Night Time Eating - help!

Hi Friends, I am having problems with eating at night! Here's the funny thing, during the day I hardly eat anything. I mean I have my meals but nothing in between. But come night time, I seem to be out of control. Last night beginning about 7 I split a bag of the 100 calorie popcorn, then I had a carb smart popscicle (50 cal), then I had a protein drink, then two graham crackers filled with cool whip. All this is going to add up to weight gain if I can't figure it out!! What is wrong here and why am I out of control? How do you handle night eating? Do you just set a time and say no more eating after this hour?? I haven't been logging on fitday but I am today cause I don't really know if I'm over doing the calories or not. Hope everyone is having a good holiday! love donna

Donna, I have been doing the same thing. I am eating also during the night. I woke up and ate a yougart. and later on woke up and ate leftovers from supper steak and corn and salad. I feel blated this morning. I think I am going to get me a long walk in this morning and later on excercise again. I dont know how to stop this maddness either. I usally do pretty good if i excercise after supper. and drink plenty of supper. Donna also remember it is a holiday weekend !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So lets brush our selves off and start over. Have a good day !!!!! Hugs Barb

The meesage below is for you. I dont know how I changed the heading. Hugs Barb

Hi Barb, I do the wake up and eat thing too! And the I hate to weigh. I might try the exercising after dinner Well I've tried to do as Paula suggested and it is now 9:14, and I have been just having crystal lite, and allowed myself only one thing tonight. We'll see if that works. Keep your fingers crossed. love donna

Hi Donna, I allow myself ONE thing in the evening. And, try not to eat after 8pm. I learned this from Oprah. She had her trainer on the other day and he said that all the hard work we put in during the day with good eating and exercise gets totally blown away when we eat after 7 or 8pm. We need our stomachs empty to burn calories during the night. Some nights, I really want something while I'm watching tv. I just try to fill up or water load (gulp) a calorie free beverage. It fills me up and I forget about wanting something to eat. If I really need something, I eat a piece of fruit or a salad. Something that's "free" food. Why are you craving things at night? Are you bored? Can you do something different? Like knit, crochet or a craft? Take a walk or do something to distract yourself. Shut down your kitchen, make it dark and don't go back in there until the next day. I tell my kids this all the time. We all go up to our bedrooms (kids to bed, Bob and I in our room to watch tv) and we rarely come down to the kitchen for something. Most times it's to get a drink, but we bring our drinks up with us. Usually jus****er or decaf iced tea. You have to change your thinking. Put an elastic band on your wrist and when you find yourself wanting something at night, snap the elastic really hard on your wrist. Do it every time. It'll smart so badly that you'll not want to think about food! It works! Get the snack food out of your house. Even if it's graham crackers or cool whip. You don't need that food. Get SF popsicles instead of the ice cream ones. The protein shakes are good, the protein is good for you. Watch how many extra calories it's adding to your diet, tough, if you've gotten in all your protein that day. Just some things to ponder.... Since my ulcer, I've lost my desire to eat...so, I've not had as hard a time. Prior to getting it I was graizing really badly. That's why I got the ulcer! I'm not a saint, I just had to learn hard by getting myself in a lot of pain and discomfort and retrain myself. The pain of the ulcer was enough of a lesson. Doing 2 weeks of liquid diet brought me back to square one. paula

Paula, I love you!! What a wealth of knowledge you are. I am doing the only one thing and not eating anything now. I am not going to get any more graham crackers and cool whip. Oh and I do do the sf popsicles, and is popcorn okay? I am gong to print out your post. It was so helpful. I like the shut down the kitchen concept. I go in the kitchen all the time!! And it's just me and my husband. And like now he's asleep so why do I have to do that?? And yes I think it is because I'm bored. But today I got out my yarn, crochet hook and I am going to make a baby afghan for Greg's daughter who is due in December!! So there you go - I'll be crocheting up a storm. Thanks again Paula, I know you've helped alot of other ones who are facing the same problem. love donna

Donna, I totally get what you are suffering. ME TOO!! I will just pick and pick all night and it is not due to hunger. For me I think it is boredom. After working around people all day, I just want to relax and in the past this also meant eating tons of unhealthy food. In fact, I noticed today with not having to work, that I ate more than normal and not necessarily good foods!! YIKES>>> I see a bad old habit creeping back in. I blame those sugar free cookies but I do the shopping and gotta stop buying them. They do not know my address or how to get to my house. I like Paula's idea about no eating after 700 or 800 and will committ to trying it. Drinking sugar free stuff only. If I can do this for two weeks, I might actually loose these last 5-10 pounds before my year anniversay sept 16. I see my surgeon Sept 18 or 19 so If we can give each other support: No eating after 700 or 800 then maybe we can get back on track. With the help fromt this wonderful forum: I am sure we can get support and ideas for how to deal with the snacking thing at night. I am here to support you any way I can. Thanks for posting at just the right time!! Hugs, Jacqueline

Hi Jacqueline, okay so we are going to do this together right!! My cut off time will be 8:00. I laughed so hard about the cookies!! That's a hoot. I know you love those Joseph ones don't you, I remember that!! I don't think I will be able to drop 5-10 pounds, but I am going to really try it. It's 9:25 and I am okay right now. Just drinking crystal lite. Okay, so we're on for this, right! love donna

It must be the surgery date because I'm the same why lately. I keep telling myself nothing after this time and then I start. Just like you it's all the things we can have but like you say.... it's all going to add up to weight gain. I can't figure it out either. during the day I am fine. I do my planned meals and snacks and water loading but comes night I turn into the something. I don't know what. have you gone to sparkpeople.com? i like it better than fit day for tracking our food calories. Good luck and hopefully we won't eat tonight after our planned snack. Koukla

Hey Koukla, so me and Jacqueline have committed to not eating after 8:00, do it with us. We all have the same surgery date, funny enough. Now Ms Jacqueline is hoping to lose 10-15 lbs by her anniverary date, but I don''t think I can lose that much but I'm going to try this stop eating at 8:00. Now isn't sparkpeople sort of confusing?? I looked at it but it looked overwhelming to me. I'm such a simple mind! Can you add your own food? I guess I'll just have to explore it more. Any hints on using it?? Okay Ms Koukla, come on, let's break this habit before it gets to us. I can see a pattern for me, and I'm not liking it even though I'm not gaining. Just not a good thing for me to get into. love donna