how to stop overeating at night HELP!

I usually try to work out and then eat dinner.... that helps supress my appetite. Also, I am a huge overeater! So I just cant START. I need to not start the snacking or i wont stop. I have tried upping my wwater, drinking tea before bed, and just getting to sleep. Honestly, the hardest part is breaking the habit

I found that eating full feeling foods help! Such as large green salad with lots of colorful vegetables, with my meal keeps me full longer. Also food high in fiber helps.

OMG! This has been a constant struggle for me. I do really well all day and then at night its like a demon comes to life. What i have started doing is saving some calories for "snacktime" cause it is coming. I usually have a fat free yogurt with a TBSP of ff whipped topping and that satisfies my sweet craving. Then I try to stay up and do something to keep my mind busy for about an hour and i go to bed. If i want something more substantial which i am finding is less often now (Thank God), i would have a serving of taste escapes ham, on one slice of wheat bread. It has been difficult getting to this point and some nights i just plain fall all the way off the wagon, like last night, i ate mcdonalds but i can't change yesterday so i am working on doing different today, I just went and stocked up on my yogurts!!! Wishing you much success!!:drinker: :flowerforyou:

I always do great during the day but when I'm at home at night I always overeat on cereal or whatever I can get my hands on. Any tips on how to stop because I'm afraid instead of progressing I'll gain weight back

get a hobby that will keep your mind off of eating...sew, paint, write, do something creative....i find that if im sitting in front of the tv, i get the "boredom hunger" but if im actually DOING something to keep my brain busy (and my hands for that matter) then i wont eat.

I get that way too, and it is a tough habit to break...I try to eat dinner between 7 and 7:30, and try to get ready for bed early. Brushing my teeth when the urge hits also helps...Delay, delay, delay, and the cravings go away...but they are vicious until they leave.

A lot of us have the same problem. For some of us, it has nothing to do with being full. I know for me its just boredom. I can feel full and still eat food until I almost hurt. What I have started doing is some chores in the evening to keep me occupied. I am also a social eater. If someone around is eating, I feel obligated to do so as well. These are habits that have to be broken. As for actually being hungry later in the day, that is actually pretty simple, eat a big breakfast, and a decent size lunch. My grandmother told me how she kept lean (other than working on a farm) was to eat like a king in the morning, eat like a prince in the afternoon and eat like a pauper at night. It makes sense since your body is winding down at the end of the day, you don't really need a lot of food.

A lot of us have the same problem. For some of us, it has nothing to do with being full. I know for me its just boredom. I can feel full and still eat food until I almost hurt. What I have started doing is some chores in the evening to keep me occupied. I am also a social eater. If someone around is eating, I feel obligated to do so as well. These are habits that have to be broken. As for actually being hungry later in the day, that is actually pretty simple, eat a big breakfast, and a decent size lunch. My grandmother told me how she kept lean (other than working on a farm) was to eat like a king in the morning, eat like a prince in the afternoon and eat like a pauper at night. It makes sense since your body is winding down at the end of the day, you don't really need a lot of food.

A craving doesn't come from hunger; eating will never satisfy it. Eat only to satisfy hunger! Your stomach is only the size of your fist! Try ignoring it and maybe it will soon go away, break the habit. Try having a healthy snack on hand!

My hubby & I don't eat after 9PM, even if we have calories left. We usually save enough for a good snack and eat it close to 9PM, then we are done for the night. :bigsmile:

Also, we do not go over our calories, even if we are hungry, we are just done when they are gone. :ohwell: So this takes a little discipline to "budget" the calories throughout the day, so it isn't 3PM & all the calories are gone! :happy:

Here are some ideas for some good low (or Lower) calorie snacks if those munchies attack and you just need to eat! LOL
* Celery with Peanut Butter (We get the low fat stuff from Trader Joe's, "Better'n Peanut Butter", and it's only 50 Calories per TBS) ~ 3 Med. Celery ribs & 1 TBS PB = about 57 Calories
My hubby likes to put raisins and unsweetened coconut on his celery with PB ~ 4 Celery Ribs & 1 TBS PB, Raisins & Unsweetened Coconut = About 162 Calories
* Apple with Peanut Butter ~ Medium Apple With Skin + 1TBS PB = about122 Calories
* 1 Cup NonFat Plain Yogurt with 1 Cup Fruit (We use frozen fruit Thawed out in the fridge = about 180 Calories

These are a few of my favorite munchies. & I am a junk food junkie!!! LOL You just get more "bang for your buck" with fruit, or veggies, than with say, chips or ice cream.

Hope that helps!! :flowerforyou:

I was talking about this with a friend after my post yesterday, and he made a suggestion:

Make a rule, that any snack/meal you eat, you prepare, and then sit down at the table to eat, with no other distractions - turn off the tv, no books, etc. No eating on the couch, no eating at the computer, no eating standing up. Prepare it, then go sit down to eat it.

Preparing it (even if it's just as silly as putting cookies on a plate rather than eating them from the packet) makes you think about what you're doing
Eating at the table without distractions makes you concentrate on the eating, and not on what else is going on

You'll find you're more aware about what you're eating, it helps portion control, and if it's just boredom eating all that effort may not seem worth it after all!

Also, prepare HALF of what you think you want at a time - you may find that you don't end up wanting to go back for the rest, but it would have been eaten had it been there in the first place!



Made sense to me, so thought I would share.

I always do great during the day but when I'm at home at night I always overeat on cereal or whatever I can get my hands on. Any tips on how to stop because I'm afraid instead of progressing I'll gain weight back

Eat more. I know this sounds crazy, but I was just where you are at for 8 months. I would lose then gain it back, lose then gain it back. Did great eating 1200 during the day through dinner but then eat a whole box of cereal (at least it felt like) at night. Once I started eating more (around 1400-1900 with eating all my exercise calories) I starting to lose again. I am a binge eater so once I start eating the game is over, and I always lose the game. I try to keep my hands busy and keep a picture of "fat me" on the fridge so I can go look at it and tell myself "ok, you eat your dinner, your not hungry". I find that if I even take one bite of whatever it is I can't stop eating. I try to fold laundry until the urge passes. If I find myself thinking about going into the kitchen more than 3 times in an hour it is time for me to go to bed!

I had the same problem. I have found that forcing myself to eat a bigger healthy breakfast makes all the difference. This helps curb my cravings all day. As long as I eat something small whenever I have little cravings during the day by night time the cravings disappear.

Snacking at night is my Achilles heel, especially Fridays/Saturdays when we're home watching a movie. For the times I can't resist, I opt for healthier choices, like edamame, kale chips or baked broccoli.

I heard that you should pick up a magazine or a book and try to read for a little while instead...usually you get sort of wrapped up in it and forget about food. If you are still hungry after trying to distract yourself (doesn't have to be reading) for 15 minutes or so, you are actually hungry, so have a small snack and then try to distract yourself again so you don't keep going! :-) I know this is hard.

I do leave plenty of calories in my day for snacks. Hopefully you aren't starving yourself during the day either...that would encourage these binge moments if you are constantly underfeeding yourself during the day.

For me, it's mental. I have decided to make better choices... "today is a new day to make the right choices". It's also about planning. Plan your food and meals and you won't need to rely on cereal b/c you are starving when you get home.

Good luck!