Ok so I have a really big problem with late night snacking because I am up from 7am to 2am every day and i am pretty sure that is why i am not losing any more weight. I try to stick to things like LF string cheese but some times I am so hungry I eat stuff i should not cause it is convinent. I really need some sugestions should i change the time durring the day i eat or what else can i do i am lost

Any snacking you can do with vegetables will be helpful as many of them give you a lot of volume for the calories so they're filling, they give you lots of nutrients, and we're always trying to find ways to fit in our 5 servings a day. Pepper strips, cucumber coins or spears, carrot sticks, celery sticks, radishes, sugar snap peas/snow peas, broccoli, etc. You can eat them with the serving of string cheese or a very small serving of nuts which will give you protein to hold you longer.

If you're up from 7 am to 2 am, you are stressing your body with a sleep deficit. If there's any way you can get more sleep that will help also.

hi viksmom!

i am afraid i have no good advice for someone in ur situation but i think this thread may hold some answers for you!don't be discouraged

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=137083

Thanks all.
If I my schedule will not allow more sleep at night but would premit a nap or two and i could get out 8 hours out of 24 do you think that would help or does it need to be consecutive?

Naps will help although consecutive hours are better. With a new baby, I understand your schedule now! Oy! Do your best! This too shall pass.

Darn...wrote a long post but it got lost.

Viksmom, I would concur with the Beachies who point out that your sleep deficit is much more likely to be the problem here. I eat a snack around 2 when I stay up that late, but it doesn't seem to lead to any gain.

Lack of sleep keeps your body from doing the things it usually does overnight to help you lose weight and results in your body producing hormones that lead you to snack more (usually it's a craving for simple sugars, too.). Consecutive sleep is best here--naps will help--but you want to aim for consecutive hours of sleep as much as possible. It's REM sleep that gives you the most benefits in weight maintanence and loss, and you can only get REM sleep if you have a long stretch of uninterrupted sleep. To get to REM sleep, your body goes from level 1 to level 2, then levels 3 and 4, and finally to REM. If you wake up at any point as you go through the levels, you start over again when you go back to sleep (this is why people with sleep apnea are so tired...they have trouble getting to REM sleep because they wake up each time they stop breathing).

Are you parenting with a partner? If you're breastfeeding, could you pump so your partner can give the baby a bottle for the day's last feeding while you go to bed early? Then you can get up when the baby's next feeding/wake up time happens. Several of my friends who are moms employ/have employed this strategy successfully. In time, you'll get into a routine and get more sleep--until then, just try your best to eat healthy and get as much sleep as you can.

Unfortunatly I wish the problem was the baby he acctually sleeps through the night unless he is going though a groth spurt then once he is feed he goes right back to sleep. The problem is that his father is out every night till 2 or 3 playing pool trying to bring in a little more income for our home and due to former situations (break in and assault) i am afraid to be home alone at night and i cant sleep if he is not home.
Fortuntly I have not gained weight due this I am just not losing any either. I am sticking to string cheese and v8. no sugary stuff.
Thanks girls for the help