Exercise I can deal with, reduction of food...I CAN'T

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chelsearoderick3
chelsearoderick3 Posts: 5 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hoping for some words of advice or tips here please...

Exercising has never been a problem for me, there's never really a time where I don't do a form of exercise less than 4 times a week. I go to the gym and enjoy running. However it's the food I can't seem to control or reduce. I seem to binge in the evening, most evenings. I've now started to have small portions of healthy food, salad, muesli etc throughout the day to ensure I'm never too hungry but when I get home, chill and watch some TV, it all just goes wrong and I seem to ruin all my exercise with excessive calories. I hate it. Help! I have a massive sweet tooth which doesn't help and I seem to be gaining slowly because of this.
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Replies

  • chandlerrunneld
    chandlerrunneld Posts: 1
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    I struggle with this, it's such a waste as you spend all day sweating only to put it all back on at the end of the day! I've tried to replace the snacking with other activities, giving myself a manicure/pedicure. I've also found that flavoured herbal teas are helpful as they take a while to drink and can help with some of the sweet cravings.
  • chelsearoderick3
    chelsearoderick3 Posts: 5 Member
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    I'm glad I'm not the only one that has this problem. I think drinks (other than water) are something I should try to have more in the evening, I love green tea but will have to try some other fruity, de-caffeinated ones for the evening. I'll give anything a go!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    How many cals are you eating and how much are you trying to lose?

    Generally people binge for one of 2 reasons... Eating too little or eating their feelings.
  • honkytonks85
    honkytonks85 Posts: 669 Member
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    have you thought about setting aside some calories for a post dinner treat, and just not keeping too much food in the house eg. have a box of small size frozen yoghurt treats you can have to satisfy your sweet tooth
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    If you're binging there's a reason (by binging I assume you mean out of control eating where you can't stop yourself, not just idle snacking bc you're in front of the television). You need to figure out the cause. If it's emotional, a therapist should be able to help you work on the root cause of the behavior. If it's caused by low intake then a slightly higher calorie goal might be better. Your profile says you're trying to lose 20 lbs-- what are your stats?

    If by binging you just mean overeating out of boredom, then solve the boredom. Find something to do with your mind and your hands so you're not just thinking about being in the kitchen.

    Personally I find that it helps to pre-log myself some ice cream in the evening. Then I know I'm allowed to have something. Also I have a rule that I have to pre-log before eating. Seeing the red bar is usually enough to keep me in line. YMMV on those, they're just my personal strategies.
  • chelsearoderick3
    chelsearoderick3 Posts: 5 Member
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    Where I am now I want to lose 10 lbs, however I'm slowly gaining which is obviously taking me further and further from my goal. Recently I've been having on avg 2500/3000 calories a day (at least) along with regular exercise, but I know it's far more cals than I should be having, but it's the evenings and sweet treats that take me way over my goal. I think it's a mixture for me in terms of eating too little - sometimes I deprive myself during the day and am therefore very hungry when I get home (I've since tried to stop this with small portions throughout the day) and then eating my feelings, whenever I'm stressed or even happy about something I seem turn to comfort/celebration food.
  • motty1992
    motty1992 Posts: 5 Member
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    I have a problem with being starving at night. I make sure that I have enough calories for a light snack in the evenings. Then I find things to do to keep me distracted instead of just sitting staring at the TV. I do puzzles or I've started upcycling old photo frames. Find something that you enjoy doing as a distraction.
  • cheshirecatastrophe
    cheshirecatastrophe Posts: 1,395 Member
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    Switching from eating actual meals to "small portions throughout the day" won't stave off evening crazy-hunger if it's still not enough food! Muesli is great and (I at least) find it very filling, but salads aren't going to last me very long unless they have lots of cheese, chickpeas, nuts etc on top.

    What's worked for me is to make sure I eat enough, *especially* protein and fat, during the day. I try to leave 300-500 calories for 8 PM and after (and I eat back my exercise calories): any more than that and I'm gonna find myself mowing down the fridge on autopilot. But I find it emotionally soothing to eat late, so I definitely want to leave some room.

    I also don't keep specific "trigger" foods around the house, the ones where if I have one piece, I'm gonna eat the box.

    And tracking everything I eat on MFP has helped keep me honest. It forces me to think about what I'm eating. So as long as I don't let myself get hungry enough to go on autopilot, I do fine.
  • Tyler_Wright
    Tyler_Wright Posts: 7 Member
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    I'm by no means an expert. I started my weight loss journey at 5'-10" 266lbs which is obese. I'm now down to 234lbs but I had a major reduction in caloric intake. To be honest I cut out between 700-1000 calories a day by drinking only water and coffee. I didn't realize how many calories can be in liquids and I consider those useless. I always had a drink in my hand whether it was sweet tea, lemonade, juice, or soda. You seem a lot healthier than I was at that point so this might not be part of your problem.
  • NurseCU
    NurseCU Posts: 122 Member
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    Fruity green tea with a little unsweetened vanilla almond milk help my afternoon cravings, but I don't drink it after 3pm otherwise I can't sleep at night. I have issues eating in the evening as well, but I'm sure mine is from complete boredom as well as habit of eating in front of the TV. I allow myself two, 60calorie popsicles every night (as long as its within my calories), and it helps my sweet tooth and cravings tremendously because its cold and slushy and it reminds me of ice cream in a way.

    It took me a long time to get over the nighttime eating. I used to eat a huge bowl of cereal with milk at about 9pm at night, then I would go to bed at 10. It took about a week to finally be ok with not eating 600 calories right before bed, I think it was some sort of comfort thing being so full. I try to eat a lot of protein and about half of my calories or less before supper, that way I can eat a larger supper and have some left over calories for a snack at night.
  • cherys
    cherys Posts: 387 Member
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    Your idea to increase drinks at night is a good one. I know they're not healthy but diet cokes or something like lime and soda can give you that sweet kick for almost no calories.

    If you are still genuinely hungry, try soup or home made fat free popcorn.
    If you're just bored, graze on salads, maybe, or chew mint gum.
  • lisac195
    lisac195 Posts: 54 Member
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    Sounds like eating better meals during the day might help. If I restrict myself early in the day I eat more at night always. Turn off the TV. Change up your routine. It takes awhile to kick those cravings for sweets but you CAN do it. You have to want to.
  • taymam
    taymam Posts: 55 Member
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    I've logged in for a month now staying true to my 1200 calories goal everyday but one. At first I was sooooo hungry all the time, I would forget and mindlessly put food in mouth (then I would spit it out because it wasn't worth the calories to me) every night I went to bed hungry. To me I see this program as just plain math. I make sure every meal has protein (I'm not a huge meat eater so it's hard for me to reach my goal on protein) so I feel full longer. My go tos are, greek yogurt (15g per serving), cottage cheese (16g per serv) boiled eggs. I have a motivation wall to keep me focused (this had made all the differencr) and I remind myself every night that I'm supposed to go to bed hungry (that's the time when you burn the most fat) after a month of tweeking my protein fat and carb ratio I can finally say that I'm not hungry all the time anymore, just hungry at bed time. I drink a big glass of water before bed and that usually does the trick. When I'm having a sweet craving I've been eating blue menu greek yogurt mango popsicle s (5g protein and takes longer to eat so it's more satisfying 100 calories) or cottage cheese berries and honey, or flavored greek yogurt and berries. Hope this helps you take control of your cravings, it can be so hard sometimes especially when you're stressed. I wish the best in your life style change.
  • taymam
    taymam Posts: 55 Member
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    cherys wrote: »
    Your idea to increase drinks at night is a good one. I know they're not healthy but diet cokes or something like lime and soda can give you that sweet kick for almost no calories.

    If you are still genuinely hungry, try soup or home made fat free popcorn.
    If you're just bored, graze on salads, maybe, or chew mint gum.

    Agreed, when I have an insatiable sweet tooth it's coke zero for me. No calories, not good for you but I see it as a temporary coping mechanism to the cravings. We can't tackle everything all at once.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Make sure you're getting enough during the day, but save some calories and plan out your night snacks better...portion them out and make them fit your calories.

    Barring that, much of what you're talking about sounds more like habit than anything else. I used to have a similar habit of going to bed and reading...but I had to have my little snacks with me while I read in bed...I could easily knock out 500+ calories while I layed there and read for 30 minutes. It was a habit and ultimately it just took will power and a couple of weeks to break that habit.
  • Eileentk
    Eileentk Posts: 5 Member
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    When I get munchy late in the evening, it's just better for me to go to bed. After I've slept I have lots more will power in the morning.
  • chelsearoderick3
    chelsearoderick3 Posts: 5 Member
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    Thanks guys, you've all been of great help and have given me lots of ideas and motivation! New week for me now and I've planned all my meals for the next 7 days on MFP. Included a lot more protein and am swapping my usual chocolate fixes with slightly better choices such as muesli bars. We'll see how this goes but I'm not expecting it to be easy. Like some of you have said, it's more the habit that I need to break, so that's what I'll keep thinking and trying. Thanks again.
  • nannersp61
    nannersp61 Posts: 2,315 Member
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    chelsearoderick3 wrote: »
    Where I am now I want to lose 10 lbs, however I'm slowly gaining which is obviously taking me further and further from my goal. Recently I've been having on avg 2500/3000 calories a day (at least) along with regular exercise, but I know it's far more cals than I should be having, but it's the evenings and sweet treats that take me way over my goal. I think it's a mixture for me in terms of eating too little - sometimes I deprive myself during the day and am therefore very hungry when I get home (I've since tried to stop this with small portions throughout the day) and then eating my feelings, whenever I'm stressed or even happy about something I seem turn to comfort/celebration food.

    Eat some protein in the evening. Last night I still was way under my calories, I was HUNGRY! So even though it was late, I cooked an egg, a piece of bacon, threw two pieces of Turkey lunchmeat on there, a T of shredded cheese and put it in a warm tortilla. I was still under and had sugar grams left over, so I also ate a Clementine and drank a cup of skim milk. All that and still a deficit of 900+ calories. (I worked out 2 hours)
  • greenmm25
    greenmm25 Posts: 175 Member
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    I love Kettle corn popcorn it has the sweetness I crave and a crunch but not a ton of calories, in the microwave type. good luck!
  • CaptAwesome77
    CaptAwesome77 Posts: 84 Member
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    3 words... you've got to. It's the only way. There is no magic pill that will do it. Well, there's Alli, but assuming you don't want to crap constantly, exercise and diet have to work together to get the results you want. You can still eat the things you want (within reason), just be very strict with portion control.

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