Intermittent fasters ....How did you stop evening snacking?!

[greenleaveseverywhere]

This has ALWAYS been my vice.

It is so much better than it was. I no longer binge in the evening and the snacks I go for tend to be healthy but for some reason, I CANNOT just stop eating after dinner.

It's nothing to do with still being hungry. It's just a weird obsession I seem to have.

It's so annoying. It just keeps me out of the deficit required to shift these pounds.

If you are someone that experienced this and overcame it.... shine some light please!

I will do/ try anything!

At first a hot drink everytime I felt like snacking. It soon filled me up and stopped me from snacking.
Now over a year in I don't need to do anything it's just a habit thats formed.

I’m an evening eater too - can quite happily fast all day, even if I don’t mean to but after dinner has always been (and I suspect always will be) my snacking time.

Low calorie snacks that take a long time to eat are best for me and satisfying the urge. Think ice lollies (non-UPF, I usually just freeze apple juice so only 60 calories) and hummus + crudités type things. Miso soup with rice noodles (Itsu do a good instant version) is also very good

I overcame evening snacking but through sheer willpower! I just forced myself to stop. Doing AF and keto has really helped as I feel so much less hungry generally. I try and do something to distract myself, drink water or green tea or just suffer until the urge passes which it always does. After a few days it just becomes a new habit and I can cope. Make sure you're having enough fat and protein at meals to make you feel satisfied.

I do it from time to time. You can try things to mentally stop your brain thinking it's snack time: take a shower, get into your PJs, brush your teeth, go to bed early, chew gum, do a few low intensity stretches. Some of these you obviously don't want to do long-term but you can do them for a few weeks to change your mindset.
Otherwise, try and just have a hot drink instead (and have options to make it more interesting so you feel like you're indulging).

I think it is habit as well. I used to have to have a snack - usually a cheese sandwich - or I couldn't sleep. For years!

First i made sure that I ate enough (stuffed myself) with dinner by 8.30. Then I gradually went back by half an hour, then an hour. Now I can sleep and don't need a late night snack.

I look at my big round tum and it reminds me not to.

When I first started I would save a bit of dinner in a bowl and eat that as a snack about 2 hours later. Then I moved on to drinking green tea or hot water. Now I don't need to do anything because my body is used to it.

I have a cup of peppermint tea. Satisfies the having something urge.

I have an Oxo cube in the biggest mug I can find. Seems to help. Then often went to bed early at the start, till I was just used to not eating after 3ish.

Brush your teeth and/or schedule something to keep your hands busy and your body off the sofa.

I have a cup of bedtime tea.

Clean your teeth, shut the kitchen door, find something to occupy you.

I rarely eat after 5 pm, only if we have visitors, and this works for me.

I have the same problem and have just started this.I have no problem skipping breakfast and can easily go to 11 or 12 without noticing.But the nighttime is a killer. I've started drinking herbal tea instead of black tea and milk too just to break the habit of tea and snacks in front of the telly. I've also started to crochet so my hands are full! It's only been 2 days so far though 😄

By eating enough during the day.

Wanting to lie down without getting acid reflux so eating again would mean I'd have to sit up!

Brushing teeth early is a good one.

Oh and knitting/crochet/sewing!

This is really helpful. Tonight I'm going to try having dinner with my little one at 6pm then a small snack at 8pm and try and bring the snack 15 mins earlier each evening x

It really is habit. I used to have an evening snack every single day.

When I started intermittent fasting, I had an eating window of 12pm to 8pm. I'd eat dinner with my children around 5.30pm then have something else around 7.30pm. But I realised the extra snacks weren't helping my weight loss and trying to swap them for healthier snacks e.g. I swapped chocolate for sliced apple and peanut butter for a while was just keeping that evening snacking habit going.

So I went cold turkey and decided no snacking at all after my main meal. Distraction really helped so as others have said, going and having a long bath or brushing my teeth etc were good. But really it was willpower that was needed for the first week.

Then it just becomes normal not to snack in the evening. I now have water and a black tea after dinner and don't even think about it, no matter what time I've eaten dinner. For example today I had my last meal at 2.30pm and will have nothing else all evening as I'm going out for breakfast tomorrow so I flex my timings depending on what I've got going on and it will genuinely be fine. This would have been unthinkable to me before I really got into the habit of intermittent fasting.