Blowing diet at night
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amandallee
Posts: 40 Member
I'm doing the Atkins diet... I always eat breakfast.. usually eggs and sausage... drink nothing by water... usually cheese for a morning snack... low carb lunch.. Atkins bar for evening snack... I watch my calories also. But then by dinner I'm STARVING and usually end up over eating and blowing everything. It's very frustrating. I have a desk job, but I make a point to get up and walk atleast 300 steps every hour. I try to walk in the evenings after dinner but I'm a FTM to a 1 year old (you'd think chasing him would be enough - he never stops) and I've recently plateaued on weight loss. Is anyone else having this problem? I still have about 45 lbs to lose. Any advice is appreciated!!!
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Replies
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I've lost nearly 90lbs on a keto/Atkins... This level of hunger triggering at night for me ment I was not front loading enough fiberous veggies that day. Increase your intake an extra large serving of raw veggies at lunch or dinner and see if you are having these cravings still! Good luck!6
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One trick I use is to eat somewhat sparingly throughout the day. That way I always have more than enough calories to satisfy my nightly hunger pains.5
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Maybe you need one more small snack before dinner?3
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I can handle hunger far better in the morning, so I just drink coffee and water all morning, then have just a small lunch...then I eat the remainder of my calories in the late afternoon and evening. I have a snack before dinner, a substantial dinner, and several more light snacks until bedtime.
This regimen keeps me satisfied and happy - I hate going to bed hungry - I am stronger and better equipped to cope with it in the morning. This is the only way I have found to overcome the powerful hunger and desire to eat that I experience later in the day and at night. It's working for me! I suggest that you play with your eating schedule and see if you can tweak it a bit so it meets your needs better. Good luck!6 -
I find that if I get better sleep it helps. I know that that maybe harder with a 1 year old.
So maybe it's your stress levels1 -
What have you set your weight loss rate to, what calorie goal did MFP give you, and are you aiming to hit that number? Are you logging your intake? Are you varying your food choices? Any particular reason you're doing Atkins? Are you really starving, or do you feel like you're missing (out on) something?6
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Depending on the size of your lunch your body may want more volume of food: tons of veggies to fill up for your dinner. Learn new recipes with low carb: zucchini carbonara, spaghetti squash with marinara, etc. I find I don't splurge as much if I can have a high volume of food. Also drink tons of water through the day if you're not already.1
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Change your goal to lose one pound a week.3
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I struggle to eat veggies. I probably should have mentioned I'm a very picky eater
I'll cut up veggies real small and put them in ground meat or whatever I'm eating just so I make sure I'm eating veggies. I'll try adding more.
I do try to eat sparingly and space out my meals, eat slow, etc. But 4:00 hits and I'm ravenous lol Plus, I then have to sit in Dallas traffic for two hours just to get home after that.
I try not to eat after 7pm and I don't usually eat breakfast until 8am the next day. And I do need to get more/better sleep but it is extremely difficult with a one year old. I'm sure stress has a lot to do with it.
My calorie goal is set to 1,800/day and I'm usually under that. That's what MFP suggested when I first created the account. I'm 5'8, 214lbs, 29y/o now - down 21lbs.
I am a creature of habit so if I find a recipe I like I'll eat it until I literally don't want to see it anymore. Ever lol
I really appreciate everyone's advice. I'm going to work harder and try my best to eat more veggies!!!
Thanks!!!
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Vegetables are nutritious and versatile, but they're not the answer to everything. It sounds that you have a good strategy in place already.amandallee wrote: »I struggle to eat veggies. I probably should have mentioned I'm a very picky eater I'll cut up veggies real small and put them in ground meat or whatever I'm eating just so I make sure I'm eating veggies. I'll try adding more.
You don't have to do any "circus tricks" to eat well and lose weight, just eat enough, but not too much. Don't eat under 1800. MFP gave you that goal based on your stats, and you're hungry because you're noe eating enough.I do try to eat sparingly and space out my meals, eat slow, etc. But 4:00 hits and I'm ravenous lol Plus, I then have to sit in Dallas traffic for two hours just to get home after that.
I try not to eat after 7pm and I don't usually eat breakfast until 8am the next day. And I do need to get more/better sleep but it is extremely difficult with a one year old. I'm sure stress has a lot to do with it.
My calorie goal is set to 1,800/day and I'm usually under that. That's what MFP suggested when I first created the account. I'm 5'8, 214lbs, 29y/o now - down 21lbs.
Great job on losing so far by the way!2 -
amandallee wrote: »I struggle to eat veggies. I probably should have mentioned I'm a very picky eater I'll cut up veggies real small and put them in ground meat or whatever I'm eating just so I make sure I'm eating veggies. I'll try adding more.
I do try to eat sparingly and space out my meals, eat slow, etc. But 4:00 hits and I'm ravenous lol Plus, I then have to sit in Dallas traffic for two hours just to get home after that.
I try not to eat after 7pm and I don't usually eat breakfast until 8am the next day. And I do need to get more/better sleep but it is extremely difficult with a one year old. I'm sure stress has a lot to do with it.
My calorie goal is set to 1,800/day and I'm usually under that. That's what MFP suggested when I first created the account. I'm 5'8, 214lbs, 29y/o now - down 21lbs.
I am a creature of habit so if I find a recipe I like I'll eat it until I literally don't want to see it anymore. Ever lol
I really appreciate everyone's advice. I'm going to work harder and try my best to eat more veggies!!!
Thanks!!!
So are you actually staying under your calorie goal every day? Are you sure you are tracking your calories correctly? How long have you been doing the diet for? 21lbs is a really good start, and I'm sure a lot of that up front was water weight, so it might seem like your weight loss is slowing down because you are getting past that phase. If you are eating under your calorie goal everyday you should be losing weight, and it has nothing to do with you eating most of those calories at night.
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So are you actually staying under your calorie goal every day? Are you sure you are tracking your calories correctly? How long have you been doing the diet for? 21lbs is a really good start, and I'm sure a lot of that up front was water weight, so it might seem like your weight loss is slowing down because you are getting past that phase. If you are eating under your calorie goal everyday you should be losing weight, and it has nothing to do with you eating most of those calories at night.
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Not every day.. like I said, I usually blow it at night because I'm so hungry when I get home. :-/ I've been doing the diet for about 3-4 months now. I'm doing the 40carb/day instead of the 20. I added more food to my breakfast this morning and am going to try to add more water so I'm going to see how that works.
I figured the weight loss would be slow, and I'm ok with that, I just haven't seen ANY loss in a few weeks so I was a little perturbed about it I guess.0 -
amandallee wrote: »I struggle to eat veggies. I probably should have mentioned I'm a very picky eater I'll cut up veggies real small and put them in ground meat or whatever I'm eating just so I make sure I'm eating veggies. I'll try adding more.
I do try to eat sparingly and space out my meals, eat slow, etc. But 4:00 hits and I'm ravenous lol Plus, I then have to sit in Dallas traffic for two hours just to get home after that.
I try not to eat after 7pm and I don't usually eat breakfast until 8am the next day. And I do need to get more/better sleep but it is extremely difficult with a one year old. I'm sure stress has a lot to do with it.
My calorie goal is set to 1,800/day and I'm usually under that. That's what MFP suggested when I first created the account. I'm 5'8, 214lbs, 29y/o now - down 21lbs.
I am a creature of habit so if I find a recipe I like I'll eat it until I literally don't want to see it anymore. Ever lol
I really appreciate everyone's advice. I'm going to work harder and try my best to eat more veggies!!!
Thanks!!!
I have the same problem! I am fine during the day, but when dinner time sets in and I have hungry kids screaming for food. I get so overwhelmed that I eat my food and later on at night when I go to the bathroom and pass the kitchen is when I blow the diet. Tried eating snack in afternoon like cheese and nuts. It is a battle for me. I wish had a musle put on my face after I brush my teeth.
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Skip breakfast and eat a larger dinner? Works great for me.5
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It seems to me that you should prep veggies for when you start to pig out at night. Then you can eat your fill, you will get the veggies in, and because most are low calorie you won't blow your budget. Whatever you have been overeating instead of vegetables, don't have that ready to go in your house.
Eating something which isn't your favorite on these binges will also teach you the difference between cravings and real hunger. If you are really hungry, you will want to eat things that aren't your favorites, while if you're just craving, you may decide you weren't that hungry to begin with.2 -
You are on the right track with eating small meals every few hours. Your plateau is likely caused by eating too much at night. If your dinner is bigger than the rest of your meals, your body will use what it needs for energy and store the rest as fat. Even if you are within your allotted calories for the day, eating too many calories at once can still be stored as fat. Your body doesn't focus on long-term energy use. It focuses on real-time energy use, meaning it will use what it needs at that time and will store the rest as fat if there are excess calories that can't be used at that time. You're saying you feel more hungry toward dinner time. Could it be what you're eating prior to dinner is not satisfying enough for you? Could it be a mental thing where you are eating more at night out of habit rather than out of hunger? You could try eating half of what you make for dinner and wait 30 minutes or so to see if your hunger subsides.7
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beatyfamily1 wrote: »You are on the right track with eating small meals every few hours. Your plateau is likely caused by eating too much at night. If your dinner is bigger than the rest of your meals, your body will use what it needs for energy and store the rest as fat. Even if you are within your allotted calories for the day, eating too many calories at once can still be stored as fat. Your body doesn't focus on long-term energy use. It focuses on real-time energy use, meaning it will use what it needs at that time and will store the rest as fat if there are excess calories that can't be used at that time. You're saying you feel more hungry toward dinner time. Could it be what you're eating prior to dinner is not satisfying enough for you? Could it be a mental thing where you are eating more at night out of habit rather than out of hunger? You could try eating half of what you make for dinner and wait 30 minutes or so to see if your hunger subsides.
This is incorrect... meal timing/frequency has no effect on weight loss and metabolism. You could fast all day and eat your calorie goal at 10pm and still lose weight at the same rate as someone who had 6 equally spaced meals. Calories are all that really matter.
https://examine.com/nutrition/does-eating-at-night-make-it-more-likely-to-gain-weight/
https://examine.com/nutrition/do-i-need-to-eat-six-times-a-day-to-keep-my-metabolism-high/5 -
Thank you everyone. Based on the comments... I think I'm not eating enough at lunch/afternoon snack and then waiting too long between that and dinner... I eat lunch around 1pm, snack around 2:30pm, and then I don't get dinner done until around 6 pm. I'm going to try a larger lunch and breakfast and more water.
Also, it's hard to eat/cook carb friendly at dinner when you are the only one in the house watching what you eat. I'll have to look for more recipes that the whole family can eat that are still good for me and my goals.1 -
@toxikon I'm guessing you didn't realize some of those studies listed that focused on large calorie consumption in the morning versus large calorie consumption at night as references in the first article you provided contradict your statement about eating late at night. I really don't feel like writing a novel so I'll leave it at that.
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beatyfamily1 wrote: »@toxikon I'm guessing you didn't realize some of those studies listed that focused on large calorie consumption in the morning versus large calorie consumption at night as references in the first article you provided contradict your statement about eating late at night. I really don't feel like writing a novel so I'll leave it at that.
The studies show inconsistent results. Some people have success eating the majority of their calories at night, some have success with a big breakfast. The results are inconclusive, so the "information" you're providing is false. Just choose a meal frequency that works for you because no one has proved that a particular way of eating reduces/increases your metabolism significantly or affects your "fat storage".
Find me a reputable scientific study proving your points and I'd be happy to read them, because I've never seen any evidence of CICO not working because you have a large dinner.4
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