Distraction/treat in the evening that’s not sweets/food.

[HeavensWhatASnappyCharriot]

I want to try stopping eating earlier in the evening… but I’m finding it really hard.

DH is away for months with work and I’ve fallen into the routine of having biscuits or chocolate or something sweet once the children go to bed at 9pm.

I know it’s not good for me, and I want to stop but omg it’s just so tempting! So I need ideas. How can I still get that ‘time to myself’ feeling, treat/relax that doesn’t involve sugar and calories?

Avoid a cup of tea, I always need something sweet with a cuppa 😅

I have a selection of Bird and Blend teas that are great for evenings; moondrop dreams is my favourite but they have hundreds of lovely ones.

We play strip conkers.

It's not widespread in our Close, but the Vicar does make an effort and comes when he can.

I was terrible for this and had to have my cup of tea and biscuits at 9pm every night. It got ridiculous - a biscuit while the kettle boils, a couple of biscuits with my tea, one for the road...

So I started IF and only eat between 12-8pm. This really works for me as it feels wrong to eat anything after our evening meal now. Not going to lie though, I still miss my tea and biscuits in the evenings!

Fancy cans of sparkling water

Ooh I might take this up

Aqua libra sparkling water cans - no calories or sweetness. Dash cans too are lovely but more expensive

Ive been having a warm milky drink, vanilla chai latte. I warm the milk on the hob with a chai teabag for around 4 mins. Then 2 teaspoons of freedom vanilla syrup which is 30cals. Its comforting and sweet. You can reduce the overall calories by using a low cal milk

Haha my mum actually found out after she moved to a nice area and made friends that some of the older couples there had key parties! There were some very well to do straight laced sorts involved: political types, people high up in the police, her friends who were journalists and health professionals lol. They’re all in their 70/80s now so I assume it has stopped but who knows.

In terms of chocolate I second only buying biscuits you don’t like! Do a few days completely chocolate and sugar free so your blood sugar normalises and your cravings stop - then stick to 70%+ chocolate and as someone said if you get individually wrapped like they do in Aldi you are less likely to keep eating it! Similarly if you go for sorbet see if you can get mini pots! I find also tracking calories helps (I use myfitnesspal) because then I can allocate 100 calories for a treat and won’t have another because I don’t want to go over my calories!

A sample set of interesting perfumes. Learning to enjoy fragrance is a much under-rated sensory pleasure: expensive, indulgent, but not a single calorie!

I have trip drinks. Not calorie free, but very low calorie, and they feel like a treat.

Plain pop corn no sugar.