How to stop snacking at night

[mjc68]

I eat pretty well during the day. My problem is after dinner, for some reason sitting down to watch tv or read seems to open the floodgates and I start eating, not necessarily junk, usually it's non fat greek yogurt or trader joe's lite kettle corn. Usually enough to go over my calories. How do you guys keep yourselves from doing this?
I rationalize the extra calories by telling myself, "I'm feeding my muscles," when my goal is fat loss.

[danzink]

I eat pretty well during the day. My problem is after dinner, for some reason sitting down to watch tv or read seems to open the floodgates and I start eating, not necessarily junk, usually it's non fat greek yogurt or trader joe's lite kettle corn. Usually enough to go over my calories. How do you guys keep yourselves from doing this?
I rationalize the extra calories by telling myself, "I'm feeding my muscles," when my goal is fat loss.

I pretty much have the same problem, the only solution is too keep yourself really busy right up untill you go to sleep. The moment I relax, and watch random things on tv is when my mind wanders and I start to think about food, instead I only watch tv when I know there is something on I want to watch.

You can also try having your last meal late in the evening (arounds 9 or so), to stop that.

[yunior32]

Its all in ur head. Believe it or not unconciously ur thinking of food and when u dimont feel full unfortunately u start to feel hungry it happens to all og us

[morrikj777]

Try to keep busy. I usually play Starcraft 2 pretty intensively (you're always doing something in that game). Or if worst comes to worst, I'll chew some sugar free gum or pound a bunch of water. I try to avoid the water method as it will usually cause me to wake up for a bathroom break.

[bigollie2006]

This comes down to having some balls to say no. Yeah you can justify it all day but justification got me fat as hell and it is the enemy. Just remind urself u want something more than food. Also I found that if I get up a few hours earlier and eat in the day I am tired at night and don't think about food I think about sleep

[vabyss]

Age: 42 and you don't have the discipline YET?

Don't think it's ever going to happen for you.

You just don't eat. It's that simple. You're a human being, not an animal with no control over it's cravings.

[shady66]

I have this problem too. Usually all my binges are me eating great throughout the day, then at night I just lose it. You have to take responsibility, and have some will power. I have been good for about a week

[bking10]

this is the main reason i only eat at my dinner table. i use to have this mental block where if i was watching tv i would want to snack. when u connect an activity with snacking ur always going to have these cravings. I wouldnt even suggest subbing in healthier foods. ur still going to be connecting tv with food. best to just stop it. maybe drink water or chew some gum.

it comes down to how much do you really want it. is the instant gratification worth it to you?

[mjc68]

Don't think it's ever going to happen for you.

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

[mjc68]

Thanks for the tips guys, obviously willpower is the key. I just wanted to know what other people do when they get these cravings.

[gachase21]

get some low cal snack options for night, I use dill pickles( 5 cals each), you can eat a whole jar. Also pole beans or green beans, eat a whole can about 75 cals. Eat these first , wait about 15 min and you prob wont be hungry. If you don't have a problem with artificial sweetener, go for sugar free jello(10 cals per serving)

[char33]

I have this problem too, big time. I do so much cardio during the day and at night, after dinner I still get really hungry. I usually jusy have a cup of hot green tea with some almonds or sugar free jello.

[etali]

I'm not a massive snacker anyway (I still have the chocolates that people gave me for Christmas!), but I avoid snacking by just buying/making a habit of having snack food in the house.

If I'm hungry I'll have something to drink. If I'm still hungry then I'll have something fairly low Calorie but with a strong taste, so that I get the enjoyment of a snack without going over my macros too far.

[drewsedg]

You can either make room for you late night snacking in your in your diet or you can try and push back dinner time so that you stay full longer.

Try sunflower seeds as a late night snack. It takes me about an hour to go through a 170 calorie serving of seeds and they have good protein and healthy fat.

[SeanM4]

I've had this problem as well in the past. The strategy I used was to eat a bit less during the day, thereby leaving myself a nice little chunk of calories after dinner to use as I please.

[beams75]

maybe look into intermittent fasting (IF). its something i started to change things up to break a plateau. its a little trick to adjust to at first but i dont have a problem not eating during the day now. i get to eat about 1700 cals between my workout and bed

[msm00b]

I eat 80% or more of my daily calories at dinner. Sometimes I still get the urge to snack within an hour of finishing dinner. 2 glasses of water on top of a belly still full of dinner will kill the snacking urge.

Try it.

[jshpark]

just stick to the plan.. if you are at the calorie limit and it is like 5-6pm because you just didn't plan right--eating too much earlier in the day or eating out due to social reasons, then I would probably just eat at maintenance for the day but with healthy meals.. if it's like 8-9pm then just drink water and brush your teeth.. keep busy and goto sleep early

[danp00]

If you dont want to eat at all:

Gum
Water

If you want a better alternative for something to eat:

That lowfat popcorn is like 100 cals and takes FOREVER to eat, trust me, that alone will keep you from eating too much.

[joethebuilder]

I eat pretty well during the day. My problem is after dinner, for some reason sitting down to watch tv or read seems to open the floodgates and I start eating, not necessarily junk, usually it's non fat greek yogurt or trader joe's lite kettle corn. Usually enough to go over my calories. How do you guys keep yourselves from doing this?
I rationalize the extra calories by telling myself, "I'm feeding my muscles," when my goal is fat loss.

hm i use to have this problem but now the way i eat my last meal which is chicken brocoli and nuts is right before sleep so i get to eat at that hungry night time, so i would suggest try and free some calories for later on so you can enjoy some food without any guilt

[DieselMcBadass]

I had this problem. i now eat smaller dinners, and eat something high protein or healthy several hours later. Lately, lowfat cottage cheese, 20g protein and only 1g fat. So it is good for muscle regeneration, keeps your metabolism going, and its not too many calories if dinner was smaller.

[pkahnman]

Have a cup of hot tea or something

[Tommy W.]

Either put a picture of yourself on the fridge fat or in really good shape, they both work equally well.

[mjc68]

Lots of good ideas here. Thanks!

[sharpieblet]

i like to eat really light early in the day, usually hit the gym in the mornings and train fasted, having a protein shake (water, no milk) after with a low cal lunch (can of tuna, may or may not have any bread with it) and a greek yogurt. around 6 i'll have another low cal meal, consisting of only a few hundred calories. then i wait a while before dinner, usually eating around 10:30 or 11:00 (evenings shifts at work..) and that helps keep me from snacking afterwards b/c i go to bed. i also only keep a small amount of my food stocked at the house, so i usually only have a week's worth of food bought at a time, so if i wanna snack then i'm dipping into my meals for other days during the week.

another method i use when i KNOW that i can't count how many cals are going to be in dinner, or if i know i'm going to snack some after dinner is just semi-fasting all day until the evening time. i'll get by with a couple cans of tuna (one can is 100 cals, 23g protein) and a scoop of protein powder and that doesn't even pass 400 cals altogether. this leaves me room for a 1200ish cal dinner, pretty satiating. you have to be able to not let your body and mind trick you into thinking it's hungry just b/c it's the 'right time of day.'

[lexinak]

I eat pretty well during the day. My problem is after dinner, for some reason sitting down to watch tv or read seems to open the floodgates and I start eating, not necessarily junk, usually it's non fat greek yogurt or trader joe's lite kettle corn. Usually enough to go over my calories. How do you guys keep yourselves from doing this?
I rationalize the extra calories by telling myself, "I'm feeding my muscles," when my goal is fat loss.

Three options:
1. Get the trigger foods out of your house.
2. Go to bed earlier.
3. Fit an evening snack into your macros.

[SherOfPunjab]

This comes down to having some balls to say no. Yeah you can justify it all day but justification got me fat as hell and it is the enemy. Just remind urself u want something more than food. Also I found that if I get up a few hours earlier and eat in the day I am tired at night and don't think about food I think about sleep

this. OP what do u want us to come to ur place and hold ur hands tape your mouth? NOT EATING is up to you...maybe ur dinner sucks....get high protein (steak, chicken etc) and lots of veggies (2 cups) in your dinner and then u won't starve.

Also, if u must snack late at night u can always make healthier choices...peanut butter...protein shake..cottage cheese..etc.

[patrick4588]

anytime i get "snacky" i eat 2 spoonfuls of peanut butter. done.

[vadimroschin]

Age: 42 and you don't have the discipline YET?

Don't think it's ever going to happen for you.

You just don't eat. It's that simple. You're a human being, not an animal with no control over it's cravings.

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

I know huh... Instead of advice he just s*** talks so to speak, would motivate the heck out of me for sure...

Like some guys here already mentioned, i say that liquid works the best too. Drink water and fill up that stomach... or sip on some hot tea and make the time pass until you go to bed.

[vadimroschin]

anytime i get "snacky" i eat 2 spoonfuls of peanut butter. done.

Idk about this though... sure is yummy but each TABLESPOON of this stuff is about a 100 calories...ouch!