How do you stop cravings?

You're eating out of boredom. Go for a walk, do yoga, lift weights, paint your nails, take a bath, read a book. Do something to keep you occupied and your mind off food.

If those are the foods that are ruining your progress, don't buy them.

I am having the same problem. I know it is because I am bored, it is so hard resisting.

For me, if there were a pocket of Doritos in the house they would be gone in seconds, so I don't keep any around.

Junk is all I think about and I hate it!!

It's ok to give into your cravings just dont over do it. Want chip it one small bag that you might throw in you lunch. Want Ice cream have one scoop or one small cup. It isn't good to go to bed hungry and I've heard somewhere that if you crave certain things that your diets somewhere out of wack. I suggest finding and diet that works for you.

Get rid of all the junk food at your home and grocery shop only when you are full, it is the only way I can imagine for myself, if I see or know that there are some candies or cookies ( specially nutella paste, and rafaello candies) at home I just cant keep myself from eating these...and it is healthier for your kids to get rid of this stuff , because they may never forgive you in the future if they become fat because of this junk food.
And exercise a lot. I feel that when I exercise very intensively I feel too tired to eat more and eat even less calories that I should have without the exercise, at these times I am just thinking how to brush my teeth and fall asleep....
About food: raw vegetables have very few calories. even though i don't like them I eat them a lot just because this way I can eat a lot more without extra calories. Fruits is a good replacement to sweets...

For me, if there were a pocket of Doritos in the house they would be gone in seconds, so I don't keep any around.

This. I simply had to stop keeping certain sorts of foods within arms reach. Most often it's not worth the effort to leave the house to go get whatever it is I want to eat late at night. (And when it is, I go get it, lol.)

I will say that with time, it became easier to tell myself no when they are available. I'm able to better evaluate if I really want something before I decide to eat it, whereas before I would eat something and decide afterwards that I didn't really want it.

TL;DR: I know it's not super helpful advice, but for me I had to make it hard to indulge cravings and suffer a bit while adjusting to telling myself no.

Get rid of all the junk in your house. If that's not a possibility then my suggestion is make little baggies (100 cal) of everything you have that way when you do start craving you are making a conscious decision to get another bag after you finish the first one. Instead of eating one huge bag all together. Sounds time consuming but it's actually not.

Drink lots of water. Yes, boredom could be the main reasons for your cravings but I find that when I am full from drinking water my cravings aren't so bad.

Eat healthy until you don't want to eat unhealthy. If I want a bag of Doritos for instance I decide to eat a big bowl of broccoli first. Since broccoli isn't my favorite, I often choose to go without both.

Go to bed. What a great reason to get some extra hours of sleep!

One more thing about things you don't keep in the house - it doesn't have to become "bad" food. For example, I like to have Coke Classic and movie popcorn. So I happily do that when I go to a movie. I'll also have Coke if I'm eating out. It's a system that makes me happy. Others have opted for microwave popcorn & Diet Coke in their home. Experiment and see what seems to work best for you.

What leaped out at me about your post though? Your insightful identification of the problem time: after your kids go to bed. Now, the Intermittent Fasting crowd might immediately suggest "don't eat after x time!"...but I think over the long haul you'll be happier following up on the underlying issue: bored/lonely in all likelihood. So:

--Can you shift *your* bedtime earlier? (If your kids are too young that may not be practical)
--What can you change about your daily routine to fill those hours? Workout? Study?
--Find a routine where you feel good about what you're doing with those hours, and then reassess.

Look at it as a logistics problem and experiment.

:flowerforyou:

First, and I know this is very literal, you can't stop cravings...not really, but you can learn to manage them so they feel less like cravings and more like you're in control. I find keeping my hands busy is key. Reading, exercising, going on to MFP, looking at weight loss blogs...it seems obsessive, but it keeps me motivated. I'll also groom my cat or clean. Anything to help me refocus. When I'm having cravings I avoid the TV not just because of the mindlessness of it, but because TV is full of food triggers. Someone's always eating something I want.

I also find alternatives to my cravings. Simple swaps like sugar free pudding instead of ice cream or strawberries and whipped cream instead of cake. I try to isolate the texture, flavor, etc. that I'm craving. Okay you're craving cake...but what about cake...is it the frosting, the moistness, the chocolate? I can usually at least minimize the damage.

I also make a game out of it.Seeing how long I can wait before caving. Often this means I'll eat two foods I'm craving rather than three or four.

Also, never eat out of the container. Even for chips or popcorn. Count out a serving and look at the calorie content before eating. Then compare it to a healthy alternative...I can eat three apples for this one bag of chips...suddenly I'm craving the apple not the chips because I want quantity. Sometimes I still eat the chips, but at least I know what i'm getting into.

Finally, log the food before you eat it. When you think about it as an individual event, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but when i see what it does to my daily numbers, it can sometimes stop me in my tracks.

Sometimes you just have to give in because we're human. But knowing that I've avoided it other times or done everything I could not to eat it at least gets rid of the guilt associated with eating it. So I'm not tempted to binge on something else out of shame or regret. I can eat that craved food, enjoy it for what it is, and move on.