ahhh late night food consumption.. help!

A half a cup of cottage cheese really fills me up! Also, you could try some white popcorn, its something with a lot of volume, and "munchy" but not high calorie. I have the same problem, all my friends complete their diaries at like 7 pm and I'm still goin and goin lol. I love munching at night, but just make sure its healthy and u log each and every bite!

i do so well during the day with restraint in terms of portions/calorie consumption, and then from about 7pm to 10pm i lose control. im not eating badly, i think my food content is healthy, its just the quantity. i eat about half my day's calories in that 3 hour period and i know its not good to go to bed full like that.

so... anyone else out there have this problem, and if so, have you found a way to curb that night time appetite increase??

Save your calories for your late night eating, there is NOTHING wrong with eating late at night. It will have no impact on your weight loss. Just stick with your calorie goals and you'll lose weight. The idea that you shouldn't eat too close to bed time is a myth.

I quit trying to have 6 small meals a day and now eat 2 big meals and some afternoon/evening snacks (IF). I was always hungry having my 300 calorie "meals" and now I get to eat massive (for me) amounts of food. Also, I do IIFYM so I eat what I like. Just got done eating some ice cream and it was delicious. :bigsmile:

It's not a "problem" if your not exceeding your calorie target. Through trial & error I've found that my natural tendency is to have more of an appetite at night, so I purposely eat lighter throughout the day & typically eat 50% of my calories after 6 pm. Why fight it?

why is it exactly not good to bed full?

huh..i'm sitting here eating chips and salsa

It's a myth that EVERYONE seems to believe. I've literally had arguments with friends about this. I totally agree that you should save a few hundred calories for that time period. I find late night eating comforting and it's better for my sanity when I'm allowed to eat then.

the logic behind the idea of not eating too much before bed is that you are sleeping rather than burning the calories you ate. so the extra cals get stored while you sleep rather than being burned like you would during the day. yes, if you have calories left technically you would think your body would just use those night time cals the same way, but ... im skeptical. i still feel like eating a bunch at night sets you up to store more of it rather than burn it up.

Think of it this way: Suppose that (and this is a big supposition) you burn zero calories during the night. I am making this supposition for purposes of making a point. Therefore, all the calories you eat before bed get stored as fat.

Lets assume that you eat ALL of your calories before bed, too. You do this daily.

If you are eating in a net deficit, you will STILL LOSE FAT.

All the food you eat gets stored as fat in your sleep. You wake up and, during the day, you burn off all that fat (and then some) because you are in a caloric deficit and have no food present (remember, you eat only at night, so you are fasting during the day).

This is not a realistic example (let me reiterate that I'm just trying to make a point) since you don't have a zero-metabolism at night, but think of it in these terms to help understand why physiologically, it doesn't matter when you eat.

Trying to micromanage the acute processes is silly. Fat oxidation will exceed fat storage if you are in a deficit over the course of time . Zoom out and look at the big picture instead of the short-term.