Please help, how do i stop the cravings at night instead of being sleepy and going to bed??

chloehill1744
chloehill1744 Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
If tried taking melatonin but i will literally hold off as long as i could and around like 2 am i eat around 4000 cald

Answers

  • avatiach
    avatiach Posts: 307 Member
    Different things work for different people.

    Some people make a rule for themselves that they cannot eat after a certain time of night (8 pm, 10 pm, whatever…)
    Some people plan a low-moderate calorie bedtime snack—say milk and cereal or fruit and cheese or a handful of nuts—for an hour before they go to bed.
    Some people let themselves eat in the middle of the night but restrict themselves to a set amount of calories—maybe a protein bar or a string cheese.
    I generally cut myself off at 9 and tell myself I am really not hungry (and drink tea). But what works for me might not work for you.
    Why do you think you get so hungry in the middle of the night?
  • Corina1143
    Corina1143 Posts: 3,797 Member
    Is your body hungry? Or are you anxious? Or bored? Or just snacky?
    I was snacky. I wanted this, but it didn't satisfy, so some of that. Etc.
    Believe it or not, eating a high protein breakfast helped more than anything. Who'd a thought?
    But it just shows you have to try things.
    Another thing that helped me was to allow myself to eat at night, but no junk food. I could have an apple, celery, etc, but. No chocolate. I finally figured out string cheese, a hard cooked egg, or other protein-fat snack worked best for me. Sometimes I really want to chew. An apple.
    You will be different, but again, experiment.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,657 Member
    edited December 11
    Sometimes our body mistakes dehydration for hunger cues.

    When I think I’m hungry and don’t have calories available, a red tea (hibiscus, apple or fruit) is “visually” sweet and helps satisfy. I’ll even have a Coke Zero. A diet Ginger beer is awesome. Even seltzer water with a slice of fresh lemon helps.

    I pre-log several days in advance, including multiple snacks and dessert. I have my dessert about 45 minutes before I go to bed, and it’s typically a high protein low cal cheesecake, homemade ice cream, or high protein smoothie.

    How’s your sleep hygiene? There’s a Sleep board here that always has great suggestions to improve sleep quality. If your sleep were better, do you think it would keep you from getting up and hitting the snacks?
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,657 Member
    edited December 11
    Hey, Chloe, another thing. Don’t be beating yourself up. Your 4,000 calories makes you an amateur. I was doubling or tripling that every day at the height of my weight.

    Instead of being ashamed at myself, I took it as an opportunity to fix myself.

    It was consistent logging and weighing, and using a fitness tracker that made me sit up and pay attention to serving sizes and trying to establish substitutes and new foods I could live with, and actually enjoy.

    Weight loss is a hella lot easier if you’re looking forward to meals instead of treating them as punishment to be got through.

    I found that ramping up slowly (not much choice because I was nutritionally ignorant), learning as much as I could by reading here and asking questions, well, it turned my life around.

    Throwing yourself 100% in on a dime, with massive changes to diet and exercise, that’s where most people fail. Give yourself the grace and time to learn what’s essentially going to be a PhD in “You”.
  • poodle_whisper
    poodle_whisper Posts: 23 Member
    4000 calories is what it takes to maintain someone who weights about 300 pounds.
    how much do you weigh
    just because you are hungry...it does not mean you have to eat. and if you are eating that many calories, this is not true hunger. you are either thirsty or allowing mind and habits over matter.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,598 Member
    Others have given good general advice for managing cravings, which I hope may help you.

    Have you limited the number of calories you're eating in other parts of the day, to an extreme degree, i.e., trying to lose more than around 1%-ish of your current body weight weekly? Too-extreme tactics can backfire with sleeplessness, cravings, or both. If that's the case, a less aggressive goal might actually deliver better results in less calendar time than an extreme approach that causes those cravings and therefore extra eating.

    But I'm also wondering: Is it literally around 4000 calories, on top of whatever was eaten the rest of the day? And is it frequent?

    I don't mean to be unkind, but if that's a frequent thing, I feel like there must be something unusual triggering that, either physiologically or psychologically. Have you talked with your doctor, been tested for a sleep condition, relevant health condition,
    or anything like that? I know it's hard to talk about these things, but sometimes that's a necessary step toward finding a solution.

    I hope you're able to work though this and find a path forward to your health goals!
  • patriciafoley1
    patriciafoley1 Posts: 165 Member
    I also like to eat at night. I don't like breakfast. So I eat my breakfast at noon or even later, lunch at dinner time and I have a light "dinner" before I go to bed. I'm doing a low carb, low salt diet, so that takes care of most of the carb cravings, because I'm eating a lot of protein that kills the carb cravings. A favorite late night dinner is one egg scrambled with a slice of cheddar on no carb keto bread. I also allow myself a cup of 1% milk, and two sugar free Russell Stover chocolates before bed. All in all I'm eating 1200 calories a day and I'm not usually hungry.
  • xrj22
    xrj22 Posts: 218 Member
    I think brushing my teeth helps at night. After toothpaste, nothing else tastes good.
  • Hobartlemagne
    Hobartlemagne Posts: 603 Member
    edited December 13
    Ive had some positive results drinking 2 portions of casein protein shakes before bedtime.
    Its VERY filling, and only 200 calories.
    Fat free Greek yogurt is good too. Its high protein, low calorie, and extremely filling.

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