Cereal at bedtime -a plateau buster?
 

Hi Everyone!

As many of you know, I have been on this 210 Plateau for eight MONTHS! I FINALLY dropped a pound yesterday and have been trying to analyze things to hopefully keep up the loss. (God forbid that I spend ANOTHER EIGHT MONTHS now at 209!!!!) :nono:

Anyway, I have been thinking about setpoint. The last time I was 210 was TWENTY YEARS ago. For twenty years my body has "enjoyed" that comfortable, familiar weight (OR MORE!) Changing status quo maybe has been too shocking to this middle-age body of mine.

I recently changed part of my weight loss plan also. For months I have been eating nothing after 7PM. Oprah and Bob Greene said that was a good idea. Yes, I had a grumbly tummy all evening because we usually eat dinner around 4:00PM, and I rarely hit the hay before midnight. I'm up at 5:00AM, so that was 13 hours without food. No wonder this gal eats a good breakfast! Anyway, I started eating a bowl of shredded wheat with skim milk before I went to bed several nights ago. I slept much better, AND I have finally dropped a pound. I've heard that eating raises your metabolism and that fiber raises it even more because the body must work harder to digest it. Do you guys think that eating the cereal before bed might have actually HELPED my body relinquish that pound? Was I putting my body into starvation mode by not eating for those 13 hours even though it WAS late at night?

Oh, I have to add that for most of my life I have had a bowl of cereal before bedtime and have slept about 4-5 hours a night. I'm trying to get more now that I am retired, but old habits are very hard to break! I have to get my seven hours by adding a NAP!

Also I was thinking that age (55) plus menopause MAY also be playing a part in my body refusing to relinquish the weight.

Stay tuned! I have become a detective lately as I try to unravel my plateau mystery!

Cheryl

I've never uderstood the not eating after seven thing. I'm with the plans that recommending putting something in your stomach to stop that starving feeling.

I never understood the not eating after 7 thing, either. If you eat the same amount of calories a day, why does it matter if you have a yogurt or piece of fruit at 7 pm, or at 9? The calories are the same...

I believe in not eating right before bed, but if you have dinner at 4 pm, you must be pretty hungry later on. As long as you're within your calories, it probably does help to have that cereal. I'd feel really unhappy going to bed that hungry.

I've heard other people report that eating a little more actually broke their plateau. I guess the trick is not to let the little more become a lot more.

Good luck! Keep going!

Jay

When I first started this journey, one of my rules was to not eat past 7:30 and I've kept to it til recently. I find as I go on things can and should be changed a bit. It was no longer working for me. I now almost always have a jello sugar free pudding or a 60 calorie fat free/sugar free ice cream bar in the evening. I look forward to it. Oprah and Bob Greene are NOT the end all and be all. We are all different. I think I needed to set that rule for me in the beginning as to avoid nibbling at night. I no longer nibble at night, I can change the rule. I do though only eat something very light, like I said above.

Cheryl, I gotta tell you there is no way on earth I could eat dinner at 4, go to bed at 12 and not eat something in between. I quite frankly don't know how you did that. Or why.

Was eating your cereal a factor in losing the pound, who knows? You'll never know for sure. Why not test the waters, see what happens. Trial and error is a great method to find out what works for YOU. Just don't tell Oprah and Bob Greene, aww go ahead and tell em, who cares what they thinnk anyway?

I definately eat all night no matter what time it is... My mom used to have that rule in my house because she believed it so as a kid I never ate after dinner and sometimes went to bed at 2am and was starving all night and look where that got me (aka almost 200 lbs!). I would eat waaaay too much for breakfast the next day. Now I never go to bed hungry, and I can eat a normal sized breakfast because usually when I get up in the morning I'm not starving anymore, just mildly hungry.

Hi Cheryl, I've heard the no eating after 7 thing too. But I took it differently. I thought the idea was to stop eating several hours before your bedtime. So if Oprah goes to bed at 9 or 10 her time would be 7, if you go to bed at midnight then your time would be 9 or 10. I bet it did help you drop that lb. Maybe it kind of gave your metabolism a jolt. Congratulations!

In my humble opinion, the no eating after 7pm thing is a ******ed myth started by Oprah and her chief robot boy, Bob Greene. The first year I lost most of my weight I was working out after work, not getting home until 8pm then cooking and eating dinner. It worked for me, I lost 20lbs that year.

I'm feeling pissy today so pardon me if I offend.

I eat dinner at 7 PM, so I have to eat afterward! I usually go to bed by 9 PM, and I'm rarely hungry before that. I really think that you need to eat when your body tells you that it is hungry. My hungriest times are 10 AM and 4 PM which are periods directly between my main meals. So I snack and end the hunger pang. IMO, that "no eating after 7 PM" doesn't make sense--especially in your situation. I hope that this is the "magic pill" that will help you on your way to goal! (It certainly sounds like a good idea.)

You know, Gogirl, I think I was so obsessed about the "NO EATING...NOT EVEN ONE GRAPE" thing that I forgot completely about MY OWN schedule and how ridiculous it must have been for me to be without food for THIRTEEN HOURS when throughout the REST of the day I was eating every THREE HOURS!

Like Robin said, at first it is sometimes easier to be really strict just to get yourself going. I was strict with myself but forgot the most important thing...listen to my body.

Then again, I have "listened to my body" all the way up to 275 lbs.! Now I know that I WASN'T REALLY listening to my body all those years; I was listening to my emotions. MY emotions added all those pounds as surely as my mouth eating food did!

We live and learn. I'm just thankful that I have all of you here to support me and help me try to figure everything out! Weight loss is one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life, and I've had to do quite a few tough things! Thanks to all for your support!

Cheryl

I always eat after 7pm. I ate dinner last night at 8pm. I went to sleep around 11:30pm. As long as you are counting your calories or monitoring your food, you will be fine. I don't really care for late evening snacking though. Usually I eat dinner late, then don't eat after that unless I exercise and then sometimes I'll have a protein shake.

I kept hearing my mother tell me not to eat after 7-7:30ish, but was having trouble getting all my points in for WW. When I spoke to my leader about it, she firmly insisted that I get my points in, even if it means having a snack or something at 10:00! It's working, so it can't be all bad!

glad I am not the only one

I think it works for some if evening is when you tend to lose control and mindlessly eat

But I tell you when tuesday I added up my cals after dinner and was seriously short, it was so lovely to have a really nice bedtime tea.

There are medical conditions, like GERD where you should not eat for 3 hours before laying down (unless you like being awake all night with burning acid). I have a small snack in the evening but make sure it is a nutritious one (cereal and milk, peanut butter and celery, a string cheese, a piece of fruit) and not just empty calories. Once I got off the sweet stuff, I no longer crave it and it tastes terrible if I try to eat it now.

If your body goes in starvation mode because of not eating (starving) for anything more than 10 hours, ofcourse you will lose weight!!! BUT AT THE COST OF YOUR MUSCLES, NOT FAT!!!

A nutrionist/dietician (a good one) will never recommend that! Its better to divide your meals and eater lesser but throughout the day!