I'm reading a book about changing habits to lose weight, and the one area I'm slacking in is night time eating. The thing is I'm rarely hungry after dinner, I just wander into the kitchen every 15 -30 min, all evening long, looking for SOMETHING to satisfy me. I need something to put in my mouth.
So I went down to the store and bought gum, tootsie rolls, hard candy, and suckers. I put them all in a ziplock bag in the cupboard. This way when I'm in the kitchen and I KNOW I'm not hungry at all, I will put one of these in my mouth instead of the high calorie foods I find. Little by little I am going to try and ween myself away from this obsession with food. Right now, I just can't stop this incredible urge to feed myself. My mouth and head say "feed me!", but my stomach says "it's ok, I've had enough".
I know fruits and veggies are better, but I'm not a fan of eating them for snacks. (I cannot stand raw veggies!) Cooked in meals, ok, when I'm hungry, but for snacking, I always go for the bad stuff. I need to stop putting so many calories ( I can easily consume 2,000 from 6pm till bedtime) in my body that it doesn't need. I'm hoping this will do the trick. Nothing else has.
Well, I hope these chewy, long-lasting items will help keep your jaw busy.
Do you find that you're feeling bored in the evenings? I know that used to be my problem (okay... still is my problem).
I don't know if you "do" artifical sweeteners, but you could always look into the sugar-free kinds of gum & what-not so that they're even fewer calories.
And, as I've been told before (and seen often around the site): If hunger is not the problem, food is not the answer.
that sounds like a really good idea...
tea really helps me too when I am having night time cravings.
Keeps your mouth and hands busy, and relaxes you to get rid of some of the anxiety
Sounds like you've got a really good plan and if you work hard you will find your habits will change and snacking on high-calorie foods will just not happen. It will become a non-issue, if you know what I mean?!
For me, I had to stop snacking all together because eating lower calorie snacks lead to two lower calorie snacks etc. so I found that I just had to be really strict with myself. Now I never, ever snack. It leads to binges! Everyone is different though so I hope you've found what works for you!!
Definitely a good coping strategy. If you're not hungry after dinner - you can also try brushing/flossing and declaring the kitchen "off limits." If you're bored and resteless, try to find something to do. Something busy with your hands is good - cross stitch, knitting, writing a letter to your mom - heck get a Wii and play tennis!
Or - get out of the house. Take a class, join a book club, go for a walk (should be staying lighter later in a bit).
DoILookFat -- GET OUTTA MY HEAD!! I swear I was just contemplating posting a thread about this very thing.
When I'm hungry - not the gnaw-your-foot-off kind of hungry, just normal hungry, I make sensible choices. Same with eating out or over someones house. I'm good; all's well. My most dangerous situations are when I'm NOT truly hungry but I just want a little sumptin' sumptin'. My MOUTH wants it, not my stomach.
Nighttime is absolutely, positively the worst time for me. I LOVE sitting munch, munch, munching away while LOST or Jon and Kating. I've been keeping a careful check on the cals and allowing enough for a small dish of ice cream or fudgsicle or something after dinner. It's later, when everything simmers down that those pesky snicky-snacks start shouting out to me. So far I've ignored them. And I'm keeping those sweet-crunchy cereals OUTTA MY HOUSE. Curse you Captn' Crunch and you stupid Leprechaun.
I get up mighty early (5a.m.) so by 8:30 or 9:00 pm I'm pretty wiped out. Literally going upstairs (I curse the food the entire time mind you) stops me from eating. Seltzer water is something to put in the mouth w/out any calories. Those Lifesavers Creme Savers are really good too. Choc caramel, choc coffee and orange swirl.
A diet is when you have to go to some length to change your width.
A lot of good ideas here. Different things work for different people.
Of the special things you mentioned, try to stick with the gum; especially the artificially sweetened kind; and chew a big wad of it. Those tootsie roll calories can add up quickly.
My vote goes for the type of things GLORY mentioned . . .
. . . it's hard to snack when you hands are busy doing something else,
. . . clean teeth make me hesitate to mess up that great fresh feeling again
. . . being out of the house makes it harder to wander into the kitchen
i have the exact same problem. for me it's a combo of emotional eating and boredom and bad, bad habits. i can't believe how many calories i can stuff in my mouth from 7p to midnight. even if i ate healthy all day long through dinner. it's kinda gross really. i've done pretty well lately, but it's a daily struggle. good luck!
I know you said that you don't like raw veggies, but how about baby carrots, or sugar snap peas, or yellow pepper strips? All are quite sweet tasting. Maybe dip them in a bit of Splenda-sweetened yogurt, or FF ranch dressing?
They are great crunchy, finger-foods. They satisfy me because they take time to eat. They are also very healthy and can give you a great nutritional boost too!
Who knows? You MIGHT even grow into adding some cauliflower or broccoli or cucumber slices.
I did
Last edited by CountingDown; 02-23-2008 at 07:28 PM.
What a bunch of great ideas...here are a few more!
Water helps me get through the night-time cravings
Current favorite tea that helps big time....Orange/Chocolate chip (I think it's lipton) Zero Calories!
Air popped popcorn with a few sprays of ICBINB and a touch of season salt
Sugar Free candies...although watch as artificial sweeteners can cause a sweet tooth to kick in for some...not a problem for me!
Sugar free jell-o
The 3FC forum...this keeps my mind occupied and I can spend hours reading about everyone's different journies...I love to get that glimpse into other people's lives as well as tips and tricks I hadn't thought of
I find that once I have my dinner dishes cleared and my evening snack (NO LATER than 8pm unless I'm at aquasize then it's 9pm) planned and ready to go and everything prepared for the next day I "Close" the kitchen. I also try really hard not to eat my evening snack in front of the TV. I have a PVR so I can always pause my live TV and go have my snack. Sometimes I'll even go sit outside and listen to the sounds of the neighbourhood while I snack...it's actually kind of soothing. If I am going to eat a snack while in front of the tube (if the family is watching a movie or show and doesn't want to pause it) I'll eat it while I'm on my stationary bike and I always drink 8oz of water before I get on so I'm always full afterwards.
I hope you can get it worked out and find something that works for you. I know it's a huge hurdle that lots of people have to get over before they can move on to the next thing...but it's important to do what feels right to you and find what will work with your new lifestyle!
You know, I'm really not that hungry
I swear I was just contemplating posting a thread about this very thing. 
