Falling off the wagon in the evenings
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EmmieLee1982
Posts: 15 Member
I start most days great. LC breakfast, LC lunch and snacks, and then around dinner time the wheels fall off and my ability to resist carbs is significantly reduced. Sigh. I know that I'm sabotaging myself and it does no good to eat healthy most of the day but then have some large carby/sugary thing after dinner. Ideas?
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Replies
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Brush your teeth immediately after dinner
Eat dinner later
Drink tea
Sometimes I have spicy nuts and a diet soft drink1 -
I pop gum in my mouth after the meal and budget calories for a low-carb snack later just before bed. The psychology of that works for my hunger monster.0
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work out right before dinner - I find that I have less cravings if I do that, plus I already put in the work so I'm less likely to blow it0
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@Cadori You just reminded me that I have spicy nuts in the house and I got SO EXCITED.4
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@RedfootDaddy I get excited when I have that realization too
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It's 100% mental.
My opinion is that unless you approach it the same way as an addict, it'll always be there even when you make it through several successful days or even months.
There is a real addiction factor with carbs. Especially sugar and the fast acting processes carbs.
If someone you loved was addicted to a substance that they wanted to quit for whatever reason they felt it was negative on their life, what would you expect them to do? What would you say to coach them past the cravings that always result in their relapse?
You would probably tell them they just need to quit cold turkey and power through the cravings and withdrawal.
I personally did it this way as a former MAJOR sugar addict myself.
What finally made it possible for me to just stop and never fall of the wagon after over 18 months now was hearing my niece talk about overcoming drug addiction. How hard it was and how she has to work to live a life that keeps her focused on staying clean. Her story is heartbreaking and I couldn't imagine having to go through what she did. And when I thought about how I would give in and down an entire box of candy and feel mad at myself because I "couldn't resist", I was basically pissed off at myself for being so weak and once I put that "struggle" to resist a sugar craving into perspective against her fight and the fight of my father with lung cancer on chemo where everything tasted like metal but he had to eat something to try to stay strong... I could never see my "problem" the same again.
I thought of them every time I had a craving for sugar or carbs of any kind. The feeling of "need" would almost automatically go away because I basically felt ashamed that I couldn't be as strong as they are over something so small and trivial.
I thought, what the hell am I going to do if I have something actually challenging to deal with if I can't even simply not eat that crap. I mean, I can eat other stuff. It's certainly not suffering like they endure.
I think it took me about 2 days and I was never worried about falling off the wagon ever again. I just can't see it the same way I used to.
Might seem extreme, but I believe eating that stuff damages my body, so it doesn't feel extreme to me anymore. And I don't believe in "special treats" or "special occasions" being any reason to eat them any more than my niece can't celebrate her birthday with some heroin...10 -
i am a late snacker too and get more hungry at night. What worked for me is skipping breakfast, eating a light lunch and snack. then i eat the rest of my calories after 5:00. Took me just shifting all my calories to later in the day. if you need something sweet make a LC mug brownie, or eat an atkins bar. if you need something salty and crunchy eat some porkrinds or peanuts.
typical day I dont eat anything until 1-2pm except coffee.
then i make an omelette with veggies and meats,
then i might have a snack around 3.
that leaves me about 1500 calories i can eat after 5:00. it works for me idk if it will help you.2 -
I find that sipping on hot drinks in the evening is both filling and soothing. My personal choice is decaf coffee with half and half and various flavors of Skinny Syrup; very satisfying.
Sunny_bunny: You are absolutely correct. Comparing our desire for, say, Twinkies with drug addiction or chemo puts things in a meaningful perspective. And, yes, for some of us "special treats" are not a realistic option.2 -
mandycat223 wrote: »I find that sipping on hot drinks in the evening is both filling and soothing. My personal choice is decaf coffee with half and half and various flavors of Skinny Syrup; very satisfying.
Sunny_bunny: You are absolutely correct. Comparing our desire for, say, Twinkies with drug addiction or chemo puts things in a meaningful perspective. And, yes, for some of us "special treats" are not a realistic option.
"Special treats" are definitely not a realistic option for me. There is a real addiction factor with sugar and processed carbs for me, I know that. But with my husband and my two oldest kids (teens) not on board with LC, there's always carby stuff of one kind or another in the house. I wish I could just get rid of it all, to help me break this addiction.
I will try some of these ideas. I can't work out before dinner (the after school/before dinner time is a crazy time for the kids), but I could try most of the others -- especially gum or hot drinks.0 -
Have to agree with @Sunny_Bunny_ . Just say no. Once you stop for awhile it will become clear why we have an obese population. Eat, eat, eat. I rather enjoy not being preoccupied by food/eating for every.single.event. in life.2
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I realized last night that by doing my exercise right before dinner (last night I did a cycle class at 5:30pm), then my cravings were DRAMATICALLY reduced. I actually barely wanted to eat dinner (it was an intense class).1
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I wasn't a night snacker until I met my husband. And then I became a night snacker by default. I keep pepperoni, pork rinds and pickles on hand for when I need that salty crunch.
I also find that fasting until noon or one helps keep my food in a time slot where I am satisfied. I often finish dinner now and I find that I can't put another food item in my mouth.
I also drink a cocktail with seltzer water, and I bet the bubbles help to keep me feeling satiated.0 -
I sip on strong decaf coffee with a little cream in the evenings. The coffee helps cure the need for sweet and the cream helps with the cravings.0
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A trick I learnt whilst working for a weight loss company was to have a Chromium tablet everyday at 3pm. It kills cravings for about 3 hours and holds you through till dinner time. Other than that you can have a protein rich snack at 4pm. That might reduce cravings.1
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Okay ... I've always had trouble with this. My partner is one of those people who will sit there and eat chips and dip or a bag of lollies or whatever every night. He still does this. At 7:30 every night without fail he will get up, go to the kitchen, make coffee and come back with snax.
I've been keto for 4 years, and I have learned to cope with it. I do not eat breakfast, but I will have a coffee with butter and cream. For lunch something like cold meat or chicken with coleslaw (full fat low carb mayo). Dinner is whatever, usually meat of some kind and some stir fried zucchini and mushroom, or broccoli and cauliflower (we are creatures of habit). This leaves enough calories to deal with the evening snack problem. At 7:30 I will have a coffee with butter blended in, and either a low carb protein bar or some camembert and olives or similar.
Bottom line is you need to learn to manage it in a way that allows you to stick to your healthy eating but does not leave you bitter and resentful because you're missing out - which will cause you to "fall off the wagon" every night.
It also helps me to think of carby foods and what they actually do to not only my hunger levels but my health over all. There is nothing better than the feeling of being in control of your hunger when you eat low carb.1 -
I totally agree with @EbonyDahlia
You do need to figure out a way to manage that time of night and the fact that those foods are going to be around.
For me, again, I had to learn to view them as "not food". The same way a dog can eat his dog chow in front of me without me drooling over it. It's not food for me. I can't see it as food that I don't "get" to eat or as some "forbidden" thing. I don't feel deprived by not eating dog food. I had to see those high carb foods the same way. I can't expect to sit there wanting something and not have it. At least not as my long term plan. My long term plan was to learn about how that stuff wrecks my body and health and stop thinking of it as food. I needed to make myself not want it.
The addiction scenario really helped with that too.
My husband and son eat chips and ice cream and all that stuff. My husband makes a snack after dinner every single night. I make him a good sized plate of low carb food at dinner and he cannot go the 5 hours until bedtime without eating again. My son can't do it either. Because they will be eating I tend to want something too. It's not even hunger but there's just something about wanting a nibble when other people are eating. I have a cup or two of slightly sweetened tea, sometimes coffee every night. I don't usually add cream as I usually don't want to add the calories. I will also have a little cheese and pepperoni or maybe a dark chocolate square. 86% real dark chocolate. Not those artificially sweetened milk chocolate bars I've seen. I would even eat a 70% dark before I'd eat one of those other kinds, but I'm so used to it now I don't need it that sweet. Sometimes I'll scoop a little peanut butter on it if I'm wanting a sweet treat. That's about as sweet as anything I eat gets anymore. The chocolate is pretty awesome with some coconut manna too.
That kind of treat isn't as likely to stir up cravings because it's real food that's lower in carbs and high in fat and won't hit your blood fast and hard.2 -
Or perhaps make yourself some homemade low carb desserts which you can safely eat. You can satisfy your sweet tooth and still work toward your goal without derailing yourself every day. 2 birds, 1 stone, etc. Potential bonus: you may even find or make some LCHF treats that your husband and kids like too.0
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All are excellent posts. I struggle too. I am addicted to sugar. I did keto for 5 weeks and ate sugar over Thanksgiving. This is day 2 back on but it is a struggle. U got good advice. Hang n there and keep posting. I'd like to hear how u do. Thx1
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I'm a sugar (carb) addict. I spent 20 years trying to control it. I "started over on Monday" at least 1000 times. I could go okay for a day, a few days, a few weeks on a low cal diet but then hunger and cravings would do me in. I have learned that even in my smug state of no cravings while eating Keto I am not immune. 2 years ago I thought "I'll just eat what I want on Xmas day, it's only one day, it'll be fine". I ate all the carby foods, the sweets and the bread and all the things. It took me 3 months to stop. And I gained 14kg. The following Xmas, I stuck to low carb, there was meat and cheese and things I could eat without eating carbs. I made a Keto cheesecake to share (most people had no idea and loved it). I survived xmas day and stayed on plan. I will never again make the mistake that "just one day" won't hurt.4
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I deleted my post as I realized it was insensitive to many. For those who did read, I apologize...my initial post was very narrow minded.1
