i need something to help curb my appetite, especially in the evening. i want something that actually works.


Can anyone help me?

are you having actual physical hunger in the evenings, or are you just mindlessly eating out of habit/boredom/stress?

To address the first one, you can list a typical day of food for you so we can give you some feedback - are you getting enough calories, enough fat, enough protein, etc. Are you sleeping enough?

For the second, you'll have to make sure that you have healthy things to pick at (carrot sticks, air popped popcorn, etc) while you work on the behavior. Maybe you need to start exercising in the evenings, or taking a class or finding a hobby, journaling about why you are wanting to eat and figuring out what the real issue is.

I know we are all different as far as what works for us. I wish I had a magic answer!

But I can tell you what works for me. I was craving starchy carbohydrates at night. What worked for me, believe it or not, was to make sure I was getting PLENTY of fibrous carbohydrates (mainly green veggies - they are low in cals and you can have alot!) during the day.. and especially for the evening meal.

The other thing that will work for me (just got this from a lady in another thread, but I know it will work) is to tell myself .. YES.. I can have that. I'll have it tomorrow. ... then by the next day you go about your eating plan and the craving has passed. Or, you can actually put whatever it is into your plan for the next day and compensate for it.

Don't know if that helps.. but it is what works for me

i've stopped binging but i still find myself hungry. i eat well all day long so i'm not missing anything nutritonally. i just need soemthing to help calm those hunger pains.

i'll take you suggestions into consideration, thank you.

That is actually a wonderful idea for when i want to binge, just tell myself i can have those foods but over the next few days, not all at once. Thank you so much.

I used to have the same problems until I cut carbs at night. I continue to have plenty, during the day, but just not at night. That`ll automatically ban all the things I`d usually binge on, and it works for me. And as I eat less of them I want them less, too.

Sometimes if I'm pacing around, rifling through the fridge and cabinets, but not necessarily hungry, I will pop a piece of SF chewing gum in my mouth. This trick helped when I 1st started losing weight to quiet the munchies. And the fruity flavors satisfy my sweet tooth (sometimes). Kinda goofy, just thought I'd share it. OH, and popping bubbles is an added bonus!

i binge on almost anything, it's weird. i've never found a pattern to my binges.

Gum, check.

One thing I found to help me with cravings is to drink water with lemon slices. Somehow it seems to take away the intensity of the craving.

I had a great experience with hoodia. People will be really snotty and judgmental to you about taking it, but for me, it really helped me get a handle on my cravings while I learned to enjoy a healthy diet and tackled some of the emotional issues behind my eating.

(this is where I wrote more extensively about my experience with it, in case you're interested: http://shrinkingsharon.blogspot.com/2009/07/hoodia.html )