How to stop eating late at night

[TooManyNameChanges12]

My diet is ok during the day but I just can't stop eating at night. I eat a full dinner around 6-7pm l but then after the kids have gone to bed the first thing I do is eat tons of bread with cheese or crisps or bowls full of Müsli.

I don't know how to stop. I think, I eat because I'm so tired. The kids won't fall asleep without us in the room so it can take really long. Often I fall asleep or scroll mindlessly on my phone, too tired to get up even after the kids have fallen asleep. I rarely go back down before 10pm. Then usually a very dirty kitchen awaits me and often office work. I eat for some energy to start the work or maybe to postpone starting any work.

I really need to stop doing this. Any ideas?

I could have written this. Doing bedtime with a colicky bub made me realise what an emotional eater I am. Sitting down at the end of the day with some tea and chocolate is like a reward. I also think it's partly because the day is so busy and focused on baby's needs that I tend to forget about my own self care so don't realise how tired/ hungry/thirsty I am until the house is quiet and I think it's subconsciously me trying to make it up? I've started doing other things like putting on a face mask or taking a minute to paint my nails or do my tan or hair as my reward and just try to blitz the housework fast as possible. Usually just try to aim for getting the dishes done, wipe down counters and get a wash on and if I do that then I'm happy. It's easier said than done though- when you're in the trenches and feeling overwhelmed and exhausted it's so much harder to make the decision to do something different so I wouldn't put yourself under massive pressure either. It's tough!

Go to bed?

Sounds simple but I brush my teeth- it psychologically tells my brain no more food now. If I'm up for a couple more hours chilling or doing jobs I'll brush them again just before bed but doing it early evening just tells my mind the kitchen is closed!

I agree with brushing your teeth.
It takes off the longing for food and the food won't taste that nice anyway, after brushing.

I've tried brushing my teeth but it doesn't work for me. I still eat.

I can't go to bed because usually I still have tons of work, household chores or office work (I work from home).

I really want to stop this. Not only am I taking in a huge amount of calories as I binge eat (and it's always junk. I don't binge on carrots) but also it wastes so much time. If I could finish my work earlier I could go to bed earlier and then maybe on the next day I wouldn't be so tired and would be better able to control myself. Or I might have actually time to do something I enjoy.

Up your meat protein
This killed my cravings / emotional eating over night.

I'm the same. Eating out of tiredness, I'm not even hungry.

I'm a vegetarian but I try to get proteins from other sources and I had eggs yesterday night.

I do eat a lot of ultra processed food though. Maybe that's why I'm always hungry.

Thanks for the tip. I'll try to increase my protein uptake.

Do you eat a decent breakfast? I always have breakfast and lots of food (protein) during the day. By the time I get to dinner I’m hungry but not starving but I eat it and after that I’m definitely done. We really try to tidy kitchen/diner before we put kids to bed so that section of the house is kind of lights off and ‘done’ by 8pm.

Go to bed with a book

maybe you could look at it a different way - e.g. skip breakfast, maybe even lunch and have your eating window short but towards the end of the day. This would help you in that your main foodstuffs could be eaten at night but the long morning stretch before your first meal would help with weight moderation.