Night Eating?

Does anyone have suggestions for staving off hunger at night? It has become a real issue for me because I can follow my diet all through the day and then it gets to be like 10pm and I want to eat, sometimes I am hungry and other times I just feel inclined to eat. I know in the latter circumstance to drink water and I try to stick to protiens but has anyone come against this before or know how to over come it? 

This is possibly my number one problem.  I stay up later, so I'm inclined to eat at night, usually from boredom.  I find that water is good, and whenever I feel like eating I get down on the floor and stretch until I forget about eating.

This has done loads for my flexibility too! Almost able to do the splits haha.

I hope this helps you at least a little bit =)

What I usually do is eat...lol.  I save my dessert for later in the evening, usually yogurt with berries or something healthy.  It's not good to not eat if you are truly hungry and not just bored and don't worry about all this crap about eating late.  Your body will burn calories even as you sleep, and it doesn't add weight just because you eat later in the night..I think that's a lot of horse manure.  Total calories in and out is what counts the most.

This has been a HUGE problem for me. In fact, it contributed to bad insomnia. For months.

I ate one night because I could not sleep; and from there, started a viscous cycle. From then on, I have basically woken up during the night, wanting to eat. Not out of hunger - out of habit -

Initially, to stop the night eating, I had to over eat at dinner; I needed to mentally know that I was very full - so that made me not snack at night - because there is no way I would snack if I knew I was already very full. It would feel too gross.

Perhaps you could either have a satisfying dinner - so mentally you KNOW you are full, and you KNOW you will feel bad if you eat more…

OR - you could have a small snack, like a banana, a glass of milk, or etc JUST before bed. That way, it is not too much for your body to digest so it shouldn’t interfere with your sleep - and you will mentally know that you have just food so you may feel less compelled to eat at night.

Night eating is a huge issue for me as well.  I wake up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep until I go down and raid the fridge or pantry.  I will lay in bed and obsess about eating and what I will eat.  Sometimes I think I am truly hungry because of either restricting caloric intake during the day or because of an intense workout.  Either way, I binge until I am stuffed and feel miserable and guilty the whole next day.  I know my night eating would be much worse if I didn't have to be so sneaky and quiet.

eat more during the day.

This has been my biggest food obsession/overeating problem.  I used to obsess over food at night.  And, for many years that obsession ended in a binge...every night.   

For me, this was an eating disorder (ED) started in adolescence and had to be treated as such.  I have an abnormal relationship with food, where I think food is emotional support rather than nutritional support.

 I joined a twelve step program to relieve that insanity.  But I kept slipping back to the old habit, until recently when using the Atkins food plan with unlimited amounts of food, I realized I cannot eat at night at all.  I binged on high fat/protein and started to gain weight.  

Night time eating becomes an obsessive thought even when I am on a food plan that allows a night time snack.  The night time snack becomes the obsession.  I can't go to bed without it.  I don't want the obssessive part of my ED, so since June 24, this year I have been eating three meals per day, nothing after dinner.  I am breaking a habit that is 30 years in the making and it is working!  I am following the calorie counting recommended on this site and it is working.  If I can do it, you can do it.

My sponsor in the twelve step group likes to say "Nobody ever died of starvation between dinner and breakfast."  LOL, so true.

WELL DONE kickinthehabit - after 30 years, it is inspirational that you have been able to break that habit!

I have realized that eating a large dinner… OR a snack in the evening, a couple of hours before bed…….. Has DEFINITLY helped stop my insomnia.

In fact - I am certain that the fact I have over eaten by A LITTLE bit for a couple of days, has enabled me to sleep.

I HAVE NOT SLEPT for MONTHS…. So this is a real breakthrough!

Serious - make sure you are nice and full before bed. It has helped stop my insomnia after MONTHS

Mentally, if I eat a lot at dinner OR if I have a snack in the evening - basically IF I EAT A LOT then I definitely DO NOT feel like snacking at night………..

These last few days - my theory was that if I ate a little extra - as in about 200 - 400 calories - then I would feel too gross to eat even MORE at night….

And it worked. But you can still do it without technically over eating… if you had a decent sized dinner, and you felt nice and full, and you also knew you HAD eaten enough calories for the day, then urge to snack may dissipate…

Basically, if you already know you are full, you may feel gross eating even more at night.

If you have calories left over - if you have not quiet eaten enough - then you are setting yourself up to fail though. You will jump at any excuse to give into the dreaded snacking urge, so eliminate being genuinely hungry, and eliminate having calories left over.

No offense to anyone in particular but holy cow you guys have some serious issues about eating at night.  I really don't think it's that big of a deal but I have learned to control my snacking in a couple of different ways.  The first and most important is, I don't keep junk food in the house.  I love chips and ice cream and cookies and all the usual stuff, but I save eating them for parties and other people's house's where I might not have a healthy choice to eat so why not indulge there instead.  At home all the choices are healthy, so no matter what I eat, it's good for me and I don't feel bad about eating.

Second, I eat slowly and really savour my food.  Of course you hear that your whole life, and I did too, but I never listened until recently. Boy what a difference.  Eating slowly you can really taste and enjoy the food, even a salad for example.  The other benefit is that you eat less, much less sometimes because in eating slowly you feel mentally and physically like you've eaten much more than you have.  You feel fuller with less food in other words.

So if you have only healthy choices around and eat slowly and enjoy your food, I don't see a problem with eating late at all.

Kickthehabit - congrats!!! I too have an "abnormal relationship" with food and I think it is fantastic that you have found something to help you get over it. I definitely think I will try to keep your sponsors advice in mind since I think it is very pertinent. 

What is the point in making a post saying, saying that you cannot understand why we suffer this problem so badly?

If you find it surprising that we have serious night eating issues - is there any point in coming here and telling us?

it is very easy to develope a serious night eating habit. it is not as surprisng as you make it out to be haha

 People develop bad habits, such as night eating, for a lot of reasons, as with any problem, it can become a serious habit that is very hard to break.

It is actually quiet common to have serious night eating issues. It is just another bad habit a lot of people have developed. And it is a “ big deal” for a lot of people.

And there are many other issues associated with food - there are many psychological reasons why people eat at certain times - therefore there are a lot of reasons that could contribute to a serious night eating problem.

Maybe it didn't come out quite the way I intended. My purpose was to express my surprise that people actually had a serious issue with this...I had no idea really.  My other purpose was to share my thoughts on how I dealt with this.  I do eat at night.  I eat whenever I feel hungry and late at night those are the two things I've found that have helped me tremendously.

Johnnypenso,

I like your thoughts on savoring food and really tasting and enjoying every bite.  Good point.

Also, I wouldn't keep any junk in the house either if I didn't have three children and a husband.  They keep food in its proper perspective and I don't think it would be fair to keep the house like a diet center.  They can have a snack and forget about it.  I can too, but only during the day.  That's why its three meals a day for me, no night eating.

Good luck to you.  It seems like you have a healthy perspective on food and eating, I am glad for you.

Thanks Kickin'...and good for you for "kickin' the habit"..lol.   I live alone at the moment which obviously gives me the advantage of total control over what food is in the house, but my son is here with me often and he eats the same as me, although I often add a little indulgence here and there when he's visiting, but 100% of what he eats is what I eat.  He's much like me in that he'll eat anything, he's not a fussy eater, and that makes a world of difference. 

You're doing a wonderful job...keep it up!! 

Johny- well know you do know that it is actually quiet common for people to have serious issues with night eating! It sucks! Haha

I agree that there is nothing wrong with eating later at night if you are hungry - if the hunger is preventing you from sleeping it makes sense to fix it - although the choice of food could hinder your sleep if you pick too much food, or the wrong type of food….

A small banana, a small hand full of almonds, a small glass of milk or small pot of yoghurt could be enough to satisfy any hunger keeping the person awake - as well as not being too heavy to hinder their sleep!

Back when I restricted and was very thin I remember my stomach being hungry at night - so much so that I had to go downstairs and gram a dried fig or two just to settle my stomach…

EVER SINCE I absolutely have to go to bed full - as in, knowing I have had a decent dinner, or a small snack JUST before bed… other wise, I mentally remember back to how being hungry kept me awake at times, and it gives my already active mind more reasons to keep me awake….

It is odd though - when I was first anorexic, I slept fine when I was at my thinnest. Insomnia never even crossed my mind.

When I naturally lost weight and become a little too thin again I also slept fine…. Only ad to go and grab those dried figs once or twice.

ONE BIG FACTOR that started my insomnia though, was not eating enough of the right foods in my diet - and binge eating… my body was out of balance, and it causes all sorts of chemical problems that could easily contribute to sleep problems……