Sleep Eating

FireRox21
FireRox21 Posts: 424 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I hope I'm not the only one with this issue. I sleep eat and it's become a HUGE problem. It is sabotaging my whole diet and exercise routine. Just last night I woke up in the kitchen eating half of a double cheeseburger. There were two empty chicken soft taco wrappers on the counter. This is really awful. I went back to bed and woke up this morning super bloated and feeling just plain crappy. Does anyone else have this problem? How do you try to limit or avoid sleep eating?

I've already gone for a sleep study, but I won't get those results until the end of this month. The sleep study tech said I definitely have some issues, but of course the doctor has the final say. Any help??

Replies

  • ubermensch13
    ubermensch13 Posts: 824 Member
    Question: have you been sleep eating since you've cut your calories? If so, perhaps you aren't eating enough during the day which is part of the problem....other than that, I'd say wait for your doctor to get back to you.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    One answer would be to not have that kind of food in the house to start with. If you sleep eat some carrots or apples it won't be as big of a disaster!
  • Firefox7275
    Firefox7275 Posts: 2,040 Member
    Agree don't keep junk food in the house, nobody needs to eat rubbish it's unhealthy for everyone. Maybe lock all your refrigerators and cupboards before you sleep or just put a lock on the kitchen door, hand the keys to another member of the household for safe keeping.
  • cindycrn40
    cindycrn40 Posts: 27
    agreed about the keeping healthy food in the house. However, you may need to see a sleep specialist of why you are doing this if they can find a way to prevent you from doing this. I took ambien to help me sleep and I slept ate due to taking that medication. I yelled at my kids when I got up cause I wanted to know who make this big mess in the kitchen. OMG...it was me! :-X
  • rachelaughe
    rachelaughe Posts: 21 Member
    I have the same problem! It doesn't matter how much I eat during the day, I still do it. Most of the time I am awake enough to know I am doing it but not awake enough to stop it. It sucks! I don't keep unhealthy foods in the house, but I do keep things like cereal and nuts which ordinarily would not be bad but eating handfuls of it multiple times a night has caused me to gain weight.
  • MochaMixAZ
    MochaMixAZ Posts: 844 Member
    I gained 30 pounds as a result of sleep eating - it was related to also taking Ambien. Once I stopped the medication, that resolved... but that didn't help me when I needed to take the medication. It didn't make a difference if I went to bed hungry or full - I would still get up and eat. Sometimes, the combinations were startling and complex: imagine eating chocolate chip cookies, cheddar cheese, hamburger, and coke. Seriously crazy.

    What DID help me was kind of bizarre. I locked my bedroom door. Barrier 1. I put up a baby gate in the hallway. Barrier 2. At the height of it, I put a combination lock on the refrigerator. Barrier 3. I also tried to limit the food I had available in my cabinets and 'fridge. Barrier 4. Lastly, I hung bells on the refrigerator door that jingled loudly. Barrier 5.

    I found with all of that, I'd usually wake up by the time I got to the food and could stop myself.

    Good luck!
  • Diary_Queen
    Diary_Queen Posts: 1,314 Member
    I'm a sleep eater as well.... officially dubbed a 'night binge eater' and it doesn't matter what kind of food i have in my house, the binge will happen if my sleep pattern is off. a bad night sleeping is a trigger for me and is especially related to my caffeine consumption. ive binged on a few 90 cal. special k bars to an entire bag of green grapes to a bowl of bran flakes with almond butter dolloped on top. just because you binge on one type of food that is deemed more or less healthy than another type of food doesnt make it feel any better or worse. it feels horrible to wake up almost touching your nose to a salad bowl that used to be filled with cereal and is now just warm milk and a spoon and a mess down your front or to wake up with your hand still in a package from where you'd eaten half of something or who knows how much. i think that is the hardest part for me, tracking the evidence to see just what happened while i was semi-conscious. i started sleep eating after the birth of my twins and it's continued in varying degrees ever since. the only things that have helped me were to A). leave 200 calories incase of a binge since i keep lots of healthier choices and that amount might cover it if i did binge, but keep those snacks packed away in one of the farthest rooms in the house B). it may sound silly to some, but i often sleep to a repeating light hypnosis tape. C). i, like cindy, had wild binges on ambien... so that was out for sleeping and besides it never really kept me asleep all night anyway. now i take an OTC medication called Alteril that has helped with me falling asleep and staying asleep. I dont take it every night and it takes some getting used to (one of the ingredients is said to cause extremely vivid dream cycles and lucid dreaming, it did for me). These things helped but i dont think there's any one silver bullet. You just keep working at it. Feel free to add me if youd like :)
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,420 Member
    Are you by any chance taking Ambien? We've had this discussion on here before, and apparently sleep-eating is a listed side effect of Ambien, and fairly common.
  • FireRox21
    FireRox21 Posts: 424 Member
    I live at home with my parents and they have the junk food in the house. They are slowly coming around, but no matter what, Del Taco still manages to get in the kitchen. I can't lock the doors, etc. because we are all on different schedules.
    I see the sleep doctor to discuss my sleep study results in a couple of weeks, so maybe I can get some answers.
    I do take a large dose of Seroquel at night for Bi-Polar disorder and that cannot be changed.

    I didn't even think about not enough during the day. That could be a culprit, but I have been sleep eating for years. That's part of the reasons I'm here on MFP to lose weight.

    I'm thinking that I could drink a good amount of water before I go to sleep. This may be gross, but it's a lot faster (and easier) to wash sheets than it is to lose a pound!!!!
  • guinnessstella
    guinnessstella Posts: 9 Member
    Wow, I'm a sleep eater too and didn't realize it was so common. I take a sleeping pill (not ambien) and often find myself eating in the middle of the night in a trance-like state. It's almost like I'm semi-conscious of what I'm doing but not conscious enough to care or make a different choice. Fortunately I don't generally keep 'junk' in the house so the worst I can do is toast (but butter and jam can sure add up quick!!!)
  • riboid
    riboid Posts: 31
    I think you have more sleep issues than eating issues.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    how far have you cut your calories?

    i knew someone who would do this, but she was also regularly starving herself during the day, so the sleepeating was really the only time her body was getting food
  • FireRox21
    FireRox21 Posts: 424 Member
    I have a baby gate in the door of my room to keep the dog in when I'm asleep or out of the house. I've become a pro at unlocking that bad boy when I'm hungry!!
  • Gr8ChangesAhead
    Gr8ChangesAhead Posts: 836 Member
    I also sleep eat it started after my 1st pregnancy which was 25 years ago. I do not take any type of sleep medications. I have tried to keep only healthy snacks within reach in the fridge or cabinets to no avail apparently my sleeping brain knows where my kids stash the junk. I do think it has affected my weight loss drastically. I usually know it has occured is that I wake up with dishes, food , crumbs or wrappers in my bed, which is so frustrating. Have had sleep studies in the past and it seems when my blood sugar fluctuates I tend to eat. Or when I go to bed stressed out. Was told by multiple physicians not much can be done :(
  • FireRox21
    FireRox21 Posts: 424 Member
    For those of you that do sleep eat, do you regularly eat breakfast? Are you on an eating schedule? I try to eat through out the day, such as yogurt or fruit and often find myself not hungry at dinner time. But 6-7 hours later, I'm sleep eating.
  • FireRox21
    FireRox21 Posts: 424 Member
    I also sleep eat it started after my 1st pregnancy which was 25 years ago. I do not take any type of sleep medications. I have tried to keep only healthy snacks within reach in the fridge or cabinets to no avail apparently my sleeping brain knows where my kids stash the junk. I do think it has affected my weight loss drastically. I usually know it has occured is that I wake up with dishes, food , crumbs or wrappers in my bed, which is so frustrating. Have had sleep studies in the past and it seems when my blood sugar fluctuates I tend to eat. Or when I go to bed stressed out. Was told by multiple physicians not much can be done :(

    This exactly. I don't have any children, but my sleeping brain knows exactly where the junk is!!! I know it has definitely affected my weight loss as well.
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    Wow! I have never heard of this! So sorry! I hope everyone who commented that is struggling with this cam find some relief!
  • Gr8ChangesAhead
    Gr8ChangesAhead Posts: 836 Member
    I drink a protien shake most mornings or have cereal or eggs. I eat lunch and dinner as well recently changed so I am gonna try with 4 smaller meals a day see if that helps....
  • distortedhero
    distortedhero Posts: 24 Member
    I didn't know this actually existed. Keep us posted on what is going on.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    How many calories are you eating when awake on average?
  • kelly_e_montana
    kelly_e_montana Posts: 1,999 Member
    I have the same issue. I will even eat uncooked food while I'm asleep or half asleep. I eat like 1500-2000 calories during the day and still deal with this. I feel for you!

    I'm not on meds of any kind at this time. I think it's related to my binge eating disorder. I can control that with behavioral therapy during day but not while I'm asleep.
  • ahelsel1970
    ahelsel1970 Posts: 65 Member
    Hi,

    I am a Business consultant and one of my clients works with this issue with fantastic results. Let me know if you want his number.
    Austin
  • FireRox21
    FireRox21 Posts: 424 Member
    I didn't know this actually existed. Keep us posted on what is going on.

    Sadly, this really does exist and is exasperating for people trying to lose weight. Our "awake" brains and bodies work so hard to eat right and exercise, but our "asleep" brains have their own agenda. I am really hoping I get some sort of answer from my sleep doctor.

    I eat between 1400-1800 calories a day. Usually closer to 1400. I have a protein shake around lunch time and fresh fruits for a snack when I get home from the gym. I'm going to try and eat more for breakfast...I kinda skimp on that meal.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    Try saving extra calories to eat just before bed maybe. On the nights you eat 1800 is it happening? You could track if it only happens on your lower calorie days to see if that makes a difference.
  • volume77
    volume77 Posts: 670 Member
    I live at home with my parents and they have the junk food in the house. They are slowly coming around, but no matter what, Del Taco still manages to get in the kitchen. I can't lock the doors, etc. because we are all on different schedules.
    I see the sleep doctor to discuss my sleep study results in a couple of weeks, so maybe I can get some answers.
    I do take a large dose of Seroquel at night for Bi-Polar disorder and that cannot be changed.

    I didn't even think about not enough during the day. That could be a culprit, but I have been sleep eating for years. That's part of the reasons I'm here on MFP to lose weight.

    I'm thinking that I could drink a good amount of water before I go to sleep. This may be gross, but it's a lot faster (and easier) to wash sheets than it is to lose a pound!!!!




    ITS THE SEROQUEL FOR SURE!!!! STOP TAKING IT YOU DONT WANT TO GAIN 50+ LBS. TRUST ME !!!!!!!!!!!!!1
  • volume77
    volume77 Posts: 670 Member
    SEROQUEL IS THE DEVIL!!!!! IT IS NOT WORTH IT IT MAKES YOU GAIN WEIGHT!!!!!
  • FireRox21
    FireRox21 Posts: 424 Member
    Unfortunately, I cannot stop taking Seroquel. I have battled Bi-Polar Disorder for 10 years and have tried numerous medications. Finally, after 6 years, I have found a combo of drugs that control it. Seroquel is one of those drugs. Plus, I am legally bound by the court system to follow my psychiatrist's orders and to take my meds accordingly. I just can't stop taking it.

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