Eating at night

lexley
lexley Posts: 35
edited September 19 in Health and Weight Loss
This is my biggest problem. My husband works nights and is usually gone from about 9am-7pm. When he gets home he wants to eat, understandably. BUT he doesn't want to eat alone! He wants family time of course. Everything I've read said its best to avoid eating after 6pm. I usually hold off dinner til he gets home so we're all hungry then. So what should I do? Stick to what I've been doing or eat before he comes home? The main issue is that I usually wind up going over my calorie limit because of this AND snacks.

Also, I do start craving things like carbs by about 8pm or so. I just feel the urge to snack snack snack! It annoys me because I can be doing so very well but then boom! bah! :explode: :sad:

Replies

  • lexley
    lexley Posts: 35
    This is my biggest problem. My husband works nights and is usually gone from about 9am-7pm. When he gets home he wants to eat, understandably. BUT he doesn't want to eat alone! He wants family time of course. Everything I've read said its best to avoid eating after 6pm. I usually hold off dinner til he gets home so we're all hungry then. So what should I do? Stick to what I've been doing or eat before he comes home? The main issue is that I usually wind up going over my calorie limit because of this AND snacks.

    Also, I do start craving things like carbs by about 8pm or so. I just feel the urge to snack snack snack! It annoys me because I can be doing so very well but then boom! bah! :explode: :sad:
  • greeneyedgirl829
    greeneyedgirl829 Posts: 335
    Lexley, I am right there with you. My boyfriend gets off of work at 9pm, so back when I was was home at that time, we would eat dinner together. Now, I get home at 11 pm, and we're both hungry. Most nights, I do not eat when I get home, or I try to eat fruit, veggies, or a bowl of cereal. Some nights that just doesn't work though :ohwell: I think that my advice would just be that if you guys are going to eat together at night have something on hand for you that won't kill your day such as lowfat yogurt, or some frozen veggies or fruit. :flowerforyou: Hope this helped a little, I am still trying to control my need to feed at night too lol Good luck!
  • Poison5119
    Poison5119 Posts: 1,460 Member
    If you plan your meals carefully, you should be able to eat a snack sometime before dinner.

    Because I have 5-6 small meals a day, I'm never hungry,

    If I have to hold dinner off til late, I can have a snack about 2.5 hours prior to dinner and I won't spoil my appetite, and I also won't have built up an appetite so ravenous that I blow it...
  • lexley
    lexley Posts: 35
    Thank you both! Great ideas! :heart:
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
    It really doesn't matter what time you eat. There is no time of day that switches digestion from 'usage' to 'storage' mode; if that where the case, what happens during Daylight Savings? Or when you travel between time zones? It's obviously not a real phenomenon, but a tactic some people use to help control calories. The theory is that, if you stop eating early, you'll eat fewer calories. That's not true either---if you eat 10 Big Macs before 6 PM, you're still consuming 6,000 calories, and it will still cause fat gain. Alternately, if you spread your calories out, and maintain your caloric deficit, you can have a meal before bed and it will digest normally. Keep in mind that digestion takes many hours--about 6-12 depending on the meal. So the meal you eat at 9PM won't actually be getting absorbed until about 3-9AM.
  • Fitness_Chick
    Fitness_Chick Posts: 6,648 Member
    It really doesn't matter what time you eat. There is no time of day that switches digestion from 'usage' to 'storage' mode; if that where the case, what happens during Daylight Savings? Or when you travel between time zones? It's obviously not a real phenomenon, but a tactic some people use to help control calories. The theory is that, if you stop eating early, you'll eat fewer calories. That's not true either---if you eat 10 Big Macs before 6 PM, you're still consuming 6,000 calories, and it will still cause fat gain. Alternately, if you spread your calories out, and maintain your caloric deficit, you can have a meal before bed and it will digest normally. Keep in mind that digestion takes many hours--about 6-12 depending on the meal. So the meal you eat at 9PM won't actually be getting absorbed until about 3-9AM.

    I think sometimes what happens is we feel bad for doing it and look back to what rules the 'diet world' has pounded in our heads and then unfortunaly to top that off.....OOPS we jump right on the scale after eating later than we normally might.

    The numbers are sometimes up...not a true representation of our weight but nonetheless we freak seeing the larger number. I think if we all lean less on the scale and make the tape measure our new BFL :laugh: then we truly know even if we platue for weeks or sometimes monthes from what some members have shared they deal with.......... why then we will be able to shake that 'I've failed' feeling...

    SBS...you always have some great smart stuff for us all to take to heart and learn from....I often have to look at your profile and can never believe you are so young with so much knowlege:flowerforyou: ....I can only imagine as you continue in school and become even more brilliant how much help/knowledge you will bring/add to this world!! I commend you on it....for adding so much to MFP....Love ya much for taking the time to share your knowledge:flowerforyou: :heart: :flowerforyou:
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
    It really doesn't matter what time you eat. There is no time of day that switches digestion from 'usage' to 'storage' mode; if that where the case, what happens during Daylight Savings? Or when you travel between time zones? It's obviously not a real phenomenon, but a tactic some people use to help control calories. The theory is that, if you stop eating early, you'll eat fewer calories. That's not true either---if you eat 10 Big Macs before 6 PM, you're still consuming 6,000 calories, and it will still cause fat gain. Alternately, if you spread your calories out, and maintain your caloric deficit, you can have a meal before bed and it will digest normally. Keep in mind that digestion takes many hours--about 6-12 depending on the meal. So the meal you eat at 9PM won't actually be getting absorbed until about 3-9AM.

    I think sometimes what happens is we feel bad for doing it and look back to what rules the 'diet world' has pounded in our heads and then unfortunaly to top that off.....OOPS we jump right on the scale after eating later than we normally might.

    The numbers are sometimes up...not a true representation of our weight but nonetheless we freak seeing the larger number. I think if we all lean less on the scale and make the tape measure our new BBFF :laugh: then we truly know even if we platue for weeks or sometimes monthes from what some members have shared they deal with.......... why then we will be able to shake that 'I've failed' feeling...

    SBS...you always have some great smart stuff for us all to take to heart and learn from....I often have to look at your profile and can never believe you are so young with so much knowlege....I can only imagine was you continue in school and become even more brilliant how much help you will add to this world!! I commend you on it....for adding so much to MFP....Love ya much for taking the time to share your knowledge:flowerforyou: :heart: :flowerforyou:

    Awwwe, thank you so much! You always have such nice things to say and I have really enjoyed the articles you've been posting. I love MFP! :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:
  • lexley
    lexley Posts: 35
    Thanks you guys! Its just been ingrained into my head that eating after a certain time is bad for the metabolism. Wasn't sure how my metabolism was supposed to tell time but hey..that's what the experts say right? Well I'm glad that its not true and I can eat with my Hunny now without feeling bad! I will take the advice of eating a smallish snack so I don't scarf down everything in sight when it comes time to eat with him! Thanks a bunches you all! :)
This discussion has been closed.

Categories