I am new here and am so glad to see a forum for this topic! I have been on WW for 4.5 months now and lost 32 lbs. I am happy with that but in the process have had one planned slip up (the holidays) and a few big slipups that have really upset me. I had a friend visit on Jan. 19 and we went out for dinner and things started to slide, and before you know it, I went 2 weeks without going to the gym and was ordering out again!
I am back on track (4 days and counting) and the weight I gained (3lbs) is back off again so I am grateful. I still have a problem with binging at night, though. Most of the time I can control it but sometimes I ruin a great day. Does anyone have secrets to share that can help with this? I would love to hear your suggestions!
The best tip I have is to get out of the house if possible, and distract yourself. Or if you have to stay home...find something, anything, that will distract you.
Also..Drink a lot of water, and eat some fruit, too, if you have a problem with craving sweets at night.
This is a huge issue for me too. The only thing that works for me is to brush my teeth right after dinner and then put myself to bed early. I've gone to bed as early as 9PM with my kids just so I won't binge after they go to bed.
If you get into the cycle of going to bed early and getting up early -- you eliminate a key binge time! Hope this helps.
I work all day - and that makes it easy during the day = I only eat what I bring to work. But evenings and weekends have always been my downfall, too!! One thing I find is a little preventative maintenance... I eat a satisfiying snack late in the afternoon, so that when I get home, I am hungry, but not STARVING. If I get home and I am starving - then all bets are off.
In March, I am planning to sign up for a Cardio Kickboxing class that is two evenings a week (this means a little planning - b/c I will have to bring dinner to work to eat before I go - if I don't, I will be tempted to eat out). And that will be two nights a week that I won't be home to eat (plus I will be getting great exercise and
I am also doing things to keep myself busy. Right now I am working on a jigsaw puzzle. It is working wonders! Can't eat if I am (obsessed with) doing a puzzle and keeping my hands busy! After I am done - I plan to finish a big 'Doodle Art' poster I started years ago. (They are posters with a picture on them that you color in.) I know some people take up knitting...
Sometimes, when I have eaten dinner, and had my evening snack, I go brush my teeth so I am less tempted to eat more.
The best thing to do is have a PLAN that works for you. Think about why you binge at night. And then think about what you can do to aviod that trigger or how you can counteract it.
I think most of us are night time bingers, when you have spare time and the old boredom kicks in, that's when we are most likely to snack & binge.
I have to try and keep myself busy. I might give myself a home manicure (can't eat with wet nails), a long hot soak in the bubble bath, take the dogs out for a late walk, exercise in front of the TV as I watch it, tidy out my make up bag/jewellery boxes/sewing basket etc
Like other posters have said drink lots of water to give you that full feeling, have a few bits of fruit or veggie sticks if you really want to eat, chew some gum and even brush your teeth and finally if all else fails and the desire to over eat is still there...take yourself off to bed.
I usually run into the most problems at night when I can't sleep or use up all of my calories too early. I try to plan when I'm going to go to bed and stop eating 2-3 hours before hand, then I wake up in the morning starving and want to eat breakfast.
Anyway I weigh myself EVERY morning and track my weight online at thedailyplate.com. I've learned to live with the daily fluctuation..my weight line graph is basically a squigly line that is moving downward. When I eat too much at night and eat too soon before going to bed, it almost always shows up on the scale the next morning. It's been keeping me honest...although weighing yourself everyday is not for everyone.
I try to be done eating by 7. I get home about 6ish, eat and watch tv. I have my husband really help me and he will offer a snack like a apple or orange!
Night time is really tough. The best thing that worked for me was to change the things I was eating and set a time when I stop eating. After dinner, all I limit the snacking to veggies and I set my stop at 8pm. My new thing is to end the day with a nice big cup of hot tea. They have really nice flavors, no calories and soo satisfying and relaxing.
i have to tell myself "you can do it, you don't really need to eat anything else today" and then i march straight to my bedroom and keep things nearby to keep me in my bed, books, music, laptop, a movie. whatever it takes...
i also think how great i will feel in the AM without that bloated post binge feeling which makes me a mad woman the next day, rushing off to the gym like a nut job to burn off the binge...
but sometimes oh well, you know you are going to eat....so in that case
if i am going to binge i just try to make it the healthiest food possible, since for me it is not usually about [insert food name here], rather i just want to calm myself down so i figure i am better off eating baby carrots or thawing off some frozen peaches and sprinkling them with fake sugar....
i would totally be down with an online chat session at nite if people wanted to stave off the binge urge as well...
Binging at night
