Evening hunger pangs

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StrawMouse
StrawMouse Posts: 30 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So the day has gone fine and under-cal-budget, then - at about 9pm - there's a sudden pang to eat something comfy or sweet. Too often I crack!

What to do here? Train myself into ignoring it? Have an calorie okay alternative lined up?

Sorry if this is a retread of other threads! Grateful for links if so.

Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,402 MFP Moderator
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    I would ask what kinds of foods and how many calories are you eating? How much protein and fiber? What is your current height, weight, age, sex?

    In the most generalized sense, more protein and more fiber is a great start.
  • thechiopodist
    thechiopodist Posts: 216 Member
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    I find I have evening cravings if a: I eat my dinner too early, or b:the food I eat is not satisfying.
    I don't eat huge meals during the day, normally, and try to save a good proportion for my dinner. I also include small treats now and again, such as single portion rice pudding pots, which satisfy my need for a dessert, without too many calories.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,524 Member
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    Apart from not eating enough or not eating ideal macros for you boredom is also a possibility. What are you doing in the evening, and do you still feel hungry if you do something interesting instead of sitting in front of the telly?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,763 Member
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    yirara wrote: »
    Apart from not eating enough or not eating ideal macros for you boredom is also a possibility. What are you doing in the evening, and do you still feel hungry if you do something interesting instead of sitting in front of the telly?

    This reminds me: Poor sleep (or high stress) can also be a factor. In my amateur understanding, the mechanism is that the body can respond to fatigue by creating cravings so we'll eat for more energy, simplistically stated. Naturally, we tend to be more fatigued as the next bedtime approaches, so evening cravings can be an expression of that fatigue cycle. So, sometimes better sleep/sleep hygiene or stress management techniques can help reduce cravings, too.

    Sometimes it's frustrating how interconnected all these things are, but OTOH it creates some alternate strategies we can use to get to our goals more easily.
  • sarahbetherck
    sarahbetherck Posts: 270 Member
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    I'll drink an herbal tea, there are tons of flavors out there with a little sweetness to them that help me when I have that sweets craving. Good luck!
  • RunsWithBees
    RunsWithBees Posts: 1,508 Member
    edited August 2020
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    Fruit or low cal veggies are good options, precut and ready to eat. Also, I try to avoid having the tempting snacks in the house at all, that makes it much easier to resist if they aren’t around. But personally what I need to avoid is watching TV because that’s what causes my late evening cravings. If I’m doing anything else like reading, sewing, organizing stuff, etc., I usually don’t get em, even being online doesn’t cause me to want to snack like watching TV does! :#
  • ALZ14
    ALZ14 Posts: 202 Member
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    I’ve always been an evening snack person so I do skip breakfast, do a light lunch and then try to have 1,000ish calories for dinner and a snack/treat around 8:00. It doesn’t work for everyone. It it works for me most of the time!
  • sal10851
    sal10851 Posts: 171 Member
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    I save the bulk of carbs for dinner. I found that eating them during the day made me hungrier and led to cravings at night. Worked wonders for me. I also found that eating dinner at around 730 did not make me as hungry in the mornings which allowed me to reduce my morning breakfast portions to allow a bigger dinner.
  • Raegold
    Raegold Posts: 191 Member
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    I have the same issue. Sometimes I'm so hungry that it's hard to sleep. The only thing that I've found that helps is to save enough calories for a balanced snack (around 200) before bed... Honestly though, when my body is in a deficit, I'm just super hungry, and I try to come to terms with it and realize that's why losing weight is so hard. Sometimes herbal tea helps but not much. You're not alone!

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