Night eating

toomuchlatte
toomuchlatte Posts: 18
in Motivation and Support
Hi Im wondering if anyone else has this problem I do well in the day but about half an hour after I've put my children to bed the "the night monster" decides to come out and I crave intensely for something,anything that I really shouldn't have some nights it's a burger,or Doritos family pack! Or tonight it's been fish and chips and I eventually gave into a bowl of cocopops and a icecream cone putting me over 250 cals :-( worse thing is I still want more I don't think I'm hungry it's just constant craving junk food at night,I had a good dinner jacket potato,with and cod in crumbs and beans but still crave,I'm so scared I'll never loose weight because I can't switch it off! Has anyone experienced this? And how did you overcome it? At the moment I lie on my stomach while it rumbles away and take night pills to try and fall asleep as early as possible!

Replies

  • cmp_denver
    cmp_denver Posts: 44 Member
    I think we've ALL experienced this at one time or another. One thing that really helped me was to make sure that I had a good breakfast and that I had several healthy snacks between meals. I found that keeping my blood-sugar at stable levels like that throughout the day greatly reduced my night time cravings. Also, when I do get those cravings, I try drinking a couple of glasses of water and/or doing some exercise. If that still doesn't work, I always have some cottage cheese or veggies in the frig to nosh on.
  • JudyL5305
    JudyL5305 Posts: 196 Member
    I happen to never stop from the minute I get up until almost bedtime, I'm constantly doing something. Then once I stop it's like my brain says eat something or give me something sweet. So i Started drinking a glass of skim milk at this time every night. And now no more craving. It's a mental thing for me I believe so you have to train the mind to think differently.
  • toomuchlatte
    toomuchlatte Posts: 18
    Thank you for your reply do you have any ideas of a healthy breakfast? Is 2 scrambled eggs and 2 slices of toast a good one? I've never seen/tryed half of the foods I've seen on here,and would like to try new(easy to make) recipes x
  • toomuchlatte
    toomuchlatte Posts: 18
    I happen to never stop from the minute I get up until almost bedtime, I'm constantly doing something. Then once I stop it's like my brain says eat something or give me something sweet. So i Started drinking a glass of skim milk at this time every night. And now no more craving. It's a mental thing for me I believe so you have to train the mind to think differently.

    I agree because right now my stomach feels fine and quite satisfied but my brain is coming up with 110 things I could be eating right now =\
  • cmp_denver
    cmp_denver Posts: 44 Member
    Thank you for your reply do you have any ideas of a healthy breakfast? Is 2 scrambled eggs and 2 slices of toast a good one? I've never seen/tryed half of the foods I've seen on here,and would like to try new(easy to make) recipes x

    I think it depends on the person. Actually, for me I do have two eggs, and a slice or two of low calorie toast each morning. Sometimes I have fat free cottage cheese, or low calorie yogurt. When I'm feeling overly peckish in the morning, I'll add some sliced tomatoes as well.
  • JudyL5305
    JudyL5305 Posts: 196 Member
    I have for breakfast 1 cup of kashi go lean cereal with skim milk. Then I will have a piece of fruit in between breakfast and lunch. In the winter time I will have a serving of steel cut oats with skim milk and usually peanut butter or cranberries in it. On the weekends I have 3 egg whites with turkey sausage.
  • stephm112
    stephm112 Posts: 297 Member
    Yes. I have dinner early with my daughter at 5. By the time I put her to bed at 7ish I'm hungry so will have a yoghurt. By 9.30 I'm hungry again....I tend to just have **** loads of fruit but tonight I had a small bowl of cereal. As long as you stay away from the naughty stuff I don't think it's that bad x
  • Pilcrow_
    Pilcrow_ Posts: 27 Member
    Yes and yes! I think it's like a self destruct button or something, your brain goes into autopilot, like 'oh it's ruined now anyway so I'll just keep going 'til I stuff the guilt away,' when really we're just delaying and expanding on all our bad feelings. Oh the cycles... *sigh
  • DrowningMermaid
    DrowningMermaid Posts: 143
    My problem seems to be that I've conditioned my body to want to eat when I sit down on the couch to watch a movie with my husband or that I "need" something to snack when I'm reading my facebook feed. I've been trying to cut the snacking out as much as possible other than fruits and veggies but I will allow myself a splurge once in a while. Find something you feel is indulgent but ISN'T. What about those 100 calorie snacks or sugar free popsicles? My dad is diabetic and gets all sort of tasty sugar free candies, ice cream, etc. He still gets to indulge himself but not be sick from the sugar. If you're sitting down and eating half a bag of chips at night, start packaging them into individual serving sizes (in sandwich baggies) and start off only getting one or two portions. And NIBBLE on them - don't pop a whole chip in because then those 12 or 17 or however many chips are going to be gone before you know it. Drink lots of water with it and chew it well. Savor your cheats so they'll last longer and give your body more time to shut off the hunger signal.

    Good luck!!
  • Gerald_King
    Gerald_King Posts: 2,031 Member
    I used to be a very big night eater i no longer eat after 6pm its not easy but if you eat three good meals a day your stomach will shrink so that you no longer eat at night :happy:
  • Marvalm3
    Marvalm3 Posts: 31 Member
    In Feb., the doctor told me that I have acid reflux. She tried to put me on prilosec, but I decided to try an entire lifestyle change instead of a daily medication.
    One of the changes I made was not to eat 3 hours before bedtime.
    I used to eat at night all the time... I would go back and eat more of what I had for dinner or snack on fruit or something.

    I don't even think about it anymore and if I'm feeling a little hungry, I drink water and tell myself that I can eat when I wake up. I've been much hungrier in the mornings than I used to be which isn't really a huge deal.

    I am not sure if doing this helps with weight loss since I made so many other changes at the same time (exercise, giving up soda, joining mfp and tracking cals)
  • toomuchlatte
    toomuchlatte Posts: 18
    I've been skipping breakfast to save some cals for my night munch,but I'm going to re think that and start having breakfast I think my problem is being raised on mainly carribean foods I find it difficult to adjust to different meals like cottage cheese and crackers ect..there all new foods for me,saying that all the foods I'm accustomed to have high calories,I don't drink soda anyway as it bloats me up unless I'm at a cinima or restaurant which is only once in a while,thank you for your replys hopefully with eating breakfast it should help I'm also going to eat some fruit today xx
  • LovinLife64
    LovinLife64 Posts: 10
    I am also tortured by the "Night Monster", I struggle with this nightly. The only thing that I find that works for me is changing what I do, when i feel hungry first i go for water. I find that when I am feeling this way I CANNOT watch TV, this creates cravings for me, so I change things up, read a book on my kindle, or now I find that I go on my MFP website and read some inspirational stories, and after a little while the craving goes away.

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