Waking in the middle of the night to eat - help????

kirdyq
kirdyq Posts: 165 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
For years I have had problems with this. Usually at least once a night, I will wake up and automatically get out of bed and go to the kitchen and eat a snack. This usually happens around 2am or so. Sometimes it's twice a night. When twice, it will be about an hour after I go to bed, then again around 2ish or so. This happens almost every single night.

I am aware that I'm doing this in some sense, although I'm very sleepy when I do it. And I feel like I have no self control to stop doing it, I think because I'm so tired when it happens since I've been asleep. The next day, I DO remember that I've been up and eaten. Very rarely I will find dishes in the sink that I don't remember putting there, although on occasion it happens.

I feel that this is keeping me from hitting my weight loss goals. I feel like I'm eating back a bunch of calories and it's preventing me from losing the 15 pounds that I want to lose. Mainly what I snack on in the middle of the night is stuff like cottage cheese, regular cheese, and bread. So it's not like I'm eating complete trash like chips and chocolate, but I'm grabbing stuff with carbs and fat.

Does anybody else struggle with this? Any thoughts on how to break this cycle? I keep a glass of water on the nightstand, but it's like I have no control to just take a drink of water and go back to bed. It's like I'm compelled to get up and eat something.

Replies

  • charlsy1691
    charlsy1691 Posts: 36 Member
    Get a padlock for the cupboards and fridge
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    How many calories are you currently eating per day and how tall are you? What was the calories of the last meal you had before bed and how much time passes between that meal and bed?

    Most likely, you are not eating enough and/or not eating enough before bed. When I don't, hunger wakes me in the middle of the night and I have to eat or I can't get back to sleep. I budget calories for a bed time snack.
  • kirdyq
    kirdyq Posts: 165 Member
    The past 6 weeks I have been trying to get it together and lose this 15 pounds that I've gained. So I've been exercising around 5 days a week and eating about 1500 calories a day. I'm 5'8".

    On average, we eat dinner around 5:30 or 6ish. It usually is about 500 calories or so.

    After exercising I will have a snack. I usually have this snack around 9pm at night. It is something with protein and is usually about 135 calories. I go to bed around 10 to 10:30pm.
  • fromnebraska
    fromnebraska Posts: 153 Member
    Do you think you're sleep walking or are you awake? If you're sleep walking, try putting some bells on your bedroom door handle or on the fridge door. The sound might wake you up enough to stop you from eating/sleep walking. You can also put a motion sensor light in your kitchen to wake you up.
  • kirdyq
    kirdyq Posts: 165 Member
    I am awake when I'm doing it.
  • itsbasschick
    itsbasschick Posts: 1,584 Member
    edited April 2016
    have you tried having a non-fat yogurt or non-fat cottage cheese just before bed? seems like you're waking around 8 hours after dinner, so maybe you just need some calories and protein to get you through the night. that's what i do before bed - and i try and make my snack something i enjoy.
  • kirdyq
    kirdyq Posts: 165 Member
    I have 3/4 cup low fat cottage cheese at 9pm and go to bed at 10 ish pm. :(
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    kirdyq wrote: »
    The past 6 weeks I have been trying to get it together and lose this 15 pounds that I've gained. So I've been exercising around 5 days a week and eating about 1500 calories a day. I'm 5'8".

    On average, we eat dinner around 5:30 or 6ish. It usually is about 500 calories or so.

    After exercising I will have a snack. I usually have this snack around 9pm at night. It is something with protein and is usually about 135 calories. I go to bed around 10 to 10:30pm.

    With only 15 pounds to lose your weekly weight loss goal should be set to no more than 0.5 pounds per week. I bet you're trying to lose faster :)
    Make your weight loss goal less aggressive and enjoy the extra calories.
  • TriShamelessly
    TriShamelessly Posts: 905 Member
    My wife suffers from this same phenomenon. I do not recall the medical term for it off the top of my head. You may want to consult with a medical professional who is knowledgeable on the topic. Best of luck to you!
  • KorvapuustiPossu
    KorvapuustiPossu Posts: 434 Member
    If that is the situation arrange those snacks into your calorie allowance. Doesn't really matter at what time we eat :) Make 1-2 ready night snacks - like cottage cheese and turkey ham for example...for 100ish kcal. The fact that it's during the night doesn't matter if your body works like that. Just make it fit :)
  • Mentali
    Mentali Posts: 352 Member
    Is there any way you can make it a bit more annoying to get into the kitchen? Kind of like they do with alarms so you don't turn them off while you're still half-asleep....like charlsy mentioned, a padlock would be easy to unlock in the morning but harder while half-asleep and maybe the time it takes to unlock it would wake you up enough that you could realize you don't NEED the food. Or put the snacks in an annoying spot to reach/in difficult-to-open containers. More than once I've craved bad food and was saved by the fact that it was just too obnoxious to acquire.

    Or have you tried just saving some of your calories for the night and pre-making the snack to ensure it stays within your goals?
  • serialmahogany
    serialmahogany Posts: 42 Member
    edited April 2016
    Im about the same stats that you are. I am also at 1400 Net cals a day, I have about 20 lbs to go. For me, after a workout I am really tired. And I sleep really well. I workout at about 5:00, for 30 minutes if Im really cooking dinner. If Im instantpottin' it, then I workout at 6:00. I eat dinner at 630-7. Then I mommy it up lill bout 830. I have a snack before I go to bed, because I crave sugar about that time. By 9pm the movie I was watching is watching me. And I wake back at 4:45am. Also if I do wake, I have a huge glass of water next to my bed. I just grab, drink and dont even step out of the bed.
    If you are like me, I would say try to workout closer to your bedtime maybe to help induce the sleep? Maybe a glass of lemon water next to the bed?

    I agree with the cottage cheese too, there are those brookstone ones with applesauce or some fruit. They hit my snack (sugar) need before I go to bed, and I dont regret it. I usually have my day of food planned out in the am, so I dont go over.
    I also agree with the too aggressive, I am planning on raising my goals soon. But I found my maintenance to be about 1600-1700 net. So Im not too far out there in the deficit. Maybe a small raise will help you be satisfied enough not to need to snack. Maybe only like 100 cals? At 1620 (my maintenance apparently) I am not full or bloated, but I am content, and no need to snack for some reason.
  • DanSTL82
    DanSTL82 Posts: 156 Member
    charlsy1691 wrote: »
    Get a padlock for the cupboards and fridge

    I second this.

    Also, as I recommend to everybody, don't keep snack foods in the house in the first place. Temptation to eat snacks won't matter, especially in the middle of the night, if you don't have convenient snacks laying around. Stock your fridge and pantry only with ingredients for meals, not finger foods to snack on.
  • fromnebraska
    fromnebraska Posts: 153 Member
    So is this just a willpower issue?
  • akamran1
    akamran1 Posts: 78 Member
    I would sometimes wake up hungry, so I experimented with different macros. Turned out that for me, a tablespoon of peanut butter before bed stopped the hungry. OP, you've mentioned protein didn't really work - fat & protein worked for me, someone else mentioned sugar, for you it may be another combo. Good luck!
  • kirdyq
    kirdyq Posts: 165 Member
    fromnebraska wrote: »
    So is this just a willpower issue?

    I really don't *think* that it is. It's like I'm on autopilot or something...I get mad at myself the next morning that I did it again. I tell myself before I go to bed that I'm not going to get up out of bed if I wake up. I have a large glass of water right next to me on the nightstand and I tell myself to just take a big drink if I wake up. But I find myself in the kitchen.

    I have plenty of willpower other times. We constantly have people bringing in junk to work - last week I successfully avoided donuts, oreo truffle balls, cookies, cake, chips, etc. All on different days. I had someone personally come in and hand me a plate of baby cinnamon rolls, which I took and thanked her for, and then later threw in the trash so I wouldn't eat them. It just like I'm some kind of zombie in the middle of the night that is not quite in their right mind and cannot control her actions.

    This whole eating in the middle of the night thing has probably been going on for 7 years or so with me. It didn't concern me too much, though, because I was not gaining weight and was not overly tired during the day. This past year and a half, though, that has all changed. I've put on 15-20 pounds that seem to be stuck, and I get very tired during the day.
  • itsbasschick
    itsbasschick Posts: 1,584 Member
    as far as calories, can you eat sugar free jello (or snack pack sugar free gels if you're vegetarian), sugar free popsicles and stuff like that in the middle of the night?

    i'd definitely talk to your doctor about this, too. it's no good that you're tired every day from waking up nightly.
  • kirdyq
    kirdyq Posts: 165 Member
    edited April 2016
    itsbasschick wrote: »
    as far as calories, can you eat sugar free jello (or snack pack sugar free gels if you're vegetarian), sugar free popsicles and stuff like that in the middle of the night?

    i'd definitely talk to your doctor about this, too. it's no good that you're tired every day from waking up nightly.

    I could sure try. I think I grab the cheese and bread because those are some of my favorite things. So, of course when I'm not in my right mind, I take what I like best. I'd hate to not buy them completely because I feel like low fat cottage cheese is a perfectly acceptable snack otherwise, for example. There was a period where I cut out dairy and was not buying it - I'd just find something else to eat in the night.

    I went ahead and scheduled a dr appointment next week to discuss this. :( I hope we can figure something out.

    I've just been thinking about what could be causing my stubborn weight to stay, and I'd say cramming down food in some semi-awake state in the middle of the night is a huge problem. My hubs has even started commenting on it recently, as we've both been trying to exercise and lose weight together.
  • fromnebraska
    fromnebraska Posts: 153 Member
    Have you googled Night Eating Syndrome?
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,416 Member
    Are you taking any sleep medication?
  • dolliesdaughter
    dolliesdaughter Posts: 544 Member
    edited April 2016
    Don't have convenience foods in the house. You may wake up to eat, but I doubt you would wake up to cook then eat.
  • kirdyq
    kirdyq Posts: 165 Member
    fromnebraska wrote: »
    Have you googled Night Eating Syndrome?

    Yes, I just looked at that today. It sounds very much like what is going on. However, Dr. Google can be so dramatic and wrong at times, know what I mean? I'll bring this up at my appointment next week.

    If I am not consciously trying to eat correctly, however, I do know that I consume the vast majority of my calories in the hours after I get home from work, in the evening, and in the middle of the night. On most days, the thought of eating breakfast when I first wake up disgusts me.
  • kirdyq
    kirdyq Posts: 165 Member
    dolliesdaughter wrote: »
    Don't have convenience foods in the house. You may wake up to eat, but I doubt you would wake up to cook then eat.

    This is true, but I do not consider things like bread, cottage cheese, and the like convenience foods.
  • Ribena145
    Ribena145 Posts: 201 Member
    Have you posted a giant STOP on the fridge as a reminder? That might work. I knew a fellow who did the same thing, but that was years ago and unfortunately I don't recall how he stopped. And he did proceed to lose quite a bit weight. Granted what you're eating isn't unhealthy, but your metabolism is in "sleep", "rest" mode and I would think almost impossible to burn off any of the calories you're consuming. Good luck - I hope you find your answer!
  • fromnebraska
    fromnebraska Posts: 153 Member
    I used to be repulsed by the idea of having breakfast too. I basically forced myself to eat something small and to drink a small amount of warm tea and eventually I was able to eat breakfast. Good luck! I hope you find some answers.
  • kirdyq
    kirdyq Posts: 165 Member
    fromnebraska wrote: »
    I used to be repulsed by the idea of having breakfast too. I basically forced myself to eat something small and to drink a small amount of warm tea and eventually I was able to eat breakfast. Good luck! I hope you find some answers.

    Ugh, it's bad!!! Usually I end up eating right after I get to work, I am usually a little hungry by then, and if I'm not hungry food at least doesn't sound bad by then. I get to work around 8.
  • kirdyq
    kirdyq Posts: 165 Member
    Ribena145 wrote: »
    Have you posted a giant STOP on the fridge as a reminder? That might work. I knew a fellow who did the same thing, but that was years ago and unfortunately I don't recall how he stopped. And he did proceed to lose quite a bit weight. Granted what you're eating isn't unhealthy, but your metabolism is in "sleep", "rest" mode and I would think almost impossible to burn off any of the calories you're consuming. Good luck - I hope you find your answer!

    I should try that. Or blow up one of my "before" pictures that I have had no luck in making look better since I'm not losing anything! A giant picture of my muffin top - you'd that that would be enough to give me pause...
  • blues4miles
    blues4miles Posts: 1,481 Member
    I know you don't see cottage cheese as a convenience food...but it sounds like for you, it is. I am not a snacker so things I can "snack" on don't live in my house. I will never be able to have just one of anything, I will binge eat all of it. To me, cottage cheese is no different than a bag of chips.

    Could you plan your calories around this, and plan what you are going to eat every night instead of panicking that this is "wrong" and then feeling guilty when you wake up?

    Also I don't bother with breakfast. It's not a universality that everyone need consume it. I save calories for the evening so I can have a big meal before bedtime, that is what works for me.

Categories