Hi ladies. Just wondering if any of you have any suggestions on how I can curb my evening/late night snacking. I eat great during the day at work, but it seems as soon as I get home from work in the evening that I am always sooo hungry and then later again before I go to bed. Any suggestions??? TIA!
Hi ladies. Just wondering if any of you have any suggestions on how I can curb my evening/late night snacking. I eat great during the day at work, but it seems as soon as I get home from work in the evening that I am always sooo hungry and then later again before I go to bed. Any suggestions??? TIA!
What kinds of food are you eating during the day? What's your dinner like? Are you really hungry or is it boredom/stress/habit? Listen to your body (literally, it'll tell you when its hungry and what kinds of food to eat) and ask yourself "do I need to eat right now or is this a passing feeling?" "Am I truly hungry?" If the answer is no, then find something to do with your hands and mind- not too complicated, but enough to get your mind off food.
I get bad boredom hunger mid-afternoon (what I've heard someone call 3:30-itis) and I have to find something to occupy my time until its time for dinner or class. Cleaning and decluttering seem to be at the top of my list right now. I'll stop around 4 or 4:30 for a light snack, then back to cleaning until 5:30. Then I usually either get ready for class at 6pm or start dinner.
DH likes to snack at night, so that's kind of an automatic green light for me to snack as well. I will sometimes eat my dessert later instead of right after dinner (sometimes an hour before bed helps a lot!). If you're truly hungry, not just in the want-to-eat mode, try having yoghurt or some kind of protein since it'll fill you up and last longer than carbs.
I have a real problem with this as well. The things that have helped me are eating a little more during the day (which someone already mentioned), and also changing my activity later at night when I typically get hungry. I've found that sitting at the computer before bedtime is a trigger for me to eat, so turning it off and knitting or doing something else in a different room of the house has been helpful in that regard.
I brush my teeth and chew gum after I hit my calorie target for the day. Sometimes I cut dinner short just so I can have several hundred calories to snack with in the evening. I don't believe that it matters when you eat your calories, just how many you eat.
How about a low calorie, high protein beverage? Right now I'm drinking a high protein hot chocolate in the evening. It not only warms me up but it also cuts the hunger. It's only 90 calories per serving. You could also try an ounce of cheese or a boiled egg. 1 Tablespoon of peanut butter also does the trick!
Obviously I'm big on a protein snack...
I can't go to bed hungry so I try to budget in a minimum of 100 calories (sometimes 200 if it's been a really active day for me) for a bedtime snack.
Thanks ladies! This is what I typically eat throughout the day
[B] **Snip!!**
then once i get home at 6 pm is when I really start wanting to snack!!
Sockmonkey --
How about pre-cutting veggies -- cereal, carrots, bell peppers? I've also found that adding in some peppery-spice (cayenne-ish) helps me cut back on the nosh-damage. If they're pre-cut, and right in front in the fridge, then you reach in, and boom, grabbed. Also, salad -- not necessary to have a -big- salad, but you'd be shocked how much just having a small salad with dinner helps. Just leaves. Volume at work!
Pre-prep works wonders. I think I should probably go do some, I think I used up my pre-cut veggies last night...
Evening/Late Night Hunger
