Eating late night

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I eat late at night when I’m alone. How to stop this chronic habit?

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  • swimmchick87
    swimmchick87 Posts: 458 Member
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    There is nothing wrong with eating later if you can make it fit into your calorie day. Plan a late night snack that fits into your day to take away the "guilt/bad" piece. I find that I stick to my calorie goals much easier if I have most of my calories in the evening. I've never liked breakfast, and at work I'm too busy/distracted to really care about what I'm eating. So I pack a 300-400 calorie lunch and then have the rest in the evenings. Sometimes it's one large meal, or sometimes it's a more medium sized meal with dessert or medium sized meal with a snack later.

    If you find yourself binging at night, you may also consider that you're probably taking in too few calories during the day and you're letting yourself get too hungry. Personally, it took me a long time to admit that 1200 calories was just never going to work for me long term. I changed my weight loss goal to lose one pound per week and the calorie goal is so much more manageable.
  • work_again
    work_again Posts: 125 Member
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    its soooooo hard... I'm guilty of it allll the time. I have a few strategies I try to use:

    1 - plan... eating at night isn't bad alone and in itself...its bad if you eat more calories than you take in... so i would try to plan leaving 300-400 calories for a late night snack.
    2 - drink water. Lots of water. like all day. drink more water than you think you can handle.
    3 - know your preferred snack... and prep smallllll portions in case. Sweettooth/Chocolate? Have a few dark chocolate chips on hand... a tablespoon of peanut butter and eat it like ice cream... savor it. salty? try some popcorn or rice cakes... savor it... take your time.

    A little planning can go a long way
  • work_again
    work_again Posts: 125 Member
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    I've never liked breakfast, and at work I'm too busy/distracted to really care about what I'm eating.

    saaaaaame... i hit the ground running on work days :D

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    If you are consistently hitting your calorie targets, it doesn't really matter. It only matters if it's causing you to go over on your calorie targets on a regular basis. In that case, you can make room for it by cutting something else out earlier in the day. I personally eat dinner later in the evening as that is when my wife and I sit down to watch t.v. and I would otherwise end up just snacking regardless of whether or not I was hungry. I'm usually pretty busy earlier in the evening, so that works well for me. I typically eat dinner around 8:30 PM or so and I'm usually in bed by around 9:30 PM to read and doze off to sleep.
  • aqua14lisa
    aqua14lisa Posts: 35 Member
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    If you are going over on calories by snacking, try brushing your teeth after dinner. Nothing tastes right after brushing, imo!!