Evening sabotage

holly_aitken146
holly_aitken146 Posts: 3 Member
edited November 2024 in Motivation and Support
Hi guys. Does anyone else struggle in the evenings. I have a really good breakfast, go to the gym, have a healthy lunch, and then after a productive day I start to wobble. Do I want that dinner? Can I have a glass of wine with it? Nice bit of chocolate to round the day off? If you have felt the same as me how did you get past it? Help please!! I keep sabotaging my good work but can’t seem to stop. Need motivation x

Replies

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    No motivation for doing it wrong, so are you doing it right? Are you eating enough, and do you plan meals you actually want to eat?
  • SabAteNine
    SabAteNine Posts: 1,867 Member
    I never got past it, frankly. I have my chocolate and my wine and my big dinner, and I had them while restricting calories, too (ca. 1400), by eating less during the day. Both my body and my mind prefer having at it in the late evening/night, so there was no use arguing with them :smile:
    I am not sure how much you are eating, but if you are not restricting too much, you could try doing the same for a few days. Or saving up a small deficit on 1-2 days to spend on bigger dinners afterwards and the good stuff.
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,385 Member
    If I get home too early, I find I have too much time on my hands and the food/wine comes into play ..so what I do is I busy myself with errands, shopping, staying later at work... to come home later. for me it works.. If I get home at 6:30 ..it times out perfect .. prepare a healthy meal.. eat.. take a bath.. bed..t.v. sleep.
  • 88olds
    88olds Posts: 4,554 Member
    A couple of thoughts, some folks have their calories set at the most strict minimum. Then they beat themselves into compliance for most of the day but can’t keep it up in the evening when they are tired. Is that you?

    Why don’t you have a plan for the evening? How good are your plans for the day overall? Having a “good” breakfast and “healthy” lunch doesn’t really address the issue. You could eat all junk food and lose weight if you end up in a deficit. Is your evening plan just so unappealing you just won’t stick to it?

    Don’t kick yourself for not wanting an unappealing dinner. Make a better plan. This is the heart of successful weight loss. Problem solving.

    You don’t say how your program is working overall. Can you find some more calories for the evening? Or do more research to find some recipes that have appeal?

    Keep working to make your plan better. Do you keep a diary? You should know where you are in your calorie count when dinner time comes. Plan on a glass of wine if you want. Plan yourself out trying to stare down food in the evening when you’re likely more tired. That’s a hard way to live.
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    i food prep most weekends so i don't have to worry about what i can eat. take it out of the fridge and eat.
    actually most nights i have ice cream for dinner. because i can.
    mostly i prelog my food so i know if i have wiggle room or if i should move a little more
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    Pre-logging so I know how much I can have in the evening helps me a lot. I usually like to have a treat of some sort in the evening so I plan my day to have it and adjust accordingly.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    fat2fitti wrote: »
    Hi guys. Does anyone else struggle in the evenings. I have a really good breakfast, go to the gym, have a healthy lunch, and then after a productive day I start to wobble. Do I want that dinner? Can I have a glass of wine with it? Nice bit of chocolate to round the day off? If you have felt the same as me how did you get past it? Help please!! I keep sabotaging my good work but can’t seem to stop. Need motivation x

    Are those small treats putting you over your calorie goal? If not, they aren't sabotaging anything.

    I try to save 100-200 cals for an after dinner snack every night. Sometimes I use those calories instead on a bit more dinner or a glass of wine, but I do it mindfully, understanding that I have a choice: A second helping of dinner OR a glass of wine OR a little evening snack.

    Learning how to fit in "treats" without constantly going over calories is a learning process. I found pre-logging really helps. Sometimes I log a rough framework of what I intend to eat through the day first thing in the morning, and go back and change anything I need to as it comes up. Sometimes that's not possible, but I regardless I log something before I actually eat it as often as possible. If I'm out of calories but still "snacky" I log the snack I'm thinking of and see what it does to my numbers, then I make a conscious decision to eat it or not.

    Sometimes I choose to go over my calories. More often, I choose a lighter snack or do a gut check, realize I'm not really hungry, and decide to have a cup of mint tea and a 40 calorie square of chocolate instead.

    It might also help to go back over your diary and look at the days that you went over your calories with a critical eye. Do they have anything in common? Is one macro very low or high on those days? Is there a food that is using up a lot of calories that consistently shows up on those days, or one that's missing?

    You'll figure it out, good luck :smiley:
  • dejavuohlala
    dejavuohlala Posts: 1,757 Member
    Same here, that's the hard part for me too. I try to keep my calories low during the day so I can have snacks in the evening I wish I didn't relie on the snacks albeit I do have low calorie snacks. Good luck
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