So usually I am OK and full after dinner and dessert. I have a tea at night and don't eat after supper, even if I get a tinge of hunger.

But some nights, like tonight (pre-TOM), I don't know what's wrong with me! I was just so hungry that I had to eat more after supper.

On top of dessert, I ended up having two oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and some part skim cheese and crackers. I feel pretty much full and am trying to be done, fighting what normally would happen, which is a total binge.

Can anyone relate to this? What do you do if you are truly hungry after supper and how do not lose control and have just enough to satisfy yourself?

I admit that I come from a family where we just never had dessert with dinner. Having said that, why not separate dinner and dessert . Better yet, plan a snack between dinner and bedtime instead of. I've always been an evening eater, so to combat that I:

- eat dinner about 6:45 (for whatever reason 7pm is too late)
- clean up the dinner dishes, make a salad, then eat it (7:30)
- plan a snack about an hour before I go to bed (9:30 ish)

For me, that snack is a small bowl of fruit salad and a protein shake. The first because I love my fruit and the second because it keeps my hunger at bay while trying to get to sleep.

I would also suggest breaking up dinner and dessert. I eat dinner at 7 and dessert at 9. Dessert usually is in the form of a piece of fruit and a yogurt, but sometimes I'll sub a low-cal ice cream bar for the piece of fruit.

Does your after dinner hunger possibly have anything to do with the types of foods you are eating? I know how satiated I am from day to day depends on what I have. The past few nights, for example, I've been having the vegetarian black bean tacos recipe with extra cole slaw that I found on the vegetarian forum here and it's kept me stuffed for HOURS.

I save about 1/2 my calories for 6 pm to bed. I love to eat at night! Pre-TOM is the absolute hardest for me and I will admit for eating over my limits at that time. I try to remember that being over my calories one or two days a month doesn't mean disaster.

I'm exactly the same with the after dinner hunger and if i don't pretty much cuff myself to the chair i end up wanting to shove 3 bowls of oats down me god no's how it fits in my ever expanding tummy!!!
I try and come on here after dinner or read a book with a cup of tea and then about an hour b4 bed do sum exercise as this distracts and wears u out so i ussually collapse when i get in.
Also watch fat doctor or x-weighted on cable as this encourages me to stay away from oats
hope this helped a bit xx

Thanks for the suggestions ladies. Have avoided eating anything else tonight, which makes me kind of proud I didn't spin out of control. Might be the first time ever. (Isn't that sad???)

I've been dealing with this realization lately as well. I plan my calories out well but I always have to save a few for the evening when the cravings hit. I try to stick to some fruit or a "dessert" yogurt (pie flavors), but sometimes it's just too much. We almost never had dessert growing up, and I rarely do now. But lately I just NEED something sweet at night. Oranges have been doing it for me but when my man pulls out a bowl of ice cream my orange looks pretty dull.

I plan for an after dinner snack around 8pm. Usually fruit and cheese or something with protein

Same here....I love to eat in the evenings.

One of the biggest things for me is to stay OUT of the kitchen after dinner. I do plan an evening snack...my favorite that I have nearly every day is a cold, sliced red delicious apple with crunchy Jif Peanut Butter. I always plan to save enough calories for this treat.

I've been having a Weight Watcher's dessert each evening with my cup of herbal tea. It makes me feel less deprived.

I used to love nothing better than sitting on the couch till the wee hours of the morning stuffing my face with snacks. However, I discovered a while ago that when I do eat after dinner, I wake up the next morning feeling so much worse than if I don't (a sort of food hangover), so for me it was worth making the effort to change the habit.

My saviour was herbal tea, I drank sooo much of it at first. I also did more knitting to keep my hands busy. I often went to bed with slight tummy rumbles, but luckily it doesn't seem to keep me awake. I'm now at the point where it's a habit. I haven't eaten after dinner since Christmas, it's just not something that I consider to be an option. And I think it's also helped with calorie counting/planning. I don't freak out that I might get hunger in the evening, so I no longer save stupid amounts of calories for my evening meal, get starving during the day, and then binge.

I have always had a small snack in the evening about halfway between dinner and bedtime; and have done this most of my adult life (no matter what I weighed).

The key for me is what -- I try to always have a protein of some kind and preferably with a fruit, like fruit and yogurt (esp apples, which is very filling); or an ounce of cheese with a few whole wheat soda crackers; or a small bowl of my favorite fiber cereal with skim milk (and you can add a small banana for bulk).

I also find fruit salad very filling; or will even have some coleslaw or other salad, if I am feeling ravished. I vary it each night so as not to get bored; but, on some occasions, I may only have something like a chocolate popsicle (which is only 90 calories), esp in the summer, and that satisfies me.

Also, like REALCDN, we also eat later ~ at least 6-7 pm. Today, DH wasn't home, so I ate at 7 pm and felt so good that I just had a popsicle tonight. I also have a nice big hot cuppa tea around 9 pm as well. Sure, I have the odd craving day, but on those ones, I have either a bowl of cereal with skim milk, or a piece of whole grain bread with peanut butter and that helps me a lot!

I think everyone has to do what works best for them; and as you can see, many of these 'evening snackers' in this thread, have lost a huge amount of weight! So ... it just works for us, that's all!

Add me to the list of after-dinner snackers! My eating schedule is *extremely* structured because I'm a student and I work part-time (basically whenever I'm not in class), so I have to squeeze my meals in whenever I'm not occupied with one of those things--hence, I tend to eat dinner very early (5pm every weekday!), so I always get hungry later! I usually have an apple around 9 or 10 (I go to bed very late, too, so for me that isn't too late of a time to be eating, heh). Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with working a snack into your evening in order to keep you satisfied so you don't feel so deprived that you're tempted to give in to cookies and such, hehe. And of course I would recommend that you look into having more filling dinners with lots of protein, etc, but I'm sure you already knew that. Good luck fighting the after-dinner munchies, girly!

Other night time snacks I enjoy:

applesauce cups
yoghurt and apples
frozen grapes and cheese
wasa bread with peanut butter or Laughing cow wedges
popcorn
low sodium multigrain pretzels rods and salsa
celery and laughing cow wedge
2 cups of sliced strawberries (under 100 calories!!!)
small banana and peanut butter
slice of sprouted grain bread and 1 T peanut butter