Age 50+ - Worst time of the day for wanting to overeat

I seem to do pretty well in the mornings and at noon but have severe cravings in the early and late evenings. I want to eat, eat, eat. Any thoughts about how to get through these times a bit more comfortably would be great. I haven't had any weight loss lately and some of it because of this evening and night eatin.

anytime after work or on the weekends!

Same here, night time is the worst.

Yes, night time is also bad for me. So, I keep some fruit and yoghurt that I would have used for breakfast and lunch to have later when I have the munchies at night. I do try to avoid it by first having some water or tea, but if I really can't help myself, at least what I have to eat then is part of my daily food intake.

On vacation when I'm with folks who eat different from me. I find I have very little will power to resist what my travel mates are eating.

For me, it's about 2 PM to 4 PM when I'm at the office. Those two hours are the worst stretch of the day.

In the evening, it's not so bad. But I have dinner around 8 PM & am in bed by 10:30 PM so there's less time to get into mischief in the kitchen.

Late morning; early afternoon -- the stretch between breakfast and lunch seems very long for sonme reason.

I switched my exercise to after work because this was horrible time for me.It has helped a lot.

I think my cravings come with being bored. I'm not that busy this afternoon at work and all I can think about is food. I can't wait to get out of here so I can go to the gym and then enjoy a nice dinner.

If I'm bored I want to eat so I try to stay busy.

Normally late nights. Or weekends!

I don't go to bed until midnight, so between 9pm and midnight are my toughest. It seems to have helped to cut all caffeine out of my diet. If I have a craving I drink a glass of water. If I still have a craving, I eat half a banana. If all else fails, I do exercises to make me tired. I haven't had any cravings, though, since I started eating "snacks" instead of meals, every two to three hours.

Thanks all for your sharings. Very interesting. Someone posted that they also have problems with weekends-boy I second that too. Also, I never eat breakfast in spite of all the hoopla about how important it is. If I eat breakfast I just find that I eat more the rest of the day. One thing that helps me in the mornings and noon is caffeine. I drink lots of coffee and really dress it up with cream, Stevia, Splenda and that is my Cadillac intake in the mornings and I don't' usually get hungry. Then I eat lunch and dinner around 3 to 4pm and start really wanting to overeat off and on after that. Caffeine helps me so much to fight the cravings but even it doesn't work in the afternoons and evenings.

Grabec, you sound so much like me, it's unbelievable. At one time I didn't eat breakfast either. I found, like you, that if I ate breakfast, I ate more the rest of the day, and gained weight. Also, coffee, helped me during the day as an appetite suppressant. Eventually that stopped helping me. I finally read where joining a weight loss message board helps, and so I did. I don't know why it's working. I'm not doing anything I haven't tried before. I guess it's the sharing with others who are in the same boat as I am.

Hey grabec, Jada1 :wave:

The trouble with not eating breakfast and just zizzing along on coffee is that, like Jada said, eventually it stops "working." Also, it's sort of a mini-starvation-binge cycle, isn't it? You starve all day and then stuff come 3 or 4.

And that's also why evenings are so hard!

It may seem as though you are eating more at first when you start having breakfast, but it gets bad only if you're not planning ahead. Plus it takes awhile for your body to catch up to the new program.

Try easing into some food in the mornings? And consciously cutting down in the evenings.

Jay

yes i agree about having times where i am more likely to overeat. it used to be afternoon and it was usually caused by the fact i hadnt eaten enough to keep me satisfied in the morning. once i realized that eating so little in the mornings was actually super detrimental this got easier to deal with. really try to find the cause of the craving. i always keep something healthy on hand to deal with the craving though. slice up cucumbers and put them in a balsamic viniagrette, carrots, some kind of nuts, a joghurt. having something reaedy to go right away becuase the longer you need to wait the worse it will be!

:DHi Jay,
Thanks for all your help. I don't think I ever purposely skipped a meal. I may have and just blocked it out. I just used coffee to get between meals. I just wasn't hungry in the morning before work. And then I recently read that coffee helps during the day, but causes cravings later in the evening. I don't enjoy warm drinks in the summer, so I'm beginning to wonder if that's why it was easier for me to lose weight in the summer, because the cravings were gone, and I'm more active, of course.

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say. Have a fun day!!! Thanks for everything!!

Hey guys,
Thanks so much for all the thoughts. Most interesting and helpful.

I agree with ones that have problems in office. It's not even boredom but mostly need to chew, I think. I am buying a lot of gum but still snacking from 2pm -4pm. I am certainly not hungry. Could it be a bad habit? I even bought some hypnosis tapes but to no avail :)

I agree with ones that have problems in office. It's not even boredom but mostly need to chew, I think. I am buying a lot of gum but still snacking from 2pm -4pm. I am certainly not hungry. Could it be a bad habit? I even bought some hypnosis tapes but to no avail :)

My strategy for things like this is to give in, but eat something healthy and low-carb; low-fat; low-calorie. I use cheese sticks, carrots with cocktail sauce, 1/2 a protein bar, diet soda, high fiber crackers with laughing cow cheese...

My worse craving time is late evening (9 - 11 p.m.). And it's usually carbs that I want 'cause I'm a carb lover. Lately I've been have those Quaker Crispy Delights at 90 calories per 20 g. pack. Along with carbonated water, which seems to make me feel fuller than plain water, I can resist other snacks. Any other carb lovers here?

My strategy for things like this is to give in, but eat something healthy and low-carb; low-fat; low-calorie. I use cheese sticks, carrots with cocktail sauce, 1/2 a protein bar, diet soda, high fiber crackers with laughing cow cheese...

I am quite good all day, whether at home or at work BUT, BLINKIN BUT, 9 pm onwards I seem to be obsessed with eating anything!

I like the suggestions you made above. :corn:

Thanks for sharing.

Puff Ball

I have the same after-dinner munchie attacks! I'm not quite sure what it is. DH and I usually watch a movie after dinner, so maybe its the dreaded popcorn syndrome. I've been eating either sugar free jello (.5 weight watcher points and 20 calories per package) or fresh vegetable tray with low-cal dip (homemade with fatfree sour cream and a dry salad dressing mix) for around 1-2 points for the amount I eat. I also find sugar-free gum helps.

Okay.....it's around three p.m. and I'M HUNGRY!!!! The kids are having tacquitos and my mouth is watering.

I had a healthy salad for lunch, and now I want to RUIN it all!

I think the timing has something to do with school.....either old memories of school ending for the day, time for milk and cookies....or, today, it's the time the kids get home and my energy slide begins.

That is also the time where I feel I wanna eat most ... late evenings, right after I get home from work. I try to have a big glass of crystal light, a diet soda, or a glass of iced water with lemon to "fill me up" a little bit. I heard nuts are supposed to help you fight tht hungry feeling, so sometimes i'll have a handful of almonds in between lunch and dinner. Not sure if that's true, but nuts are good 4 u anyways :)

I did it. I had a tacquito.

Problem was, the kids decided they didn't like the tacquitos. It is SO hard for me to throw out perfectly good junk food!

I have just joined the forum - well about a week ago -so this is an introduction I suppose. Years ago I decided to get "healthy" and have pretty well succeeded . So much so, a month ago I began my first blog about my thoughts. If you want to share with me, and give comments I would love to see you. My aim is to keep positive, and I hope some of it can rub off on those who are feeling down. Alan, weight wise man. Please say hello! :)

After work is definitely my trouble time. Especially in the winter. I just crave carby, sugary snacks after work. Summer is not so bad, but I still have cravings. Going mostly off sugar is helping, and having a protein snack around 3:30 at work is also helping. I have been having blueberries with 1/2 cup of cottage cheese or almonds. I am OK at night, but I go to bed early.

I want to eat more at night too, I try to drink water (Flavored) and I try to convince myself that I want low fat popcorn instead of chips. I have found that my craving for sweets is gone, I rarely want sweet anymore its salty that my mind wants. just as bad