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Old 06-25-2008, 09:02 AM   #1  
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Exclamation Nightime Noshing

Hello all.
I find that I am a GREAT daytime dieter...but when it gets dark out.... like a vampire- I go feasting.
I have discussed this problem with a professional in the past. Some of her ideas were...Go to bed earlier....Drink more water....Have a small snack at 8pm and that is IT....Find another activity...ETCCCC Well sometimes with my schedule I do not even eat dinner untill 8pm...and that is not good. I know this and am not sure what to do about it.
Does anyone have any advice or tricks that they use that you wouldn't mind sharing?
Thanks so much-
Mimi

Last edited by mimihackma; 06-25-2008 at 09:03 AM.
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Old 06-25-2008, 09:23 AM   #2  
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Instead of trying to make yourself do something you don't want to do (change eating time patterns), why not convert your bad habits to healthy habits? Save some calories for the evening and enjoy yourself.

After dinner I make a tall iced coffee (decaf) with Splenda, light vanilla soy milk, and sometimes vanilla protein powder. That keeps me busy for a long time. And/or I save some calories for a pre-bed snack, usually a small bowl of berries with some yogurt or a Vitamuffin.

That's what works for me.
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Old 06-25-2008, 10:01 AM   #3  
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Well it depends on whether your eating because you're hungry or out of habit... Also are you eating a lot of carbs at dinner that are causing your sugar to spike and thus creating cravings at night...

I too used to be a nightime snacker - due to sheer boredom and habit. Then one year for lent I gave up eating after dinner.. I"ve never gone back to it... I hate the feeling of going to bed full and hate even more the feeling of waking up full.

If you're snacky or craving something have a cup of tea or decaf coffee... But draw the line and break the bad habit...

Good luck
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Old 06-25-2008, 10:31 AM   #4  
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I brush my teeth and floss and then that's it. Nothing else till morning. If your schedule means that you eat at 8 pm, I think that is fine. Are you ravenous by then, however? If you are, a small snack around 6 might be a good idea just so you aren't starving by dinner.

Your vampire comment cracked me up!
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Old 06-25-2008, 10:36 AM   #5  
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mimihackma,

I don't see anything wrong with eating dinner at 8 pm, unless as a previous poster said, you're allowing yourself to get really hungry by then. Work your food into your own schedule. If you eat that late, then you probably don't need to snack after that, unless you don't go to bed until much later. Even then, it's possible to plan a snack.

I have trouble with nighttime noshing also--and so I make sure I have enough "room" in my calories to accommodate that night snack, and I also of course try to limit the snack to "one" snack (rather than grazing). Just as an example, I enjoy having 1/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese with 1/3 cup of fresh blueberries and a teaspoon of maple syrup as my last evening snack. This comes to around 200 calories and is delicious.

Jay
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Old 06-25-2008, 10:50 AM   #6  
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I eat evening snacks too... as long as I have calories left for it, it's not a problem!

But as Jay said, if you do snack, it can't be just "grazing".

We all have to tweak our plans to find things that work for us.
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Old 06-25-2008, 11:30 AM   #7  
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My MD recommended saving some calories for night time snack to help me not go to bed hungry, feeling deprived. It also helps keep blood sugar levels stable throughout the night which is always helpful to weight loss.

Last edited by 4star; 06-25-2008 at 11:31 AM.
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Old 06-25-2008, 11:38 AM   #8  
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I chew 5 gum because it lasts for what seems like forever. If I'm very hungry, I have a mango. It takes forever to eat it and it's delicious and only about 134 calories. I think you just have to make sure that your total daily calorie intake is not over your limit. If you hate counting calories, maybe you could just do it for one week and see what you're having. You could crunch on celery sticks and baby carrots to keep you busy.
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Old 06-25-2008, 12:19 PM   #9  
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I wouldn't worry about eating dinner late. In Europe most people eat dinner that late or later ... doesn't seem to be an issue over there. I think this is one of those weird artificial limits that someone came up with as a "diet rule" and somehow it's stuck. Just like the 8 glasses of water thing.

One thing I've noticed for me personally is that if I eat fewer carbs at night, then I have less of a desire to snack and I lose weight more steadily. If I snack on carby things or if I include a lot of carbs in my dinner, it sets off nighttime cravings. It's too bad, really cause I love popcorn as a snack and I *LOVE* pasta for dinner. But I've learned that for me, I have to have my carbs during the day, and stick with lots of protein and veggies at night.

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Old 06-25-2008, 12:25 PM   #10  
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For a couple of weeks, I replaced my nighttime snacking with 20 minutes on the elliptical. If I still felt like eating after the elliptical (typically I didn't), I had a small serving of protein (soy milk or cottage cheese) and brushed my teeth right after. After a couple of weeks, I didn't have any routine desire to snack after dinner anymore. I think I conditioned my brain into thinking food craving = extra exercise. And I'm still at a fitness level where exercise isn't necessarily fun, especially if I'm tired! If I get a craving now, I'm right on the elliptical. Anyway, this worked for me, and I'm a definite food addict.
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Old 06-25-2008, 12:36 PM   #11  
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I just try and ask myself if I am really hungry or am I just bored. I really try to concentrate on occupying my mind with something other than thinking about food.
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Old 06-25-2008, 12:46 PM   #12  
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Like you, I had it all under control, with the exception of the after dinner until bedtime period. And, it's amazing just how much damage can be done in that one period of time.

What has finally worked for me is to just say no to after dinner eating. I have some fruit within an hour of my dinner and that's the end. I just drink water or decaf tea after that. Since I've set that limit for myself, I've started losing. I'm learning to enjoy having that not full feeling.

It's interesting how we form patterns in our lives and how easily they can be broken if we try.
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Old 06-25-2008, 02:20 PM   #13  
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It all just depends on when you go to bed and when you get up in the morning. The advice to not eat after 8 PM assumes you go to bed around 10 PM. If you go to bed later than that, it's not reasonable to expect that you won't eat after 8 PM.

I get up at 9:00 AM and usually don't go to bed until midnight, 1:00 AM or even later (last night I was up until 1:30 AM). I also eat every few hours throughout the day. If I stopped eating at 8:00 PM, I'd never make it until 1:00 AM, I need a snack in there somewhere.

I rarely eat dinner before 8 PM. Lots of times, I don't even start preparing dinner until 8 PM, so we don't eat until 9 PM or later. I eat breakfast around 9 AM when I get up, lunch around noon, then have two snacks in the afternoon, usually around 4 or 5 PM and again around 6 or 7 PM. Then dinner at 8 or 9 PM and an after dinner snack around 11 PM. Then bed around 1 AM and the whole cycle starts over.

I plan out my whole day in terms of what I will eat and make sure I have enough calories left for my after-dinner snack. I'm also careful not to save too many calories for dinner or my after-dinner snack, because if I don't eat enough earlier in the day, that will catch up with me in the evening. I generally try to keep my meals fairly low in calories (when I'm trying to lose weight, I keep breakfast around 200 calories, lunch under 300 calories, and dinner under 400 calories) so that I have lots of calories available for snacks throughout the day.

Boredom eating in the evening is also a problem for me. If we're watching TV in the evening, I usually try to be doing something else at the same time--folding laundry, paying bills, going through the mail, paging through catalogs or magazines, etc. I can't eat if my hands are busy. I also allow myself two SF hard candies a night and sometimes will chew SF gum if I'm really having the boredom munchies.

Occasionally, I'll truly be hungry in the evening. If I just haven't gotten enough food, I'll allow myself a small extra snack, something healthy and under 100 calories (fruit or veggies, Fiber One cereal, or a light string cheese). An extra 100 calories once in a while isn't going to impact my overall weight loss. If it starts happening regularly though, that's a sign that I'm not eating the right foods during the day and I need to adjust something in my diet.
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Old 06-28-2008, 09:05 AM   #14  
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Talking thanks

ahh so many GREAT ideas.
thanks to everyone who has replied.
last night i went a little crazy with those ever-so-sensible 100 calorie snack packs...lol but today is a new day and i am going to take a long walk and plan my day.
will keep posting!
M
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Old 06-28-2008, 10:07 AM   #15  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mimihackma View Post
ahh so many GREAT ideas.
thanks to everyone who has replied.
last night i went a little crazy with those ever-so-sensible 100 calorie snack packs...lol but today is a new day and i am going to take a long walk and plan my day.
will keep posting!
M
LoL Dang those 100 calorie pakcs its so easy to eat 600 calories in them. haha. Have you tried the fudge stripe ones? These are the only ones i eat because they are so sweet and chocolaty that there is NO WAY i could eat more than 1 pack. This way i can have a "bad" snack if i want but i know i wont over indulge
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