struggling with middle of night eating

vitalflame
vitalflame Posts: 9 Member
edited December 19 in Health and Weight Loss
my son wakes me up in middle of the night and a lot of times I grab a snack. I'd like to quit doing this, but in the mean time, when the heck do I log it- the day before, or the day after? And I guess I'd have to add a category for snack 4 middle of night? Thoughts?

Replies

  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    I don't divide up my stuff, I just slap everything into one big meal, lol. Helps me to not eat just because it's "time" even if I'm not hungry. That aside, MFP treats the cutoff as midnight, so for ease (so you don't have to switch to "yesterday" or "tomorrow") I would treat that as the cutoff for what day you log it.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    i just use midnight as my divider and i have my diary set to time periods

    if you know you are going to get up and eat something - plan it ahead of time - then its accounted for in your daily plan
  • Teabythesea_
    Teabythesea_ Posts: 559 Member
    I start logging the next day after midnight. This really only happens when I'm going out or like the past couple weeks when I've been cramming for midterms and staying up late. Or what you could do is make it a point every day to prepare a snack ahead of time and log it. If you eat it when you get up it's already accounted for and if you dont then you can have it as a snack the next day and wont have to worry about logging it.
  • mndamon
    mndamon Posts: 549 Member
    I don't worry too much about which day specifically, I try and picture it more as a week as a whole. So if you have a snack at midnight and log it either day it's nothing to stress over. Not sure if you like to eat it but low/no fat cottage cheese is good for this, will keep a good flow of protein going the rest of the night when you get back to sleep.
  • puffbrat
    puffbrat Posts: 2,806 Member
    vitalflame wrote: »
    my son wakes me up in middle of the night and a lot of times I grab a snack. I'd like to quit doing this, but in the mean time, when the heck do I log it- the day before, or the day after? And I guess I'd have to add a category for snack 4 middle of night? Thoughts?

    How old is your son and why is he waking you up? Is this something where you end needing to be awake for half an hour or more, or just 1 or 2 minutes? Are you grabbing the snack because you are hungry, or tired, or out of habit?

  • puffbrat
    puffbrat Posts: 2,806 Member
    For your main question - I use midnight as my cutoff for the days but it might be helpful for you to look more at your overall weekly goal rather than daily.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    vitalflame wrote: »
    my son wakes me up in middle of the night and a lot of times I grab a snack. I'd like to quit doing this, but in the mean time, when the heck do I log it- the day before, or the day after? And I guess I'd have to add a category for snack 4 middle of night? Thoughts?

    I have a Misc category for this. You can log it whichever day you like. If this happens frequently, budget for it the previous day and pre-log it.

    Sometimes when I wake up and feel hungry I'm actually thirsty. Because of my tiny bladder, I can't drink, but maybe you can, or have something with a high water and low calorie count, like fruit. Lately I've been telling myself, "You're not hungry, you are just thirsty. Go back to sleep." and this actually works :smiley:
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    vitalflame wrote: »
    my son wakes me up in middle of the night and a lot of times I grab a snack. I'd like to quit doing this, but in the mean time, when the heck do I log it- the day before, or the day after? And I guess I'd have to add a category for snack 4 middle of night? Thoughts?

    Why do you grab a snack?
  • vitalflame
    vitalflame Posts: 9 Member
    I'm not sure why I'm eating in the middle of the night any more. He's 2 yrs 5 months. It used to be I was hungry or thirsty because I was nursing. Now I suspect its either I'm thirsty or some kind of emotional eating because I'm upset to be woken up and trying to calm down. A lot of times he wants me to tuck him back in or give him something to drink. I really don't want to continue the bad habit. I'm super tired and he won't let my husband tuck him back in.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    vitalflame wrote: »
    I'm not sure why I'm eating in the middle of the night any more. He's 2 yrs 5 months. It used to be I was hungry or thirsty because I was nursing. Now I suspect its either I'm thirsty or some kind of emotional eating because I'm upset to be woken up and trying to calm down. A lot of times he wants me to tuck him back in or give him something to drink. I really don't want to continue the bad habit. I'm super tired and he won't let my husband tuck him back in.

    Sure, if I wake up with anxiety I find food soothing and helpful to get back to sleep. This doesn't happen very often though.

    You could find another way to self-soothe, or just budget for it.
  • kds10
    kds10 Posts: 452 Member
    I used to do this...I would keep apples around for that reason. I would grab an apple for a night time snack. Haven't done it for a long time but yeah it used to be a regular occurrence.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    vitalflame wrote: »
    I'm not sure why I'm eating in the middle of the night any more. He's 2 yrs 5 months. It used to be I was hungry or thirsty because I was nursing. Now I suspect its either I'm thirsty or some kind of emotional eating because I'm upset to be woken up and trying to calm down. A lot of times he wants me to tuck him back in or give him something to drink. I really don't want to continue the bad habit. I'm super tired and he won't let my husband tuck him back in.

    Maybe try just getting a drink instead?
  • debtay123
    debtay123 Posts: 1,327 Member
    I would eat something if I like THEN jot it down so i don't forget about it- then next morning log it first thing and deduct the calories from the next day- that way you won't be over eating- and in time you will decrease this behavior but first and fore most you are a mom- and sometimes it is just stressful and we WANT something
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