Gained back everything I lost, how to avoid eating at night?!
 

Hi all - I am at my wit's end. I posted here years ago, was doing great, then left here, did medifast and lost 30 pounds quickly! Then the soy wasn't agreeing with me and I had to quit. I have now gained back the 30 pounds, if not more (I'm afraid to weigh myself).

What to do????

I'm recently divorced. When I'm at work I'm fine. Even on weekends, during the day I'm fine. I'm not hungry during the day. As soon as I get home from work I eat dinner, am still fine. I drink a lot during the day. But from about 10pm till midnight, I eat the entire house. I think those are the hours I feel lonely, and would love to have someone to wind down from the day with, but instead I eat. And eat, and eat, and eat.

What should I do? Any ideas? I know I can call a friend, or do a manicure, or just go to sleep. But I don't do those things. I eat.

What to do???????

Thank you for any help, really, you guys are great!

The problem with Medifast is that the foods aren't healthy, and they don't teach you good eating habits, so the weight loss isn't sustainable.

When you say you drink a lot, do you mean alcohol? Avoiding alcohol can help a lot with weight loss.

Healthy foods are more filling, so if you eat healthy foods, you'll be less likely to overeat. Focus on eating mainly whole foods, for example vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. Avoid sweets, refined carbs, and fried foods.

You're probably getting hungry at night because you didn't eat enough during the day. Try to have a big portion of vegetables with every meal, so you'll feel more full (at least some of them should be green leafy or cruciferous).

If you're not sure if your diet is healthy, you can post a list of foods that you eat, and I'll let you know if I have suggestions.

You should also be exercising as much as you can. You might be able to do some exercise at work, for example by taking the stairs instead of the elevator.

A lot of us here suffer from night time eating. I have found some workarounds that include eating smaller meals through the day and allowing certain foods at night. I track calories so I know I am still on the right track, but I still get my night time snack. I go for things that take a long time to eat (popcorn, frozen fruit). When I have smaller meals through the day I find that I don’t get hangry and ravenous at night.

Hey Avi!

I am going to second the veggie thing. I started up my new "diet" this week (My nurse practitioner says NEVER use the word diet. It has die in it, and no one wants to be on one) and I bought a huge container of spring mix, a couple of cucumbers, a box of cocktail tomatoes, garlic vinaigrette dressing, and a box of pepperjack cheese slices so that I know the portion size on that. (NP said to go nuts in Aldi's produce section) You can eat a HUGE salad, I mean a huge serving bowl full of veggies, for around 215 calories. I was sitting at 900 calories for the day (Which is WAY too low) and I was -full- because I had filled up with low calorie veggies. I made myself some baby portobello mushrooms with a half a cup of marinara sauce and 2 slices of mozzarella cheese because....it was still only 200 calories for the whole plate. Just popped them raw in the microwave for a minute and fifteen seconds with the stuff on them. Easy peasy. You can eat SO MUCH good food, and be full, if you see what veggies you like.

I log everything I eat with My Fitness Pal, which helps keep me honest as well. It helps me keep track of how many calories I have eaten and how many I have left. Water is your friend, and even if you have to put some crystal lite lemonade in it, go for it. Water water water. Even at night, water. After you eat anything, walk for five minutes. That will kickstart your metabolism and it will suck the sugar out of your cells and start burning it. I think if you fill up on certain fruits, veggies, lean protein, and water, then you will be less snacky at night. I used to be so snacky and then I switched to doing this and I have a snack of raw almonds or a couple scoops of my hubby's protein powder in water around 7:30.

Good luck and I hope this helped a little bit!

Thank you for your great replies! And for the record, I drink lots of water, not alcohol 😊.

I know I should somehow force myself to eat salads and such, but when I’m st aldi’s (and I love aldi’s) I’m walking right by their produce section and looking at their amazing array of cheap and yummy bakery stuff.

And at night, like right now, after I’ve had a busy day and I’m all alone (and lonely), I’m trying to be good and I’m talking to all you amazing, nice, wise, and friendly people, but really, I have cake and cupcakes sitting in my fridge and it’s really hard to stay out of the kitchen.☹️

Thank you for listening, what do you do when you want to emotionally eat? I’m not hungry, just lonely and bored.

Thank you.

If you don't like eating salad, there are many ways to eat vegetables. You can have a green smoothie (with both leafy greens and fruit). You can roast broccoli, and add some tahini, or you can add some lemon juice and garlic. You can eat chili with a mixture of beans and vegetables.

If you want to eat sweet foods, you can eat fruit. I often eat a banana for a snack when I get hungry. It's very difficult to overeat fruit, because they're high in both fiber and water.

If you're willing to do some baking, you can make healthy desserts (sweetened with fruit). I just did a search for healthy cake and healthy cupcakes, and I found these recipes:

Cake: https://theculinarygym.com/katie-mae-chocolate-cake/
Cupcakes: https://www.feastingonfruit.com/the-...late-cupcakes/
(I haven't tried these recipes, but judging by the ingredients I think they look good)

Thank you! Those are good tips. I could roast a bunch of broccoli and have some fruit ready for when I want to do the late night eating (which is every night)! And I printed cupcake recipe - it looks great!

Well feel free to tell me to shut up at any time. The only way to get control of what you are doing is to get control of you. You already know what to do: eat right, and keep moving. The question is are you ready to say "I'M DONE WITH THIS". The sad fact is that everyone processes food differently. WE are on the bad part of that equation. For me once I made the decision to say no more I came to the realization that because my body can't process the foods I used to eat without putting on weight I could no longer have them. Most of those foods are not good for you anyway. Does it suck? YES! Do I love that kind of food? YES! Do I want to go back? NO WAY! After eating the wrong way for so long it's hard to eat the right way but once you do you will feel so much better. Is it hard? YES! If it were easy this forum would never exist. If you feel yourself falling into that boredom trap get out of the house. Go for a walk, call a friend, find a hobby, but don't go into the kitchen and then sit in front of the TV. You can do this! The hard part is convincing yourself that you are ready to make the change and knowing that the change is for the rest of your life.

You need to find something to do with your hands. Painting, knitting, crocheting, video games. Something that you can’t do while eating like watching tv.

Some people are ready to eat healthy, but they just don't know how. I think schools are partly to blame. Many schools do a poor job of teaching nutrition, and they serve junk food in the cafeteria, so kids don't learn good eating habits at an early age. Doctors usually don't give nutrition advice, because most of them haven't studied it. Only 25% of medical schools have a single course dedicated to nutrition.

For people who eat while watching TV, maybe consider broccoli? Like I said before, vegetables are filling, so they're difficult to overeat. I would be surprised if anyone got fat from eating too much broccoli.

So last night I did OK. Thank you for all your help!

I prepared a pan of broccoli and zucchini, which I roasted with olive oil and salt. I left the pan out on the oven, so every time I went into the kitchen looking for something to eat, I saw the pan and took vegetables instead of something else. I also drank lots of water, and went back to crocheting a blanket which I started a while ago but never finished. So I had something to do with my hands. And I do admit, this morning I was proud of myself for having gotten through.

But it was hard! And it took so much planning, and it was just one night! And I worry that I will get tired of all the planning.

It was like I was watching myself for the first time, and noticing how often the mood strikes and I get up to go to the kitchen, for no reason! I'm not hungry, I just keep going in there. And it was super hard (and this is embarrassing to admit), not to bring food up to my bedroom at night. I'm in the habit of eating downstairs while I watch TV, and then bringing food upstairs with me to eat while I finish my shows. What's wrong with me?!

But last night I didn't do that, so that's one night down.

-

Thank you!!!! I wish the same to you, and to all of us!!!!!!

Congratulations on making it that night! I know every day that I am struggling with this, at the end of the night I look at my food log for the day and I'm like "......I did pretty good!" We take one day a week and have a "cheat day" so that we do not go crazy and think we will never have our favorite foods again and snap and just stuff ourselves full of junk food for a few days straight on a binge. This week I had a regular lunch/breakfast and then I had some cheetohs for a snack, and then we went out to dinner and I had a tiny sundae for dessert. So not way overboard but enough to be like "Ok...that was pretty yummy! I can get through another week!"

You having the veggies on hand is a great way to go about things. I eat when I'm upset or sad or lonely too. I got hummus from Aldi's and I have red peppers that I can cut up with it instead of crackers or pita bread. It is delicious and doesn't wreck my plan, plus I feel a bit cheaty because I never had hummus before when I was eating all the junk food. There are ways to keep yourself going, just have to dig deep my friend!! Good luck going forward!

Hummus is typically a very healthy snack, but I haven't looked at Aldi's ingredients, so I don't know if they add anything bad to it.

If you like ice cream, you can make your own healthy ice cream. Slice 2 (or 3) bananas, freeze for at least 2 hours, and blend. If it's not blending well, you can add a small amount of milk or non-dairy milk. If you want flavored ice cream, you can add things like cocoa powder, or nut butter, or berries.

Thank you for that advice mjf! I will try the frozen banana thing in the future. I can't eat a lot of sweets because of my diabetes which is why I only get sweet things once a week. I am enjoying my new plan though.