keep cheating? what do i do?

Add more exercise if you can. Pick healthier snacks. Find something to keep your mind off of food. Drink lots of water.

Make sure you are on enough calories. A lot of people don't realise when they first start on here that you can eat at a moderate deficit instead of a large one and lose weight without the suffering. Find out your TDEE and subtract 20% from that since you have a fair bit to lose. You'll probably find it's more than what you are on now and not have to starve then end up bingeing.

Who does the shopping in your home? Usually it's us women. So-- if you handle the shopping, just DON'T BUY THE STUFF. I like to snack at night as well, and usually on chips, popcorn, something salty and crunchy. So-- I just have to NOT buy those cans of pringles. And though I shop for my family (husband and 2 small kids)... it's not hurting them to NOT have chips and pretzels in the house!! It sounds so basic, but so many of us just have the trigger foods in the house, and then we're ... triggered. So- if you can 'arrange your world for success'... you'll get rid of the things that get you munching, and there ya go- they are gone!
Also- and again, this sounds silly, but it's simple-- sometimes I just remove myself form the situation. I know myself, and I know that night time, after kids are in bed, sitting there watching TV is a trigger time for me. I may not even be hungry-- but it's when I've always liked to snack. So I just HAVE to do something different. Move to a different room in the house. Watch TV upstairs (away from the kitchen), read a book or go for a late night walk. Get on the phone, get on the computer, just DO something else to break the ritual. It truly is a habit... and it just needs to be broken.
Good luck! And no night time munching tonight!!

I stopped trying to stop myself from eating at night. That's when I'm hungry-that's when I do the majority of my eating. I just shifted things around so I eat a few hundred calories during the day-then have like 1000 between 8pm and bedtime. I seemed to eat that much regardless of how much or what I ate during the day-so I decided to just go with it. I just plan to eat at night-I'm not going over my calories - just eating them at night mostly. That works better for me than trying to fight it.

I usually eat chicken breast 6ox, 2 cups of buckwheat....for bf I have 2 eggs for lunch I would have cup noodles 2wice a week or salmon w/ brown rice.

I think I eat healthy enough with one treat here and there but for some reason im still hungry and can't stop eating. maybe I have to check my goals again and see if its the right calorie intake .... every site says different. one site said I need 1600, this site says I need 1400, another site said I needed 1800! so im really confused.

Is that an example day or is is really that restrictive? Good to see protein regularly but seems very low in fat? Add in your three servings of reduced fat dairy products for calcium, more oily fish for the vitamin D and omega-3s, switch your eggs to omega enriched, add some cheese or nuts for protein because two eggs is only about 14g, way more low sugar fruits and non starchy vegetables (nine servings a day). Chicken breast is low fat but it really is not very nutritious. Buckwheat is great source of some minerals, terrible for others so mix it up with other seeds or beans/ lentils if you are wheat free. Are you eating two cups in one sitting, that is a fair bit of carbs I think?

How much are you aiming to lose? If you set two pounds a week this site tends to make calories too low, try setting one pound a week so you don't undereat. And MFPs protein guideline is too low for most. Some of the nutrients I mention - vitamin D, omega-3s and calcium are important in energy production/ metabolism and weight management not 'just' general health. There are others too which is why I am pushing eating from more food groups/ much broader variety of foods.

Noooo popcorn until you have tried the more protein/ dairy/ healthy fats/ veggies thing, it is very high glycaemic index and will spike and trough your blood sugar.

I did the same thing until I started changing my routine. First, I have decided NO TV. At least for the time being. That is a trigger for me. Also, I planned in advance things I could do instead of eating, if I wasn't actually PHYSICALLY hungry (not just emotional hunger). For example, to keep my hands busy, I iron, do origami, paint birdhouses that I buy for $5 at Michaels, I fold laundry, I pick up the kids toys, I do dishes. If I am actually hungry, I try to drink a glass of water first, then have an apple with peanut butter. (The protein and fat help keep me full).

I don't do this every time, but I am working on it. I am doing better and better.

I just posted, somewhere to chat outerspace, about a book called, The Power of Habit. I HIGHLY recommend it. It will teach you about your Habit Loops. You will have to take a look at yourself, and really think about your cues, routines, and rewards, but the book will teach you about it. Then, you can begin to do the work to change your habits.

Good luck!

I think eat more of the protein/fiber stuff throughout the day so you don't feel deprived, and yeah, make it a smaller deficit from TDEE.

to prevent you from getting hungry at night, why not try a whole load of lettuce (maybe half a head) with mushrooms, diced tomato, cucumber, and then mix together: tbsp kraft miracle whip, tb of ranch dressing and just a little bit of milk so dressing volumizes to cover your salad. you can even throw in some protein (can of tuna is 120 cals, or chicken breast, etc.) and you can throw just a bit of croutons in it to give it some crunch. that will get you sooooo full with not much cals and guarantee you won't be wanting to eat.

also, if you just force yourself for three days in a row to not eat at night, it will be pretty easy after that - just an adjustment that you have to do (don't cave in to your food desires).

hot (green) tea as well. maybe warm milk to get you tired so you fall asleep fast.

wish you all success.

I stopped trying to stop myself from eating at night. That's when I'm hungry-that's when I do the majority of my eating. I just shifted things around so I eat a few hundred calories during the day-then have like 1000 between 8pm and bedtime. I seemed to eat that much regardless of how much or what I ate during the day-so I decided to just go with it. I just plan to eat at night-I'm not going over my calories - just eating them at night mostly. That works better for me than trying to fight it.

I agree with this. I am the same way. So, I have coffee with milk when I first get up, then I eat a smallish high protein meal about three hours after waking, then don't eat again until five or six hours later. If you choose the right foods, with enough protein and fats, 1500-1600 calories should be fine. My morning meal is usually around 300-500 calories, my evening meal is around 1000-1200. I don't often snack after dinner.

This^^

You don't have to eat at a particular time of the day
You don't have to stop eating by a particular time of the day
You don't have to spread your calories evenly over the day
Just hit your daily numbers...

I have found that keeping my hands busy with knitting really prevents me from wanting to snack because I can't eat and knit at the same time!

We also tend to eat dinner later than I would prefer (from what I grew up with) based on my partner's work schedule.

If I think I'm hungry at night, I will first have a glass of water and wait 15 minutes. If that doesn't do it, even if I'm over my calories for the day, I can have any non-starchy vegetable I want, or 1 serving of fruit.

If I still think I'm hungry after that, I can have a (one) piece of string cheese or a serving of almonds. I have a hard time hitting my protein intake most days.

And if I STILL think after that, its time to go to bed, because I'm probably just "mouth" hungry and not "belly" hungry.

I also find that having "desert" type teas (vanilla, carob, licorice, etc) have been helpful in replacing my nightly hot chocolate ritual. Just as satisfying, but less sugar before bed.

There have been some days where I didn't eat enough vegetables (translate: had two doughnuts for lunch) and "ran out" of calories because I also didn't do much physical activity. A couple of those days I decided to let myself "go to bed hungry" because I had already had all the calories I needed for the day. Mind you, I wasn't RAVENOUSLY starving. It didn't seem to hurt, and in fact seems to have reminded me that I *don't* need to have a bedtime snack all the time.

This has been a difficult transition for me. I needed to take medication for an illness for a while that wreaked havoc on my appetite, especially carb cravings, and especially at night. It's nice to see that I've gotten some new skills under my belt.