All Night Long

Hello all -

I've developed this horrible habit of night time snacking. I work out 6 days a week and eat well during the day. Then it just goes to waste at night because I can easily sit down and eat half a jar of peanut butter, pretzels, trail mix...basically anything in my pantry.

Does anyone else have his problem???

Thoughts, suggestions, and opinions are welcomed...please!

Bombino-

First thing is CONGRATS!  If you are starving at night it probably means your workouts are successful in boosting your body's metabolism.  So you've actually created a very good problem for yourself.  I also workout about 6 days a week, and have the same problem.  I solved my problem by getting rid of those things in my pantry that are loaded with simple carbs, fat, and salt that I end up craving late at night.  I LOADED my fridge with good stuff like baby carrots, yogurt, etc.  So when I get hungry, I just remember to open the fridge instead of the pantry.  It's not always easy, but it definitely helps out. 

Jared

Sweet idea! Gonna give it a go tonight.

Thank you,

Alex

One more thing, Alex-

You don't want to completely ignore all of your cravings, and I should have told you that sooner.  While I was running today I was thinking about your situation and how it mirrors mine, and remembered that an individual much smarter than I once said that hunger (especially cravings) is your body's way of telling you what it needs to prosper.  SOOOOO- if you are hungry for carbs and soduim like trail mix, chips, and pretzels, it may be your body's way of telling you it wants energy and sodium.  Both are very important when it comes to staying healthy.  The challenge comes when trying to give your body the healthy, need fulfilling nutrients without giving it lots of bad fat and other non-needed input. 

If it were me, I would consider some cooked brown rice (not those Lipton Rice Packets!!!) and possibly some good salted almonds.  I'm not an expert in this area, but from the limited research I have done it seems that the fat in nuts is actually healthy for your heart and arteries.  Don't overdo it, but I would say a serving or two of these almonds might quench some of your need for salt and limit your inttake of those nasty simple carbs that come in pretzels and trail mix.

If you find that you are just snacking for the sake of hunger, then definitely stick with my earlier post about veggies and low cal snacks.

Jared

I also used to have this problem...in spades.  I will eat right during the day, at night eat ice cream (BJ's coffee heath bar crunch pints - crushed in 20 mintues), order pizza (open till 2am) or sometimes both.  I had an empty pantry....AND an empty fridge for the most part.  Now I keep lots of healthy things around.  I love almosds, and yes they're good fats which you NEED to lose weight.  Also in the group of essential fat sources: Fish oils(WILD salmon), other tree nuts, flax seed, avocado, olive oil (small amounts).  Peanut butter is also good, but get a natural one.  skippy and jiff natural PB doesn't separate which is nice. 

snacking on white carb rich foods will not only not fill you up, it'll make you hungrier than ever 40 minutes later, ditch the pretzels.  Trail mix is ok to have because the fats are usually good as long as it's not packed with candy like mm's.

if you do a lot of cardio and sweat a lot you might be craving salt.  if this is the case, grab some deli meat or pickels.  IMO it's good to have a solid protein based snack around (~200-25- cals) for late night.  Deli meat, cooked chicken/salmon, or a protein shake work here.  If you opt for the shake, get a "bare bones" protein powder, not a fancy one (which are intended for consumption immediately following a workout).  Real food is better for your metabolism, but shakes only take a minute to make, as opposed to 20 mins for a chicken breast (cook & clean up).

You should work backwords from your bed time and eat a healthy snack 90-120 minutes before you go to sleep IMO.  If you have a snack like pretzels it'll probably keep up longer when the simple carbs reduce to sugar.

Wow, this is totally my problem too. Thanks for all the great responses. I just ate three bowls of Lucky Charms when I got back from the gym tonight. It's a work in progress... some days I do better than others.

When I'm feeling munchy, I like to eat those Light Progresso Soups... they have about 200 calories or less in the whole can. So I can heat up a can of soup, which takes A LONG time to eat, and not do much damage at all. Aside from having high sodium or preservatives, they're healthy. And of course I feel pretty to full afterward to do too much damage raiding the fridge, or cereal cabinet ;)

Lucky Charms are really not great for weight loss.  Try switching ceareals to something with whole wheat and grains in it, it'll fill you up faster and keep you full longer.  These cereals also have vitamins and minerals.  Highly refined and sugary cereals are empty calories that'll just make you continually hungry.  I know this from personal experience w/ frosted flakes. You can't have one bowl of these cereals at night, you will crave more until you're physically bloated, and even then still crave more.

After the gym have something with protein, a small amount of healthy fats, and if carbs, not white/refined ones.  Half a turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato, grainy mustard on some kind of grain bread is a great recovery snack for the taste buds and for the body.

hope this helps..