I'm having a huge problem w/ night time eating. I don't know why but it's like after 8pm all I want to do is eat. I do pretty good throughout the day but then night time hits and I feel like I'm starving. I don't know what to do to stop this. I know I have a problem w/ will power and thats something I have to work on but at this rate I'm never gonna lose any weight. I'm so upset w/ myself right now I just needed to vent. Any suggestions or advice welcome. Thanks.
What kind of activities do you do in the evening? I find if I'm too sedentary, particularly watching tv, the munchies hit really hard. Same if I have any alcohol.
My solutions are to drink a lot of water and go for an evening walk. You also might want to try having a handful of nuts around 8pm. That often takes the edge off for me.
Oh, I forgot. Another good way for me to not think about the munchies is that in the evenings, my husband and I often play a card/board game (Dominion rocks!). That keeps my mind busy and it's fast-paced enough that there's no time to go to the kitchen for a snack. If I did, he'd yell at me for making him wait.
I also have a huge issue with eating at night at around 8pm (even after, like you said, doing great and staying on plan all day). I count calories and I have started saving around 500 calories out of my 1500/day specifically for eating at night. I try to drink water all day long, which helps with the full stomach feeling. I also make really low-calorie foods to eat at night, like a couple of cups of hot broth with some veggies or ground turkey in it (50-150 calories for what feels like a lot of food). I find that really fills me up. I also have a cut-off time for eating around 10pm, depending on how late I get home from work/school and when I plan on going to bed.
Recently, I have been having a lot of issues with night binging and stress eating, and I have started actually setting a timer for 15-20 minutes and setting my food aside for that amount of time until I am allowed to take another bite. Forcing myself to wait helps me feel fuller and helps the compulsion to eat subside at least a little. Also, sometimes I am binging because I am tired and trying to relieve stress from my day; it only recently occurred to me that if I am really tired and I want to eat, maybe I should just go to bed! LOL.
Personally, the first thing I had to do was evaluate WHY I was snacking. The simple answer for me was -- I was bored. The only thing that worked for me was keeping healthy snacks around like carrots or cucumbers instead of my ol’ standby of chips and dip. I wasn’t going to beat the boredom by going for a walk especially after working out. And water was just not cutting it. Sometimes having a cup of coffee or tea helps me too. I just can’t, under any circumstances, have bad munchies in the house. If I don’t have it, I can’t eat it. And I never have to hear it calling me from the kitchen.
Thanks everyone It really helped hearing that others have/had the same problem and what you've done to get through it. I think I eat b/c I am bored and I also have problems w/ depression. Sometimes, ok a lot of times, food is a comfort to me. Soooo I'm going to go the grocery and stock up on carrots and cucumbers. That way I can munch but it won't kill my calories I think I'll also find something to do in the evenings to take my mind off of thinking I'm hungry. So I guess I need to take this one step at a time till I find what works for me. Thanks again everyone.
OMG! Evening/nite time eating...
I just needed to vent. Any suggestions or advice welcome. Thanks.
It really helped hearing that others have/had the same problem and what you've done to get through it. I think I eat b/c I am bored and I also have problems w/ depression. Sometimes, ok a lot of times, food is a comfort to me. Soooo I'm going to go the grocery and stock up on carrots and cucumbers. That way I can munch but it won't kill my calories 
I think I'll also find something to do in the evenings to take my mind off of thinking I'm hungry. So I guess I need to take this one step at a time till I find what works for me. Thanks again everyone.
