Any tips for night time eating?
 

Hello my friends!
I'm in this habit of night time eating that I want to stop. I have "extra" calories from working out, but I don't want to spend them eating right before bed. It seems even if I've recently eating as soon as I get into my bed I crave a granola bar or cereal so I have food in my stomach to sleep. Do any of you have this problem? Do you eat before bed, or do you stop at a certain time? Thanks for any tips. I think I may have created a habit, and need to break through it for it to stop. We'll see!! Thanks
Oriana

I usually eat one egg before bedtime. It is filling, and a boiled egg has only 90 calories.
I had one last night with 1/2 T mayo, and I am not hungry yet this morning.

:easter:

WHEN NO ONE UNDERSTANDS YOU, CHOCOLATE IS ALWAYS THERE.

I struggle with this as well, but it helps to have something else, non-calorie or low-calorie, to look forward to. For instance, I love good espresso, and every night I have two cups (organic, whole beans that I grind in my burr grinder and brew in my really nice espresso machine) with 1 tsp of Sambucca liqueur in each (amounts to like 30 calories total). Find what you like. For instance, if you're a tea drinker, I've tried some really good organic Chai teas that have no calories (you can add a dash of milk and sugar for minimal calories) and are delicious.

Also, I don't know about you, but even if I am hungry before I go to sleep, I'm not hungry when I immediately wake up. I try to remind myself of that as I'm contemplating eating something before bed.

Good luck!

Are you actually hungry in the evenings? Could you plan a small snack that you eat an hour or two before bed?

Eating late at night isn't a problem so long as you can spare the calories and feel in control of your food choices. I'm not keen on the eating in bed though! Best do it before you get into bed!

Thank you everyone! No more carbs before bed. If I'm truly hungry I'll try pb/banana or an egg. Thanks again!

Try a half of cup of cottage cheese. Back when I had a nutrionist she recommended it. It has Casein which is a slow-digesting protein, which means, while you sleep your body will be able to keep using it, rather than being hungry for 8 hours. You can add a little sole da and cinnamon or a little peanut butter. Research it.

Protein is best to eat before bed. If I find myself hungry before bed I often have a hardboiled egg or a couple of ounces of cheese.

Thanks for the cottage cheese tip, I will give that a try :)

Someone on here said the other day that the way she determines if she is really hungry or just wanting to snack is that she asks herself if she would eat a handful of baby carrots. I think this is extremely helpful. Often, I think I'm "hungry" but I really just want ice cream or pudding or something junky, and a handful of baby carrots doesn't seem very interesting. However, when I'm actually HUNGRY, a handful of baby carrots sounds pretty good. Might be a way to help you figure out if you are really hungry or it's just a bad habit.

If I am hungry at bed time I eat as close to pure protein as possible. A plain (unflavored unsweetened) protein shake with just a dash of cinnamon and a bit of vanilla. A pinch of stevia if absolutely necessary, but it should not be sweet Bland. Fills the requirements of hunger, carbs at bed time often make you hungrier than you were before you started. And if you keep it unsweet, unsalty, uncrispy uncreamy you dont start a cravings habit.

I'm not saying choke down something you hate, but make it just on the tolerable food is fuel side.

This is a big issue of mine. I hate it. Usually I wake up in the middle of the night and, more than half asleep, chow down on something high calorie. Sometimes I don't even remember until hours after I wake up. It seriously sucks.

I've found that the only way to not snack at night AT ALL (even waking up like I do) is to stop eating after 8. Sometimes I can push to 8:30, but any later and I will definitely night eat. Don't know why. Also, I stop drinking water a couple hours before bed to minimize the times I have to get up. Works great so long as I stick to it.

I agree that one option is to simply save calories to eat at night. However, it is better for your quality of sleep to not eat at least 2-3 hours before going to bed. I can personally attest to this - you will most likely sleep better if you stop nighttime eating.

That being said, quitting nighttime eating is just as hard as quitting smoking. It is a HARD habit to get rid of..... but once you do, your body stops craving things so terribly in the evening and your stomach stops growling. Also, the moment you start nighttime eating again, it is like starting smoking again!

Anyway, the reason why nighttime eating can be so difficult to stop is because eating followed immediately by sleeping is, for one, a habit that was instilled in us as babies - we were comforted, fed, and drifted into sleep. So, getting rid of this lifelong habit is certainly not easy! But it is possible.

I forgot to mention that at around 10 pm I brush my teeth really well so after that I know I cannot eat until 6 am the next morning. Once my teeth are well brushed and flossed I only allow myself water or unsweetened hot teas.

I hope nobody minds if I chime in with my own experience. In NO WAY am I suggesting that anybody should do this. It is simply how my system works and I wanted to share a different type of experience.
I am a terrible sleeper; always have been. If I am hungry I cannot sleep at all. I toss and turn all night. I am completely unhappy with this but my best sleep is on a full stomach. I think of it almost as a "carb induced coma", which IS NOT GOOD. As much as I know that this is not the recommended intervention, I tend to save most of my calories, especially the carbs (as of late I am limiting myself to healthy ones), until just before I go to bed.
Again, please be assured that I realize this is somewhat of a unique situation and I am not endorsing it. Just a different experience from one of the members.

I drink a ton of water before bed so I have no appetite.

Hi, boomerang. The fast-5 diet is based on the way you eat most of your cals at night. Also the warrior diet is like this too, using mostly healthy foods.

Cat, thank you so much for your reply.:hug: I was very concerned that people might think I was endorsing what I do.
I had not heard of the two diets you mention and I will definitely take a look, if just to see that I am not so very odd (at least in this respect :lol:). Regarding eating healthy, it all I can "afford" to do at this point, in order to avoid the possible repercussions of past transgressions...:o In a way I feel like those people who try to change everything on Jan 1st. Lose weight, stop smoking, exercise more, read 5 books a month and start learning a foreign language. With me, all the changes are diet related and I am struggling a bit...

Boomerang, I am struggling too but just hang in there and remember it is the total amount of calories we eat in a day that matters, not the time of day we eat them. I am glad you mentioned this type of eating, I may go back to the fast-5 diet along with calorie counting.

Thank you for the dialogue, Cat. I want to assure you and I guess myself, that I DO try to eat throughout the day in order to avoid the likelihood of breaking down and bingeing (my biggest problem). I DO, however, try to budget my calories in such a way that I can eat something that will make me feel full, right before bed time.
I wish you much success and I hope you will keep me/us posted with your progress. I TRULY AM interested.

This is also similar to intermittent fasting where people have an eating window that lasts only a few hrs a day. People tend to open up eating window late afternoon through evening. Works well if you're hungrier later in the day.

Christine, now that you mention it, I did that several times, during my wt. loss attempts and I was quite successful with it. I just did not know that it was an approach that was practiced by others.
On one occasion I ate once a day, for 30 min. I ate all my calories at that time (around 6:00 PM). That kept me full, pretty much for the next 24 hrs. The rest of the time I'd have some chicken broth (the 5 cal. cubes) and water, tea, non caloric drinks.
I coupled it with a STRICT no weighing myself policy (one of my major binge triggers) and I lost 30#s in under 6 months.
I am not endorsing this, but it worked for me. I don't know why but I just have the "need" to feel full at least once a day and I already talked about my inability to sleep if I am hungry. That combination worked well for me and I've done it on other occasions, successfully. Lately I am trying to do things more moderately and space out my calories with, as I mentioned before, a good portion saved for the PM period so I can sleep.
Thank you, again, for your feedback. I looked up the two options you mentioned and found the information enlightening and frankly, reassuring. I always felt like I was doing something "wrong" eating all my food in one sitting, though intellectually I know that we need to do what is right for us individually, if it does not interfere with our health. In my case, it did not affect my health negatively, on the contrary.