I have a bad problem with evening eating. If I've worked all day and are tired then I come home and grab a snack, then another and another, even if I have a meal prepered and ready for me I am still hungry an hour or so later and want to eat. How do any of you handle this?
I know how you feel. I did that for years. I've just decided I won't eat after a certain time in the evening and I don't for the most part. I put my foot down and told my stomach and brain that I would not eat if I've had enough food to nourish by body. I was really hungry the first few weeks but now I can handle it really well and rarely get pangs of hunger. You are probably substituting food for rest. That's what I used to do. I'd feel so tired and instead of resting or going to bed at a decent hour I'd eat a snack (often junk) and get energized and stay up even later.
After supper if I am still hungry I make a pot of hot tea and drink several cups. It is very comforting and somehow filling and I usually forget about my cravings.
this hasd been my problem for years. It has taken me many months of not eating after dinner to get to the point that I'm ok. I find I am eating more during the day now and i'm not as hungry at night. If I do happen to get hungry, I have a small snack, something with some fiber and protien.
Going to bed earlier helps too. Some one once told me that your body is looking for rest. Then it says "ok, if I can't have rest, at least feed me".
I eat my main meal at 2 in the afternoon, so my "dinner" is basically "snacking" in the evening. A "typical" evening is maybe a salad around 5, then a little later on some laughing cow and trisquits, then maybe a little later a SF popsicle, or SB "peanut butter cup"...but nothing after about 8. Kind of a little meal that is spaced out over a couple of hours or so.
I plan a late night snack. It will vary, but at the moment I'm usually taking a small serving of fruit salad (homemade) with two biscotti (again, I make them ~ 30 cals each) maybe two hours before bed. Then about 30 mins before I go to bed I take a protein shake. I know I can't stop the late night eating, so I plan for it.
This is a BIG problem for me also. In fact, I've added NEAD (No Eating After Dinner) as one of my challenges in the Daily Accountability thread. It helps me to record as many NEAD's as possible on my list.
Thanks, all of these are good ideas, I will see if any work for me. The going to bed early thing tho I don't know if it will work, If I go to bed early I just lie awake and toss and turn, part of my time of life, I guess
Snacking is my problem too...sometimes in the afternoons too but mostly in the evening. I totally sabotage my otherwise good eating by snacking! I do really well...applying many of the things others have mentioned here but then I go back to the snacking. Sometimes I recognize the trigger...sometimes emotional, sometimes rebelliousness...whatever...I go back to it. And it takes me a while to overcome the bad habit and get back on track and start losing again. I ask myself why do I do this but never quite figure it out. Right now I am again trying to come out of one of these periods. I actually do not eat LATE at night...I stop by 9 pm usually (go to bed about 11), but I just snack too much.
I know what has helped me in the past (and what I'm trying to get back to) is to plan my snacks. I allow myself one between lunch and dinner and one in the evening before 9 pm. So this is what I feel I have to get back too. With all the snacking I have gained back almost everything I lost and my bs is high. So I feel for you, but I think like someone else said, we just have to tell our bodies what to do instead of the other way around.
Wanted to add something I read online the other day. Some local (to my area) diet clinic person......she told her own story of weight issues and said that when she wants to eat something but knows she really is not physically hungry....she just tells herself she can have it for breakfast the next morning! And if the next morning she really does still want it, she will eat it then. I guess the idea is (besides delaying the eating) is possibly to eat the higher fat/carb/calories earlier in the day? I don't know but thought that might be part of it. Anyway, whatever works for you. It might be worth a try or your own version of what she suggests. She said she never deprives herself...she can eat whatever she wants but she does only eat when she is truly physically hungry. She admitted she sometimes (sounds like occasionally) overeats, but never starts eating unless she is truly hungry. Doing this she has maintained her appropriate weight for many years.
Oh my, I went to bed one night this week determined I was going to have French fries for breakfast. I'd made some for my mother but didn't have any for myself and later on that night I wanted them so badly but I decided I'd wait until next morning. It was two days later I realized I ate oatmeal that next morning. The craving had totally left. Ha, ha, just typing this is getting my salivary glands going.
Funny! Yeah I can see me doing that...I hardly remember what I did the day before any way these days! Guess sometimes forgetfulness s good. And I'm sure that's part of her plan too...sorta fooling herself.
So far I'm doing well today...just had my first snack. I have to really think all the time about what I'm eating...seems to be the only way I can stick to my plan and not overeat. I try and eat protein, starchy carb and fruit/veggies at each meal so I try and make my snack something of them that I feel I need a bit more of. Usually when I'm on plan it will be some carrots or celery sticks or fruit but occaisonally it will be something like bread or a (lower sugar) granola bar if my lunch or dinner was light on starchy carbs (not often!). When I'm ON-plan this works for me. Today I am ON-plan and it feels good!!
late night noshing
Yeah I can see me doing that...I hardly remember what I did the day before any way these days! Guess sometimes forgetfulness s good. And I'm sure that's part of her plan too...sorta fooling herself.
