Hi everyone, I've been reading your posts for the past couple weeks and thought they were very helpful, but finally I decided to join to see if posting would help me more! My name is Kelly and I live in Canada, I don't have a problem with my weight really, but I have a problem with losing the last couple pounds. I can stick with my diet during the day,everyday, but as soon as 10:00 pm hits, I cant stop myself from eating anything that I can find pretty much. Sometimes I binge, but most of the time I just eat a few things, but wish I hadn't after I had finished them. It's the foods at night I eat that prevent me from losing any weight at all. I just want to lose a few pounds, but its frustratin because I've been trying for so long. How can I stop this night time eating? Is it just will power? I stay up late also, being that I am 21. Please help!

Hi Kelly,

I am from Canada also and I too am having trouble with that last few pounds. THe nights are especially difficult. I find if I stick to my cut off time which is 2 hours before bed, I am ok because I'm not putting any food into my mouth - tea and water only. If I do take a little bite of something, I want more. If you are up very late, I would make sure that you are getting protein later. I dont know what time you eat your dinner, but you cant expect to eat at 6 and then be ok until the next day if you are still up at 1. I find that having super healthy stuff around to snack on helps. I precut carrots and celery and have them in a container in water in my fridge to grab. I precook and precut a lot because if I'm really hungry and need something quick, I will eat my entire house if there isnt something healthy ready.

Keep posting, this site is really supportive.

I've started going to bed an hour earlier (at 10), though I'm older, so that probably fits better with my (old person) circadian rhythm. It makes one less hour to fight the munchies, and makes it easier to get up and work out in the morning.

I'm with Bikini, too, that a night-time cut off works best for me. I don't eat after dinner, period. We eat late, plus with the 10 pm bedtime, I'm rarely actually hungry before bedtime - it's simply those habitual munchies. I have found, thankfully, that it has gotten a lot easier since I began this plan. At first, it was murder to not sit and munch. Now I sometimes have a little yen for something, but not as often, and not as strongly.

I'm 22 and am usually up until midnight or 1, so I know exactly what you're talking about. I usually have dinnner at 7 or 7:30 and find that if I eat a satisfying and healthy but filling dinner I am usually fine until bedtime. While I want to munch, it's not actually feeling hungry, so I drink tea or water and try to do other things to keep busy. If I eat earlier, between 5:30 and 6:30, then I might have a little snack at about 8, then that's it for me. I just recently declared 8:00 my cut-off point and it's been really great overall. I wake up hungry for breakfast instead of bloated and dizzy. The only time I find it difficult is weekends. If I'm out late and go to bed really late sometimes its been over 6 hrs since dinner and then it's almost impossible not to have something before bed. I'm still working on it, but it's getting easier. You could try posting here at night when a craving hits. Read other posts and write one yourself and maybe it will inspire you to skip the late-night snacking!

Hey Kelly! Welcome!

I too struggle with these last few pounds......... when it gets really difficult I come and post here and read other posts for inspiration and strength.

Hi, Shrinkingcha

I see that you have lost a lot of weight and that's amazing but how do you stay focused on you deit while working and that resting period before you fall asleep.

By the way this is my first time on the site so please help me out I could really use the help.

You guys are so awesome Its like during the day and most of the night, I say to myself that today's the day that I'm not gonna eat before bed, but it always fails. I workout regularily and eat healthy, but I dont need to be eating at night...I'm not even hungry, just do it out of boredom and habit... argh its so frustrating, but summer is coming fast and I want to be beach ready!

Yeah, it is the boredom and "head hunger" that get me...... it isn't that I am literally physically hungry, just that I "want" to eat, not that I need to eat.

Growingwife: It is really difficult to stay focused and sometimes I lapse and that is when the binging/purging problem comes into play and why I post here to get and give support for that. To help myself I wrote up a list of things to do if I get bingy (which you can find by looking through the threads on this forum). I also try to hold, hold, hold out.....drink tea, chew sugar free gum, have a sugar free hard candy..... anything to try and get past a "bingy" feeling few hours or whatever. I also try and keep my eye on the prize--- keep in my mind what my goal is and how binging is not going to get me there. I also post, post, post on this site.

Welcome and I suggest "exploring" the site and getting comfortable with it, posting often and reading other's posts. It really is a great resource.