I am a night time monster snacker!!!! HELP!!!!!!!

I do so well during the day! I eat a nice break fast at 7, a nice snack at 10, I have my lunch around 12-12:30, then I have an pm snack at 3 and I have dinner around 6 and then a little snack around 7. Around 8-8:30 I start looking in the cupboards, and the fridge and once I eat one little thing, I just go WILD! I cannot control myself! The worst part is, I'm not even hungry! I really don't know what to do anymore! HELP!!!

For exemple if I have one granola bar it does not stop there, i'll have toasts with almond butter, then I'll have some rice cakes, then I'll have an other granola bar, then I'll make myself a smoothie (cottage cheese, berries, banana & pear), then an other granola bar and if any junk food is available I'll eat it cookies, chips, chocolat bar etc.

I tried, drinking water, eating a lot a protein, keeping myself distrated, eating gum, I even tried brushing my teeth and putting my retainers on (I have to wear them when I go to bed and they are such a pain in the butt to put on that I thought that if I would brush my teeth and get those on right after my last snack I won't want to take them out again to eat and have to do the process all over again, but it did not work) and I can't get ride of all the junk food in the house, because I live with other people that are not on diets and I would feel awful to ask them to not purchase something because I decided that I want to eat healthy.

I really don't understand why I am this way. For about 4 months I was doing really good, I was not depriving myself of things that I wanted but I was staying within my calorie allowance! If I felt like eating chocolate, I would have  a piece or two then put the rest away for an other day. But since I had my birthday in July, I have been so bad, I can't stop eating, munching, and craving food that I would not even care for usually! And I have gain 5lbs in 2 weeks! :S I am so desappointed in myself!

Would anybody have any suggestion or any advice!!

Thank you so much in advance!!

I was on the way to a situation seem as yours. What I did was take into consideration the clories I was consuming during my late night snacking and factoring that into my daily calorie goals.

Now I have never gone to the extent of snacking as much as you but I do have a tuna sandwich almost every night right before bed. It's about 200 calories but I add that to my daily goals and stay within my deficit.

So I think you need to do something like this. Space your 3 squares during the day out evenly so you don't feel hungry and try to have dinner at a later time or closer to bed time.  If I know I've eaten more than I should've during the day I try to eat dinner right before bed so I don't need the tuna sandwich.

NB. My weight lost journey started almost 3 years ago. But actual weight lost only started in January of this year. The first 2 years I trained myself to eat properly and figure out ways to fend off the cravings. My reasoning behind this is I felt it would be really hard to try to lose weight by suddenly changing the way eat cold turkey. After my 2 year training program was done I had a new understanding of food and how the body works and what I needed to do if I ever got a craving to eat something unhealthy or an urge to binge.

Hi jgoguen,

I got the same situation before when I was just reducing the food, without any exercise, calorie/food tracking. 
Now I'm exercising at least 4 days a week, usually 2 days of them with my personal trainer who teaches yoga technique at the same time.

If you like exercise, I think that would be the best solution to reduce your appetite and/or burn what you eat (will eat??).  Additionally, if you can get the personal trainer, that is really good.  He/she will teach you the eating habit.

Honestly, I didn't like following my trainer's eating instruction at first because I'm a Japanese living there for more than 35 years and until I moved here, I had never had any weight problems.  For me, eating what I want was just natural, fun and joy.

After 3 months training with him, what I found was what I was eating in country is different what I had eaten in Japan, even same chicken, vegies, any other kind of food.  The different part is sauce, dressings and seasonings.

If you don't, when you start wanting to eat something, can you try something like vegetable or seaweed (the one used of seaweed salad) with just lemon juice and soy sauce or vinegar?  The point is not to eat with oily and high calorie dressing. 
I usually do this if I can't stop eating.  LOL.

If you don't like vinegar and soy sauce or lemon or just salt and pepper, can you find and visit any Japanese grocery store?  If you can, look for non-oil dressings.  We have millions of those things and they are pretty tasty. 

Hope this will help you a little bit! 

ah yes the munchies!!brings  back memories this is what i used to do have a late dinner and after 10pm used to hit the chips with hot sauce man i could finish the bag but now i don't bring them home from the grocer plus,but now around that time i'm looking for my bed for comfort will be getting up early the next day for the morning walk. the only thing i could tell you is don't bring home food you should not eat i now it hard i still see those wavy lays and just pass by and ignore them!!  

even though they say night eating's the devil, i beg to disagree. i usually have dinner around 6~7, and by the time it hits 10~11 i'm hungry again (i get hungry every 4 hours or so). Even i'm going to sleep soon, i'll usually fill myself up nonetheless...

sounds like it's the way and amount you're eating that's worrying though. the thing i find about junk food is that eating it tends to create cravings for it as well? like if i restrict myself from junk food and for a week and go crazy on the junk food for a day, the day usually lasts for three days instead and i have to ease myself back. each person is different, so you might find other solutions... i used to restrict what i eat and when i eat, but that didn't work so much, cause once i start i'd be like 'what the heck, i've started already, i might as well keep going' and i end up eating until i feel uncomfortable (bloated, stuffed and hot). I find that the best way I deal with food just is to eat when i'm hungry and stop when i'm approaching fullness (and i top up with fruit/dessert).

nowadays i just have a little comfort food everyday, but not over the top. a junk food serving every day or once in two/three days could be like two scoops of ice cream, or a large muffin, or a slice of cake, one (or two) chocolate bars etc., and on special occasion days (like the past week--my birthday), it may be more.

point is, don't hit yourself over the head over the weight gain, don't blame yourself for overeating at night. perhaps when 8 o'clock hits, try to ask yourself what is it that you really want out of eating at this time. if it's because you're constantl hungry at a certain time, perhaps you should consider having another meal later at night. if it's just munchiness, try to figure out what you're really craving--it might be actual food (for me it's usually ice cream!), or it might be something else other than food, and food really just is the substitute. if you're like me and get ice cream cravings/peanut butter sandwich cravings, get it, and enjoy it for all the goodness it's worth... carrying such an attitude to food usually helps one feel satisfied! hope this helps!

I've found that establishing a healthy midnight snack is the key. Normally, if I'm hungry at night, I'll eat some saltine crackers, bell pepper slices, and drink a glass of milk. Just doing that helps me a lot. Also, boosting my fiber intake has been helpful.

my dad has this issue. he actually wakes up from his slumber sometimes to eat which baffles me haha. but anyway a nutritionist told him to eat a banana and big glass of milk before bed to fill him up, she had a reasoning too but i can't remember what it was. also it sounds kind of like you are binging at night (i had/have-i'm working on getting id of it haha-a binging problem for about 2 years) and when i binge, it is because i restrict too much. i think you should count the calories you are consuming for the entire day including these night time eating sessions. take that total, and add some to your other meals and snacks throughout the day, and try just eating a snack before bed, like the banana and milk, or oatmeal or something filling (keep it within the amount of calories you have figured out). for a week or so, don't even worry about creating a deficit, just get used to eating at more normal times of the day, and being in control of what you are taking in. see if you are eating so much at night b/c you were not eating enough during the day, or if it is because of emotional reasons (if you are still binging at night after you increase the amount you take in during the day, i would say it is more mental/emotional than physical hunger). it sounds like you get a bit out of control at night, b/c what you have described is pretty similar to my binge behavior. you have one thing, which leads to another, which leads to another. it will help you pick one thing, or even a few things, say you save room for a granola bar, piece of fruit and hot chocolate at night and you eat that, and only that. after you get used to controlling your eating, then maybe start subtracting 100 calories a day or so, until you reach a deficit that you are satisfied with. once something becomes habitual, it is much easier. even if you save 500 calories for at night, if you only eat those 500 saved calories, you are generally still doing it in a controlled manner.so basically make a plan, and stick to it. even it needs a little tweeking and you are eating more calories than you want to be at first, once you get this issue under control, you can focus more on getting a daily deficit. i hope this is helpful!

Thank you all for your replies! :)

I will try the different little tricks that you guys gave me and see what works for me! :)

I hope I will be able to find something that will work!

Original Post by jgoguen:
and I can't get ride of all the junk food in the house, because I live with other people that are not on diets and I would feel awful to ask them to not purchase something because I decided that I want to eat healthy.

First off, you've recognized and defined the problem, so you're already one step closer to finding your solution.  Good job!

Next, what if you asked the others in the house to write their names on whatever they bring into the house that isn't conducive to your goals?  While it doesn't restrict them from bringing them home, it might provide one more psychological reminder to yourself not to gorge out on those items.

You'd have to do some more self-analysis to figure out what's causing these late-night snacking triggers (which might be anything from insufficient nutrients in the day-time meals you have, to something emotional and not directly related to hunger), but the physical reminders like your housemates' names on the boxes might remind you to stop and consider what you're about to do.

Good luck!