I ate 1600 calories today which seems like a lot but obviously I eat a whole lot more because now my stomach is growling like crazy. I want ice cream! etc! etc!

Does anyone else hate going to bed on an empty stomach? how do you deal with it?

To be honest, I actually like feeling hungry sometimes - I feel like I've spent so much time eating to make sure I didn't get hungry that I forgot what hunger felt like! I like the reminder of what should prompt me to eat - the physiological hunger rather than boredom or whatever else prompts me. And I feel like nightime is a good time to experience that, 'cause I'm not rushing off somewhere, knowing that if I don't eat now I'll be superhungry and really tired later. I usually drink a cup of tea before bed and find that this deals with the feelings of hunger.

Put a positive spin on it- think of hunger as melting fat.

If I'm hungry before bed, I eat a small, healthy snack. A handful of trailmix or a piece of fruit or a string cheese or something.

Eat fat free sugar free jello and fat free cool with it'll make you so full and satisfy the sweet craving. Also, eat lots of fat free popcorn girl they even have fat free kettle corn very satisfying!

FAT & SUGAR FREE JELLO with FAT FREE COOL-WHIP

I agree with Sierra! On the way home from work I often start to feel hungry and think wow this is nice to actually need to eat because I am hungry... and can really enjoy my dinner!

I find that when I go to bed hungry I wake up feeling sluggish, crampy, and ravenous -- but I think that is my fault, for shifting my eating schedule back several hours so my body expects dinner only two or three hours before bed. I have tried not to eat so late, but have yet to win (or properly fight) that battle.

The reason why you feel awful mornings after you go to bed hungry is that you let your blood sugar get too low. When I saw a dietitian, she said that I ought to eat a handful of crackers or some kind of complex carb (a bit more complex than a piece of fruit, which is too easily broken down by the body to last all night) so that my blood sugar didn't get too low overnight, as that would leave me feeling sluggish and grumpy and tired in the morning--and craving sweets right off the bat.

I don't think you should deprive yourself of food if you're hungry. Simply find some sensible way to satiate yourself. Your body's not lying to you: when you feel hungry, you ARE hungry, and your body needs nourishment. Going to bed is an okay solution if you're otherwise going to pig out, but if you can limit yourself to something healthy, I don't think you should refrain from eating.

I can't go to bed hungry. And I don't. It's like this nagging feeling I have in the back of my head like I've forgotten to do something like turn off the coffee pot or lock the doors. In fact, I'm often seen taking something to bed with me. I used to stress about the whole "eating before bed" thing, but if it's not going to blow my daily cals through the roof, then how much harm can it be? If I'm hungry, I'm hungry and it hasn't caused any gains.

The good thing is, it doesn't take a lot of food- yogurt works well or half a packet of oatmeal or a piece of cheese.

I'm a Bob Greene/Oprah devotee and they recommend not eating 2-3 hours before bed time. Not only does it give your body a chance to burn a little bit of extra calories, but it keeps you from eating calories that you're not going to have a chance to really burn off for a while. He says that going to bed a little bit hungry is a good thing. I feel like eating should be to fuel my body to work, and my body doesn`t need that much fuel for sleeping.

Ok.. I wish I had my book with me at work, because he explains it much better than I do... but also, he says that it isn't healthy to have a lot of food sitting in your stomach overnight because the longer food is in your system the more likely you are to develop things like colon cancer. For the same reasons that eating a lot of fiber and working out are good for your colon because they keep the food moving right along, having lots of food sticking around for 8 hours isn't good.

ALSO, a lot of emotional eating occurs at night and often people try to comfort themselves after a bad day by grazing at night. By having a cut off time, you are taking away one of the largest windows for emotional eating.

AND (ok this is turning into a rant of some sort) by limiting night time eating, you WILL wake up hungry in the morning, but that is also not a bad thing. A lot of people who don't eat breakfast say that they don't because they aren't hungry then. We all know that breakfast is important, and if you`re still full from the night before ,you're less likely to start your day off right.

I've also read in fitness magazines that fitness competitors try to limit their carb intake after dinner, so if they have to have a snack they will have some kind of low fat protein.

That being said, this is one of the hardest parts for me because I've gotten into the habit of night time eating. Not only that, but I stay up very late hours sometimes and if I eat dinner at six I'm going to want something a few hours later. So, planning ahead is crucial. However, I've found that I've lost the most weight consistently when I cut out eating around 10pm. I would suggest if you really need something to eat have something that is low in calories and sugar.

Every time I go to bed hungry, I dream about food. One of these days I'm going to wake up with a mouth full of pillow feathers! hahahahah!

I know its corny but on Oprah she was talking about being hungry and instead of eating when youre hungry think of the fat getting burned off instead by not giving into the hunger. I like being hungry its a good reminder that i didnt stuff myself that day.

If I go to bed hungry I wake up in the middle of the night and eat anyway!

So I just have an oatmeal cracker with PB on, or apple and PB or something.

Your insulin levels increase overnight (which increases fat storage) so while it IS best to not eat RIGHT before going to bed, I usually try to find a meal that will fill me up till bed time, or go to bed before I get hungry! But if it means getting up in the night and eating, I tend to satisfy myself before I go to bed, since I will probably reach for something "easy" in the middle of the night, which is usually DF's cookies!

I don't want to sound wierd, but I find a certain satisfaction in being hungry and not eating sometimes.

It's the feeling that actually, yes, I am in control. And yes, I can not go and raid the cupboard and eat a pile of stuff!