I'm away at college, with tons of junk food right at my fingertips. I consume thousands of calories late at night after dinner. For example, today I went down to the late night store and got a gatorade, ice cream sandwich, lunchable, and bag of cheetos. It's like if i don't get that food gratification, I get in a bad mood and really anxious until I can eat it. As I eat it, I tell myself that I'll just "start tomorrow" but I never do. For you ladies who were once in my shoes, PLEASE tell me how you got out of that slump. I feel as though I am a victim of my own appetite, and it's scaring me.
I don't know if this is advice you were looking for, but since I started OA, I pray. I ask for 5 minutes without cravings. I also try to busy myself with other things: reading, cleaning, homework, lesson plans (I'm a teacher), emailing friends.
I hope that helps!
I use to be really into snacking late night, between the hours of 9-11 were the worst. I think what got me over the slump was going to exercise during that time. I still snack if i'm hungry, but it will usually be like strawberries or a glass of milk, so nothing like cheetos. I still slip up from time to time, but i try not to beat myself up over it anymore, i'm just human so i'm prone to mistakes. I don't pray myself, but sometimes taking naps helps too, or surfing the web.. especially 3fc. I really hope that helps, I remember how much I related to your previous posts, so I'm really rooting for you.
Get more sleep! Seriously. When you don't get enough sleep your hormones kick in to make you crave food, especially carbs, and to not feel full. So, go to bed. You can't eat while your asleep, either.
Eating at night is also a habit for many people and habits are hard to break. Detrermination and willpower will get you through the first week and every day gets easier. Here are some ideas:
Prayer helps for those of us who talk to God.
Take up a hobby - I took up knitting and it has been super wonderful for me. Scrapbooking or journaling all your college adventures might work.
Make evening the time for your cross campus walk (if your campus is safe enough) or go to the gymn (if your school has one).
Take up racquetball or bowling or something like that.
Join some club/organization/cause that will distract you.
Volunteer at the suicide hotline or the battered women's shelter.
Come on this site and read others' tales of reaching goal or about their struggles - both can be inspirational.
Are there better choices you can choose? Hahaha Look at me the noobie trying to give advice but honestly I give better advice then I take myself!
My thoughts are try and pick something as low cal as possible... a bottle of water instead of the Gatorade... nuts or carrots or fruit instead of the cheetos or an apple......... or a pack of gum......... or even hard candy....... of course please let the other ladies correct me here if I'm wrong but I would try that to start.... its all about habit too..... I've always lived by the rule that it takes 21 days to start a habit and also takes 21 days to fully break one!
Someone told me recently that maybe I was mistaking hunger with thrust for and for me I really believe I was........ I'm thirsty right now! haha (((HUGS))) I hope some of this helps... I feel for you because you are young and your post really is sincere like you are realizing the issue and trying to be proactive and stop it before it becomes something you can't control. Best wishes sweetie
I have this EXACT problem. I tend to binge on healthier items (i.e. tonight I just binged on a 400 calorie fruit platter) but I still tend to get hit with the most atrocious late-night munchies. I really wish it was OK to just save up calories and then use them all at night! I usually eat a very light breakfast, no lunch, dinner, and then BINGE.
There's something about the hours of 6pm-12am that make me hungry and plagues me with cravings.
I've been trying to deal with it by eating more consistently during the day...but I'm not making headway. Hopefully whatever good advice the other chicks can offer will help me, too! I just wanted you to know you are definitely not alone.
I struggle/d with late night eating too. The night time eating is when I was messing up going off plan the most... I just had to be tough on myself and made a cut off time to stop eating. I'm up late so for me it's 10pm or 11pm (I eat dinner at 9pm). I'll drink tea at night, that helps if I get any tummy rumbles.
I'm away at college, with tons of junk food right at my fingertips. I consume thousands of calories late at night after dinner. For example, today I went down to the late night store and got a gatorade, ice cream sandwich, lunchable, and bag of cheetos.
Going down to the store and buying a bag full of snacks is not a case of being a victim of having junk food "at your fingertips" - it's a case of going out of your way to obtain it.
Make the choice not to go to the convenience store. The only way to stop this behavior - and it is a behavior, it's not snacks jumping into your mouth out of their own free will - is to stop it.
If you stock up on apples, bananas, oranges - I'm not even assuming you have access to a refrigerator - you will have plenty of good food choices available when the late night munchies hit. Don't go to the convenience store.
I am a huge night snacker as well!! I changed from sweet junk food to low calorie, mostly crunchy food, and it has helped. I stock up on carrot and celery sticks and diet gatorade or water w/crystal light packets. Also, sugar free jellos. If you can't stop eating at night, try changing what you are snacking on. I also eat beef jerky at night, a little of that gets me full for the nights it seems. Good luck hun!
hi there - I used to struggle with the exact same problem. Id eat something for dinner, then go to 7-11 and buy a pint of ice cream, chips, etc. Ick
for me, there were a few answers.
- eat a lot of low fat protein for dinner. if you cant talk yourself into eating super healthy, make the compromise that you must FIRST eat at least 5oz of lean protein. it really, really cuts my cravings (I play odd mental games, like: eat 5oz protein at 7-8pm, then if I still want something I can consider it...over time I end up rarely giving in to eating the bad stuff after filling up on protein).
- dont eat at all after 9pm. not healthy stuff, not bad stuff - nothing. it is one of my few hard and fast rules. I tell myself Im just going to be sleeping, dont really need to be full!
- drink a ton of water with your dinner...Id rather pee all night than binge all evening
- it is definitely a habit. how do you break habits? you change your behavior for 21+ days. I dont know who came up with the 21 day thing, but I truly find if I can just change for 3 weeks, it is sooooo much easier to just keep up the habit.
- ok I know this one is a little odd...but it really helped me with my food addiction issues....look into the Shangri-la Diet. the basis of it is that 1hr apart from any other food you consume a certain type of olive oil and it seriously curbs appetite....it really worked for me, it isnt a cure, but it helped me thru the 21 days to curb the habit
Where do you get all that money you waste on junk food? Do you have a job? Maybe you could have all that extra money (that you are blowing) automatically deducted from your paycheck and deposited into a savings account...that way, you will have a nice chunk of money saved when you graduate and start looking for a job/house.
Well, I've always loved to eat in the evenings and luckily I worked it into my plan and so far....so good. The big difference is WHAT I eat, not so much WHEN. I eat a measured portion (1 cup) of high fiber cereal (Frosted Mini Wheats Chocolate....so good!) w/ 1 cup of 2% milk. Or I have one of my 100 cal. snacks w/ a caffeine free Diet Peps......sometimes I actually have both! I don't consider it bingeing, it is just part of my plan. Just choose wisely!!
I second the opinion of getting more protein throughout the day. I had to up my protein when I felt unsatisfied.
You've made two bold statements, but you have to practice what you preach. All I can say is this - if you continue doing this, you will gain back the weight and possibly more.
You are physically going out of the house to do this, picking out food items, pulling out your wallet, etc. Victims can't do anything about their situations - once you stop considering yourself a victim, you can start changing. You are the one in charge, not a $3 box of lunchables.
i work as a waitress 4 days a week to pay for school. the junk food money is on my swipe-y card through my dorm. i do not spend my own hard earned money on it. and yes i did write a similar question a month ago, (why does everyone always search through everyones past threads? :/ ) and i guess that problem just never got solved. i just came here for some advice.
If you suspect the former, check with your college's health center. My school had lots of resources for people with eating disorders.
If it's the latter, I would recommend The Beck Diet Solution. It's not a diet book -- it is about behavior modification. Generally, it helps you address how there can be something you "really want" (weight loss) and you would swear up and down you want more than any chips or cupcake, etc -- but you keep choosing the chips or cupcake instead. Put another way, it helps you focus on your long-term goal and beat the immediate gratification of food.
Delayed gratification is a really important skill to learn and develop. It helps with food, finance, success in the workplace, etc. I'm not particularly good at it, but my husband is, so I try to learn from him.
I'm ADDICTED to eating at night... please help!
For you ladies who were once in my shoes, PLEASE tell me how you got out of that slump. I feel as though I am a victim of my own appetite, and it's scaring me. 
I don't consider it bingeing, it is just part of my plan. Just choose wisely!!
