Tips to resist snacking temptations at night?

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bcshreck
bcshreck Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
It seems that I'm able to generally make good food choices during the day. Most days I can make it through dinner staying under my calorie goal and feeling pretty satisfied. But I have a problem with compulsively snacking at night. I don't think I'm even doing it because I'm hungry. I think it's boredom/emotional eating. Anyone have any good tips or tricks for fighting off these late night cravings for food I know I don't need? Thanks.

Replies

  • cherryd69
    cherryd69 Posts: 340
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    Exchange high fat/high calorie stuff for fruit..

    or just tell yourself you dont need it maybe?


    I used to be the same, this time round though im deadly serious about loosing this weight... if i get hungry, i have a hot chocolate (options hot chocolate, 38cals when made with water)
  • itsuki
    itsuki Posts: 520 Member
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    If it's boredom, when you're about to grab a snack have a glass of water then go brush your teeth. Most snacks do not taste good on freshly brushed teeth. :P Then find something else to help with the boredom, and hopefully by the time the mint taste goes away you won't want snacks anymore.
  • _CrepeSuzette_
    _CrepeSuzette_ Posts: 53 Member
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    Keep some celery ribs ready to eat (all cleaned and sliced ;)) so, when you open the fridge, you have something fresh, crisp and sane to eat :)
  • GormanGhaste
    GormanGhaste Posts: 430 Member
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    Go to bed.
  • 3_is_enough
    3_is_enough Posts: 25
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    If it's boredom, when you're about to grab a snack have a glass of water then go brush your teeth. Most snacks do not taste good on freshly brushed teeth. :P Then find something else to help with the boredom, and hopefully by the time the mint taste goes away you won't want snacks anymore.

    This works for me!
  • JenRunTriHappyGirl
    JenRunTriHappyGirl Posts: 521 Member
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    Give yourself a cut off time..... say 9 p.m. Then you can still have your snack, but you just have to stop after a certain time.
  • chicanita91
    chicanita91 Posts: 154 Member
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    Go to bed.

    hahaha, this is my solution
  • Sorce
    Sorce Posts: 10 Member
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    You could always plan for it, don't look at dinner as your end of the day. Plan to be under by however many calories your snack of choice is. Then you can have it and still be under.
  • Pamela117e
    Pamela117e Posts: 36 Member
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    I struggle with the very same issue! My downfall is sweets so keep some Kashi Go Lean Crunch in the pantry and will eat a 1/4 cup without milk when the sweet tooth just won't go away. Also add Kashi to non-fat greek yogurt and get the sweet with protien to turn off the munchies. A tip for the salty craving is baby carrots and hummus (not a big fan of carrots but love them with hummus) or toasting a whole wheat tortilla in the oven until crispy, cutting into pieces and dipping in hummus. Have a recipe for Healthy Cookies which is 2 very ripe bananas mashed, mixed with 1 cup of uncooked oatmeal and 1/4 cup of minced walnuts, bake at 350 for 7-9 min., makes about 16 cookies at 35 calories/cookie. Keep a freezer full of ripe bananas so I can make cookies whenever the cookie monster strikes. Warning....these are not as sweet as a "regular" cookie and can be an acquired taste but help when only a cookie will do. If all else fails I just go to bed. :smile:

    Hope there's something in here you can use or build upon -- fight ont!
  • momzeeee
    momzeeee Posts: 475 Member
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    I used to be a night time binge snacker. Put the kids down, grab a book and then eat an entire bag of chips or several candy bars etc etc. When I decided to lose weight last fall I knew this was something I had to deal with. I decided to slowly cut back my eating window- started by cutting back 1/2 hour and then after a couple weeks I'd cut back another 1/2 hour etc. Doing it gradually was the trick and I totally broke my night time eating habit. Today my eating window closes at 7pm and I no longer get night time cravings :)
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    I leaves more calories for the evening. I don't let myself starve during the day obviously, but this way if I have several leftover calories after dinner, I can have a snack.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    don't do it.

    throw out snacks.

    go to bed.

    just tell yourself you aren't snacking and be done with it- don't dwell- do things. If you think about it- then it'll just eat at you (literally and figuratively) and you'll just cave- keep your mind occupied.
  • hmg90
    hmg90 Posts: 314 Member
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    I'm a compulsive snacker as well, mostly because I never eat very big meals, I'm not that hungry for it either. I know from experience that 6 small meals work better for me than 3 big ones. So the key is really to plan, set your dinner late and have spare calories for a snack or two. Then keep low cal snacks around the house, whether it'd be vegetables with low fat dip, low fat yougurt or anything else they might sell in the US.
    I also start work late and sleep longer than most in the morning, so "no snacking after 9pm" would be impossible for me. I always think that a great diet should be a crossing point between disciplined and "what works for me". If the advice is "change and stop", that's not going to work.
  • JenSD6
    JenSD6 Posts: 454 Member
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    Work on a hobby in the evenings that keeps your hands busy, especially if it's something you need to keep your hands clean for. Or if it gets your hands too dirty to want to touch any food, that would work, too.
  • RepsnSets
    RepsnSets Posts: 805 Member
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    Brush your teeth and get into the habit of going to bed earlier.
  • ahamm002
    ahamm002 Posts: 1,690 Member
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    1. Instead of trying to fight it, save up enough calories so that you can snack at night. I find it pretty easy to eat low calorie during the day when I'm busy, especially when I know I'll be able to eat what I want at night.

    2. Keep in mind that certain activities will stimulate hunger. Watching TV meas that you're going to get commercials which consist of pictures of food being shoved in your face. Computer games also stimulate appetite.

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