Late Night Eating - Prevention

Does anyone have any tips they would like to share on how to control their late night cravings for sugary food.  I tend to do really good w/ my diet until I get sleepy at night.  Then its load up on the non-nutritionous sugary snacks.  I do it because I get a little burst of energy, but its so damaging to my daily caloric intake.  Please if you have ways to help me stop this eating, please share.  Thx.

I just pray for a spirit of self control. I dont know what your beliefs are, but for me leaning on God has worked great so far.

Why can't you just go to sleep when you get sleepy?

Have you tried eating some low-calorie fruits? If I get a nighttime craving, I usually just drink a bottle of water and then turn my mind to something else. I've read other suggestions that you try brushing your teeth or chewing some minty gum.

I find that my favorite sugar free hot beverage (usually 2 cups) helps satisfy my craving for food. This fills up my stomach and helps me feel warm which really adds to my comfort. I agree with lovesthelord, knowing that God has already experienced everything that I'm going through really helps when I need to ask for self control. 

I do the same thing!  I will keep my calories to under 1500 including dinner and then for some reason after dinner even though I am full I just start eating everything, and ususally consume 500-1200 (or even more) calories in the hours after dinner until I go to bed.  Here are a few things I have been trying...

1) Brush my teeth (Once I brush my teeth 2 things happen, I psychologically am ready for bed so I don't want to eat any more and it also changes the flavor of the food so it doesn't taste as good, so I don't eat any more.)

2) Go to bed earlier and read in bed

3) Drink tea after dinner (it fills me up without any calories)

4) Eat a piece of fruit such as grapefruit or an apple because they fill me up

5) Drink sugar-free hot chocolate by Swiss Miss (only 60 calories)

6) Eat a bag of 100 calorie Kettle Corn.  It is a small bag so you can only eat 100 calories and it seems like you are eating a lot especially if you eat it one kernal at a time.

I do best if I don't eat anything at all, because I find that as soon as I start eating I can't stop.  I also try to fix a lot of steamed veggies at dinner so I am really full by the end of the meal. 

I recently gained 5 pounds over the past 3 months and realized it was because of my late night binging.  Now that I stopped binging after dinner I have already dropped 4 of the 5 pounds in less than 1 week.  It is really hard to do the first few nights, but once you start, it gets easier each night, especially when you see the numbers dropping on your scale.  My goal is to actually lose another 11 pounds and get down to 120. 

Just remember you are not alone!  Feel free to contact me if you want to talk more about it more.  It is good to have the support of someone who knows what you are going through and who is going through it at the same time.

wow --  great support and advice here.

Can I join in?

I do uber-awesome through the day, only eating what I planned to eat because of my controlled environment (work), but then I have dinner.......    I fill up on good for me, filling foods, but then if I have anything that might be considered a treat item available.  I eat it.  And eat the second one, and then have a handful of something else "healthy"............  I generally have only healthy food in the house, but a binge on healthy food is just as bad.............

This post motivates me to find a better alternative.......   more ideas, anyone?  

I am a big fan of a sugar-free hot beverage after dinner - my favorite at the moment is the sugar-free spiced cider from Kroger.

Also, FRUIT :) The perfect end to any meal.

I also think a change in environment is helpful. During the winter, I usually just go to a different room in the house (my house has a very open plan and is rather small so the main living area is pretty much connected with the kitchen). In the summer, I try to get outside to walk the dog or do something in the yard...anything to divert my attention.

There's also housework...you know, those little irritating things that always need to be done around the house that you never want to do. This is the perfect way to be productive and keeps your eating under control.

i Try and keep  my hands busy, like scrapbooking, going on my bike, reading, or i drink tea (it has few calories and keeps your hards busy! That is my worst time of the day aswell. Good luck

Close down the kitchen after dinner.

If you do all the dishes and leave everything in there super clean and turn off the lights it is harder to go back in and get something out that you will have to clean up.

It works for me, but I hate cleaning in the kitchen!

not the only one is nice............

Oh I forgot something. Eat a good sized dinner. I have a portion of meat and maybe some sort of grain or starch and then I allow myself all the veggies I want. I roast them or saute them in some broth and garlic so they are super tasty and low cal. And I eat until I am full. I find that budgeting my calories to where I can have a meal that makes me feel satisfied for dinner makes me less like to go into munchy-mode later.

Don't keep sugary snacks in the house.

I think it's really key to build a night time routine that doesn't involve food.  A lot of this has been mentioned above.  Whatever time I know I should stop eating, I'll brush my teeth, and get ready for bed in general (unless it's a friday or saturday, that's different). 

I'm a grad student in the middle of writing a thesis, and I do my best writing late at night, so at this point I break out my laptop and get to work, in my bedroom, far away from the kitchen.  If I'm not working, I'll read, or do sudoku puzzles..basically anything that keeps me in my room/bed, and away from my kitchen and roommates who are always eating at night, lol. 

Anyway, I pretty much stick to this routine, or something similar.  It's a habit now. 

The other option is to eat less during the day and build room for your snacking in your caloric allowance, but I wouldn't really recommend that.

About an hour before bedtime if i want something sweet .. I made frogs on a log !

1 stalk celery

1tbs PB

5 raisins.

PB has the same thing that turkey has that gives you that sleepy feeling (cant remember the technical term right now) ...

This snack is less than 100 cal, and it usually kills the craving for sweets while helping you get relaxed enough for sleep, cuz lets be honest who can sleep when our minds are focused on the cookies in the pantry =)

 Hope this helps. its helped me ... and i AM WAS a HUGE nighttime snacker

 

K

Thx everyone.  Those were some great tips.  I tried the tip of curbing my late-night binging w/ something low-cal (frozen yogurt - 80 cal/serving).  This worked okay, but I did get seconds and fell asleep watching TV.  I'm planning to use the other tips in this thread (ask for God's help, clean the kitchen, brush teeth, hot tea, etc).  Thx again.  I have some hope.

Almonds.   A small handful of plain almonds...a bit (just a bit) pricey in calories but they naturally inhibit food cravings (look it up through 'Google'), and so there is a good trade-off (prevention of eating of high calorie sugary foods). I keep a small reserve in my caloric budget for this type of snack each evening. Sometimes with a small (10 to 15) helping of raisins. Not only do almonds help with the cravings in the evening (late evening), I find myself not craving a huge breakfast in the morning. The raisins, well I use them to maintain a certain level of glucose through the night (I am diabetic) until I have my morning meal, I do the raisins as the almonds are very low in carbs (and I watch carbs not to diet but to help control my blood sugar).

Here's what I do:

Eat really well throughout the day:  Get plenty of protein, don't fill up on simple starches like pasta, bread or potatoes.  A good rule of thumb is breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.  EAT A BIG Breakfast!  Don't starve yourself during the day because that could be part of why you're hungry late at night. 

For those late night sugary cravings, if you still have them after eating great throughout the day, eat raspberries!  Eat as many as you want.

eat small meals during the day and eat a huge dinner. I tend to spread my meals out so I'm eating every 2-3 hours and I usually end up havings lots of self control when I come home from work. Also if theres if you crave something sweet let yourself have it. I always buy snacks when I go shopping b/c if I dont I go crazy. Graham crackers are good 130 cals for 2 big ones and little debbie star crunch. Its all chocolaty, with carmel and crunchy at the same time. One is like 150 cals and its a pretty good portion. Good luck!

Regarding the peanut butter, has anyone tried Better 'n Peanut Butter?  It is delicious and only has 100 calories with 2.5 grams of fat for 2 tbs.!  I found it at Trader Joe's but possibly other stores carry it too.  I had no idea it had tryptophan in it, but that make sense because sometimes my body craves it right before I go to bed and I always am able to fall asleep quicker when I do eat it.  Good luck everyone!

i've got one.

I usually have dinner a little later on in the evening.  That helps so you're not hungry before bed because you just ate an hour or two ago. 

I've been having the same problem! Lately I've been mindlessly snacking after dinner for no good reason. I know my will power isn't so great, so I've added onto my normal cardio routine  instead. I try to burn an extra 200 or so cals workingout b/c I know I'm going to eat it later! I never trust myself too much haha. annd, if I don't eat snacks (unlikely) then I get an extra on my deficit!