I keep derailing around 4:00-7:00pm every day! Help!

Im doing the same thing at night....after dinner...I think I see that I have some leftover cals and I go overboard when I start eating. It doesn't even have to be junk food. Fruit I think is not good to eat too much of because of the sugar and I have been known to eat several bananas, apples, pear,s or whatever just because I'm bored or frustrated . Then comes the crackers , cookies, etc. Help...

HI. Had a quick look at your food diary. You may want to up the protein at breakfast and lunch (maybe even generally it should be higher) More protein combined with a good intake of water should help with those cravings. I think overtime you will wean yourself off the simple carbs. I struggle with that too. Love my sweets... and my salties :-)

I did look back, and you seem to be eating on average 1000 calories a day, which is too low. But if you're not logging after dinner, I have absolutely no idea. That being said maybe up your calorie allotment for breakfast to ~350 calories or so. For me having a big breakfast (~500 calories) helps me maintain control throughout the day, but I'm eating far more calories than you in general. I also think having good spread of macronutrients helps keep me on track from meal to meal. Specifically I mean having a fair amount of protein and fat at each meal.

Try having a protein shake or bar in between meals.

HI. Had a quick look at your food diary. You may want to up the protein at breakfast and lunch (maybe even generally it should be higher) More protein combined with a good intake of water should help with those cravings. I think overtime you will wean yourself off the simple carbs. I struggle with that too. Love my sweets... and my salties :-)

Thank you! Breakfast on work days is hard - I have to be at work at 7:15 and if I want to work out as well, it's hard to get everything done and still be on time. More protein is an excellent suggestion. Maybe I need to cook up a big batch of harb-boiled eggs and have those available to pack around with me. Thanks again!

Hardboiled eggs is an eggcelent idea. Had to do it, sorry. But yeah, the combination of fat and protein in eggs should definitely help keep you satiated. Cheese sticks are pretty good too.

I struggle during the same time frame each day. This week, I planned to have a protein shake (chocolate protein powder w/ PB2 and 1/2 banana) at that time of day. They're really delicious! The goal was to make and freeze the protein shake the night before and then keep it in an insulated cup in the refrigerator at work all day, hoping it would be just a bit slushy for the late afternoon. However, for lots of reasons...it didn't work out. I'm going to try again next week.

Another idea that comes to mind--eat your apple or banana with some peanut butter (the protein and fat should help satiate) then immediately brush your teeth or chew some gum. Hard to shove goldfish in your mouth with a piece of gum in there.

Could it be that I've somehow trained by body to all of a sudden want salt/sugar/fat at the same time every afternoon, or is there a certain (real, whole) food item that I'm trying to satisfy an unconcious craving for, or what?

It could be a habit that you have to break.

But if you're having lunch around noon and then dinner around 7, and that is actually a pretty big gap. If you get a bunch of 2 cup tupperware and make yourself a yogurt/banana/nuts/honey 200-300 calorie snacks every day, I bet that will go a long way in keeping you on track. I get at least a quart of plain non-fat yogurt and some dried fruit every week, just for that reason. Otherwise I'd be gnawing on my desk around 4 PM...

I second the string cheese and hard-boiled egg suggestions. When I get a craving, especially around the same time as you, I try to eat protein with a little fruit. Low-fat cottage cheese is great too, and you get the salty-fix. Also make sure you are eating enough for lunch (I don't think 200 calories is enough), otherwise you're setting yourself up for disaster at about 3-4pm.

I like the idea of the protein, and might even suggest 2 tbs of peanut butter if your calorie/fat allowance will allow (didn't look at your diary). I use Hummus for a snack protein because I used to have issues with peanut butter and don't want to get off track.

Good luck! this is what I love about MFP, all the support and ideas.

do you get enough sleep? carb cravings for me DIRECTLY correlate to my sleepy days! it's your body's way of trying to compensate for the lack of sleep energy with sugary carb energy.

It sounds like you already know the problem is two-fold: your body is craving food and at that time of day your blood sugar is way out of whack and you strongly craving those treats. Secondly, you're obviously a smart person and your brain supplies compelling excuses to justify having the cravings: we...will...probably...die...if...we...don't...eat...RIGHT...NOW! I think we've all felt that!

Try to conquer it a two-fold approach: first, don't let your body get to that point where it's too late to stop the behavior. Think about ways to stop or at least reduce that feeling before it builds up. The best way might be to reduce sugars at lunch and go with food that's higher in protein. Then, about 30 min - 1 hr. before you think you might indulge, have another high protein snack. But skip thinks like protein bars or other high protein treats that are also high in sugar (and most are), in which case you''ll probably still pig out and you will have added a power bar's worth of calories to the mess! Go with something like a low glycemic value that's filling! And drink LOTS of water during this period!

On the mental side, the good news is that it doesn't take a long time to learn a new habit! That can work against us (like when we learn to pig out every afternoon). But, it can really work *for* you as well. It will only seem tough to fight the cravings for a few days, and after that it will start seeming normal! One great way to be mentally strong is to commit to recording in MFP every single thing that you eat during the day. I looked through your log and there's no evidence that you have any eating issues at all, so guessing you don't record those excesses! Commit to record everything you eat and when you feel like you are craving food, say to yourself "I track everything. I do not want to track this bad eating. I am strong and I can see that I have enough calories to live and will not just die. This is a craving and it will go away and I am stronger than it."

Remember to be gentle on yourself if you can't change this overnight. Celebrate little successes -- "Yay! I went until 5:00 PM before I snacked but got through the first hour OK," "Yah! I stopped after eating some of the kid's goldfish but didn't pig out on their chips even though I wanted to." If it was super easy, everyone would be thin!

Finally, it's cheesy but I think it's true: Jillian Michaels in her Ripped in 30 DVD says, "Transformation is not a future event. It is a present activity. That's why you must bring everything you have to give in every moment. It doesn't have to be perfect. It's about effort. That's where transformation happens. That's how change occurs." So, be strong during those first few days, and the transformation *will* happen!