Food cravings in the middle of the night!

This has only happened to me just a few times, but it's starting to worry me and I was wondering if anyone else has experienced the same thing.

For the last couple of nights I've been getting food cravings in the middle of the night.  The night before last I had a craving for Little Debbie Nutty Bars and last night I had a craving for homemade dinner rolls, both of which I happened to have in the house.  Of course I had to eat one Nutty Bar and one dinner roll.

The reason why this is worrying me is because I'm worried I'm starting to fall back into my old habits again and all my hard work is going to be flushed down the crapper again.  I used to eat every night before I went to bed, and I'm working on breaking that habit.

 

I think I pretty well during the day.  I eat a good breakfast, a good lunch and a good dinner, with a few healthy snacks in between and I'm usually not hungry.  However, when it gets later in the night I'm usually starved! 

Are  you waking up from sleep to get up and eat? Try to calm your craving with a glass of water or a cup of herbal tea instead.

If you are getting the cravings while you are still awake, consider what your body is really trying to tell you. Maybe it is thirsty (have water or herbal tea) or even saying  "Hey, I need some rest." If you get a craving late in your day, instead of feeding it, get ready for bed and go to sleep.

I stop eating 2-3 hours before I go to bed to prevent acid reflux, and also to avoid fueling a slowing metabolism.

Nutty bars and dinner rolls are carbohydrates. You're having Carbohydrate or sugar cravings, probably because you're hypoglycemic.

This can happen for a few reasons, some being if you're not eating on a regular basis such as eating every 2-3 hours, if you're not getting enough calories (especially on your active exercise days), and if you're eating too many sugary products. Sugary products spike your blood sugar and then the oppopsite occurs causing a rapid fall in blood sugar creating cravings.

Moreover, if your exercise was very intense and it involved some resistance training, your muscles will develop microtraumas, and it takes extra energy to repair these little traumas.

I wake up sometimes and feel like I'm starving to death, and my first choice of food is carbs! I noticed this happens for a few reasons, but the main one is not eating enough on my exercise days. I increase my calories by 200-300 calories on exercise days.

A good rule of thumb is 'if you're hungry... eat something'.  You obviously need a late snack....  It doesn't need to be heavy or rich and, of course, it has to fit in with your total calories for the day.  If a slice of toast and a glass of warm milk keeps you sleeping through to dawn that's got to be better than waking up famished in the middle of the night and eating sugary junk

Plan your day carefully to include that late snack, enjoy it, and make sure you're getting enough energy in total.

I think I'm getting it under control now.  I've added an extra small snack in before I go to bed, and so far that seems to be working OK!