After dinner snacking

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gotchalk
gotchalk Posts: 6 Member
in Getting Started
So I am the WORST with after dinner snacking. I did great all day and then home from work...I ate dinner and felt good. Then I decided an apple with peanut butter would be good, then I thought oh I will just have a few cheez its and then it was a couple pieces of dark chocolate! What is wrong with me? I do great until about 5:00 hits and then I hit this wall. It even happens when I am home all day...right around 5:00 I ruin the whole day!! Any suggestions to help me quit this horrible habit!!

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  • generallyme2
    generallyme2 Posts: 403 Member
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    What time do you eat dinner? 5:00 seems really early to me for an after dinner snack. It might be a good idea to incorporate an afternoon snack into your routine then do a slightly later (6-6:30) dinner. I'm a big evening snacker, so I like to leave myself a couple hundred cals to have a little snack (popcorn, a little chocolate, etc) to end the night.

    After my last snack, I click the 'complete this entry' for my food diary and that reminds me that I'm done for the day as far as eating goes. I'll paint my nails, stretch, sew, take a bath- whatever keeps my hands busy. If I'm really munchy (maybe it's that TOM) then I'll go on a walk to earn a little more cal leeway, but usually with my exercise I have a ton of cals available through the day and I'm really not HUNGRY so I know I don't really need to eat.

    Sometimes just coming on here and reading threads helps me to think positively too. :) Good luck!
  • rie_q
    rie_q Posts: 73
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    When I decide I'm done eating (and drinking, except water) for the day, I go and brush my teeth. Then I don't want to mess up my mouth again and have to brush again (I hate brushing my teeth. Always have.)
  • Grumbers
    Grumbers Posts: 111 Member
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    As mentioned above, maybe you're eating too early?

    Personally I eat like the following...

    Breakfast around 0930. I'm never hungry when I first wake up.

    Lunch around 1230-1300

    Mid afternoon snack around 1530-1600.

    Dinner around 1900.

    That way, I never really go more than 4 hours tops without eating. That doesn't allow hunger to build. Of course by the time I get to meals, I'm ready to eat, but never am I chewing my arm of!


    Regards the evening snacking, I used to do the same. I'd eat dinner and as soon as I'd finished, think right, dessert time!!! My advice is leave it 30 minutes. By this point your body will have registered it's now got food inside and the hunger will have passed. I guess psychologically your body will take a few minutes from eating to realizing and reacting to having food inside.

    Main point - don't consider if you're still hungry, immediately after eating. Allow a small period of time for your body to settle.

    Cheers
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    Save some calories for your after dinner snacks. Easy.
  • gotchalk
    gotchalk Posts: 6 Member
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    Typically I eat around 530 or 600 but then as soon as I finish dinner I want something sweet. That continues on throughout the night until I go to bed. I just love to snack!!
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,153 Member
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    Typically I eat around 530 or 600 but then as soon as I finish dinner I want something sweet. That continues on throughout the night until I go to bed. I just love to snack!!

    Nothing wrong with that as long as you budget for it. I typically have about 1000 calories left over going into dinner (more if I've been running), which leaves me room to have a middling dinner and a snack or have a few small meals throughout the evening, depending on my mood. If you tend to want to eat late, leave yourself calories to do so.
  • loriq41
    loriq41 Posts: 479 Member
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    I have found great success in working out at 530...BEFORE dinner! So by the time I eat it is around 7ish..by the time I eat and digest it is practically time for bed..no time to snack! (or no empty stomach)
  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,661 Member
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    i plan my day so that nearly half my calories are consumed after 8 pm.

    i'll eat dinner anywhere between 7-11 pm.

    I know i'm going to want to eat when i'm watching tv, so i just make sure i have calories left to do so.

    sometimes its still a challenge to snack and stop when you've reached your calories limit, but no one said its going to be easy and i perfer that to nothing at all.
  • ponycyndi
    ponycyndi Posts: 858 Member
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    I've found that when I was eating on the go for breakfast ( or nothing at all) and then a light lunch at work, it was easy not to eat, as there were fewer temptations. But then I'd get home and eat the whole fridge.

    On the other hand, if I eat a hearty breakfast and lunch, then a snack at 3, dinner by 6:30, then I'm not nearly as hungry, and can forgo snacks after dinner all together, as it gets too far out of hand too easily for me.
  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,661 Member
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    thats a good tactic, but my night eating has nothing to do with hunger...
  • judyamk
    judyamk Posts: 79 Member
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    I am a night time eater after dinner, plus it is carb's I so love. My friend Chrissy was down to see us last night she really helped change up my night time eating. Off to the store I went this morning. she suggested getting rice cakes I bought the caramel ,by Fit & Active with 1 tbls. of peanut butter smeared on., 1 piece of fit & active string cheese.1 bag of fit & active pop corn,plus I have a Nutri Blaster ( bought from Aamazon I put in 1 handful of spinach, 1 banana, 1/4/ cup strawberries 1/4 cup blueberries 1/4 cup mango fill line marked on container & blast away oh I added 1 tbls. of flax seed also or sometimes I use chia seeds. This makes 2 full glasses fills you up to the brim. I buy all my frozen fruit at Aldi's hope you have one in your area as a bag of any frozen fruit is a little over $2.00.
    So this New Year of 2014 is going to be the year I change my thinking of not to look at this as a diet, but as healthy living . so this evening I will go on a 2 mile walk in the cold, & do some planks i also bought a fit bit that records calories burned, how many steps, how many stairs the time your name is on it . I love it,but I put it a side for months until Chrissy gave nme the boost I just needed for my life's journey / Hope I was of help in some way
    Take care
    Judy:smooched:
  • kaiodedra123
    kaiodedra123 Posts: 38 Member
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    Save 100-150 calories for after dinner snacks
    Brush your teeth
    Keep busy (watch a movie or tv)
    Have a protein shake/bar
    have a cup of tea or a low cal drink
    drink a litre of water as fast as you can (lol actually kinda works)
  • tobefitfifty
    tobefitfifty Posts: 19
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    It might be not eating enough or drinking enough fluids during the day or you have got in to the habit so try breaking the habit by occupying your mind and body. Some exercise, after dinner wall....plan something else. It takes 21 days to form a habit :-)

    Good luck :-)
  • kingscrown
    kingscrown Posts: 615 Member
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    Well not sure I'm the best example as I fell back into the bad habit the last couple weeks and just last couple days have been getting back on track. Plus I love run on sentences. :) What helps me when the feeling is strong is to remove myself from the vicinity of the kitchen. I literally made a cup of tea grabbed some reading I needed to finish and went to the bedroom. I threaten to close the door at one point, but I manage to stay there til bed time. Day 4 I actually was able to watch a little TV and stay out of the kitchen. Keep busy is the key for me. Stay out of the kitchen really helps me too.
  • lintino
    lintino Posts: 526 Member
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    Learn to do some kind of hand craft like knitting or crochet or cross stitch. Keep your hands busy. It helps!!! :bigsmile:

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