Night time eating and overweight

[Cany]

How do you lose weight when you keep snacking at night, Day time is ok, I can manage but night time..........just non stop eating of anything in the cupboard. Why is that?

[Tiggerr]

Hello Cany and welcome.

Sorry to hear that you're struggling in the evenings and I know from my own daily evening battles how difficult that is.

There could be a number of reasons and without further information it's hard to provide any tailored advice. Examples could be that you're not eating enough during the day, you're not drinking enough fluid, you're eating the wrong things, you're bored, you're tired......

As a starting point, you could use our Daily Diary, where people post the menu they are going to have that day. Where needed you will receive constructive feedback plus it's a good place to cadge great ideas for yourself, as well as meet other like minded people

[moreless Administrator 7 stone]

Hi and welcome, Cany

Tiggerr has given you some excellent advice and I would suggest emptying your cupboards of anything that's easy to snack on, if necessary, getting another family member to lock it away.

Follow this link to our chat thread and a list of all the activities we run. We've found active participation to be key to success, especially with our weigh-ins and Daily Diary.

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Wishing you all the best

[Hidden]

Hi Cany. I'd agree with Tiggerr and moreless and say that you might not be eating enough or maybe not eating enough good fats. Are you drinking enough water? Or drinking things like alcohol or coffee on a regular basis.

I sometimes cant sleep or stay asleep because I am so hungry I feel sick. And that always happens when I don't eat in the day. Or dont drink enough water.

The others have made some excellent suggestions which you could try. For a start I check your calorie range on the calculator moreless gave you and eat them all.

[Wobbleless]

Hi Cany welcome to the group.

All of the above is so helpful i wonder if it also a habit?? We create patterns and our mind does things on auto pilot. Think how often we make a cup of tea and look for a biscuit. How we reach for the pudding menu even if we are feeling full.

My point is it takes time to create a new habit so perhaps start to work out if you are making a choice to eat or are just grazing? Perhaps make up a pot of healthy snacks within your range and eat that and then decide if that is enough? Clear cupboards is a great idea of you will set yourself up for a challenge. Good luck

[Maria821]

Hi i find it helps to make a cuppa and sit well away from kitchen. We have a front room and kitchen diner lounge. If i sit in the kitchen diner lounge i will be back and forth all night to the cupboards

[S11m]

As others have said, eat enough during the day.

Try setting a time in the evening after which you do not eat, and gradually make it earlier.

I started at 19:30, you might start at 22:00?... now I do not eat after 14:00... but it took months.

Now I am trying to maintain... and I have to remind myself to eat!

[Lytham 3 stone]

Hi to help keep you focused would you like to join our summer challenge? Here is the link, hope to see you there!

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

[Craftyperson]

My first thought are eating and drinking enough especially water during day. See you e had some good ideas so just wish you well

[Persephone33]

I agree with Wobbleless that it might just be a combo of habit and boredom. Eating is also a way to relax for a lot of people (me included) because it releases the feel good chemicals in your brain, so natural you might want to do that to feel good in the evenings. To break the habit you have to find a distraction. For example. instead of doing your eve snack, maybe start a habit of going for a beautiful walk every evening at a certain time, and take a hot bath occasionally. Or sit and sew. Not sure what kind of thing you like doing. But in time your brain will get used to, and start looking forward to, doing that in the evenings instead of snacking.

I don't know whether you are eating enough or what. I think the very nature of a diet is that you're eating less than you burn so I think a certain amount of hunger is inevitable so probably as long as you're withing that NHS BMI thing you're ok. I get very hungry in the evenings and tend to snack like you. I do not have ANYTHING naughty in the cupboards, (but appreciate I'm single so only have myself to think about). Also, I try not to eat so much in the first part of the day so I can have a big evening meal. That way I have something to look forward to and feel satisfied in the evenings which is when I know I'm going to be the most likely to get hungry, bored and looking for a relaxation fix. Hope this helps.

[Renegade1234 1lb]

I struggle with this too. I think it can actually be a sleep disorder called NES (Night Eating Syndrome) where you feel like you have to eat something to get back to sleep. I think it's a symptom of restricting too much for me and I feel subconsciously that I have to binge whilst my guard is down and have the opportunity to eat junk before I restrict again!