Late night eating (mostly venting)

Dear Friend. Don't beat yourself up! We all have our days and the fact that you are an emotional eater doesn't help. I am one too. I have found that before I eat anything I write. I keep a notebook with me and write out anything I am feeling before I stress eat. It really helps. It is a way to get those feelings out before I put something in. It's hard when I know I feel like no one understands. I am on here at least once a day usually at night so if you want to vent to me then feel free. :flowerforyou:

I'm sorry you had a bad day. I definitely know how that goes. One thing that struck me about that post is your family contributing to the bad eating habits. Do they know you are trying to lose weight? Shouldn't they be supporting you by not bringing that type of food around you? Maybe you can ask for their help on your weight loss journey.

Hey girl, you are NOT pathetic. :flowerforyou: You deserve every consideration. There is a lot of great support here on MFP. We have a thread going called "No late night snacking - July". Lulabellwoowoo started it. The accountability is helpful and they pick you up when you fall. As we all do. It's pretty much the only thing I really keep up with because I work nights and the snacks everyone brings :grumble: to pass around can really get to you. Plus it's a high stress environment and a bunch of us stress eat - not helpful. I'm so glad you posted this. I'm sure you'll get lots of good ideas and support. We are here for you. Don't give up. Answers are out there for YOU. :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: ( And sorry about the job. )

As far as some recommendations go, I'm afraid I have very few. We can provide a lot of advice but it's really up to you to make good on it. It's a matter of self-control and perseverance, traits that you definitely have but may have trouble utilizing.

If you think this late-night eating could be centered on boredom, try focusing on something else. Perhaps something in your bedroom, away from the kitchen. Anytime you feel as if you might want to chow down, do ten sit ups. And then do ten more. If you feel like this stems from some type of oral fixation, try to replace the motion of food-to-mouth or chewing with an alternative -- perhaps try keeping a water bottle nearby and take a drink whenever you need something close to/in your mouth, or chew copious amounts of gum to keep occupied.

Late-night exercise is difficult in a house where you have to be aware of everyone else's sleeping habits, but it's not impossible. Do calisthenics or strength in your bedroom, exercises that will heat up your body without producing much noise. It won't make you break a sweat like jogging a 5k, but hell -- you're still getting some stuff done, you're still exercising, and you'll feel great about it. Sit ups, push ups, planks, lunges, etc. Anything.

My last comment for now: I agree with matthewpaulbreu. He called it as I saw it when he said that he found your response to much support and help (requested, even) to be offensive. I agree. In my experience (and it pales in comparison to yours; I've only been here for about a month), the members of MFP are genuine. They are kind. They may not know exactly what they're talking about, especially in regards to personal problem posts such as yours, but they call it as they see and they try to provide advice in tackling that situation. They may be wrong, or they could be 100% correct, but regardless, they are exerting time and effort to try to help. I've found this support to be monumental in my success, so I know that I personally want to keep them around as much as possible.. which will include genuine thanks when they offer support, even if that support isn't exactly spot on.

Regardless, I hope you find a way to tackle this issue. Your head's moving in the right direction, you just need to find a way to make your actions follow that mindset and logic. Best of luck and keep us updated.

I am the champion night owl, even in highschool i wouldnt' go to sleep til about 12 or so.

"planning" your food is really easy, you are making excuses and trying to quit before you even get started. All you need to do is wake up, go to the kitchen, look in your fridge and/or pantry, see what you have and make up a meals for the day. Write all the food down in your mfp food log, and fill it up until you get all your calories in. That way, if you are wanting to cheat, you type it in before you eat it and then you have to see if you are going to exercise those calories off first before you eat it, or if you aren't willing to exercise and just leave the food alone. My dad is the ultimate sabotager....he says he's going to the store to get us sodas(diet) and comes back with TONS of popcicles...i mean like 5 boxes worth....so I allow myself 2 otter pops a night, 30 calories and i don't feel so bad for eating them. Life is alllll about balance.

Also i find that if i were to eat a mcdouble(even though i gave up red meat and pork back in march) i jsut want to eat bad food ALL DAY....it like creates this monster inside me that wants something salty since i jsut had something greasy and want some icecream(something sweet) and then since i already cheated all damn day i might as well have a HUGE side of fries for dinner...it's a horrific cycle, so just because something fits into your "calorie intake" doesn't neccisarily mean its the best choice in the long run.

if you are having late night munchies one of the BEST things i have found for myself is to get some celery with peanut butter...it gives you the crunching muching you need and the peanut butter is the salty sweet to fill in that bored void. and drink a LOT of water before you eat anything and see if you are really as hungry as you thought you were, 60% of hunger pains are actually form dehydration(body wants water)


And as for being on here 2 years and not doing a thing, I am going to be 23 on aug 10 and i was supposed to have lost all this weight before my 19th bday...somehow that plan miserably failed....granted i lost a lot, gained a lot, lost some again, and gained somemore and here i am....so don't let time get you down, instead let it inspire you to change. next time you have a temptation in front of you tell yourself "you know what, i have been trying for 2 years to lose weight, i think i'm gonna skip out on this for right now"

I know its hard, but if you are SERIOUS about it then you WILL succeed. I hope this has helped you some

I agree with the pp on planning. I do try to do planning for the week... but more importantly than that, I plan for the day ahead (usually). If you know what is in your house, use some of your late night time to plan a healthy breakfast/lunch/snacks (including evening snacks!). Then you just have to adjust after-dinner snacks depending on what dinner is ( I'm assuming you don't have much choice in that and your parents cook).

Other things you can do... drink plenty of water. It keeps you full longer, stops you from drinking calories, and has all sorts of other great benefits.

Another idea I've used at times to curb late night snacking: eat dinner or whatever you have planned for the evening, then BRUSH YOUR TEETH. I don't know about you but it is tough for me to eat after brushing my teeth.

I would also take a hard look at your evening routine. What do you do at night? How does that lend itself to mindless snacking? Do you want to snack then or are you just doing it because you are bored or food is there? If you want to snack, plan some healthy snacks to choose from (I do that, because I typically get hungry between supper and bedtime). If you don't want to snack, plan some activities that do not lend themselves to snacking. Get out after supper (and before dark!) and get in a walk. Plan a snack for after that (and lots of water).

You can do this! Good luck!

HealthyKt78,

First off, I think a time delay in posting responses might be responsible for different people posting similar thoughts without having your follow-up responses to base their post off of. If one looks back at the time stamps during some of the conversation about 'parents', one can see that they are only a few minutes apart. Second, if you have been on MFP for two years, and have been receiving mostly warm, fluffy support and encouragement, than maybe somebody telling you things in a more blunt manner is what you need. I am fine with being considered rude and an *kitten* if that is what it takes to give you a reality check. My post was not about doing anything for myself or my confidence, but its purpose was to help you, to give you a push in the right direction. This push is more forceful than the nudging that some other members might give. This thread is about you. We all have our different methods of supporting you, and maybe it was time for a new way of hearing 'the message'.

As to me fitting into the MFP community after only have three posts, I appreciate your concern. But please notice that I had another member agree with me, and nobody seemed to correct me but you. Even though you seem to take responsibility for your health, you also seem to be placing blame all over the place, including yourself. This whole idea of blame seems unnecessary; there seems to be lots of negative energy surrounding your posts. Maybe being more upbeat and positive, and saying nice things to yourself could help. Congratulate yourself when you do something healthy.