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    I usually eat 5 to 6 meals a day keep one of ur snack for night time that's all and make sure that ur breakfast lunch and dinner are high in protein and take cinnamon pills with each meal to keep ur blood sugar steady the way ur cravings are more under control and u will be fine my nutritionist told me the we can eat at anytime are bodies don't know just keep it with in ur calories ok
  • DontStopB_Leakin
    DontStopB_Leakin Posts: 3,863 Member
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    Save calories for nighttime, by eating slightly less during the day.

    I just skip breakfast so I have more calories to spend later. Then at night, I eat them.

    ^this.

    double this! i have coffee in the morning and eat a snack around lunch and save the rest of my calories until later. I love it. AHMnomNOMnom!
    Pretty much.


    Your body doesn't have a timer. It's not going to know when you're consuming calories. You can eat everything in one sitting, and as long as you're coming in under your calorie goal, you'll lose weight.



    Oh, and I've lost over 100 lbs eating mostly after 5 pm. Just sayin'.
  • theologynerd
    theologynerd Posts: 264 Member
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    Save calories for nighttime, by eating slightly less during the day.

    I just skip breakfast so I have more calories to spend later. Then at night, I eat them.

    I do this, too. It took me a long time of forcing myself to eat breakfast when I'm not hungry, and then feeling starved at night and not having any calories left. Finally, one day, I put my foot down, and decided that my body should have a say in all of this. I've really learned to listen to my body more and more throughout my journey. Many days, the earliest I eat is 1pm, and often I'll wait until 3pm. It's simply how it works for me. I am so much happier now that I allow myself to eat when I'm hungry, and not forcing myself to eat my precious calories when I'm not hungry. You'll definitely have some people tell you it's "wrong" to do this, but ultimately, you gotta do what you gotta do. I've done my research about metabolism and fasting (if you go more than three hours without eating, people will call it a "fast"), and I'm confident in the studies that I've read that your metabolism doesn't start to drop until after 72 hours of fasting. I'm not interested in going days without eating. Anyways, listen to your body.
  • FitnessPalWorks
    FitnessPalWorks Posts: 1,128 Member
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    Wow!!!

    *readjusts her food intake times to correlate with her "eating while watching evening TV" habit*

    :)
  • VelociMama
    VelociMama Posts: 3,119 Member
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    Wow!!!

    *readjusts her food intake times to correlate with her "eating while watching evening TV" habit*

    :)

    That's the best schedule ever!

    Agree with others. Budget for a snack or some food at night. Also, make sure you are eating enough. You should not be feeling starved or deprived.
  • jetscreaminagain
    jetscreaminagain Posts: 1,130 Member
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    THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!! I have beaten myself up over this issue for years BECAUSE YOU AREN'T SUPPOSE TO EAT AFTER SUPPER!!!!! :cry: But what you all have given me is power! It seems so easy but until now I haven't been able to give myself 'permission' to do this! HA who knew. I see many of you that commented have lost weight and you still eat after supper! Wow I wish you could see the joy in my eyes right now! Now I just have to plan accordingly, which I think I can do just fine! Plan for my snacks after dinner just like I plan for them earlier in the day! Seriously, this is huge! :flowerforyou: :tongue: :laugh: I am thrilled. I debated about posting this question but I am so glad I did!

    This is the best ever. Yay MFP!!!
  • simba01
    simba01 Posts: 19 Member
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    I was having this problem too. Save some calories for night and have a healthy, filling snack light like almonds, cashews or peanut butter.
  • Christine1110
    Christine1110 Posts: 1,786 Member
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    it's habit...boredom...or you just want to when watching tv. I save a apple for evening. I cut it up and I like it cold. I used to eat durning tv....I now just drink water and have the apple in the evenings. It's hard to break doing it.

    Good luck
  • kenazfehu
    kenazfehu Posts: 1,188 Member
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    I'm still pretty new to this and slip up sometimes, but my rule is no eating between meals. Period. My downfall has always been late afternoons/early evenings, and honestly I just tough it out (on a good day) and try to keep myself busy with other things. Plus I drink water. I've been doing pretty well.

    So that's my advice. Decide when as well as how much you're going to eat, and be strict with yourself.

    I enjoy a bedtime snack (usually a popsicle or something similar). As long as it's planned and accounted for - enjoy.
  • mallory71
    mallory71 Posts: 7 Member
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    These are all very good suggestions. I have a hard time with night time snacking also. I know it's a habit, but I can't seem to break it. Thank you all for so many good ideas.
  • lesliefb
    lesliefb Posts: 88 Member
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    Yup! If you know you'll want to eat later, plan for it! :) My eating is terrible this month, but normally I plan for about 200 calories for dessert / bedtime snack to enjoy after the kids go to bed. But here's a confession... if I've been craving something really bad like an ice cream sundae, I'll plan my day in advance starting with dessert calories and make the rest of the meals fit in (fruit for breakfast, soup for lunch, etc.) LOL!

    One thing has taken me a long time to figure out though... Sometimes I feel hungry when in fact I'm TIRED. My body is trying to get me to feed it more energy via sweets, when what I really need is sleep.
  • Kristin2984
    Kristin2984 Posts: 54
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    I find that there is a fine line to walk so that I'm not overeating at night. If I try too hard to not eat during the rest of the day, I end up gorging myself at night. If I eat all my calories by the end of my dinner, then I still want just a little something and Im over my calorie limit.
    I think eating a well balanced breakfast really helps. My fave is an egg cooked without fat on a toasted high fiber engligh muffin. Then a mid morning snack of fruit. Lunch. Dinner. Small snack before bed. If you can force yourself for a few days to not eat after a certain time, say 9pm, you will be hungry for breakfast by 9 or 10 am. For me that helps. Its the difference between a small late night snack and a total pig out fest. Good luck!
  • NakeshiaB
    NakeshiaB Posts: 250 Member
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    I know it sounds silly, and perhaps even difficult, but don't be afraid of the hunger. Experience it, note how your body feels, then move on from it. Distract yourself with a good book, go for a walk, brush your teeth, play cards, anything that involves thinking is good.

    I used to have this same problem, but by actually stopping to ask myself why I was so afraid of not eating for a few hours I noticed that my thinking changed. I wasn't actually hungry, it was just a habit to eat at night, and no habit has to stay a habit, we alone have the power to change what we do.

    Questioning yourself is one of the toughest things we can do, and changing something you don't like is even tougher. Good luck!
  • Nessalee77
    Nessalee77 Posts: 78 Member
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    I had/have this problem, but I have it less now. I set myself a challenge to not eat after dinner for 30 days. I drew up a chart and put it on the fridge and gave myself a gold star each morning if I hadn't eaten the night before. I told myself if I missed one night, I would have to throw out all my stars and start at the beginning again.

    The first night was hard. Like REALLY hard. I kept telling myself "I can do anything for just one night" and I got my first star. The second night was hard too. The third night was OK - I was doing some sewing. By the tenth night it was getting easy! I cruised through the rest of the 30 days.

    Since then I now struggle occasionally with eating after dinner, but i usually save enough cals for a bowl of popcorn or custard, and I'm not so inclined to just keep eating once I've started. I guess I just needed that kick to break the habit, and here's the most important thing...

    I realized I don't need to be eating to be relaxed!!! I can enjoy my quiet evening at home without eating.

    I hope this helps you, it really helped me.
  • Mandabout
    Mandabout Posts: 1
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    Sugar Free Mints do it for me as well as an early night for a couple of nights... can't be hungry when you are sleeping .. hope that helps :)
  • shimmergal
    shimmergal Posts: 381 Member
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    love all the tips!
  • hypocritelecter
    hypocritelecter Posts: 61 Member
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    I find that having a 2L bottle of water throughout the evening works wonders, as well as gum and keeping busy with chores, social events etc. For me, my main downfall was having too much time sitting in front of the television, and suddenly craving plates upon plates of food. I'll also echo going to bed early! There's nothing wrong with that- even just slipping into bed an hour or two earlier than usual to curl up with a new book, you don't have to sleep.
  • JosephVitte
    JosephVitte Posts: 2,039
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    No good suggestion...............but I feel you.


    I just went over my cal count by misreading the tuna can. I thought it was 70 cal's, but it was 70 cal's per serving, I got duped, I thought one little can was one serving. It was a yummy tuna fish, lettuce, onion, monterey jack cheese with a table spoon of mayo and two pieces of sara lee 100% whole wheat bread sandwich...............but that simple misread cost me going over my cal limit. O well, my MPF tracker also said if I eat like this everyday for the next 5 weeks, I'll be 8 lbs lighter than I am now. So I guess I betetr keep eating!


    The best to you!

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