What do you do on nights like these...

You had a great morning, very healthy small filling meals throughout the day and you're feeling fine, then suddenly out of nowhere (at about 4pm) you are ravenous!! So you go and try a portioned filling snack thinking "This should do the trick and I'll just eat a smaller dinner", but that portion just wasn't cutting it, so you pick at some leftovers - then you nibble a bit more, but this time with utensils...

You catch yourself and realize it could become a fullblown binge, so you grab a nice glass of water and sit down. You feel better and are proud of yourself. Until you're hungry again!!! You pull out one last portioned snack (maybe 100 calorie pack, and maaaybe you eat it really fast because you couldn't help yourself, maybe ) and finally you are content.

You sit down and you think, where did I go wrong throughout the day? How did I get so hungry when I was right on track? Maybe I should have just made a small meal instead of all that weird snacking? How many calories DID I just consume? You know it wasn't enough to break you for the day, but you know your full dinner you had planned isn't right anymore.

So I ask you, what do you do for dinner now?

I hear you.  I still haven't had dinner and I've reached 1200 (which is my daily limit for a 1lb loss this week).  It looks like its going to be a maintenance day for me (1700) unless I decide to just nibble on veggies for dinner; which probably isn't the best idea.

I say, keep drinking water and have a low cal dinner like grilled chicken with veggies (preferably less starchy veggies like potatoes)  The protein should keep you full.

If you feel bad for "binging" (if you want to call it that) don't make the mistake of skipping dinner because then by 9pm you'll be ravenous again and binge again!

Good Luck, Mary

I'm definitely not feeling bad, and I decided to input what I ate (minus the "nibbles" of the leftovers cause that's just impossible) and I was at 1200, so I think I'm going to make a very large salad with lots of black beans and corn and bulky veggies. That always fills me up, and after putting it in I'm only going to be 200 over, so not a bad day. Just a weird day for sure. I don't know where it came from or what to do at 4pm when my alotted snack doesn't cut it.

I usually have to look at what I'm doing at that time of the day. Usually when i get that feeling it's because not much is going on and my body feels inactive. I think what I'm really craving at that time is some movement. If at all possible you should try to do some light excersize when that feeling hits you. I know snacking always leads to a binge for me so I have to find something else to do or keep a lot of celery around me. If after a 20 minute jog, I'm still feeling hungery then I will probably have some carrot sticks and a small handfull of almonds. You might look into what kinds of foods make you feel full with lower amounts of calories. I can't do thoes 100 cal snack packs, there really good and I could easily eat three... ok, maybe four of them without a second thought. Going back to the excersize idea... just trying to find something else to do or even getting set up to go for a quick jog will usual get my mind off the food. I think your body will get used to your new eating ruetine and the 4pm cravings might be fewer and farther between. Good Luck and hang in there.

This happens to me every day! I eat the right amounts of food in the right intervals and in the morning / early afternoon I feel great. Early evening hits and I'm starving! Even if I save half my calories for the day till then no matter what I eat I'm still hungry. Why in the morning can I eat a hundred calorie pack and feel great and at night even if I eat the same exact thing I'm still hungry...I never give in but it's awful to feel hungry from 6 or 7pm until I fall asleep.

This does not work for everybody, but sometimes it works for me.  I treat the 4pm "hungry-hungry-hungry" feeling like it's an urge to go to the bathroom.  You know sometimes when you feel like you have to pee but you are unable so you hold it?...you think about other stuff and hold it?....until after a while you don't feel like you have to pee anymore?  I do that all the time (with the potty thing) so I sometimes just ignore the hungry feeling, think about what a good yummy nutritious dinner I'm going to stuff myself with if I can wait 2 hrs, do something to keep my mind off of it, and usually the feeling will go away.

I know everyone does it (including myself) but holding your "potty" in is not good for you so I don't know how good of a recommendation that is.  Nothing personal...just wanted to point that out.

Peace.

I tried something different today in hopes to keep the 4pm hunger at bay : I had a bigger breakfast. Instead of just the high fiber cereal and fruit, or scrambled egg whites and toast with jam, I decided to have the cereal with strawberries and toast with peanut butter. I was so busy doing work I didn't realize it was 1pm and I still hadn't had lunch (I was waiting for the hunger to kick in). So I had a nice small lunch and a tiny snack at 4pm and I'm good to go until dinner!

I guess my body just wants more in the morning.

I find I need a a moderate sized breakfast and then smaller snacks throughout the day to be able to survive through the evening without feeling like i am going to rip someone's head off for food.

If I start feeling that hunger feeling i ask myself "am I just bored?" then I go for a walk to take my mind off it, it usually works and then I get tired so I can get to sleep sooner. Also if it's bugging me I'll work out instead of eating, then after my rigorous workout I'll eat one tiny little sweet snack so i can get to sleep without obsessing on food.

Even though i never held food in such high importance, i now obsess on it because i know i am only "allowed" a certain amount if I want to lose any weight.

I liken that hungry obsession thing to when I quit smoking. The first week you just OBSESS, you think about it, you think of every little crafty excuse why it would be okay to just cheat that one day, etc etc. I am hoping that with time my food obsessing at night will just calm down. It was fine day 1 & 2, but the following days have been harder. I don't think i am doing everything right yet as far as food choices to satisfy me, but i think that we will all get there through trial and error =)