Crazy hungry at night

Hey guys,

Here’s a question: I bike to and from work every day and it’s a 1h ride each way. I get so hungry at night, it’s crazy. After dinner I can easily destroy my pantry/fridge and eat an extra 400 calories. I don’t keep junk in the house, so it’s mostly dates, nuts, crackers, fruits ... anything!

So am I not eating enough or not well enough.

Any ideas on what to eat at work as a pre bike home snack?

Thanks :)
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Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
    What is your calorie goal? What are your stats?
  • vallary14
    vallary14 Posts: 215 Member
    Maybe keep the dates at work and eat a couple before you head home? I keep some in my locker at work and have two on a break. Definitely measure those late night snacks though. Do you like yogurt or cottage cheese? Those are my go to snacks if I feel like I really need /want something before bed.
  • gamerbabe14
    gamerbabe14 Posts: 876 Member
    Change your eating schedule: preplan your meals and save the bulk of your calories for dinner.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,023 Member
    Are you logging your biking and eating back some of those calories?
    Is this 400 cals putting you over your calorie goal?
    How much of a deficit are you aiming for?
    Are you getting enough protein and fat?
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited May 2018
    Is it a problem to eat after dinner, instead of before biking home? Are you eating too little or too much - are you losing or gaining weight unintentionally? What do you want to eat?
  • EllieTheLondoner
    EllieTheLondoner Posts: 33 Member
    Just a different line of thought to look at, are you heavy on carbs/sugar that's causing you to crash in the evenings? I cut out all added sugar and eat low-ish carb (ie, carbs through veggies) and that late night hunger vanished.

    Oh, apart from when I eat too few kcals in the day, then I wake up in the middle of the night from hunger! Learnt from that mistake!
  • Jolenepiche
    Jolenepiche Posts: 33 Member

    Is it a problem to eat after dinner, instead of before biking home? Are you eating too little or too much - are you losing or gaining weight unintentionally? What do you want to eat?

    It is not a problem it’s just that I feel sick while biking home if I eat too much before ! I could eat a small snack maybe 30 min before leaving.

    My calorie intake pre workout is 1300 daily. I have put on 3 pounds in 3 weeks but it’s possibly muscle. After logging my biking and my crazy eating I am still in a deficit of 400 calories.

    I planned a bigger lunch today adding a piece of cheese and crackers and a ton of veggies on top of my regular chicken/tuna salad .

    Jolene
  • Redordeadhead
    Redordeadhead Posts: 1,188 Member
    It's not muscle. It's probably water retention.

    Is 1300 an appropriate goal for you? It might be too little if you don't have a lot of weight to lose and are not very short.
  • Jolenepiche
    Jolenepiche Posts: 33 Member
    I lost 25 pounds so far since November and want to lose another 15-20. I am 5 ft 6 . Honestly I don’t know what to do!
    It's not muscle. It's probably water retention.

    Is 1300 an appropriate goal for you? It might be too little if you don't have a lot of weight to lose and are not very short.

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Is it a problem to eat after dinner, instead of before biking home? Are you eating too little or too much - are you losing or gaining weight unintentionally? What do you want to eat?

    It is not a problem it’s just that I feel sick while biking home if I eat too much before ! I could eat a small snack maybe 30 min before leaving.

    My calorie intake pre workout is 1300 daily. I have put on 3 pounds in 3 weeks but it’s possibly muscle. After logging my biking and my crazy eating I am still in a deficit of 400 calories.

    I planned a bigger lunch today adding a piece of cheese and crackers and a ton of veggies on top of my regular chicken/tuna salad .

    Jolene

    if after 'crazy eating' you're still 400 under then you just need to eat more full stop.

    how do you measure calorie burn for cycling?
  • Jolenepiche
    Jolenepiche Posts: 33 Member
    Is it a problem to eat after dinner, instead of before biking home? Are you eating too little or too much - are you losing or gaining weight unintentionally? What do you want to eat?

    It is not a problem it’s just that I feel sick while biking home if I eat too much before ! I could eat a small snack maybe 30 min before leaving.

    My calorie intake pre workout is 1300 daily. I have put on 3 pounds in 3 weeks but it’s possibly muscle. After logging my biking and my crazy eating I am still in a deficit of 400 calories.

    I planned a bigger lunch today adding a piece of cheese and crackers and a ton of veggies on top of my regular chicken/tuna salad .

    Jolene

    if after 'crazy eating' you're still 400 under then you just need to eat more full stop.

    how do you measure calorie burn for cycling?

    I have a Fitbit to track my exercise and I have a odometer on my bike so I log it here with my speed/minutes. I find that my Fitbit is lower on calorie burn than this app.
  • Jolenepiche
    Jolenepiche Posts: 33 Member

    Francl27 wrote: »
    You've lost 25 lbs, with 20 lbs to lose, it's really ok to eat a bit more. If you feel that you ate 'everything' and still have a 400 calorie deficit, that's your problem right there. It's much harder to keep a bigger deficit when you have less to lose because you get so HUNGRY. Seriously, change your goal to 1500 pre-workout at this point. You will lose slower, but it will be much more manageable.

    For a pre-bike snack, I'd honestly have a granola/energy bar and fruit or something. You want the carbs for energy. My snack of choice is some kind of cheese with fruit, but I don't know if that would tide you over. Or yes, eat more at lunch.

    The 3 lbs you gained at probably water, I wouldn't even worry about it.

    Thanks! Isn’t a calorie deficit what we want at the end of the day. Yesterday I ate 1500 calories and had a deficit of almost 500 calories.

    I brought veggies and cheese for my pre bike snack. We’ll see how that goes!

    I was hungry last night but I had like 4 cups of air popped popcorn. I thought the dates were too sugary !
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    You've lost 25 lbs, with 20 lbs to lose, it's really ok to eat a bit more. If you feel that you ate 'everything' and still have a 400 calorie deficit, that's your problem right there. It's much harder to keep a bigger deficit when you have less to lose because you get so HUNGRY. Seriously, change your goal to 1500 pre-workout at this point. You will lose slower, but it will be much more manageable.

    For a pre-bike snack, I'd honestly have a granola/energy bar and fruit or something. You want the carbs for energy. My snack of choice is some kind of cheese with fruit, but I don't know if that would tide you over. Or yes, eat more at lunch.

    The 3 lbs you gained at probably water, I wouldn't even worry about it.

    Thanks! Isn’t a calorie deficit what we want at the end of the day. Yesterday I ate 1500 calories and had a deficit of almost 500 calories.

    I brought veggies and cheese for my pre bike snack. We’ll see how that goes!

    I was hungry last night but I had like 4 cups of air popped popcorn. I thought the dates were too sugary !

    The calories that MFP gives you includes a deficit. You should net your calorie goal, and make sure it's appropriate to start with.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    You've lost 25 lbs, with 20 lbs to lose, it's really ok to eat a bit more. If you feel that you ate 'everything' and still have a 400 calorie deficit, that's your problem right there. It's much harder to keep a bigger deficit when you have less to lose because you get so HUNGRY. Seriously, change your goal to 1500 pre-workout at this point. You will lose slower, but it will be much more manageable.

    For a pre-bike snack, I'd honestly have a granola/energy bar and fruit or something. You want the carbs for energy. My snack of choice is some kind of cheese with fruit, but I don't know if that would tide you over. Or yes, eat more at lunch.

    The 3 lbs you gained at probably water, I wouldn't even worry about it.

    Thanks! Isn’t a calorie deficit what we want at the end of the day. Yesterday I ate 1500 calories and had a deficit of almost 500 calories.

    I brought veggies and cheese for my pre bike snack. We’ll see how that goes!

    I was hungry last night but I had like 4 cups of air popped popcorn. I thought the dates were too sugary !

    The calories that MFP gives you includes a deficit. You should net your calorie goal, and make sure it's appropriate to start with.

    This. When you select your goal on MFP, it already includes a deficit. If you pick the 'lose 1 lb a week' setting, it will be 500 calories. So if you still have 500 calories at the end of the day, that's actually a 1000 deficit... which is way too high for what you want to lose assuming that you're logging accurately.

    Now, 25 lbs since November is about 1 lb a week, so that's why I advised to only add 200 calories a day. I'm not sure how accurate your logging is, but it's easy to find out... If you have MFP set on 'maintaining your weight' and kept a 500 deficit every day, you're good. If you have MFP set on 'lose 1 lb a week' and kept a 500 extra deficit every day, and only lost 1 lb a week, it means you're eating more than you think anyway.

    Double check your MFP settings.
  • AudreyJDuke
    AudreyJDuke Posts: 1,092 Member
    Adding protein consistently throughout the day will help with excessive appetite. Good luck!!!
  • MelissaPhippsFeagins
    MelissaPhippsFeagins Posts: 8,063 Member
    Tomorrow (tomorrow!!!) I can start biking to work again because my kids are out of school and I don't have anyone else to drive. I haven't "tuned up" my bike for summer yet, it's more likely to be next week.

    Anyway, I will add 100 calories to my daily goal and eat it in full fat Greek yogurt before I ride home. (I am on the road for about 45 minutes/day) This works for me. Your mileage may vary. Good luck.
  • Marsia2
    Marsia2 Posts: 1 Member
    If you get tired of yogurt, a lot of athletes make a drink with whey protein because your body digests it quickly as opposed to something like red meat that can take many hours to digest and absorb the protein. Happy biking!
  • Jolenepiche
    Jolenepiche Posts: 33 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    You've lost 25 lbs, with 20 lbs to lose, it's really ok to eat a bit more. If you feel that you ate 'everything' and still have a 400 calorie deficit, that's your problem right there. It's much harder to keep a bigger deficit when you have less to lose because you get so HUNGRY. Seriously, change your goal to 1500 pre-workout at this point. You will lose slower, but it will be much more manageable.

    For a pre-bike snack, I'd honestly have a granola/energy bar and fruit or something. You want the carbs for energy. My snack of choice is some kind of cheese with fruit, but I don't know if that would tide you over. Or yes, eat more at lunch.

    The 3 lbs you gained at probably water, I wouldn't even worry about it.

    Thanks! Isn’t a calorie deficit what we want at the end of the day. Yesterday I ate 1500 calories and had a deficit of almost 500 calories.

    I brought veggies and cheese for my pre bike snack. We’ll see how that goes!

    I was hungry last night but I had like 4 cups of air popped popcorn. I thought the dates were too sugary !

    The calories that MFP gives you includes a deficit. You should net your calorie goal, and make sure it's appropriate to start with.

    This. When you select your goal on MFP, it already includes a deficit. If you pick the 'lose 1 lb a week' setting, it will be 500 calories. So if you still have 500 calories at the end of the day, that's actually a 1000 deficit... which is way too high for what you want to lose assuming that you're logging accurately.

    Now, 25 lbs since November is about 1 lb a week, so that's why I advised to only add 200 calories a day. I'm not sure how accurate your logging is, but it's easy to find out... If you have MFP set on 'maintaining your weight' and kept a 500 deficit every day, you're good. If you have MFP set on 'lose 1 lb a week' and kept a 500 extra deficit every day, and only lost 1 lb a week, it means you're eating more than you think anyway.

    Double check your MFP settings.

    Ahhhhhh! I had no idea. I saw a -486 at the end of my day and thought that was it.

    Yeah my weight loss was steady but slow. Now it’s just stalled and well up 3 pounds from last week. I weigh myself tomorrow so we will see!
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,613 Member
    I would try an apple or banana, or even a cliff bar if you need more calories. A slightly larger lunch with extra protein might also help.