Late night and bored eating HELP
 

I find it VERY hard not to snack when I'm REALLY bored... Most of the time, the worst part is at night, when my son is asleep.. We have no TV (in storage) so my only way to entainmyslf is to read or to be on the 'net. I always get hungry. Now w/ DH working night shift, I don't know what to do!!!! I drink my water (watered down wylers light, not a big water drinker) chew sugar free gum.. but nothing works...... :( I did buy some crackers (corn bread crackers, only 80 cals for 2 an they are big) w/ some light Laughing Cow cheese for snacks.. it helps, but whenever I'm bored (when alone or baby is sleeping) I get hungry! :( HELP I want to reach my goals by next summer!

Hey Liz - I thought it odd that you said that you "get hungry" when you're bored or alone... do you really get hungry - or is just that you're looking for something to do? If you ate enough throughout the day, you shouldn't be hungry. I imagine that you're not really hungry, you just have the urge to snack. What you're doing to help stop it already are good starts. Here's a couple other tips:
- If you start feeling snacky, check the clock, wait ten minutes, and if you still feel HUNGRY after that, eat a snack.
- Turn the lights off in the kitchen. Declare the kitchen closed at a certain time and do not go in.
- Post inspirational quotes and/or photos on the fridge, computer desk, wherever. Just little reminders to stay on track.
- Exercise! Do some situps, pushups, march in place, anything that keeps your mind off eating.
- Find a hobby that you can do with your hands, like needlework or crosswords or something.

I argee with jen I think its coz ur bored that u eat i tended to do that when i have nothing to do.....

This happens to me, too. I think it does have to do with boredom. Like Jen said, keep busy -- find things to do. Drink water. Go for a walk. Whatever you can do to keep your mind off of eating.

It's really hard to do, but I totally agree that you have to distract yourself at all costs. Call a friend, log on here, do whatever! Make a rule for yourself that you can only eat at the kitchen table (or whereever).

Jenicra...loved the idea of declaring the kitchen closed....I love that! I've never heard that one before. The other ideas were great as well.

Eating at night is hard one for a lot of people....you just get in a bad habit of sitting around and needing your hands to be busy...so you feed your face....better to find something else to do

Another good idea is to fill up a water bottle at night, and when you feel the urge to go get somethign to eat....filling up on water is better for you and sometimes can curb your appetite, but then again, you may be getting up more in the middle of the night to used the bathroom...but that could count towards excersizing....LOL!