How do you talk yourself OUT of late night snacking?

I have the same problem. Husband works backshift and when kids in bed and time to relax. I find it hard to resist late night snacking. So I still snack but try find lower calorie alternatives, have an earlier night than usual and maybe a relaxing bath to distract myself from eating more. good luck

Laziness does it for me most of the times :blushing:
Once i'm in bed i'm too lazy to get out and go to the kitchen. A fair distance to the kitchen helps, too. lol. Lord forbid watching cooking shows before bedtime. Did that the other night with Anthony Bourdain's No reservations - Greek islands and I almost had to tie myself to the bed. Wowie. Still can't believe I managed to stay out of the kitchen that night.

So yes, willpower has a lot to do with it. But seriously, if I eat properly and enough through the day, then I don't really have problems at night. If I do, I try to eat some fruit or maybe pickles and drink water.

Congrats on throwing the snacks out, having nothing like that in the house sure helps! I love it when I go to search for bad bad food when I have a craving and can't find any. Can't find it, can't eat it. So, thank you, mom, for not buying any crapy food for yourself (lucky her, all skinny and *kitten* :laugh:) and in this way helping me

Yep I also love those late evening snacks, but found the following sometimes help



TV off...........go do something else, even if its boring ironing or washing up.

Exercise

Go to bed

Brush teeth

Only healthy snack e.g. bowl of porridge (fills you nicely)

And the obvious one, make sure your eating enough throughout the day.

Isn't it funny how the junk foods in your cupboard call out your name when it comes to night time?

Some good tips that I have heard that has helped me:
- brush your teeth
- drink water / hot tea
- keep your hands busy (e.g. tidying your room, crocheting, wtever)
- don't buy the junk food in the first place
- go out for a short walk
- safe some calories for the night time snack and make sure it's something good that you will feel satisfied afterwards
- close your eyes and count slowly from your CW to your GW, take deep breaths

I also late night snack and it seems that if noone can see you then it doesnt count. Surround yourself with friends and family and keep your hands busy. Knit, cross stich, make jewllery or clean.

Skip breakfast and shift your entire eating pattern to later...

I drink a sweet chamomile tea instead with half a teaspoon of honey. That's all I allow myself after dinner and it does help, it means I still have something nice at the end of the day but without the calories.

Big trick is to always have some broccoli steamers in the fridge. I throw a bag and eat half, even at midnight, the calorie effects are minimal, but boy does it stuff you and kills any hunger.

I'd rather go hungry! Yeurrgh!

I won't even look for anything until I'm half-way down a cup oftea - if I'm still hungry I look for something to fit wihtin the calories I have left. I look at my calories across a week (so i can have a roast dinner on a Sunday without blowing the week, for example) and try to save a few each day to give me a buffer. I also look at how much exercise it takes to "earn" those calories - do i want to "waste" those calories on this particular food item, or would I rather save them for the weekend?

Its not easy - I can't hae a biscuit tin near me, i have to have a single pre-wrapped treat (such as a 2-finger kitkat or weightwatchers Belgian choc biscuit) so I can't have more than one. And I get really low calorie snacks such as Walkers French Fries or Quavers so if I'm desperate fo a bag of crisps that is what I have - IF I have the calories of course.

I eat most of my calories at the end of the day.

That way, I'm too full to think about snacking, but I'm still losing weight.

I found if I eat my calories early on in the day, by the time night comes, I have none or too little calories left and the hunger is tempting.

Try eating a larger portion of your allowed calories later in the day so you'll be satiated on the most tempting hour (the one right before bedtime!)

trust me, it works. I've lost 20 pounds thanks to doing this.

Use meal timing to your advantage!

I usually plan ahead of time to have 3/4 cup cereal (honeynut cheerios is a fave, but the chocolate special K is bomb, too) and 1/2 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk. It's about 130 cals, but I eat it out of a cup and it's so sweet and cold and I don't know, I choose it over ice cream anyday. Plus, it's crunchy, so it kind of nicks my crunchies. Also, if I decide to have another serving (if I have the cals), I can use the leftover milk and it's only another 110 cals.

Do something else when you get the urge to snack, push ups, jumping jacks or have sex.

double post...

Sometimes I'm not successful, but most of the time I just tell my self, "you don't need it you fat *kitten*", and then I just go to bed. I find sleeping is the best way for me not to snack at that point. :laugh: :laugh:

I don't. I do most of my eating at night most times because that's when I have the most desire to eat. Therefor, I save up my calories specifically for that reason. Then it doesn't matter if I late night snack because I've planned for it.

I have late night cravings periodically. I just brush my teeth and go to bed. Brushing my teeth really helps me.