Midnight Snacks -- Do you log them in?

cortezpj
cortezpj Posts: 129 Member
edited December 2024 in Food and Nutrition
I'm a midnight snacker and have been for years. There -- I said it.

Fortunately my midnight snacks usually consist of a cup of light soy milk or a sugar-free Jello cup or a small handful of unsalted peanuts or a piece of fruit or any combination of the above. I'm not eating half a tub of ice cream or a piece of cheesecake. Also, this doesn't happen each and every night, but it happens at least a few times each week. This has been going on even before I gained over 35lbs over the last four years. I blame it on a job I had over a decade ago where I worked the graveyard shift from 11pm to 6am.

Are there any other midnight snackers out there? If so, do you log these late-night trips to the kitchen in your food diaries here on MFP? If so, where -- under the Breakfast category or the Snacks category? In addition to that, do you log it in for the day you consumed it? For example, if you ate something at 11:45 on Monday night, would you log that it for Monday or Tuesday?

I hope this doesn't sound like someone being way too picky but I'm genuinely surprised that after 30 days, I'm still logging in pretty much every thing I eat/drink throughout the course of any given day. Yay, me !

I look forward to your feedback. Thanks.
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Replies

  • stfuriada
    stfuriada Posts: 445 Member
    Decide when you end your day then.

    If you want to log your midnight snacks as the part of the previous day's snacks, then do it, otherwise the following day. It's a matter of preference.

    You can rename your meal names. I think I renamed mine from 1-5 or 1-6. Labels just confuse people because they feel that if they put food under "Breakfast" it's like OMG I HAVE TO EAT BY NINE AM OR ELSE!!!!
  • koen612
    koen612 Posts: 83
    I midnight snack quite a bit but as of recent i cut back, i tend to look at the time if its before 12am i log it that day if after i log it the next day, it is important to log them just as it is important to log everything else that goes into your body. :)
  • mostein
    mostein Posts: 200 Member
    I am a closet midnight snacker...I guess I just outted myself. I don't bother logging it but I try not to go overboard with the snack.
  • placeboaddiction
    placeboaddiction Posts: 451 Member
    I sleep eat a lot. I sometimes wake up as if I was hit by a dorito tornado. I have no memory of eating these foods. I count'em towards the day before. I consider every morning I wake up the start of the day. I log my sleep eating towards the previous day. I try to overguess everything i eat while sleep eating in my diary.

    The worst part is that I bring it in the bed! Sometimes I'll grab a can of pringles and just snuggle with it. lol.
  • MissFit0101
    MissFit0101 Posts: 2,382
    If you want a true and accurate record of your calorie intake then yes you need to log it regardless of what time of day you ate it. Also, log it for the day you ate it ... even if it's after midnight, if you haven't gone to bed yet, you count it for the same day, not the next day.
  • sarahmaryfearnley
    sarahmaryfearnley Posts: 366 Member
    Night time eater here. I changed my categories to include night eating and I usually log it for the following day for several reasons. It's usually after midnight, I usually go to bed near my calorie limit, and I like to know that I can work off last nights snacks with todays workout.
  • bemott
    bemott Posts: 180
    Ugh, I hate it. I feel like a zombie and it sort of screws up my whole day as I usually eat over 200 calories. I thought I quit the habit but let it sneak back the last couple weeks. If it's after midnight I log it the next day as a snack usually. Good for you for keeping your midnight snacking so low cal and healthy.
  • LaurenAOK
    LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
    For me, the "end of the day" is when I go to bed. So I log any night snacks under "snacks" in the same day, whether it's after midnight or not. It's really a personal choice though.
  • IronPlayground
    IronPlayground Posts: 1,594 Member
    I snack late, too. I have a miscellaneous category for things like that.
  • Leslie85
    Leslie85 Posts: 265 Member
    I sleep eat a lot. I sometimes wake up as if I was hit by a dorito tornado. I have no memory of eating these foods. I count'em towards the day before. I consider every morning I wake up the start of the day. I log my sleep eating towards the previous day. I try to overguess everything i eat while sleep eating in my diary.

    The worst part is that I bring it in the bed! Sometimes I'll grab a can of pringles and just snuggle with it. lol.

    are you on ambien? lol
  • Shweedog
    Shweedog Posts: 883 Member
    It doesn't matter where you log it. Your body does not reset at midnight. Just log it in somewhere. But definitely log it. Eating at midnight does not mean those calories don't count and/or add up.
  • shiseido_faerie
    shiseido_faerie Posts: 771 Member
    Trying so hard to get over my midnight snacking! I'm on day 3 without doing it, but I still wake up and want to. I do log it, usually into the next day though because my snacking doesn't happen until around 3am usually :( is a really difficult habit to break!
  • BurtHuttz
    BurtHuttz Posts: 3,653 Member
    I sleep eat a lot. I sometimes wake up as if I was hit by a dorito tornado. I have no memory of eating these foods. I count'em towards the day before. I consider every morning I wake up the start of the day. I log my sleep eating towards the previous day. I try to overguess everything i eat while sleep eating in my diary.

    The worst part is that I bring it in the bed! Sometimes I'll grab a can of pringles and just snuggle with it. lol.

    This is the funniest thing I've read in a month.
  • PinkEarthMama
    PinkEarthMama Posts: 987 Member
    I try to log them in as I'm eating them... usually under bedtime snack, or something similar. Occasionally I forget.
  • JB5349
    JB5349 Posts: 135 Member
    I am a shift worker so I work days and nights 12 hour shifts - For me a day (in MFP) runs 0000 - 2400 and I log everything on the day that I eat it... I don't worry about when I eat it I just log it.

    If I am working nights and I have having steak and salad for my dinner (at 0300) then I log it as breakfast on the day that I have just started. So if you look at my diary I have days where I have chill for breakfast, steak for breakfast all kinds of things.

    Don't get caught up in the semantics just log it all, always be it is the truthful. The only person that you are lying to is yourself. I don't know about anyone else but before I started logging everything I thought I was eating healthy and within my calorie range... turns out I was not. I had my weight to show for it.

    I just had one of my girlfriends from work start it and I hope she will become as addicted to this as I am. This is a fabulous tool, I love seeing the numbers on the exercise chart, I love seeing that I am within my calories.
  • Onesnap
    Onesnap Posts: 2,819 Member
    Is the sky blue?
  • workoutgirl23
    workoutgirl23 Posts: 267
    omg. Yes. i was always a big mid night snacker. i would wake up in the middle of the night and just roam my fridge and cupboards. half the time i didn't even realize what i was doing, but would wake up in a pile of candy wrappers and stuff. lol. but i've put a stop to my midnight snacking. since getting serious about losing the weight and starting this site, i log every thing i eat, except on my one cheat day per week i allow myself. and i don't let myself eat any thing past midnight.
  • Sharyn913
    Sharyn913 Posts: 777 Member
    I have mid night snacks often (although, it's more like 10pm snacks) I count it as the same day since I have yet to fall asleep. I generally log everything, but there are times I forget by the morning. I may log in the morning, but if it slips my mind, I try not to beat myself up over it.
  • aquabeauty1187
    aquabeauty1187 Posts: 10
    I didn't read the other reader comments, but you can change your settings to add a "midnight snack" category. Hope this helps!
  • belgerian
    belgerian Posts: 1,059 Member
    It doesn't matter where you log it. Your body does not reset at midnight. Just log it in somewhere. But definitely log it. Eating at midnight does not mean those calories don't count and/or add up.

    Lies all Lies I want scientific proof

    (Joke)
  • megleo818
    megleo818 Posts: 595 Member
    If you consume it, you gotta log it. :happy:

    For me, if I eat or drink something before I go to bed on Monday night, I log it for Monday (even if the clock says it's technically Tuesday). I put it under Snacks.
  • Runningchick11
    Runningchick11 Posts: 53 Member
    Sometimes when I have a midnight snack, which is rare, I do not log it because I am a liittle mad at myself for going over and I don't want to see it in writing! I make sure all I have are healthy snacks though, in case I go into a snacking mode, then I don't go over too much. I also try to buy single serving snacks. If I have a box, I tend to eat a lot more!!! Sometimes the box....(well not the actual box....)
  • Onesnap
    Onesnap Posts: 2,819 Member
    It doesn't matter where you log it. Your body does not reset at midnight. Just log it in somewhere. But definitely log it. Eating at midnight does not mean those calories don't count and/or add up.

    Lies all Lies I want scientific proof

    If you drink a 6 pack of beer at Midnight and a bag of potato chips it does not magically get un-counted because it's the hour the bell chimes and Cinderella has to get back before the carriage turns back into a pumpkin...
  • MsKeelah919
    MsKeelah919 Posts: 332 Member
    Yep!
  • majones_orl
    majones_orl Posts: 195 Member
    I have late night snackes and I log them. Usually not midnight.
  • geojeepgirl
    geojeepgirl Posts: 243 Member
    The worst part is that I bring it in the bed! Sometimes I'll grab a can of pringles and just snuggle with it. lol.

    OMG, this was kinda funny,... but Im not laughing at you. I miss eating chips so I can totally see wanting to snuggle with a pringles can. =-)

    My cousin suffered from the same thing,... she ended up putting all her snack foods in her car because she was a sleep eater.
  • kionig
    kionig Posts: 77 Member
    I am a midnight snacker, and a sleep eater, have been since i was very young. It took me years to realize my blood sugar drops drastically a few hours after I go to sleep. I try to portion out snacks ( i mean weigh & prepackage) so that if and when i wake up ravenous i already know what i'm eating. If it is before midnight I log it as that day, after midnight as the next day, regardless i log it all. Planning ahead makes it so much easier to not go completely overboard in the twilight hours.
  • megleo818
    megleo818 Posts: 595 Member
    I didn't read the other reader comments, but you can change your settings to add a "midnight snack" category. Hope this helps!

    I didn't know you could do that! Thanks!
  • EchoOfYourPast
    EchoOfYourPast Posts: 459 Member
    I log everything that i eat or drink....no matter what the time is.....after midnight kills me because i end up having to start the next day with less cals.....

    San :)
  • cristileigh
    cristileigh Posts: 158 Member
    I've never done this and I am thankful. I think I love sleep just a little more than food. :-) I've never ever gotten up from a sleep and went to the kitchen to eat ...not once in my lifetime.
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