The Evening Eating Battle -anybody have ideas that help?

I have a protein shake (Premier Protein) every night before bed. This for some reason works for me. I heat it up and mix it with decaf coffee and sugar free flavored syrups. I sip it like hot cocoa and it's filling enough for me to stop the cravings.

1. I also drink a premier protein shake before bed. If I drink the caramel, I will doctor it up with vanilla extract, nutmeg, and cinnamon. It taste so good ?.

Take up knitting. It's hard to snack when both hands are needed for the project. :) And any snack that leaves residue on your fingers is especially verboten because it'll get all over the yarn. :D

If you know you are getting hungry at a certain time then you should plan for it instead of trying to conquer it. Make snack packs for yourself ahead of time that fit into the diet plan. I have ziplock bags filled with 250 calories worth of fruits and nuts. Another go to for me is cottage cheese topped with sunflower seeds ... that's only about 200 calories. But that's just me ... find what works for you.

I'm so glad I saw this post! I have the same problem, always have, nighttime eating and yep I get up extra early just so ill go to bed extra early lol and not eat HA. But the suggestion of making your dinner later is excellent. Idk why I didn't think of that. I've been so focused on maintaining a set schedule that I just put dinner at a "regular" time when in actuality I wake up at 5:30 am, work out and force myself to have breakfast though i'm usually not hungry but I want to maintain a schedule lol, ill push my meals back a few hours that's awesome.

something my nut suggested and i didn't believe but now i'm a believer, even artificial sweeteners can trick your body into being hungry. I was drinking about a gallon of diet decaf tea every day, and switched to water a week ago and the cravings have actually diminished a lot. so idk if you use artificial sweeteners but it surprisingly worked and I was addicted to my tea, I've been drinking that same tea probably 10 years, i was mad the nut suggested it but i figured I'd give it a go and it did help.

I have that issue as well. It's a constant battle. Some things I've tried:

go to bed early

leave the house

save some calories so you can have something in the evening (preferably high protein or fiber - I often have a Greek yogurt)

drink a ton of fluid

shift your eating schedule so you're eating dinner later

SF popsicles (the sugar alcohols in them bother my stomach, so I can usually only have two and then I don't want to eat anything else because of my stomach. Raw veggies sometimes do the same thing. Hey - whatever works!)

This was perfect timing for me. I will now plan for a 10 pm meal.

Nighttime is where I struggle too. I feel like a bottomless pit at times - and this generally ONLY happens in the evenings.

You've gotten some great advice, which I would like to echo as it's helped me:

• Distraction - sounds like you already do this, but it's a great tactic.
• Plan for it - I am not terribly hungry during the day, so I just consume the bulk of my calories later in the day. I average about 1,800 calories a day in maintenance, and I usually eat about 800-1,000 of them after 7pm.
• Eat healthy choices - I only eat healthy choices in the evenings - primarily veggies and fruit. You can eat a TON of veggies, and even quite a bit of fruit (especially berries) for not a lot of calories. If veggies and fruit don't sound appealing, you're probably not hungry, see step #1, distraction!
  • If I am still hungry after veggies/fruits I will have a bowl of steel cut oats. They are about 150 calories for a cup of cooked oats and very filling.

Oh, and one other interesting note. My wanting to eat in the evenings was starting to really mess with my head. I was terrified at the thought of regain. This led me to obsess more about food in the evenings, which I believe led to me eating even more.

This was the issue that actually drove me to seek out a therapist at over a year post-op (I have been to therapy plenty throughout my life, but just hadn't felt the need to go specifically for food related issues until now).

My therapist helped me immensely with this. Some small things, like being mindful of my physical/emotional state, meditating before just going for the food, etc. But one conversation in particular had a HUGE impact on me.

Therapist: So what exactly is the issue?

Jester: I am always so hungry at night, and I end up eating several times in the evening.

Therapist: Are you making good food choices?

Jester: Oh yes, I only eat fruits, veggies, et****asionally some oatmeal.

Therapist: Have you been gaining weight?

Jester: No, I have been maintaining for about 6 months now.

Therapist: So, tell me again, what exactly is the issue?

This really resonated with me. I was almost obsessive about limiting my food intake because I felt I was supposed to for some reason. But when I really stopped and evaluated the situation, I was just consuming healthy food and not gaining weight - pretty much what I'm actually supposed to be doing.

This helped me to really chill out about it. And guess what? Ever since then I have been eating less in the evenings. By giving myself permission to eat within the parameters of my diet, it took a lot of pressure off me. This, in turn, prevented me from obsessing about it, which made me think less about food, which resulted in me eating less. In fact, I dropped about 3-5 lbs in a couple of months that I have actually been working to put back on as I don't want to really be below 150lbs.

Just thought I'd share in case it helps anyone else.

I started struggling with this a year out of surgery. I decided to seek help from an eating disorders specialist.

Her advice was to get some Silly Putty and play with it for 15 minutes. Her rationale was that it worked as a distraction for troubled kids she was also working with.

It sounded insane to me, but I tried it. Didn't help. I still don't have any good answers.

During my first year post surgery, I was meticulous about what I would allow myself to eat for night time snacking. It was generally sugar free jello with a few blueberries. It helped calm my sweet tooth, but it also gets repetitive.

There is no easy resolution for this nasty habit. I wish you luck