Eating at night

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michellegoingdown
michellegoingdown Posts: 3 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hi all,

I have this annoying habit of eating at night. The worst part? I try and save calories for night time eating. This has been habitual since I was a little girl. Everyday begins with good intentions and ends with guilt and beating myself up. I know what I should do so why can't I just do it? It's all a choice, right? Anyone else struggle with this?
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Replies

  • sprintto50
    sprintto50 Posts: 410 Member
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    There is nothing, per se, wrong with eating at night, as long as your total caloric intake for the day is within whatever limit you set. Calories are calories regardless of what time of day you eat them. Some people find eating at night disrupts their sleep, but I find a bedtime snack helps me sleep since I'm not hungry when I go to bed.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    I always plan to eat about 25% of my calories after dinner. I think I'd be far more likely to loose control and overeat if I didn't have that cushion there. There's nothing really wrong with nighttime snacking as long as you choose healthy foods and stay within your calories.
  • katherinelangley
    katherinelangley Posts: 52
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    There isn't anything wrong with eating at night but try and leave some time before you sleep as your body needs to digest. (Can be uncomfortable to sleep if you're very full). If you want to start breaking the habit, try having regularly spaced small meals throughout the day so you don't feel the guilt at the end of the day - you can regularly munch away so it fits in with your net goal!
  • braninburg1
    braninburg1 Posts: 1 Member
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    As katherine stated there is nothing wrong with eating at night..I have a habit of wanting to eat at night as well..When i'm laying in bed watching tv my mind starts wandering and thinking about food..With my workout routine i usually have plenty of room to eat a little something at night..I also drink about 20oz of water so it will help fill me up.Don't beat yourself up if you eat at night..Maybe try adding more exercise into your routine so you have more room to say binge at night..Good luck!!
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
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    The worst part? I try and save calories for night time eating.

    I don't understand. That's exactly what I do. On purpose. Every night. For the last 300 days.

    I eat 50% of my calories before dinner.
  • ItsNotAnOption
    ItsNotAnOption Posts: 3
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    We have a group for this exact problem!! The group is called Evening Eaters. I do this all the time too, it is crazy how quicky I can ruin a "good" day just by overeating after dinner. I really think it is more habit than anything, I know I'm not hungry but I still do it. I think the key is to learn to replace the habit with something else. Some people in our group have suggested drinking tea, chewing sugar free gum, and eating fruit. For me, since it seems to be a habit, I'm going to try to replace evening eating with exercise. I have 2 boys that usually go to bed at 8:00, I have a treadmill in my house and I think I'm going to start walking in the evenings after they go to bed because their bedtime seems to be the trigger that sets me off. Its like they go to bed and then that's our quiet time to watch TV and just veg out then I eat. I'm thinking that if you replace it with something else, like exercise, you won't be able to eat. I've also thought about having an eating cutoff time. I know that it doesn't matter what time of day you eat, but for those of us that save our calories and then eat a ton at night it might really help. I know what you mean about beating yourself up, I did the exact same thing last night. I ate perfectly all day then got home and went crazy. I think we just have to take it one day at a time because if you look at the big picture it can be overwhelming. Feel free to add me as a friend so we can support each other and check out the group!! :smile:
  • sharleengc
    sharleengc Posts: 792 Member
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    I've always had a hard time with this! I've tried everything from eating dinner right when I get home from work to eating later in the evening. Nothing really helps. I always try to save calories for a snack and I try to make it something that is in pieces so I can pace myself and make myself eat it one at a time.

    Eating at night doesn't affect my progress, I just think it's a pain.
  • now_or_never13
    now_or_never13 Posts: 1,575 Member
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    Are you within your calorie and macro goals for the day? If so, I'm not sure what the problem is.... there is nothing wrong with eating later at night as long as you are still within your calorie and macro goals.
  • alilarmour
    alilarmour Posts: 32
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    Evenings are my worst time!! I have always always had a habit of eating in the evenings and like you no matter what diet I do I always saved calories for night time eating. The worst bit was I never ate anything worthwhile at night as I was never hungry. It's just crisps and stupid snacks that I don't need and don't particularly even enjoy. It's a habit just like smoking or nail biting or whatever else people do. Last year I needed to really focus and try to lose 10lbs n 4 weeks for an event and the first thing I decided was no eating after 6.30pm!!!! It was very tough but I mostly stuck to it apart from the weekends when I was a little bad and I lost 7 or 8lbs. It wasn't the night time eating that was bad, it was the choices of food I was stuffing myself with. Eating those calories during the day meant I had better meals rather than more snacks. Now I'm doing the 5:2 diet and with only 500 calories 2 days a week I don't have enough to have anything but water after tea. I'm finding it easy enough as I know the next day I can eat well. Strangely it is also making me less likely to snack and eat loads at night on the 5 days I'm allowed to. This is only week two of doing it so I can't judge it for success on weight loss yet but it's easy and I feel good.
  • ellepribro
    ellepribro Posts: 226 Member
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    Evenings are my downfall as well. I will often do very well all day only to ruin it with my eating after dinner. I saw a post above mention the group Evening Eaters. I've joined and I'm hoping it will help me to be more successful!
  • aduecker
    aduecker Posts: 6
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    Try listening to these free podcast. I would scroll down & start at the very beginning.

    http://podcasts.personallifemedia.com/podcasts/216-inside-out-weight-loss

    This program is geared toward keeping weight off and retraining our minds about food.
  • khall86790
    khall86790 Posts: 1,100 Member
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    There is nothing, per se, wrong with eating at night, as long as your total caloric intake for the day is within whatever limit you set. Calories are calories regardless of what time of day you eat them. Some people find eating at night disrupts their sleep, but I find a bedtime snack helps me sleep since I'm not hungry when I go to bed.

    Same. You have nothing to feel bad about as long as you don't go over your calories!

    And if you do, add them on to the next day and then eat less that day to compensate, maybe that will make you feel better? I've done that once or twice where I've had a snack at midnight and thought ah rather than go over for today I will just add that on to tomorrow (or that would technically NOW be today at midnight) and burn it off then.
  • michellegoingdown
    michellegoingdown Posts: 3 Member
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    Thank you...I will listen to those :)
  • michellegoingdown
    michellegoingdown Posts: 3 Member
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    Thanks everyone...looking forward to listening to the podcasts
  • Danjan04
    Danjan04 Posts: 4 Member
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    I have the same problem!!! I do so good all day and then 7pm hits and i am going thru cabinets finding whatever i can!!!
  • katkins3
    katkins3 Posts: 1,360 Member
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    I have a practice that seems odd, but works for me.
    After dinner is cleaned up, about 7 or so, I do this:
    I announce, out loud, even if I'm alone: "The kitchen is Now Closed!".
    Then I turn out the light and don't enter that room until morning. If I need water for later, I bring it out before "closing".
    I'm lucky, I can close the door to the kitchen and make that room off limits until morning.
  • Ianultrarunner
    Ianultrarunner Posts: 184 Member
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    I always find that if I eat within three or so hours before bedtime then I won't sleep well.
    Everyone is different but if you are trying to loose weight then eating late may cause your body to retain or turn what you eat in to Fat. It just depends on your metabolism and body type. If you are already loosing or maintaining then don't worry unless sleep becomes an issue which also may cause body fat to be retained.
    Don't become overly obsessed but just keep a notebook about what times you eat, how you feel the next morning and track your weight to see if or not there are any patterns that might concern you and try to adjust to see what happens but give it time.
  • joleenl
    joleenl Posts: 739 Member
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    My mom struggled with late night hunger too. Save up a bit of calories and eat peanut butter on something like an apple or celery or rice cakes. For some reason my mom found peanut butter was filling and helped control the late night hunger.
  • marcf2001
    marcf2001 Posts: 110
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    I have also this problem, but I tend to exceed my daily limits doing that and I am also ending up eating up quite some junk right before bedtime.

    For us, diner is more at 7pm, so my evening eating is more at 9-10pm
  • iLoveMyPitbull1225
    iLoveMyPitbull1225 Posts: 1,690 Member
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    whats wrong with this if you have the calories?

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