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

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Replies

  • kenazfehu
    kenazfehu Posts: 1,188 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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: 380 Member
    love all the tips!
  • hypocritelecter
    hypocritelecter Posts: 61 Member
    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
    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!
  • xxloveiswarr
    xxloveiswarr Posts: 124
    I brush my teeth and drink lots of water.
  • douglasmobbs
    douglasmobbs Posts: 563 Member
    What is the difference between what you do at night and what you do in the day?

    My guess is night time is when you slow down and relax. You probably have a physiological link between relaxing and wanting to graze. Most links like this can be broken within a week or two, but easily be reestablished.

    When you meal plan make look at what you are eating and when. My guess would be that you are eating a bigger evening meal than mid-day meal. During the day I assume you do not feel as strong a need to graze as you do at night. From this it is fair to say you cannot be needing the food in the evening but only wanting it. Keep this in mind in the evenings and your cravings will more than likely subside over the course of a week or two.

    Alternatively change your routine in the evening so you are not sitting down to relax until later on allowing 30 minutes or so before bed to calm down to ensure you are not effecting your sleeping but you are busy enough to stop the cravings rearing their head.
  • Rubyayn
    Rubyayn Posts: 433 Member
    I am with the others that say save your calories for the evening. I eat 4 meals per day and still save around 600 calories for an evening snack while I watch t.v or stalk Facebook. Popcorn, cheese and crackers with a mini cheesecake and sometimes I even have a second sweet snack. WIN!

    Of course it helps that I eat 2100 calories per day, lol.
  • kristen6022
    kristen6022 Posts: 1,923 Member
    I find having someone else to do stops me from eating at night. I have crafts I do while watching tv that keeps food out of my mouth and I've learned to go to bed early when the cravings start too. I find I eat when I'm bored, so if I'm not bored I don't eat. I just need to find something else to do...
  • graysmom2005
    graysmom2005 Posts: 1,882 Member
    My two helpers are sugar free jello and decaf coffee. We have a Keurig and I'll brew a cup of decaf with some sugar free french vanilla creamer. I'll sip it and it helps with hunger. The jello is 10 calories and sweet. They both help!
  • reklawn
    reklawn Posts: 112 Member
    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.

    AHH! This is genius!!

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