Need tips to keep for overeating at night.

I am new to this site and will have been using the tools a week as of tomorrow.  I seem to do very well with watching what I eat during the day but when I get home it is like a switch is flipped and all I want to do it eat.  I'm even getting up in the middle of the night to snack.  I have very strong cravings for sweets during this time.  HELP!!!  Does anyone have an tips they can share with me?

Boy, I know what you mean about the night eating!  I too have got up many times in the middle of the night and felt like I HAD to eat.  There was no way I could think of anything else, much less go back to sleep without fulfilling the craving.  I really believe my cravings are caused by some whacked out menopausal hormones or something.  The only other time in my life that I had these intense urges to eat at night was when I was pregnant with my kids.   

For me, it is not necessarily sweets but it could be anything as long as it is high in carbs – Cheezits, ice cream, potato chips, nuts, etc.  Although not every night, or every week, this has been a problem off and on for me for several  years – no wonder I have gained so much weight!  Although I had to really work at it, I wore a size 6 up until I was 48 years old but now wear a size 14 at 53, which doesn’t sound that bad but at only 5’1” – that is bad!  

Unless a person has experienced these food cravings, there is no way they can understand how intense the feeling is and how it is nearly impossible (for me, anyway) not to give in to it.  Since trying to lose weight (15 lbs so far!), the above mentioned foods are no longer in my kitchen, period.  I keep a few emergency craving foods in very small quantities like saltine crackers and sugar free chocolates .  Also, I make sure whenever I eat them, I eat VERY slowly – like make the chocolate melt in my mouth instead of chewing it, same with the crackers.  Also, I make sure I log the calories for my bad!

BTW - in the last month, the middle of the night cravings are gone – not sure why and not sure if they will come back- but the hot flashes have also subsided so I am more convinced than ever this is hormonal. 

Good luck to you and I am hoping others have some tips that will help me, too.

tinab300,  thanks for your reply.  Looks like I am going to have to talk to my husband so that we no longer stock the really bad foods in the house.  The sugar free cookies and the eating slowly sound like good ideas.  I will try them.  Thanks for the tips. 

I also know what you are talking about.  I have since found out that when I have these intense cravings, it means I didnt eat enough quantity or frequency during the day.  I got through the day and felt like I was in control all day, but I wasnt taking in enough calories or I was letting too much time go between snacks.  When I spaced my snacks and added an additional small snack in the early afternnon, the cravings went away.  Also psychologically, for me, if I have to have something to eat,  I fid that protein snacks seem to be more filling than anything else   Good Luck

Girlfriend I was just fixin' to come here asking for the same type of help! I'm so upset with myself for snacking late AGAIN last night! Once I'm asleep I'm safe from raiding the kitchen but until then.....it's a free-for-all! I've set a time where I can't eat after 6:00, then re-set it to 8:00 but here it was after 10:00 and I'm eating a PB sandwich! UGH!!! The thin person inside of me is dying to get out...I need help too!

~Maggie

I've been known to eat all the dinner leftovers late at night and a quart of ice cream with PB in the middle of the night - so I know what you're going through.  It's awful, I'm not even hungry after a while but I keep eating. After a night binge, I don't want anything to eat in the morning,  starving by afternoon, and eating again at night!

About 5 months ago I tried shifting to 3 meals, 3 snacks a day (1600 cal per day goal), with a big breakfast and most of the calories early in the day; and nothing to eat after dinner at 6 p.m. except one piece of fruit.  I also increased my exercise, got up a little earlier, and stopped drinking afternoon coffee. I started getting into bed early, with a book and some music on, instead of doing those last 10 chores and projects (and eating to stay awake). After about 3-4 months I found the night cravings subsided. Maybe I was just sick of eating food, measuring food, entering food and thinking about food by the end of the day!! 

HOWEVER, I didn't lose weight! Most likely I underestimated my cals, and I know I wasn't consistent on weekends. I'm still plugging away, trying to make it work, and so far at least the night eating hasn't come back.

Eating too much at night is my problem too! I think it's because I'm alone. I eat fruit for breakfast (3 fruits chopped together with ground flax seeds on them), a very large salad for lunch, and then I go home alone and blow it. I try to be reasonable but every hour or two after eating, I'm sitting there in front of the boob tube just craving food. I know I'm not hungry. It's emotional--boredom, I guess. I try hard to fight it off but I usually give in after two hours. So I eat all evening until I go to bed. It keeps me from exercising because you're not supposed to exercise on a full stomach.

I tried not eating after 6:30 and that lasted a week. I felt like I was too hungry to go to sleep when I did that. Due to menopause, I have a lot of trouble sleeping anyway, so I don't want to make it any harder than it is. Sigh. Maybe I'll try a snack around 4 pm and see if that helps.

I have found a way to keep this from happening to me. I am eating large quantities of low calorie foods. Being full makes me feel better.

I think about my food in approx. 100 calories portions. My program gives me about 1300 calories a day, so that's 13 portions. I try to pace myself so I can have reasonable size meals and several snacks. (I am not eating rice, pasta, bread, white flour, or white sugar.)

I eat a LOT of vegetables. On weekends, I make a vegetable soup or stew without oil. These are about 50 calories a cup. An entire head of steamed cauliflower (600 grams) has 150 calories as long as you don't add anything to it. (I will use Bragg's or raw unpasturized soy sauce, and a little goes a long way. Please note these are high in sodium, so I don't cook with salt.) So try to find things that you enjoy, and then eat them guilt-free!

I am trying to create a way of life that I can follow without making myself crazy. If I am really craving sweets, I eat 40 calorie fruit pops (usually 2) or sugar substitute ice cream. If it's salty foods, then 1/4 cup of reduced salt roasted cashews (170 calories) or popcorn  without butter (the actual popcorn is 30 calories a cup, it's the oil you have to watch.) But I've noticed that these cravings are usually emotional (it happens when I'm lonely or sad) so I try to find activities that distract me (sewing, exercise, watching something that makes me laugh.)

I made an "agreement" with myself: with every snack, I drink 24 oz of lemonade (water with lemon concentrate and stevia added). I have been buying boxes of cherry tomatoes at Costco, as well as other portion-sized packages of veggies I like to eat raw such as carrots and bell peppers. I keep them out on the counter in the evening, along with popped plain popcorn and puffed rice cereal.

When I am snacky, it is the easiest stuff to grab that gets eaten- so I make it easier to  eat better. The trick is to prepare the stuff early in the day when I am not feeling so full of cravings.

I think my key, however, was the water intake. I still eat my snacks- when I'm hungry, I want to eat- but the combination of food and drink usually takes care of my cravings before I eat too much. I eat my last (light)snack later in the evening- usually about 9:30. I find it helps me sleep better. 

Menopause is the pits, by-the-way!

I had a really bad sweet tooth for a long time.  On the current diet I get fruit that has a lot of vitamin C plus I take a vitamin C supplement.  That has pretty well stopped the sweet cravings for me thankfully.

The diet also has a 7:00 p.m. curfew as in no more eating until the morning.  This has helped set a boundary for me.  I try to talk to myself also after the curfew like:  there's always tomorrow to eat something.

And like the others for the most part I don't keep foods that I know I will overeat in the house..because I just know I can't resist them at all.  My hubby and son like some of those things, so then I tell myself that food is theirs and not mine.

I can so relate to night eating...I'm a night owl myself and am not very hungry  (or awake LOL) in the mornings.  I also find if I load calories into the morning then night is better.

Hi All!

Night time is the worse for me. I think because I live alone (with 2 small dogs). If it wasn't for my dogs, I probably would not go for those walks. LOL. Now, back to those night time cravings. I could probably go all day with hardly eating anything, but at night I want to eat everything in site.

I don't think there is any one tip that can help you with evening snacking. It has been a combination of changes for me. In the evening, I eat cut up raw veggies. My favorite is red peppers and yellow peppers. I never use to like celery, but started to buy celery hearts. They seem to taste by far better. Didn't know there was a difference, but celery hearts are less bitter. The other celery I use for cooking. I no longer crave chips like I use to unless there is someone (like my grandchildren when they visit) eating them in front of me. I buy the "Smart Pop" Popcorn which comes in 100 calorie bags and pop that. These bags aren't very big and at first I didn't think they would satisfy me, but they do. I think with the bigger bags, a person would just eat more without realizing they were satisfied.

I was raised to have a snack before bed, so I find it hard to sleep feeling hungry. I just lie there feeling this empty void in my stomach. Gotta fill that void! So now my evening snacks are geared toward more healthy choices. Took some getting use to, but I actually am starting to like them a lot.

Also, it does help to determine why we are eating. A lot of times I eat because I feel lonely or I am tired.

I have the same problem.  Since you are able to tolerate being a little hungry during the day, save up some of your calories for night. 

I eat the majority of my calories at my supper meal and that usually around 8 pm.  (I don't always do it, but I do a lot because I work 7a-7p when I work).

So have a nice, satisfying supper with some carbs and fat in it (think mashed potatoes with low fat butter or strawberries and whipped cream?)

If you are hungry close to bedtime, then get out those vegetable crunchies and crunch away.  If you have the calories left, maybe even some good dip to dip them in.

I have to do the same thing about my husband's chocolate stash.  I just tell myself it is his food and it would be stealing to take it.

Some part of my mind knows that he would let me have it if I wanted it, but he knows I am committed to losing weight and he would disapprove of my dipping into his stash.

Actually, I have been seeing a dietician and they told me to eat 3 meals a day with most of my calories in the early part of the day. They said that if you starve yourself all day, your body will store the food at night as it will think you are in starvation mode. It is very important to eat the calories you need when you are active. 

I use to always feel hungry. It wasn't just at night, but I would feel like eating 30 to 60 minutes after my meal. I found out why....

I was not getting what I needed at each meal. I was told by my dietician to eat 3 to 4 food groups at each meal (fruit and vegetables grouped into one group). I started to do this and I can go hours without feeling hungry.

In the morning I will have cereal, milk and fruit (3 food groups). Lunch I will have meat, veggies and a grain like rice... or a hamburger made with lean meat, topped with tomato and lettuce. I may add a milk to make it 4 groups. Meat, grain, veggies and milk. Dinner time I will do the same, only if I have had a total of 5 oz of meat at lunch, I will skip it at dinner. I may have cottage cheese with cooked carrots and rice. I don't go past 5 oz of cooked meat a day. I eat recommended portions for a woman in my age group. I used to eat a lot of cottage cheese, but I have cut down on this also. It does have a lot of sodium and too much sodium in the diet can raise the blood sugars the same way sugar does. We then end up with low blood sugar and feeling hungry and having more cravings.

So far, so good, I have curbed my appetite. I can't believe how this is working.  My blood pressure and cholestrol are finely normal and I am losing weight.

I have found a new site online called "Shrink Yourself" that is really helping me. Also a book called "water with Lemon".

Shrink Yourself is helping me understand true hunger. If you have eaten a decent meal for dinner, the cravings you have for sweets, etc. aren't true hunger and if you can work with your mind a bit (I tell myself this craving isn't true hunger and it will pass) you will find it goes away. This is how thin people think and I'm trying to adopt this mindset. I lost 2.8 pounds this week so it is working.

Water with Lemon helped me learn that if I eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies, the cravings will also go away. After eating this way for awhile, sugary or salty things don't taste very good-the sweets are too sweet and salty likewise. I am so enjoying fruits that I thought would make me gain weight. By keeping the food journal here I find I can have my favorite fruits and they don't have as many calories as I thought they did.

Overall, eating healthy again is definitely taking away my cravings. I still treat myself with snacks I like-but during the day rather than at night. I'm feeling so much better physically that this is giving me momentum to keep going.

Best of luck to you!