For those who struggle with sleep/night time eating in calorie deficit, what is best dinner time?
charlenekapf
Posts: 309 Member
Trying to slowly ease into a deficit and have a lot of issues with compulsive overeating. it's getting better in the sense that i'm not mindlessly binging but i still have a huge appetite. I intermittent fast until around noon, exercise a bit in the morning before then fasted. have a decent lunch with lots of vegetables, mostly salads with a serving of grain, healthy fats and protein. Dinner is usually much of the same...vegetables with a focus on protein and fat, usually 1-2 carb servings. no snacking in between. however i tend to eat at like 12 pm and again at 4:00 finish by 5....I go to bed around 10 and get hungry just a few hours later around 7...and end up eating another few hundred calories of salad. I'm not binging or going way over my TDEE but it is ruining whatever deficit I have...it is definitely a hunger and i wish i could space out the calories better. What time/schedule works well for you so you're not going to bed hungry but able to stay in a deficit? any tips are helpful and welcome. except keto. please don't push low carb on me. i eat whole grains and unprocessed for the most part and don't want to hear that's the "answer." my thyroid started tanking when i cut carbs to way down....am now on armour thyroid for that....
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Personally, I know Im going to eat around an hoir before bed...so I save a few hundred calories for that time. I usually eat my meals around 12/1 then 5/6 then 9/10.2
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There is a myth that likes to be passed around that says something along the lines of "don't eat after 7pm." But, as I said, its a myth, and it will not go against your weight loss goals. If you can't help but have something before bed time, you're not alone. You can deal with this several different ways. You could push dinner back a few hours. If you typically go to bed at 10, maybe have dinner at 7-8? That gives you 3-4 hours before your bed time to digest, and not quite long enough for you to get hungry again. If you don't think you can last that long from lunch, perhaps think about splitting your lunch in half, eat half at lunch time, and the other 1-2 hours later. Or do a lighter calorie breakfast or lunch to have a snack later. Then theres also the option of taking some calories away from another meal in the day when you feel the least hungry (for me its breakfast) to save those calories for the evening.1
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Breakfast time is all over the place, because I'm rarely hungry in the am. Lunch is noon, snack at 3pm, and dinner just past 6. If I get too hungry and eat at 5, I'm back in the kitchen before bed.
If I have the snack, and wait until after 6 to start dinner, then I'm laying down by 9 (asleep between 10-11) once I'm laying down, I don't get up again, or I'll be snacking!2 -
I keep my meals evenly spaced out to try and avoid this, and for the most part it works. Breakfast at 10am, lunch 6 hours later [4pm] and dinner 6 hours after that [10pm]. It's easier to handle 12 hours between meals [most of which you're asleep for] than 17 hours [where over half that time you're awake for. I've had to do it before].
In your case, it's 19 hours between meals [5pm dinner and assuming 12pm lunch] so of course it's gonna be hard to stick to it.1 -
Thank you all for the insight...my biggest problem is budgeting the calories appropriately so i save enough for just before bed. it is all a work in progress. maybe i incorporate a 150-200 kcal snack around 4 to hold me until 6:30 and then have the majority of my calories for the day then. if i can finish eating by 7/7:30 that will be close enough to my bed time i think. agree though that 5 is way too early for me to have nothing else before bed!0
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I eat dinner at 7:30. Any earlier and I'm kind of screwed. If I can wait until 8, even better. Then I plan two more mini meals before bed.1
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just curious what is your typical meal structure for the day? do you IF until a certain hour too?arditarose wrote: »I eat dinner at 7:30. Any earlier and I'm kind of screwed. If I can wait until 8, even better. Then I plan two more mini meals before bed.0
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charlenekapf wrote: »my biggest problem is budgeting the calories appropriately so i save enough for just before bed.
Do you pre-log? I find that when I pack and log my meals and snacks the night before I do better.1 -
charlenekapf wrote: »just curious what is your typical meal structure for the day? do you IF until a certain hour too?arditarose wrote: »I eat dinner at 7:30. Any earlier and I'm kind of screwed. If I can wait until 8, even better. Then I plan two more mini meals before bed.
Um, if I really want to do a good job at being in a deficit, I do skip breakfast. But I have been having a protein bar with my coffee.
Lunch is late, 1:00. It's a HUGE salad, mostly vegetables, 20g of protein, maybe a wedge of laughing cow cheese, and hot sauce for dressing. It ends up being only 200-300 calories but it's so big it fills me up.
I have a snack around 3. It's usually a 120 calorie bag of pop chips, glennys chips, or a protein bar. Sometimes it's a coffee. I like a diet soda around this time too. Sometimes I have room for another snack at 4.
Then dinner at 7:30. A shake at 9. Ice cream around 10.
I'm weird.1 -
Hey whatever keeps you hitting your goals is not weird! everyone is different and i definitely find i feel way more focused if I IF but if i go too long without eating i feel like i may pass out and it's hard to think straight when talking to people. so i usually break fast around noon/1 to avoid that. but yes, i think using mostly veggies then late dinner will help for sure. I struggle so much with sleep and hunger issues at night so something along these lines may work better for me...we'll see. thank you!arditarose wrote: »charlenekapf wrote: »just curious what is your typical meal structure for the day? do you IF until a certain hour too?arditarose wrote: »I eat dinner at 7:30. Any earlier and I'm kind of screwed. If I can wait until 8, even better. Then I plan two more mini meals before bed.
Um, if I really want to do a good job at being in a deficit, I do skip breakfast. But I have been having a protein bar with my coffee.
Lunch is late, 1:00. It's a HUGE salad, mostly vegetables, 20g of protein, maybe a wedge of laughing cow cheese, and hot sauce for dressing. It ends up being only 200-300 calories but it's so big it fills me up.
I have a snack around 3. It's usually a 120 calorie bag of pop chips, glennys chips, or a protein bar. Sometimes it's a coffee. I like a diet soda around this time too. Sometimes I have room for another snack at 4.
Then dinner at 7:30. A shake at 9. Ice cream around 10.
I'm weird.0 -
I personally wouldn't recommend skipping meals in order to eat before bed. I have trouble with this too, I've had best success with:
1. Brushing my teeth 30-60min before bed, or drinking peppermint tea. For some reason my brain associates peppermint with "no more food", so it helps me not eat anything after that.
2. If I do eat, I try not to eat carbs (especially sugar!) because it keeps me awake longer and sometimes makes me hungrier.0 -
I just find that breakfast always makes e want to eat more and unless I sleep horribly, I'm not hungry for it. I have tried eating it in hopes it would help my issues with meals at night but it made no difference as far as hunger and my calories were just higher overallI personally wouldn't recommend skipping meals in order to eat before bed. I have trouble with this too, I've had best success with:
1. Brushing my teeth 30-60min before bed, or drinking peppermint tea. For some reason my brain associates peppermint with "no more food", so it helps me not eat anything after that.
2. If I do eat, I try not to eat carbs (especially sugar!) because it keeps me awake longer and sometimes makes me hungrier.0 -
I hear you with the nighttime eating. Others are right: it doesn't matter when you eat; it matters why you eat, and how much. When I know for a fact that I'm not starving and have eaten enough but still *want* food, I do a hunger check:
(1) I put both hands under my sterum and push, evaluating whether or not my stomach is actually empty.
(2) If I can't determine whether or not I'm hungry in step (1), I ask myself if I would eat broccoli. If I would, I am hungry, and I call my own bluff by eating broccoli or something equally nauseatingly healthy. 50 calories of dense greens is better than 300+ of anything else. (Sometimes, I allow sugarless Jello instead.)
(3) If I *know* I'm not hungry (even though I *would* eat broccoli), I grab my water bottle, go into my room, shut the door and distract myself with a book, movies, etc. The thing I tell myself at these times is, "I will do anything for you, but I will not eat right now." Hunger is part of this process. Typically I can distract myself well enough to get to bedtime. Sometimes I drink a gallon of water between barricading myself away from the kitchen and bedtime, but hey...at least I didn't overeat.
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7 pm.0
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I also eat lunch around 12pm but don't eat dinner until much later. I definitely find a 4/5pm snack is helpful, I usually have a small portion of sushi or fruit/yoghurt around this time and then eat my dinner at about 8pm when I get back from work.
I pre-log my meals if possible to work out how many calories the snack should be.
Good luck!0 -
I eat 100 calories before bed and a couple of times a week around 2:20a,m, I get up and make me decaf coffee and a small snack and go back to bed. I have already had blood work done and no issues with glucose. I just get hungry when I am in a deficit (like right now) and this happens.
On these days (mornings) these calories come off the days calorie bank.0 -
I tend to IF if I can, and I make sure my last meal is laaaate. As in, after 10PM if I can swing it (I sleep somewhere around 11-12 usually). Sometimes I get hungrier earlier, but in general if I eat dinner around that time I'm full until I go to sleep, and when I'm full I'm less likely to crave all the snacks that I didn't plan for in my day
So I'll do a small meal at 5-6, another one somewhere around 8 or 9, and then a late meal before I sleep.
This only works for me though because I work all day and have something to keep me from wanting to graze all day. I imagine people that have easier access to food throughout the day might struggle more with this kind of strange eating schedule.0 -
Few things, One I save most of my calories for evening eating, because that is when I tend to eat more. Second you mention 1 or two servings of things, but what is that? Do you weigh your food? There can be a huge difference in a serving, depending on what you are doing. Lastly carbs are very satiating. I wouldn't cut them out if it was me. I eat high protein, moderate carb, low fat diet. Just food for thought. Pun intended 0
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I usually just do a 7/8 dinner, then a tiny snack just before bed. Lunch is around 2-3 with minimal snacking before, for 'breakfast'.0
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I always plan a high-protein evening snack (ie, dessert) which I eat anywhere from 8-11pm, or not at all, depending on how I feel that particular night. I'm an insomniac, but it's not from feeling hungry.0
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I always save 250 cals for a high protein snack at 10pm because I cannot go to bed on an empty stomach. I do better with smaller meals and more snacks because I love to eat and don't have to wait as long between each one. I've tried eating bigger meals less frequently and it doesn't work for me mentally.. I find even though I'm not hungry I get "food anxiety" where I'm constantly thinking about how long I have to wait to eat again. Gotta experiment and find what works best for you!0
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these are all helpful. thank you.0
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