Late night eating...

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koootenay
koootenay Posts: 126 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So I'm pretty new here and was looking for some help with late night eating. I ate all my calories for the day, throughout the day and just now i finished eating a bacon cheese burger and 10 nuggets. Sent my total calorie goal through the rooof!!

Now I've looked online and searched around but all it says is drink more water and only eat 3 meals a day, and not after 8pm. I can't do that. I eat every 2-3 hours and I stay up pretty late -after midnight- I'm pretty sure I drink enough water..... what's wrong with me : (

Replies

  • LittleMissDover
    LittleMissDover Posts: 820 Member
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    The time you eat doesn't matter, what matters is your total intake for the day (or week some people work on).

    I eat every 2-3 hours and I eat after 8pm and I'm losing. Typically for me a day would be:

    9am: Breakfast
    11am: Approx 100-150 cal snack
    1pm: Lunch
    3.30pm: Approx 100-150 cal snack
    5.30pm: Dinner
    8pm: Approx 100-150 cal snack
    10pm: Approx 100-150 cal snack
  • Warchortle
    Warchortle Posts: 2,197 Member
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    They only say not to eat after 8 pm because unintentionally they want you to intermittent fast. It really doesn't matter because you're going to go anabolic while you sleep whether you eat or not. I will say for bodybuilding carbs right before bed isn't the best choice, but I couldn't fall asleep and just ate 320 calories worth of prosciutto. It fit my daily calories and I've even asked my doctor and he doesn't think it matters either.

    You're crashing from all the sugar additives in the foods. Carbs get broken down into sugars + the added sugars it'll keep you craving food all day. You don't have to eat "clean" but it would help if you tracked sugar in your food log.
  • nornyb
    nornyb Posts: 224 Member
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    I always save a few calories for an evening snack, and if I didn't have any I would do some kind of exercise to earn some.
  • nornyb
    nornyb Posts: 224 Member
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    It would be easier to give you some feedback if you opened your diary to everyone.
  • lina011
    lina011 Posts: 427 Member
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    choose a lower calorie snack if eating after midnight........... the only time i eat late at night is when my baby wakes up for a feed i usually eat a apple or maybe nothing depending if i had a big dinner or not
  • ms_leanne
    ms_leanne Posts: 523
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    koootenay. If any of that stuff was McDonalds then it may well have HFCS in it (High Fructose Corn Syrup). This will be awful with your diabetes as for every 120 cals you eat of it, 74 cals of it will be stored as fat.

    As per the above post, low calories snacks in between meals are the answer. Eat little and often is very much a good way to balance yor sugar levels too. I'm sure your physician or a dietician will have given you some advice.
  • myfrogs11
    myfrogs11 Posts: 53 Member
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    I'm an after dinner picker. I eat my dinner and then pick at what's in the pan because it's so dang good. I decided last night to put smaller portions on my dinner plate of what I'm bound to pick at, so what's on my plate plus what I pick equals a normal portion. We'll see how this goes....
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    koootenay. If any of that stuff was McDonalds then it may well have HFCS in it (High Fructose Corn Syrup). This will be awful with your diabetes as for every 120 cals you eat of it, 74 cals of it will be stored as fat.

    Wait wut? Do you have a source for that?
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    So I'm pretty new here and was looking for some help with late night eating. I ate all my calories for the day, throughout the day and just now i finished eating a bacon cheese burger and 10 nuggets. Sent my total calorie goal through the rooof!!

    Now I've looked online and searched around but all it says is drink more water and only eat 3 meals a day, and not after 8pm. I can't do that. I eat every 2-3 hours and I stay up pretty late -after midnight- I'm pretty sure I drink enough water..... what's wrong with me : (

    If you like to eat late at night, then stop fighting your body and start working with it. Eat less during the day so you have calories left at night.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    As long as eating late doesn't give you indigestion or affect your sleep then it doesn't matter how late you eat. I purposefully build in enough calories for a good snack late in the evening.
  • jjo202
    jjo202 Posts: 9 Member
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    Hahaha - I know the perils of late night eating! Especially in the company of 420 or a few drinks, I've been known to put thousands of calories away "after dinner". But somehow for the past two months I've been able to really curb that. First, I shop so that there is always food in the house to cook, but never crappy food to snack on. So if I want to eat, I have to prepare a proper meal.

    I also cook in large batches and try to make meals that are under 200 calories for a cup (ie vegetarian chili with a lot of vegetables in it, or a hearty vegetable soup - "saute" your veggies with stock instead of oil and you can really reduce the total calories in the pot). That way, if the late night craving hits me and I want to go for another round or two of dinner, my damage is only about 300 calories. If I had chips or nuggets around, that's what I'd choose during those moments of weakness, but they're not around so I'm quite content to have some stew.

    But I also expect myself to be more interested in food at night, so I eat smaller meals during the day. I know that's not ideal for my metabolism, but if I've eaten all my calories for the day by 8pm, I'm going to go way over if I don't have some cushion, so I just know that I need to plan for that, and try to leave myself a good 900 calories for 7pm and beyond.

    Oh, and don't underestimate the joy of cooking long meals! If you have the time, spending two hours preparing a lean feast means that you're not eating for those 2 hours! I happen to enjoy cooking and find chopping vegetables quite meditative, so I love to stretch it out and not even start thinking about eating until 8pm...
  • kennethmgreen
    kennethmgreen Posts: 1,759 Member
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    The time you eat doesn't matter. What matters is staying within your calorie goals. The reason "late night snacking" gets such a bad rap is because it often is *additional* calories - going over a calorie goal. All those articles, the advice that talks about not eating after 8:00PM (or some other arbitrary time), that it causes weight gain? Dig a little deeper and see if those scenarios accounted for calories. The weight gains are from eating too much, not when.

    So, accepting that, plan better. If you like to eat at night, plan for it. Maybe you don't like to eat breakfast. Perfectly fine to skip it (despite the "it's the most important meal of the day!" sentiments) and save those calories for later.

    Probably the best thing you could possibly do is create your calorie deficit through exercise. A 20 minute brisk walk can often burn enough calories to cover a good-sized snack.
  • jamie_teresa
    jamie_teresa Posts: 20 Member
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    I have the same problem - I eat good all day then comes dinner, I'm at home bored and have calories remaining and on come the snack attacks. My issue is I generally don't eat enough during the day so I'm still hungry at night. Now, I try to eat more during the day, have dessert with lunch instead of dinner (I love my sweets), and close my diary & brush my teeth by 8pm (I'm in bed by 9:30).

    **I think the whole "don't eat after 8" is for those who work 9-5. I would guess stop eating 2 hrs before you go to bed would be a good rule of thumb.

    I also try to remain active at night, if I'm watching TV I get the urge to snack. I get up during commercial breaks and clean the kitchen or do a load of laundry. Reading is also a good idea because it keeps your mind active and you don't see all those commercials for yummy looking food on tv!
  • koootenay
    koootenay Posts: 126 Member
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    Wow, thanks everyone! I think I will try to eat smaller during the day, plan to eat those calories at night. But for sure I'll need to make sure it isn't McDonalds. I think it would help if my boyfriend was on the same path as me. He loves McDonalds and candy but he stays skinny so he thinks it's fine. Last night he wanted McDonalds so I drove him there and when it came to ordering I ordered a burger for myself and we shared 20 nuggets. It smelled so good I couldn't help myself. I even had the stomach grumbling like I was starving while we drove home. So almost as soon as I took the first bite it was alllll gone! Then of course I felt like crap from all the fat and went to sleep. I'm going to forget it ever happened and start fresh today. I hope I can get that feeling of starving at night to go away. I think it may be I consume to much bad fats and not enough good carbs or protein. Thanks everyone for your help and good luck to you as well on your journeys!

    : ) Koot.
  • koootenay
    koootenay Posts: 126 Member
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    They only say not to eat after 8 pm because unintentionally they want you to intermittent fast. It really doesn't matter because you're going to go anabolic while you sleep whether you eat or not. I will say for bodybuilding carbs right before bed isn't the best choice, but I couldn't fall asleep and just ate 320 calories worth of prosciutto. It fit my daily calories and I've even asked my doctor and he doesn't think it matters either.

    You're crashing from all the sugar additives in the foods. Carbs get broken down into sugars + the added sugars it'll keep you craving food all day. You don't have to eat "clean" but it would help if you tracked sugar in your food log.


    So I started looking at the sugar in my food, MY GOD! I never knew there was so much sugar in foods like bananas and milk... Is it okay to be having so much sugar from natural sources like fruit and vegetables? I mean I pretty much get half my daily allowance from a banana. Or is 36grams too low? I'd like your opinion on this : )
  • rovernio
    rovernio Posts: 157
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    you lack will power
  • mistesh
    mistesh Posts: 243 Member
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    The time you eat doesn't matter. What matters is staying within your calorie goals. The reason "late night snacking" gets such a bad rap is because it often is *additional* calories - going over a calorie goal. All those articles, the advice that talks about not eating after 8:00PM (or some other arbitrary time), that it causes weight gain? Dig a little deeper and see if those scenarios accounted for calories. The weight gains are from eating too much, not when.

    It's not easy to know what's fact. In Master Your Metabolism from 2009 on p156, Jillian Michaels writes that late night eating by itself puts more fat around your belly. In Slim for Life from 2013 on p218, she says that you don't store fat from late night eating. In both books, she says that you tend to consume more calories late at night.

    In the former book, Michaels says not to eat carbs after 9 p.m. In Power Foods for the Brain, Neal Barnard says that "Protein blocks serotonin production in your brain, while carbohydrate has the opposite effect, helping you make serotonin. That's important, because serotonin helps you sleep."

    But I think it's safe to say that if they want to stay fit, most people in the forties can't be quite as reckless as they might have been in their twenties. That may include the fasting glucose and blood sugar levels the next morning.

    When all is said and done, why would you want to plan for an evening snack? When eating clean meals, true hunger almost always kicks in before craving, while the snacking's continuous downside of adding food to the fire will never let you dig into your fat stores. Something like a glass of cold water can help curb the urge.
  • Warchortle
    Warchortle Posts: 2,197 Member
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    They only say not to eat after 8 pm because unintentionally they want you to intermittent fast. It really doesn't matter because you're going to go anabolic while you sleep whether you eat or not. I will say for bodybuilding carbs right before bed isn't the best choice, but I couldn't fall asleep and just ate 320 calories worth of prosciutto. It fit my daily calories and I've even asked my doctor and he doesn't think it matters either.

    You're crashing from all the sugar additives in the foods. Carbs get broken down into sugars + the added sugars it'll keep you craving food all day. You don't have to eat "clean" but it would help if you tracked sugar in your food log.


    So I started looking at the sugar in my food, MY GOD! I never knew there was so much sugar in foods like bananas and milk... Is it okay to be having so much sugar from natural sources like fruit and vegetables? I mean I pretty much get half my daily allowance from a banana. Or is 36grams too low? I'd like your opinion on this : )
    Sugar is a battleground for a lot of people... some people will say natural sugars process differently and some say it doesn't even matter... even natural sugar in excess isn't good IE: juice. A glass of OJ is more carbs and sugars than most people realize. A lot of yogurts are sweetened to 17g+ of sugar. There are low glycemic foods and indices of them, but that's primarily for diabetics. I think it's just something to be conscious of, but not overly worried. I could never go on a low carb diet because they'll say an apple is too many carbs.

    I'm sorry, since when did moderation and logic stop working... how can one apple, which we've been eating for ages be suddenly be too many carbs (just my opinion and you'll find science against it and for it). I think it comes down to the macro and micro-nutrition of your food (how it makes you feel) and the activity levels you sustain. Your body runs off sugar, but when you go low carb your body switches and starts using protein and fat for energy and will go into a state of ketosis and your body will start using ketones for energy. The human body is very adaptable and dynamic, so not every plan is going to work for every person, BUT... that's not to say there are some sound principles.

    A) If you just want to lose *weight* you can do it through diet alone.
    B) If you want to look a certain way then you're focusing on body re-composition which may require different macros (proteins / fats / carbs) to achieve a certain aesthetic.
    B 1.1) You'll need to exercise in a certain manner to promote muscle growth that will help burn fat.

    Also, it's very hard for women to get "bulky" if they lift weights especially in a caloric deficit. It's annoying that people equate burly women to weight lifting... those are the ones on steroids on hormone supplements.

    ^ All of that is sort of a side tangent...

    There are studies to show that sugar is in fact toxic and I'm not 100% convinced, but the studies are compelling. I think you have to decide what makes you: feel the best, makes the goals you want achievable, promotes health and wellness.

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