Nighttime Eating Help!
I know this is an age old problem...but I can do wonderful on my healthy eating all day and fall off the wagon at night. Any suggestions? Tips? Tricks?
I haven't gained a ton YET...but I feel really out of control. I am 4 years out of surgery and never made it to my goal of 150, I sure would love to get there! My Dr. tells me at 160 I am FINE, healthy and to not worry about a number on a scale....but I am terrified it will go UP.
Thanks-
309/150/160
surgery, goal, now
A couple of obvious suggestions..when are you eating? What are you doing when you are grazing like tha****ching television? Maybe time to cut the TV time down to size and do something else. Boredom is usually my worst enemy..
I have a problem with television and a hubby who LOVES to watch "funky old movies." While some of them are alright, they tend to make me want to stuff something (anything) in my face. So I have to get up and do something else. Lately I've thrown myself into scrapbooking and I do that but when the sun is up alittle longer, I'll be out in the garden turning over dirt and moving stuff. I have a goal of having all the photos for 2009 done by summer time and a vegetable garden that will keep me outside in the fresh air alot more by this spring..Some flowers...
There's always walking the dog too. Or getting into something interesting on the internet. I do genealogy research on line too...and that's consumed me for a long time. I figure when the winds start up in February I'll be doing THAT during the howling evenings..
I have a problem with television and a hubby who LOVES to watch "funky old movies." While some of them are alright, they tend to make me want to stuff something (anything) in my face. So I have to get up and do something else. Lately I've thrown myself into scrapbooking and I do that but when the sun is up alittle longer, I'll be out in the garden turning over dirt and moving stuff. I have a goal of having all the photos for 2009 done by summer time and a vegetable garden that will keep me outside in the fresh air alot more by this spring..Some flowers...
There's always walking the dog too. Or getting into something interesting on the internet. I do genealogy research on line too...and that's consumed me for a long time. I figure when the winds start up in February I'll be doing THAT during the howling evenings..
Yes, RNY worked for me but it also requires a lot of work from me!
Before Surgery: 214
Highest Weight: 240
Now: 125.6
Goal: 130
Before Surgery: 214
Highest Weight: 240
Now: 125.6
Goal: 130
Oh yes the TV is a big part of it! Of course I LOVE to watch the Food Network...really I do! I love to cook and to grocery shop even!
If I don't snack in the evenings....I swear I will wake up in the middle of the night and go grab something I shouldn't and when I am half awake I have no rationalization whatsoever!
A planned healthy snack is an option. I have these on hand always....in fact I wrote a list of foods to grab first, second, third etc.... that way if I am still hungry after eating the better alternatives maybe I'll eat less of the crappy junk??? For example last night I ate a tangerine....still hungry.....ate another whole tangerine....still hungry....ate a serving of kashi crackers. I was then full. My next thing was a piece of cheese, but I didn't get there.
I have GOT to come to some sort of a compromise. I have only protein drinks and fruit during the day....and I do fine. I don't snack and I don't even want to. But by the time I get home and fix food for the family I am hungry and eating without thinking. I hate this. What the heck happens to me at night?
I wish I could come to some NORMAL relationship with food. It's all or none with me and I need to figure out some way to change that. I think maybe I need to seek some outside help...because this obsession is eating me alive...no pun intended!
I do have hobbies...I am insanely busy with full time job and children......doesn't seem to matter what I do, I overeat in the evenings. I think I have not gained because I don't consume a lot of calories in the day...but then I go to sleep on a full stomach.
I suppose if I ate regular meals in the day that might help??? But to me that sets up my brain to eat eat eat all day. Messed up thinking I know.
I spoke with my Dr. today, asked him for an appetite suppressent for the evenings. He said no. Doesn't think there is a problem if I am not gaining. He said I was his ONLY success patient with WLS since I have kept it all off for 4 years (never got to goal either Doc)...all his other patients have gained significant weight back. He's my PCP. He thinks I am the shining star....HA....little does he know I am barely hanging on and by no means squared away with my food issues. Surgery does not fix our brains!
I wear a size 8, I look acceptably thin....on the outside I am a success, on the inside I am a wreck!
It's Winter and bitter cold here and I am not out walking and riding bikes and horses like I usually am...so this problem is magnified. I do have a treadmill...I think using it more often would not only alleviate this stress and anxiety...and offset the eventual binge of night! I get on it a couple of nights a week....but I need to kick that up, and I don't...WHY?????????
I know nobody but myself can fix this...but thanks for listening to me rant! I really appreciate all of you. Sometimes it just helps to know I am not insane and not alone in this struggle.
I PRAY that in 2010 I can just come to some compromise with my eating...I am so sick of this monkey on my back! I wish he would just die! This so reminds me of when I was 300 + pounds and rationalizing and agonizing over food. It has honestly not changed! aaarrrggghhh I told myself before surgery that wherever my body lands and wants to stay I will be happy...I won't go nuts for a number on the scale. Well here I am..... I try to think of myself at 300 + pounds looking at myself now feeling sorry for myself....I would want to slap me! 160 was a goal that at 300 lbs I would have been THRILLED with. I wonder if at 150 I would be satisfied? That's the goal weight I was supposed to reach.
Hugs-
If I don't snack in the evenings....I swear I will wake up in the middle of the night and go grab something I shouldn't and when I am half awake I have no rationalization whatsoever!
A planned healthy snack is an option. I have these on hand always....in fact I wrote a list of foods to grab first, second, third etc.... that way if I am still hungry after eating the better alternatives maybe I'll eat less of the crappy junk??? For example last night I ate a tangerine....still hungry.....ate another whole tangerine....still hungry....ate a serving of kashi crackers. I was then full. My next thing was a piece of cheese, but I didn't get there.
I have GOT to come to some sort of a compromise. I have only protein drinks and fruit during the day....and I do fine. I don't snack and I don't even want to. But by the time I get home and fix food for the family I am hungry and eating without thinking. I hate this. What the heck happens to me at night?
I wish I could come to some NORMAL relationship with food. It's all or none with me and I need to figure out some way to change that. I think maybe I need to seek some outside help...because this obsession is eating me alive...no pun intended!
I do have hobbies...I am insanely busy with full time job and children......doesn't seem to matter what I do, I overeat in the evenings. I think I have not gained because I don't consume a lot of calories in the day...but then I go to sleep on a full stomach.
I suppose if I ate regular meals in the day that might help??? But to me that sets up my brain to eat eat eat all day. Messed up thinking I know.
I spoke with my Dr. today, asked him for an appetite suppressent for the evenings. He said no. Doesn't think there is a problem if I am not gaining. He said I was his ONLY success patient with WLS since I have kept it all off for 4 years (never got to goal either Doc)...all his other patients have gained significant weight back. He's my PCP. He thinks I am the shining star....HA....little does he know I am barely hanging on and by no means squared away with my food issues. Surgery does not fix our brains!
I wear a size 8, I look acceptably thin....on the outside I am a success, on the inside I am a wreck!
It's Winter and bitter cold here and I am not out walking and riding bikes and horses like I usually am...so this problem is magnified. I do have a treadmill...I think using it more often would not only alleviate this stress and anxiety...and offset the eventual binge of night! I get on it a couple of nights a week....but I need to kick that up, and I don't...WHY?????????
I know nobody but myself can fix this...but thanks for listening to me rant! I really appreciate all of you. Sometimes it just helps to know I am not insane and not alone in this struggle.
I PRAY that in 2010 I can just come to some compromise with my eating...I am so sick of this monkey on my back! I wish he would just die! This so reminds me of when I was 300 + pounds and rationalizing and agonizing over food. It has honestly not changed! aaarrrggghhh I told myself before surgery that wherever my body lands and wants to stay I will be happy...I won't go nuts for a number on the scale. Well here I am..... I try to think of myself at 300 + pounds looking at myself now feeling sorry for myself....I would want to slap me! 160 was a goal that at 300 lbs I would have been THRILLED with. I wonder if at 150 I would be satisfied? That's the goal weight I was supposed to reach.
Hugs-
Just to let you know, I also will wake up really early and hungry if I don't go to bed full. I will intentionally eat late (despite what everyone says) to prevent this. Sometimes, if I've had to eat an early supper, I'll have yogurt or some hot oatmeal just to have something on my stomach.
And being a "foodie" doesn't help. I too loved the food network (got rid of my tv) but now find just as many tempting food blogs. It really is a mind game for me. You're right about the relationship to food. It is so much more than just nutrition. Not that that is bad, necessarily, but I have to be careful. It is too easy to see it as a way to express one's creativity, values, etc. It really is just food--it should be good food prepared well, but it isn't us.
I don't know your height/age/how long you were overweight/etc. but all that makes a difference in terms of where we wind up. Being middle aged and obese since childhood, I doubt that I will ever be 150 even though I would need to be below that for a "normal" BMI. So becoming satisfied with being "merely" overweight is a part of my thinking that I have come to terms with.
Good luck
And being a "foodie" doesn't help. I too loved the food network (got rid of my tv) but now find just as many tempting food blogs. It really is a mind game for me. You're right about the relationship to food. It is so much more than just nutrition. Not that that is bad, necessarily, but I have to be careful. It is too easy to see it as a way to express one's creativity, values, etc. It really is just food--it should be good food prepared well, but it isn't us.
I don't know your height/age/how long you were overweight/etc. but all that makes a difference in terms of where we wind up. Being middle aged and obese since childhood, I doubt that I will ever be 150 even though I would need to be below that for a "normal" BMI. So becoming satisfied with being "merely" overweight is a part of my thinking that I have come to terms with.
Good luck
Hi, and I feel your pain!
You may just need to eat!
Again, its all about choices, which we all know.
When I am hungry, at night, I eat protein:
WW cheese stick, roll of turkey breast, wheat cracker with a laughing cow cheese triangle.
You know you are going to do it, you just have to be okay with it.
Protein first. It alway****s me in the evening and I agree with Dawn, you have to find something to do, TV is so hard, it makes me want to eat...
I agree with what you are saying about the food issues. They dont go away so you have to find a way to work through them in a healthy way.
You have really made some strides with making lists for what you are going to eat.
I will crave the carbs at night so I have my protein first, wait about 10/15 min and then the wheat cracker. I find for me this works.
Oh and the getting to 150 thing. I always said if I got to 158/162 I would be happy, that was my orginial goal. Right now I am 146.5 and guess what, I want to get to 139. Are we ever really happy? We always want something better or what we think is better. If that is were your body falls you are a success, remember that. There is nothing wrong with also having a goal, as long as you are healthy.
You have been trying, keep it up. Let us know your progress, for me this board is great and keeps me accountable. We are all here for you! Keep working at it, its a daily quest!
Melissa
309/146.5
SW/CW
I was a serious nighttime eating post op but it stopped after surgery. From time to time it comes back and it last for about a week and it goes away. When I do go through it, I keep sugar free kool aid, celery sticks and sf popsicles to snack on.
Good luck and I hope it goes away fast!! Congrats on the weight loss
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