9PM hits and I lose control!

I do. I have a hard time stopping it. It's like a monster takes over lol. I find that going to bed before the cravings happen helps.

I either get a bottle of water to drink or go to bed. If the craving gets intense, I'll stick to some fruit. I also don't have anything tempting in the house, as I wouldn't be able to resist if it was there.

Same here. Fine all day, but 8pm - until I fall asleep - is definitely a challenge! Funny how that works!
Two things help me:
-drinking a couple glasses of water
-thinking about how much I'll be disappointed knowing I did great all day and fell off at the last minute.
I tell myself, no food will taste better than the success of reaching my goal!

I sleep better with a small snack, otherwise I feel deprived and fixated on that. I usually have some sparkling water (maybe with only a splash of juice) and a single serving sized bag of popcorn. It has taken a few weeks to cut back to something more reasonable.

I was really beating myself up over this irrational pattern until I had my cortisol levels tested by my doctor. This is the stress hormone in your adrenal glands that works with your thyroid to control metabolism. It has a characteristic of being higher in your body in the morning and then dropping way off at night. My test revealed really low levels the entire day, but REALLY low in the evening. So - since eating ramps up the rate of your metabolism, I figure that the night time cravings actually have a biological reason. I am now on medication and - guess what - no longer feel the urge to stuff myself.....

Wow, do I ever know exactly what you mean! For me, that usually happens around 10pm, and terrorizes me until I finally go to sleep, around midnight. One thing I've learned is that if I exercise too late in the evening (natural night-owl, here) then I'd better leave room for a small evening snack, afterward (Did this last night and it worked!)

However, like you pointed out, in most cases it isn't actual hunger for food. So when that 10pm peckishness occurs, I trade that in for some other little indulgence, like netflix, a pedicure, window-shopping on the internet of cute clothes that I am aiming to fit into again. Sometimes I read through old "Success Stories," or read inspirational blogs (without recipes!) Or, I'll make lists of things to do or re-organize. (Lists are love. YeahokayOCD.) Talking to a friend helps, too. Once or twice I've even played a little online Scrabble. So, just find little things you enjoy that aren't appetite or meal-related.

Good luck

I figure it's pretty normal to want to eat every two to three hours. I eat dinner around 6-7, so I save room for a snack around 9-10, otherwise I wake up hungry, or have trouble sleeping. I tend to stick to some healthy filling snacks like an apple, yogurt, air popped popcorn, or low cal cookies. I don't see why it's supposedly so bad to eat later when my body is legit hungry. I've cut back on bad snacking though so I shifted towards some better options. Seems to work so far

Asher_Ethan wrote: »

I save 200 - 300 calories for 9 pm so that I can eat something to satisfy me. And if I'm not hungry I get to bank those calories for a weekend drink.... Win win win situation.

This is exactly what I do. I leave myself a few calories so that I can eat something at night and stay within my calorie allowance.

Sometimes it's not hunger for me either, I just want to EAT! haha. When that happens, I eat something low calorie but high volume, like a huge bag of lettuce with a little tiny bit of dressing or a bowl of popcorn. I don't know where you live, but in the UK we can get cadbury's chocolate fingers, they're only 108 calories for 4 and they're great for dipping into a cup of english breakfast tea if you want something sweet or if you're craving chocolate! Because you can eat 4, it feels like you're really treating yourself and the tea makes you feel full.

I try not to eat too late at night as I suffer with acid reflux. If I get the urge to eat after 9pm I go brush my teeth, that usually puts me off eating.

I get that, and right around the time that I would normally get cravings, I try to make sure my food log is up to date and click the "Complete Entry" button for the day.

The notice that says, "If every day were like today, you'd weigh XXX lbs. in 5 weeks" is pretty motivational for me. If I am over my calorie goal for the day, it reminds me that I don't need to proceed any further in that direction. If I'm under my goal, knowing that I'm working on making good progress gives me the little mental boost I need to say NO to snacks.