No snacking after dinner! Who's in??

[summerisacoming]

I'm not very good with diets and I really don't want to try one then have it fail. So this is my plan:

As soon I have finished dinner, I'm going to brush my teeth and make sure I don't eat anything else that evening. Simple.

Ok, it's not the most imaginative of plans, but here's why I think it will make a huge difference:

1. My worst snacking is in the evening
2. Eating chocolate in the evening makes me stay up late (caffeine) so I'm tired for work the next morning
3. Am I right in thinking that eating right before bed makes you store more fat?

I am 5'8'' and since having kids I now weigh around 12 stone (size 12/14). I want to be a size 10 again!

I'm going to start small and do this for 1 week, starting today. If all goes well, then I'll aim for a month, then two months (should be a well-formed habit by then), then drop sugar.

If you're in, let's report back every evening right before we go to bed to confirm that we didn't eat anything after dinner.

So who's with me?? Come on!😁

@Badatmostthings .Hi thats 1 stone 4pounds in total. I weigh weekly in Boots. I'd need to check weigh printouts but from memory I'm sure it was start of June. Into a smaller clothes size, so pleased. Just got to keep going!.

Day 59

I'm going to go to one of the best cafes in town to buy one of these amazing chocolate cookies tomorrow, as a final farewell. I'm also realising how much food I have in the kitchen that has sugar in it: yoghurts, fruit bread, cereals. It's probably not the best idea to go on a massive sugar binge on my last day, so I might end up chucking a lot of it.

One more day!!

@Beaverbridge When you say you weigh weekly in Boots, do they have a scale you can use for free? Or is it some kind of group you're part of? I'm so interested to see what I weigh, but don't want to buy some scales because I think I would fluctuate a lot and it might demotivate me. But weighing once a week or fortnight would be ideal.

Yay! I’m so glad this thread is still going! Well done OP I’m impressed with your dedication.

I’d love to commit for the next 19 days! I did Fast 800 last year and lost 2 stone - 1/2 stone has crept back on over the summer so i’m calorie counting and trying to follow the Mediterranean diet to get rid of that. Evenings are definitely my weak spot and I often find myself saving calories so I can eat in the evening! I’d love to drop the habit.

we’re going out for dinner for my Dad’s 70th on in 19 days so i’m committing to no evening snacking (and by extension no alcohol) until then :)

@summerisacoming .Hi, Boots scales in store. 70 p if you want weight and height. £1 if you want body fat measured. Not a club I use them so I have the print out. I don't have scales at home.

52 days. Dinner has been a bit later several times over the past week. I need to get it earlier and gradually increase my IF fasting to fourteen hours at least.

Still not snacking 😀

Update, today's weekly weigh in, minus 3!!. God knows how, didn't do anything different or any exercise. Just happy to be in a lower stone bracket. Going to celebrate with a cinnamon bun!.

Wow Beaverbridge fantastic.
I'm struggling with cutting out sugar, the habit of having something sweet after a meal is soooo ingrained. I am however back on track with no snacking between meals. And I'm starting to notice a difference the kitchen workouts are having, my thighs and bum have definitely toned up. Can't say the same about my bingo wings sadly, I have zero upper body strength.

@Badatmostthings Thank you so much. I'm going to go online and look for exercises for the bingo wings, would love to wear more sleeveless tops.

Sorry I've been so quiet on here. My DS 3 had surgery a couple weeks ago so it's been a bit stressful. He's thankfully all fine so I need to get back on it and stop emotional and stress eating esp in the evening. I've not eaten any bread now for nearly 3 weeks and definitely noticing the difference around my waist and jeans fitting much more comfortably.
I definitely need to cut sugar as it's been keeping me going the last couple weeks. 🙈
Seems like everyone is doing amazing! So lovely seeing all the comments and people's progress 👏

@summsummerisacoming when are you starting the no sugar?

59 days. What a difference this thread has made! Evenings are so much easier, and so is getting up next morning even if I haven't had an unbroken night's sleep.

I don't know whether I'll manage absolutely no sugar. Most of the sauces and dressings that I have are out of jars with sugar and/or sweeteners, but I've stopped wanting biscuits, cakes, sweets, etc. I always read and compare labels, and try to have berries and salad every day.

This week's update. Minus 1. Don't know how, demolished a packet of Aldis Walter Worms yesterday in a fed up moment. 44 cals per worm!!. 6 pounds to lose and that's 2 stone.

Been thinking again about the next stage, cutting out sugar. Most sugar I have is in packets and sauces. My downfall has been milky sweet coffee. Going to throw out the half-bag of sugar and the rest of the coffee to avoid temptation. I'm the only one who drinks it.

I need to cut down on fat as well, to avoid irritating the gallstones, and that will be much harder. Replace cream with yogurt or skyr when having porridge and berries. Blue cheese in almost transparent slices.

And much more salad, with a drop of evoo.

Hello to you all, sounds like you are all doing very well. I’ve not been on MN much over summer, been busy and away etc. Mostly sticking to not evening snacking with the odd blips like the rest of you, but feeling really pleased when I go back to it after a blip.

Im not really losing weight but not gaining. I’ve decided to join the gym as I want better core strength so let’s see how that goes. I’m overweight but don’t feel motivated enough to really diet enough to see major loss! I definitely feel less bloated for no snacks, and also I am sleeping better because for about 3 weeks I have started leaving my phone downstairs at night. So am going to sleep earlier and less stimulated.

Good luck to those of you planning to ditch sugar! I did it for 3 years at one point in my life, would you believe, and once underway it was quite straightforward to maintain. I didn’t eat it with friends actually, it was strict for me. But I think a more balanced approach is better if you can manage it.

Well done leaving your phone downstairs at night! I take my phone, the cordless landline, and my ipad to bed. I play around with my online shopping, then delete anything that’s not on my food plan.

The coffee is in the food waste caddy, along with some sugar. I haven’t missed it yet, probably because it’s not sitting on the shelf directly at my eye level above the kettle. I’m drinking lots of rosebush tea instead.

I’ll have a dab of cream with berries over the next couple of days until the cream’s finished. I’m trying to waste as little as possible. The coffee and sugar would have sat there shouting my name until I gave in.

Extra thick cream is almost gone. Tiny tub of single cream is next.

Anyone else cutting out sugar? Or anything else?

Hi all,

So nice to see your posts, I hope you're all still going strong! Sorry for the massive update hiatus...

Had a bit too much going on, and it all got a bit much. Suffice to say, I crashed and burned on the no-sugar front. Then, to make matters worse, I recently started to abandon the no-evening snacks also. I definitely don't want to let that happen, so I'm back on it...

I'm amazed at how difficult it is to stop eating sugar, and really depressed at how I am addicted to it and probably will be for life. It's everywhere. At this point, I would genuinely move to a sugar-free town if one existed (similar to the no-alcohol ones in Australia). I wonder if in the future there will be an appetite for more regulation? I wish I was motivated enough to be able to do it on my own!

Anyway, new plan:

1. One week of no evening snacks
2. Mon and Wed: Skip breakfask (intermittent fasting)
3. Tues: Go for evening jog or walk, even 20mins is fine. Try to do this on other days as well.

I might try the no-sugar thing again at some point. Annoylingly, the only time I have no temptation to eat sugar is when I'm ill, so here's to catching many winter colds! 😆

So glad to see you back! I've done awful as well. Been terrible again with evening snacks and the no sugar is hitting me hard.

I've decided to not completely deny myself of all sugar as it doesn't work and makes me so hangry from crashing so I'm trying to let myself have a bit now and again.

I'm trying to get back onto the no evening snacks eating better. I can feel the difference. Both my kids have some childcare throughout the week again so I can get in some walks and try and get myself back on track a bit.

So glad for this thread as I didn't realise how hard it would be. 🙈

Hi I'm still here plodding on!!. , Forgot to post last week which was minus 1, also another minus 1 this week. 4 pounds till 2 stone off. Could really go a chunky kit kat, must go to bed!.

I’m managing to stick with no snacking in the evening, but my evening meal can be anytime between 6pm and 8.30, so that needs sorted.

Day 63 (I'm just going to carry on where I left off)

Last night went well, kind of. I had a small dinner and resisted snacking afterwards, but I woke up at 4am with hunger pains. Still awake. I think I'm going to have to have some weetabix or something, because I'll be exhausted tomorrow if I can't get back to sleep.

@GallstoneGertie I also have late dinners, but I take before 8.30pm as a win. Sometimes I have dinner past 9! 😮

@Beaverbridge Amazing, well done! I managed to weigh myself at a friend's the other day, and I was 69kg. OK, I've literally just converted that to stone, and it's under 11 stone! I was definitely 12 stone at some point this year, so I'm very chuffed with that. Very motivated to keep going now 😁, still might have some weetabix though!

@abbs1 No sugar is so difficult, isn't it? Also such a relief for school/nursery to be back on, i was really craving our routine again, especially for things like exercise. Glad you're still here!

Well done for getting back in to it, @summerisacoming , I think that’s harder than starting the first time! I had a couple of transgressions last week due to feeling knackered and sorry for myself - it’s emotional eating every time. But back on the wagon now. I agree that routine helps so much. Like this morning I got kids in to school, waked dog, been doing some housework and wasn’t really looking for food til 12. At the weekend it’s a whole different story for IF, not so easy. But that’s ok. I’d probably lose weight if I did it every day but never mind. Brill on the weight loss @Beaverbridge , you must feel great about that.

I made a new vaguely healthy snack this weekend that I can highly recommend, date bark. Dead easy, if you google it you’ll get a recipe. One piece feels quite filling and must be calorific but no crap in it at least! Although I was thinking no sugar but it’s topped with dark chocolate so probably there is a bit. :/

Wow, just googled that - looks incredible! 👌

@summerisacoming I'm so happy for the routine to be back as well. I got a good walk in today and got the house cleaned and sorted. Didn't eat near as much as I was busy.