What to do at night when your hungry?!?!

A small protein or fat hit usually does it for me. An ounce or two of meat, a tablespoon of nut butter, only about 100 calories. Usually not a problem unless I've been off my calorie count that day.

I have several pieces of advice to kick the "hunger" issue. I always had issues with it, as well, but I learned how to eliminate the problem after a few years of trying various diets and keeping a log of what I ate and how I felt.

1) Increase your protein intake, reduce carb intake, and eat healthy carbs like vegetables and some fruit. Personally, I recommend you look up what your "maintenance" protein intake is and then double that. Eat at least that much protein each day and it will really help stave off hunger. If you need a quick number, eat 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight. So, if you weigh 200 lbs, then eat 0.7 * 200 = 140 grams of protein per day. As you lose weight, the number will quickly approach the recommended intake per pound of lean body weight. Most importantly, it will help you lose weight quicker and easier because it will eliminate those insane hunger pains. The other thing to keep in mind is that vegetables and fruit are mostly water, so they are quite filling for few calories. However, they tend not to stick with me as long as protein does, so focus most on protein intake.

2) When you wake up in the morning, if you are not hungry, don't eat anything until you feel the first hunger pains. Then, eat a high protein breakfast like no-fat greek yogurt, scrambled eggs, or some lean meat. Personally, I like to make a smoothie in my Vitamix using 1 cup of greek yogurt (23g of protein, 0g fat, a handful of carbs), 1 scoop of Vega One organic protein powder (which provides lots of vitamins and minerals equivalent to several servings of vegetables and fruit and 20g more protein), plus 1C - 2C (70g - 140g of each) of frozen blueberries or peaches (to sweeten it). If you use blueberries, you must get the ones which are very large, otherwise they won't provide much sweetness. I use the fruit to sweeten it instead of sugar because it is obviously healthier. I add about 8oz of water and then blend. It makes almost 32oz of smoothie with around 44g of protein. Plus, it provides half of my daily vitamin needs. It typically comes in under 400 calories. I use Vega One as the protein powder because it is basically ground up and dehydrated organic vegetables. That gets me much larger dose of vegetable intake than I would normally get.

3) When you start feeling hungry again, eat a small, high protein snack and wait until you feel hungry again before eating your next meal.

4) Make sure you stick with protein and veggies as the main items you eat for your meals. Eat at least 35g of protein for each meal, but 45g would be better to start with. Choose lean meats or fish to keep the calories down. You want at least a half of a plate of veggies with each meal, but a full plate would be better. The less "dressed" you can make them, the better. For example, I sometimes eat an entire bag of fresh cut green beans (12oz). To prepare them, I put them in a pot of water, raise them slowly to a boil on medium heat, strain, add 7g (half a tablespoon) of Organic Valley Pasture Butter (my favorite butter) and stir to coat, then add salt to taste and eat. It is basically a full plate of green beans and has only 63 calories of butter on it for extra flavor.

5) Eat your last meal of the day relatively close to bedtime. I get up at 5:30am and go to bed at 9pm. So, I typically eat dinner either between 6pm and 7pm or between 7:30pm and 8:30pm. I try not to eat after 8pm, but sometimes life is crazy and it just happens. You need to have about a 3 - 4 hour window between when you eat your last meal and when you fall asleep. If you fall asleep less than 4 hours after you eat your last meal, and you ate a lot of protein in that meal, you will not quite be done digesting the protein at that point, so you should not be hungry. But, you will have had enough time to digest most of your meal so it shouldn't keep you awake.

6) When all else fails, eat watermelon! Seriously. 1kg (2.2 lbs) of watermelon is only 300 calories. For the small round seedless melons, that's typically half or more of the melon. For the larger elongated melons, it's still probably 1/4th of the melon. Watermelon is about 93% water. All of that water really fills you up fast. Because it is contained in the food itself, it keeps you full longer than if you had just drank the water from a cup. Even if I am nearly fainting from hunger, I find it hard to eat more than 300 calories of watermelon in one sitting, and that much watermelon keeps me full for quite a while. I will slice a bunch onto a plate, weigh the plate, eat as much as I want while putting the rhine back on the plate, then weigh the plate again and log the number of grams I ate.

7) If you get a craving for sweets, eat watermelon first until you are full. Then if you get another craving for sweets, eat more. Repeat until you hit the end of the day. If you have cravings on the next day, try it again. If on the third day they have not disappeared, you can either try it again or you can try a single serving of 70% cacao or higher dark chocolate. Try Perugina if you like chewing your chocolate or Lindt if you like letting it melt in your mouth.

Using these tactics, I am able to get by on as little as 1,000 calories per day without feeling much hunger. It's a lot easier to do 1,200 - 1,300 calories per day without hunger. At the time of this writing, I am 253lbs. I'm male, almost 6' tall, and fairly muscular. If a guy of my size and build can get by on such a small calorie count without feeling much if any hunger during the day, you can too.

For a last-ditch effort, if you are still having issues with hunger after making those changes, there is one sure-fire way to kick it. However, it takes 3 days of going out of your mind, wanting to pull your hair out and climb the walls to do it. That no-fail method of kicking the feelings of hunger is to consume nothing but 12 - 16 cups of water for 72 hours. If you want to go that route, I strongly recommend you find something *very* engrossing to do for those 3 days. Like binge-watch multiple seasons of your favorite TV show or a new show you always wanted to get into or play a super-engrossing computer game or walk 10 miles from civilization in all directions with a tent and sleeping bag and some books and water and set up camp for the three days. By the end of the 2nd day it won't be so much the feeling of hunger that gets you but the insane, mind-bendingly overwhelming compulsion to eat. I recommend everyone try it at least once. It will give you a new respect for drug addicts who have gone through withdrawal, regardless of whether they succeeded or failed to kick their habit.

If I had calories I ate (I don't generally eat breakfast and generally try to save calories for an after dinner snack). If not and we were talking 6 months ago when I was really trying to lose weight the answer was go to bed hungry. Now, I'd probably just eat something and either say who cares or adjust for it in the following days.

kshama2001 wrote: »

For those of you who drink liquid right before bed, doesn't it make you need to get up and pee?

I budget calories for a bedtime snack, and if I'm thirsty, have fruit.

Yeah, I need to stop drinking an hour before bed or I'm up at least twice...

I go for the budgeting calories route as well and have popcorn most nights!

kshama2001 wrote: »

For those of you who drink liquid right before bed, doesn't it make you need to get up and pee?

I budget calories for a bedtime snack, and if I'm thirsty, have fruit.

So no one else gets up to pee at night? I'm the only one?

OP, pre-plan your day so you have a snack at night. Aside from medical fasting, there's no reason to go hungry.

Drinking a glass of water can help. Gum is another thing. I typically have a couple handfuls of sunflower seeds, they take me like 30-45 mins to eat and only is like 100 calories. A handful of sugar snap peas and baby carrots is very filling and is only 75 calories. A couple oz of beef jerky is super filling and 100-300 calories plus super high in protein.

But in my experience its mostly mental. If you are doing nothing except sitting and watching something your more proned to eat, and less proned to eating if you are busy doing something.

I am a compulsive eater...I can't leave food on the plate. (Hence my weight problem but I am learning.) I do not go to bed hungry. I make wonderful balanced meals for lunch and dinner...portioned! I journal (track on MFP) and I drink a lot of water. Yes, kshama2001, I am awake every 2 hours...can't be helped. I drink a lot or water. (I am almost 53 years old and you should see my skin and hair...it's gotta be water! )

I eat dinner late...around 8:30 and I'm in bed by 10.

i budget calories for just before bed. a small bowl of cereal with non-fat milk, a yogurt, a single serving of chips or a cheese stick gets me through.

i do still have to get up to pee, though

egable1 wrote: »

I have several pieces of advice to kick the "hunger" issue. I always had issues with it, as well, but I learned how to eliminate the problem after a few years of trying various diets and keeping a log of what I ate and how I felt.

1) Increase your protein intake, reduce carb intake, and eat healthy carbs like vegetables and some fruit. Personally, I recommend you look up what your "maintenance" protein intake is and then double that. Eat at least that much protein each day and it will really help stave off hunger. If you need a quick number, eat 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight. So, if you weigh 200 lbs, then eat 0.7 * 200 = 140 grams of protein per day. As you lose weight, the number will quickly approach the recommended intake per pound of lean body weight. Most importantly, it will help you lose weight quicker and easier because it will eliminate those insane hunger pains. The other thing to keep in mind is that vegetables and fruit are mostly water, so they are quite filling for few calories. However, they tend not to stick with me as long as protein does, so focus most on protein intake.

2) When you wake up in the morning, if you are not hungry, don't eat anything until you feel the first hunger pains. Then, eat a high protein breakfast like no-fat greek yogurt, scrambled eggs, or some lean meat. Personally, I like to make a smoothie in my Vitamix using 1 cup of greek yogurt (23g of protein, 0g fat, a handful of carbs), 1 scoop of Vega One organic protein powder (which provides lots of vitamins and minerals equivalent to several servings of vegetables and fruit and 20g more protein), plus 1C - 2C (70g - 140g of each) of frozen blueberries or peaches (to sweeten it). If you use blueberries, you must get the ones which are very large, otherwise they won't provide much sweetness. I use the fruit to sweeten it instead of sugar because it is obviously healthier. I add about 8oz of water and then blend. It makes almost 32oz of smoothie with around 44g of protein. Plus, it provides half of my daily vitamin needs. It typically comes in under 400 calories. I use Vega One as the protein powder because it is basically ground up and dehydrated organic vegetables. That gets me much larger dose of vegetable intake than I would normally get.

3) When you start feeling hungry again, eat a small, high protein snack and wait until you feel hungry again before eating your next meal.

4) Make sure you stick with protein and veggies as the main items you eat for your meals. Eat at least 35g of protein for each meal, but 45g would be better to start with. Choose lean meats or fish to keep the calories down. You want at least a half of a plate of veggies with each meal, but a full plate would be better. The less "dressed" you can make them, the better. For example, I sometimes eat an entire bag of fresh cut green beans (12oz). To prepare them, I put them in a pot of water, raise them slowly to a boil on medium heat, strain, add 7g (half a tablespoon) of Organic Valley Pasture Butter (my favorite butter) and stir to coat, then add salt to taste and eat. It is basically a full plate of green beans and has only 63 calories of butter on it for extra flavor.

5) Eat your last meal of the day relatively close to bedtime. I get up at 5:30am and go to bed at 9pm. So, I typically eat dinner either between 6pm and 7pm or between 7:30pm and 8:30pm. I try not to eat after 8pm, but sometimes life is crazy and it just happens. You need to have about a 3 - 4 hour window between when you eat your last meal and when you fall asleep. If you fall asleep less than 4 hours after you eat your last meal, and you ate a lot of protein in that meal, you will not quite be done digesting the protein at that point, so you should not be hungry. But, you will have had enough time to digest most of your meal so it shouldn't keep you awake.

6) When all else fails, eat watermelon! Seriously. 1kg (2.2 lbs) of watermelon is only 300 calories. For the small round seedless melons, that's typically half or more of the melon. For the larger elongated melons, it's still probably 1/4th of the melon. Watermelon is about 93% water. All of that water really fills you up fast. Because it is contained in the food itself, it keeps you full longer than if you had just drank the water from a cup. Even if I am nearly fainting from hunger, I find it hard to eat more than 300 calories of watermelon in one sitting, and that much watermelon keeps me full for quite a while. I will slice a bunch onto a plate, weigh the plate, eat as much as I want while putting the rhine back on the plate, then weigh the plate again and log the number of grams I ate.

7) If you get a craving for sweets, eat watermelon first until you are full. Then if you get another craving for sweets, eat more. Repeat until you hit the end of the day. If you have cravings on the next day, try it again. If on the third day they have not disappeared, you can either try it again or you can try a single serving of 70% cacao or higher dark chocolate. Try Perugina if you like chewing your chocolate or Lindt if you like letting it melt in your mouth.

Using these tactics, I am able to get by on as little as 1,000 calories per day without feeling much hunger. It's a lot easier to do 1,200 - 1,300 calories per day without hunger. At the time of this writing, I am 253lbs. I'm male, almost 6' tall, and fairly muscular. If a guy of my size and build can get by on such a small calorie count without feeling much if any hunger during the day, you can too.

For a last-ditch effort, if you are still having issues with hunger after making those changes, there is one sure-fire way to kick it. However, it takes 3 days of going out of your mind, wanting to pull your hair out and climb the walls to do it. That no-fail method of kicking the feelings of hunger is to consume nothing but 12 - 16 cups of water for 72 hours. If you want to go that route, I strongly recommend you find something *very* engrossing to do for those 3 days. Like binge-watch multiple seasons of your favorite TV show or a new show you always wanted to get into or play a super-engrossing computer game or walk 10 miles from civilization in all directions with a tent and sleeping bag and some books and water and set up camp for the three days. By the end of the 2nd day it won't be so much the feeling of hunger that gets you but the insane, mind-bendingly overwhelming compulsion to eat. I recommend everyone try it at least once. It will give you a new respect for drug addicts who have gone through withdrawal, regardless of whether they succeeded or failed to kick their habit.

Really loved your response. I used to eat watermelon, i think i stopped because of trying to increase protein and so had to eliminate all my carb snacks like popcorn and watermelon or risk going over. My work weeks are wasier cos i have to go to bed at a set time, but when i am off or the weekend and stay up all hours watching tv or reading is when its really hard. I will try some of your suggestions.