I seriously need help with my night eating problem

Assuming you have already eaten your daily calories, then it's just a behavioral habit.

Those pathways get laid down in your brain and you just feel like that is what you have to do.

I had to change up all of my routines, and one of them is not eating after dinner. I eat about 4 hours before bedtime, and that is my last food for the day. Yeah, I had to break that same habit. Push your dinner back a little later OR leave a couple hundred calories for that snack. Alternately you could change what you snack on. Pick carrots and cucumbers with hummus instead of cookies and chips.

You can stop, but it is difficult to break a long-ingrained habit.

Nancela wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions. I think that my husband leaving either brings on a lonely feeling OR I just don't want to eat in front of him. Not sure. I think I will try leaving the kitchen clean-up until he leaves. Maybe that will break the tendency to eat. I also will make sure to leave calories for a night snack just in case. The problem is, something shuts off in my brain at a certain time and I just eat anyway. Thanks everyone. I will try everything you have mentioned. I am also definitely open to more suggestions.

I found this to be true for me, too.

Someone who is a teacher on here mentioned that insulin production peaks around 10PM. I don't know if that's true, but I know I have to go to bed by 9PM if I want to avoid night-eating. I don't like to go to bed within three hours of eating because it seems I wake back up a couple hours later. So I have my last food a minimum of three hours before bed. If I plan to go to bed around the same time every night, I know when I have to eat.

I plan my meals so I have all the food I need. Any emotions don't get fed.

If hunger isn't the problem, food isn't the solution. Or so I try to remember.

This is a great question!! So many people struggle with this after supper snacking until late. And watching TV while snacking? What could be better, right?
There are a few things to consider. Do you normally have a stressful day? This could be as simple as chronic lateness to work or getting the kids to school in the morning. Time crunches work more stress than people realize. Emotional stress of being alone can trigger it, but I was told by a doctor that binge eating at night after a stress is over with is a chemical response in your reward systems of the brain. As soon as your husband leaves, all stress of being perfect or whatever it is is gone and now it's time for those reward centers to receive their just desserts. I don't think it is because you are trying to do it behind his back. It's just that you can finally relax when he is gone. Another thing to consider is how much protein and fiber you have in a day. This can go a long way to satiate you.
I have a few secrets I pull out when I start binging at night.
1) Plan for it in calories by skipping breakfast
2) Getting a B complex stress vitamin
3) Mitigate the binge with a sweet drink like hot tea with milk and honey/sugar .It will ultimately cost less calories than food but you will still get your sweet reward that your brain wants.
4) start doing the resistant starch diet. You can eat any diet that you are on but add unmodified potato starch to (Cold water ONLY) water and drink it throughout the day. Up to 3 tablespoons. Don't drink more than one teaspoon at a time. (Some people can have more, but I got a bit of a dull headache when I tried to push too much at once) This brings up your serotonin and does something with your gut bacteria in your large intestine that balances out your sugars and stabilizes your mood and reward centers. After 3 days of this you can't imagine how good you will feel. In 2 weeks you'll be a different person. Also people with alcohol cravings find they don't want alcohol and lose their cravings for it. This works for large sugar Cravings as well. You just don't want it. Or need it. The unmodified potato starch changes your liver over from sugar burning two fat burning due to changes in your gut. I had good results with only 4 teaspoons per day.
I hope something in there helps you or someone else reading this post who also struggles.