In the never ending battle to stop eating for the day at 8 (I try to limit my eating window to between noon and 8 PM), I always find that the evening hours are the hardest. I want something to snack on. I realized that I don't have problems with the afternoons and figured it's because I have a large tossed salad for lunch pretty much every day. It's got so many veggies in it that there's a lot of bulk and fiber, and that's keeps me full.

My evening meal is usually something with protein, a vegetable, and a piece of fruit. While I'm not hungry in the evening, I still get the cravings -- habit, lacking something in my diet, boredom could all be the causes. But since I don't have the problem in the afternoon, I decided to switch up my eating routine. I started having my "main meal" at noon, have incorporated a piece of string cheese or some almonds about 3:30, and then have the big salad between 6-7.

It's been working wonders. I have absolutely no desire to have munchies in the evening any more. It's been much easier to string together days of staying on plan. And I'm hopeful that I'll be able to break what is a life long evening snacking habit.

Anyone else having success with bulking up on veggies not only because they're healthy but because they really make you feel full? Of course we all know that calories from veggies are more filling, but I didn't realize the impact of when you ate them could be so significant. At least for me.

Definitely! Here is a link a post on how I do it.
LINK

Since veggies make up the bulk of my diet, yes, this works for me. I also tend to have my largest meal in the middle of the day and a lighter meal in the evenings.

Munchy -- thanks for the link. Interesting reading and very reflective of what I've been trying to do to bulk up my meals.

Mrs. Snark -- having my "main" meal at noon has really been as much of an eye opener as the bulking factor.

Now, I've just got to overcome the sugar cravings which are probably being brought on by the diet soda and artificial sweeteners.

I gave up diet soda and artificial sweeteners, and wow, was that so much harder than I thought it would be! I really thought that would be easier than it was!

Good for you Betsy!

I struggle with eating enough veggies :-(

I'm struggling with that, too. I think that mentally, I'm using them as my "treat" but all the research says that the artificial sweeteners just make you crave sugar that much more. Once I get the emotional eating addiction under control for certain, I'll tackle the sweetener issues. I set myself up to fail if I try to do too much at one time!

Given how bad my cravings were for diet soda and how long I suffered with those cravings (months!), I can only believe that artificial sweeteners have a pretty major effect on my body.

You're smart to limit what you tackle at one time -- it is easy to get overwhelmed when you make a huge number of changes all at once! You're doing great!