Late night eating

HaviMom75
HaviMom75 Posts: 12 Member
in Getting Started
Any tips on avoiding late night snacking? I do okay during the day but want to eat my arm off after dinner. It’s a real mental battle to not give in and eat a trough of cereal.

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,419 Member
    I found a few things that help with that.

    Front load my day with plenty of protein and calories. By 11 AM I've usually eaten 1000 calories and 50g-60g protein.

    Lots of vegetables and whole fruit.

    A good size last meal with a small 200 calorie dessert of fruit and yogurt, at about 2-3 hours before bed.

    Going to bed early enough to not be hungry after dinner.

    In general, make sure you are eating enough calories in general and go to bed a couple hours after dinner.

    What are your calories set at? Anything below 1500 and all bets are off for me (female, 5'7" pretty sedentary in general.)
  • GigiAgape1981
    GigiAgape1981 Posts: 66 Member
    cmriverside wrote: »
    I found a few things that help with that.

    Front load my day with plenty of protein and calories. By 11 AM I've usually eaten 1000 calories and 50g-60g protein.

    Lots of vegetables and whole fruit.

    A good size last meal with a small 200 calorie dessert of fruit and yogurt, at about 2-3 hours before bed.

    Going to bed early enough to not be hungry after dinner.

    In general, make sure you are eating enough calories in general and go to bed a couple hours after dinner.

    What are your calories set at? Anything below 1500 and all bets are off for me (female, 5'7" pretty sedentary in general.)

    Would you mind sharing an example of a meal(s) like that?
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,419 Member
    edited February 2023
    GigiAgape1981 wrote: »
    cmriverside wrote: »
    I found a few things that help with that.

    Front load my day with plenty of protein and calories. By 11 AM I've usually eaten 1000 calories and 50g-60g protein.

    Lots of vegetables and whole fruit.

    A good size last meal with a small 200 calorie dessert of fruit and yogurt, at about 2-3 hours before bed.

    Going to bed early enough to not be hungry after dinner.

    In general, make sure you are eating enough calories in general and go to bed a couple hours after dinner.

    What are your calories set at? Anything below 1500 and all bets are off for me (female, 5'7" pretty sedentary in general.)

    Would you mind sharing an example of a meal(s) like that?
    I start with coffee with milk and protein powder at 5AM, then breakfast around 7, usually some sort of egg(s) with potatoes and meat and fruit or vegetables. Second meal (Elevensies) will usually be a sandwich and vegetables or fruit. 500 calories or so per meal, 25g (ish) protein per meal.

    Dinner is usually smaller, but same idea - a grain or a potato, vegetables, protein. After dinner is yogurt, fruit, nuts.

    I mean, for the specifics? You have to log food and learn from the food diary about portions and food choices.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,226 Member
    I had the same experience, that I had fewer issues with evening cravings if I got a solid breakfast with plenty of protein, then protein through the day adding up to a good overall total.

    For me, the thing below is a common breakfast, The list looks a little scary but basically it's oatmeal with a bunch of add-ins, plus a couple of cups of coffee with lots of hot, frothed skim milk in each cup. (The creatine is a supplement, eaten in 20g yogurt for convenience, optional. Matcha is a cold drink on the side, also optional.) This meal may be higher calories than you'd want - I'm in maintenance. I ate about the same thing while losing, without the seeds and peanut butter powder, pretty much - so around 34g protein in that version.

    kin8pfvwyz77.jpg

    Quite a few people around here seem to like eggs with some lean meat and/or cheese, veggies and/or fruit. For people rushing off to work something like a breakfast burrito, egg muffins, or similar can be prepped, frozen, zapped quickly to eat in the AM.

  • GigiAgape1981
    GigiAgape1981 Posts: 66 Member
    cmriverside wrote: »
    GigiAgape1981 wrote: »
    cmriverside wrote: »
    I found a few things that help with that.

    Front load my day with plenty of protein and calories. By 11 AM I've usually eaten 1000 calories and 50g-60g protein.

    Lots of vegetables and whole fruit.

    A good size last meal with a small 200 calorie dessert of fruit and yogurt, at about 2-3 hours before bed.

    Going to bed early enough to not be hungry after dinner.

    In general, make sure you are eating enough calories in general and go to bed a couple hours after dinner.

    What are your calories set at? Anything below 1500 and all bets are off for me (female, 5'7" pretty sedentary in general.)

    Would you mind sharing an example of a meal(s) like that?
    I start with coffee with milk and protein powder at 5AM, then breakfast around 7, usually some sort of egg(s) with potatoes and meat and fruit or vegetables. Second meal (Elevensies) will usually be a sandwich and vegetables or fruit. 500 calories or so per meal, 25g (ish) protein per meal.

    Dinner is usually smaller, but same idea - a grain or a potato, vegetables, protein. After dinner is yogurt, fruit, nuts.

    I mean, for the specifics? You have to log food and learn from the food diary about portions and food choices.

    Thank you so much for taking the time to write it up! 💐
  • Jacq_qui
    Jacq_qui Posts: 443 Member
    I've been a part-time student for years and I've done so much of my study after little ones are in bed which often required some sort of food to get me through. Snacking late a night was such a hard habit to quit, but I'm mostly out of the habit now. I try to eat a bigger meal than I used to and save some fruit for later. If i'm really hungry i'll have some unsweetened cereal or a few plain crackers so there's no 'reward' element. That's what worked for me anyway. That and going to bed earlier when I can!
  • fiddicat
    fiddicat Posts: 26 Member
    I set a phone alarm for 8pm. No eating after 8 pm. Water or tea okay. Brush teeth. Working on going to bed earlier. Remind myself of my goal and whether I want to sabotage my daily success to that point. I am trying to lose weight so I self-talk to cheerlead my loss to date and desire to continue.
  • stainlessneil
    stainlessneil Posts: 65 Member
    From a physical point i (mostly) make breakfast my largest energy meal for the day which sets me up for the day and then lunch and dinner can taper off.

    From a mental viewpoint, i have to be super strict about logging everything. If i don't want to log it, then i don't eat it. Then as soon as I'm finished dinner i click on "complete diary" and in my mind i think that's it for the day, great job hitting my targets, can't wait for breakfast 😀
  • stainlessneil
    stainlessneil Posts: 65 Member
    Also like fiddicat said above, remind yourself of the hard work you did during the day and think "do i really want to sabotage those HOURS of effort and doing the right thing for a few minutes of tasty snacks?" Be accountable to yourself and don't let 'night-time self' let down your 'daytime self'
  • JaysFan82
    JaysFan82 Posts: 853 Member
    I spread out all my food throughout my day and eat at roughly the same time. Even my snacks are timed. I smoke a ton of weed and munchies are real lol. Keeping to a fairly steady eating schedule has completely curbed my craving.

    Like the posters above, I always start with a protein packed breakfast.
  • fyk27k7y4r
    fyk27k7y4r Posts: 2 Member
    I eat more for dinner than I do for breakfast and lunch because I am always hungrier at night than early in the day. I eat a big dinner and it always fills me until bed.

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