Night time munchies

[Kellymartin3]

Hello my issue with food is I nibble at night, I eat healthy foods all day, regularly and do not go hungry, but I can not help nibbling at night!! I’m not hungry, do not crave sugar as I mostly nibble oat cakes, but just can not get past this habit!!! 🙄

[SofaJockey]

I've tried to get into the habit of not eaten past 8pm (partly down to having healthy filling meals during the day).

My weight-loss has been based on losing around 100 grams per day.

So the idea I hold onto is that the last night-time munchie of the day basically blows the day's progress.

And I don't want to blow a day's progress so I have some Sparkling Water instead and roll on breakfast...

[Zoemummyoftwins]

Me to I’m terrible as I’m a single parent when the kids are in bed I need something to stop boredom

[IndigoBlue61]

Hello Kellymartin3 and Zoemummyoftwins welcome both of you

You have both agreed that evening nibbling is a habit, and all habits can be changed with a little work. There are a few strategies, planning a later snack, or simply mentally “closing the kitchen” but with practice they do work. Having enough to eat, and the right balance is helpful, especially enough healthy fat as low fat/high carbohydrate diets are notorious for causing hunger & cravings see here healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

If you haven’t already then please read the Welcome Message in Pinned Posts here healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh... Please read it carefully so you can find all the information you need to find your way around the forum.

As a peer to peer support group we rely totally upon mutual encouragement. Nothing beats joining in, reading posts and replying to others. Our Group Weigh-in and the Daily Diary are probably the best places to start

If you haven't already taken it, here's a tour of the forum

healthunlocked.com/?tour to help you find your way around.

Best wishes in your weight loss journey

Indigo 😊

[IndigoBlue61]

I agree about the three meals and no snacking but for me I had to take a ‘step by step’ approach to changing habits. I found having a planned evening snack helped me stop the ‘dessert after dinner’ habit. I found, with time, that by 9pm I didn’t want the snack, and evening nibbling is a now long distant memory 😊

[Bee-bop Maintainer 2st 7lbs]

Hi Kellymartin3,

Maybe it has become a habit and so you need to change the habit to something that fits better? I have had many different times in my life where eating late was a habit- I worked late and would eat at 11.30 pm. When I was a teen I would go to bed late so would eat in the early hours. Later in life with the kids to bed, I would relax with a beer and a snack and now, with wanting to loose weight, I don't eat or drink after 8pm. I disagree with awful toad because I am not LCHF and don't think oatcakes are bad. They are better than biscuits to me but, I would say try to eat them earlier say after your last meal and swap them for a drink in the evening to trick the habit into thinking you are still having something. Oats are good for heart health and are low on the glycemic index and keep you full longer so, if you ate them earlier it would hopefully mean you wouldn't want to snack later.

Another thing that seems to work for many is brushing your teeth earlier to get into the habit of not wanting to eat after that.

Good luck 👍

[Hidden in reply to Bee-bop]

I agree with you @Bee-bop. Suggesting oatcakes are the same as sugar is a huge oversimplication and not helpful in my opinion. Rather a few oatcakes than a Twix surely!!??

[Subtle_badger]

There is a good reason to stick to meal times. Every time you eat, your pancreas releases insulin. While there is insulin in your blood stream, you can't burn fat. Take advantage of your overnight fast and extend it as long as you can.

The mental trick I used to give up evening snacking was to make sure I fast 12 hours every night. Easy if I stop eating by 8, I can have a breakfast after my shower. If I snack at 11,no brekky.

This isn't just punishment, the fast does me good.