Eating in the evening and at night.
 

Can anyone give me some ideas on how to not overeat in the evening? Once I start (even if I have something healthy) I can't stop. If it starts with a piece of a chocolate bar, it eventually ends up being the whole bar and then some. I don't think I am even hungry. I have tried unsuccessfully night after night.:eek: Thanks.

Why do you eat that first bite? If it's because of hunger, choose something healthy and filling like an apple. Make a list of healthy choices and post it on the fridge, cupboard or wherever you keep the chocolate or other things you usually snack on to help you think about other, better choices. (remember the commercial where the person realizes, "I could have had a V-8?

If you are eating for some other reason, what is it? Boredom? Loneliness? Sleepiness? Craving for salt, sugar, etc? What are you doing while you are eating? If you are watching TV, on the computer, etc., maybe doing something more active or something that occupies your hands will help you not get started. I used to read while eating, and realized I liked reading so much I was eating more to give myself permission to read longer.

Do something that keeps your hands too busy to keep eating - knit, crochet, woodworking, etc (a "messy" hobby is a bonus - hands covered with paint, varnish, clay etc aren't so tempting to eat with) ;-).

Lastly, consider going to bed earlier. The extra sleep might be a bonus and I've noticed I tend to snack more when I'm trying to stay awake

good luck!

I agree with Minniezota. I know for me, the first thing I ask myself is ..... have I had enough water today? Dehydration masks itself as hunger sometimes. So I will take that into consideration and have a 16oz glass. I know I have to remind myself of my goals frequently and I do a lot of self talk and that helps me. I become my own cheerleader and say " your doing so good, trying so hard, hang in there your doing it, you will be healthy, yes you can". Things along that line, it helps A LOT. Hope this helps you. YES YOU CAN! Hang in there ;)

I don't know ... I starve after 9pm. One thing that does reduce the cravings is exercise, I'm twice as hunger if I haven't at least had a walk (the dog walks me rather then me walking the dog lol)

I struggle with this too. I know part of it is my childhood of having 'treats' after supper and watching TV. Just family eating habits that I learned very young.

The only thing that works is for me distract myself or if I must have carrots/raw veggies on hand. Calling someone help too they say late night snackers are lonely.

I've struggled with this my whole adult life too. (I'm 33) Recently I've been doing much better, mainly by having enough to eat throughout the day and enough at dinner so that I'm full and know that any craving I may be having isn't actual hunger. I have two steps that I try to use to signal to myself that my eating day is over: 1 is to have my calcium chew and a big glass of water, and two is to record my calories for the day in my health journal. (I use FitDay for tracking my nutrition but keep a print journal of my workouts and other health info.) I know it's just mental, but that does seem to help me keep myself from overeating because I can say, "Well, I already recorded the final total for the day in the journal..."

Not sure if that will be of any help, but I can totally totally relate to what you're dealing with.

I like to have a cup of sugar free hot coco when i am hungry at night when that happens.

I get a late night snack urge too, but luckily its not every night. Try a LF yogurt-Light and Fit have the lowest calories. I will always drink a 16oz water or Crystal light to start with. If all else fails I get off my butt and away from the TV and go clean something. Last night I deep cleaned the bathroom and then drank more water. I completely avoided unhealthy snacking :) It's worth a try!

If you barely have time to eat during the day, you may be coming home hungry. Then dinner is not enough. Try to keep meals evenly spread out throughout the day. Keep yogurt and baby carrots on hand at work, so if you do feel a pang, then grab a handful of carrots. Water throughout the evening, does help to curb the hunger if you've had your calorie quota for the day and you're still hungry. When I'm bored with water, I drink herbal tea.

If you're bored in the evening, try some activities that will keep you busy. I like Minnezota's idea of picking a messy hobby. You can also eat slowly, so dinnertime is prolonged a bit.

Night time is the time I will over do it as well. Some of the things that seem to help it are:

1) Keep track of what you eat. After dinner, see where you are and how you fared for the day. Then if you have the candy bar, put it down and count the calories. It makes me think twice about eating something if I have to write it down.

2) I agree with others - keep your hands busy. Take up knitting, beading or writing. My grandmother used to shell pecans.

3) Exercise can be an appetite suppressant. Do yoga or stretching or take a walk and you will feel better and it will help.

4) Determine what is the trigger. Is it TV? Once you identify that you can work to stay away from it.

5) Like others have said, get some good alternative snacks. I like some of the chewy granola bars because they are sweet and only 90-100 calories and they are individually wrapped. Other ideas like yogurt or even a small bowl of reduced fat ice cream will work.

6) Drink herbal or chai tea in the evening with a little sugar.

I hope this is helpful.

Thanks for the great tips!
 

Those ideas to keep from eating at night are great! I think I can conquer this demon by developing some 'new' better habits. I also loved the messy hands tip!

I have lost 20 lbs-43 years old but pushing 44.

Here is what I have to offer, because I KNOW what you mean!

General Foods International coffee, the sugar free french vanilla is 25 cals a serving and is rich and creamy and satisfies a sweet tooth.

Orville Redenbacher 100 calorie pack buttered popcorn is brilliant for a salty/crunchy crave. Claussed Pickle spears come in at 5 calories a spear. These are guilt free go-to snacks. Oh, almost forgot, Delmonte makes sugar free mandarin oranges, these are SO good!

I have also heard if you wait 15 minutes the crave will go away. I don't think so! = )

I was thinking about the comment of getting away from the TV. Maybe we should take a poll and see how many commericials an hour advertise food or show people http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/s...atdrink020.gif eating.

It's just not during the news its all during prime time, restaurant commercials. I do not snack as much if I read a book after dinner then if I watch tv.

Maybe they could start showing a few fitness commercials to balance it out.

Lynzatn- that comment cracked me up! We should write the tv companies!

My favorite snack is air popped popcorn with cinnamon sprinkled on top... I also usually have a few grapes or half an orange to fulfill sweet, juicy and munchie cravings all at once :)

I drink hot herbal tea with some sweetner like stevia or splenda. It takes a few minutes to make the tea, so it's not a quick grab like chips or ice cream. And then it takes a while to drink since its hot, and the sweetness really does mentally satisfy my hunger for sugary foods. I suffered from the same thing as you for a long time. If I'm craving crunchy, I make air-popped popcorn with I can't believe it's not butter spray. (0 calories)

I do the same thing and it tends to work...at least the bathrooms are clean..lol

Hi, I struggled with that a lot! I think the best thing I did was to purge my house of snacks and put everything away right after serving myself dinner (before eating). I keep my hands busy with crafts at night while watching TV. With time, you can retrain yourself. I am still tempted at times. But, now I find that if I do have something it doesn't settle well and it's not worth it. I wish you all the very best.

Wow! Lots of good ideas here! I have this problem too...I snack endlessly after dinner (if I let myself). Usually I lock myself in the bathroom with a cup of tea and soak in the tub till bed :)

eating in the evening
 

I find that if I work out in the evening I don't get hungry afterwards. So my schedule is breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, workout, dinner. I hydrate a lot after working out, that may help, and then if anything I have to make myself eat enough dinner to cover the allocated calories and nutrition.