Plan a snack for the evening into your day.
Have cut up veggies all ready if you get into a mood where you want to keep on eating.
Take up a hobby that will keep your hands busy so they can't put food into your mouth.
What really has worked for me is to never eat while watching tv, being on the computer, etc. I only eat in the kitchen or dining room, sitting down, from a plate or bowl, with the proper silverware while doing nothing else. That way I think about what I am eating and enjoy it. I used to think I had to eat whenever I watched tv - that was a habit not hunger!
Plan a snack for the evening. I've never been successful trying to not eat after a certain time. It's like I know I shouldn't, so I must. I tend to eat dinner around 7pm and take my salad down to watch TV at 8pm. Then sometime between 9 and 10pm (when I usually go to bed) I'll have a protein shake and a piece of fruit. I don't do the roaming in the kitchen at midnight because of that late snack.
AHA! Yes...me too. If there was some sort of prize for mindless evening eating. I'd have won the other night.It's some sort of internal battle with me.
I shouldn't ...therefore I will.
My stepdaughter is rail thin, so I generally try to keep my bingeing ways under control but I do notice that she eats whenever she darn well likes. I'm with the others on this one. Plan it. And then there it is. You won't have to worry about it.
I had to stop drinking after dinner tea. It was too hand in hand with many cookies.
Also, I stopped watching TV for a while-- spent time on 3fc staying focused. These changes helped me change my habits that were food/sweets oriented.
I find if I'm just sitting in front of the TV, then mindless munching takes place. If I do something else while I'm watching that keeps my hands busy, I don't eat.
Typing on the computer, sorting through files, writing letters, whatever it takes to make sure that I'm doing more than just watching TV. It really does help a lot.
I too have this problem. Its like my tummy thinks, oh its night time, lets eat everything we can find. I have come to conclusion that i have to keep myself busy almost up tp the moment of going to sleep. On the computer, folding laundry, something. I have to plan for a snack at night too. It helps alot and it is good to plan for it to have a good source of protein so you feel fuller. eventually we will get past it. Old habits are sooooo hard to break.
I try to have a volumetrics type meal -- not a snack, but a very low cal, high volume of food. I have a big bowl of broccoli and tomatoes and dip it into a little sour cream with ranch seasoning. Just enough dip to cover the tip of the fork prongs. Sometimes I'll have a couple pieces of toast with a little honey and scrap the volumetrics style meal. I do my exercise at night though and am probably burning calories a little faster right after a run. I have eaten pretty late into the night since I have been on WW. I just make sure to eat sparingly during the afternoons. I just have a small sandwich and small salad a lunch usually or a bowl of soup and crackers and a small sandwich. I really have to plan differently for every day because of my softball schedule, but one thing remains constant, staying up very late, 1:00 in the morning usually.
Baby carrots or celery dipped in light ranch dressing - lots of munching with very little calorie damage. But watch it on those carrots -- they will make themselves known to you the next day!
Popcorn!! My fav. Hot air pop it, sprinkle on some butter buds or any one of the other 'flavor' sprinklings they sell. Yummy, lots of crunching, you can have quantity (a big issue for me) and popcorn is fiber to boot! Plus when you're done you can spend some quality time getting those darn little kernely pieces out of your teeth.
Hard candy --- a few pieces and sometimes that's just enough to curb any more sweet cravings.
Fudgsicles -- 110 cals, cold, chocolatey, tasty. Oooo and Minute Maid frozen soft lemonade. I like the lemon and lemon/raspberry ones. 70 cals per pop; you can have two!
Goldfish -- 55 for 150 cals. Count them out first; do not just eat them out of the bag.
Apples or a banana w/some peanut butter.
Gum.
If you can manage the portion control, dry cereal can often satisfy the 'sweet/crunchy' munchy.
Sometimes, just saying 'NO', walking outta the kitchen and stubbornly refusing to get up to get the food works. Sometimes.
Plan it out and figure the cals into your daily total. I love to sit and watch tv and mindlessly munch. There, I said it. It's one of the harder things I'm trying to overcome. Some nights are better than others.
I have met the enemy...and I need to go to bed at sunset!
