What do you do in this situation? (I need some advice on evening snacking)

[CatchTheWind1920]

Hi everyone,

This right now is the kind of situation I find myself in a lot and I just don't know how to get past the mental side of it and stay focused.

I've eaten all my calories for the day. But I know DH and I will sit down and put on a movie when the kids are finally sleeping. DS2 is getting his last molar and I've had a terrible few weeks of sleep, last night was particularly bad. So today I am craving sugar and food to keep myself away. I've kept to my calories but I know tonight I'm going to sit down and want to just eat chocolate or the muller rice or whatever else I can find in the fridge. I then say "oh whatever, I'll be better tomorrow", then I do the same. It's like it gives me something to look forward to. How do I change this mindset?

Do you have any tips / advice for staying away from food in the evenings when you know you aren't hungry and just want to snack out of habit/enjoyment? I eat well all day just to eat my deficit in the evenings

Do you like tea? I have some chocolate infused tea from Whittards but I'm sure other brands have some. Herbal teas are great, too!

If you need to eat something, carrots, celery, cucumber are all crunchy with minimal sugar and calories. They helped me back in the days when I was on a very strict diet but wanted evening snacks.

Factor in a sweet treat at the end of the day, make room for it in your calories, eat it then brush your teeth 30 mins after.

I’ve always had this problem too. For me the only way to make it work was to be prepared with low calorie snacks. I couldn’t seem to cut the eating completely after dinner so this way was best. So no chocolate or biscuits in the house. I find apple chopped up with some of the sweet freedom choc shot pretty good. Low fat Greek yoghurt and berries. Zero sugar jelly pots. I do think it’s habit and if you eat something then this helps a bit, so fruit is helpful here. Also lots of herbal tea just so I have something in my hands and occupying me.

Change it from ' I'll start losing weight tomorrow ' to 'if I eat this I'll gain weight and it doesn't align with my goals'

Then factor in evening treats next time. Proper popcorn is good. Try dark chocolate. Small gradual swaps to adjust tastebuds

Honestly, I’ve pretty much knocked eating in the evening on the head. I find it easier to say I don’t eat after dinner than to moderate. It’s quite black and white for me.

I’m finding swapping crisps for sweet and salt seaweed thins is helping me stay on track. Satisfies my need for something salty but is low calorie.

A can of Fanta zero or Sprite Zero or even kombucha (if I’m being really good) is a good low calorie swap for sugary treats.

To be honest, if I were you I’d skip the movie and go to bed. You’re craving sweet stuff because you’re tired and it sounds like you need sleep.

I do intermittent fasting. So wait until lunchtime to start eating. So say I eat from 1pm to 9pm, then I get to eat in the evening when I'm more likely to snack! Have a light lunch, then most of my daily calories are eaten after 4pm.

I know it's probably not best to eat so late, but it's worked for me. After a while you get used to not eating til lunchtime. I drink lots of black coffee or coffee with no sugars almond milk to see me through.

Failing that, a biscuit flavoured tea? There's also a bulk bedtime hot chocolate protein shake which I have, 30g of protein and filling 135kcal plus whatever milk you have it with, no sugars almond milk is hardly any calories

My go to is either a small bowl of popcorn or a bowl of frozen mixed berries with half a teaspoon of sugar sprinkled over - they last ages , satisfy the sweet tooth and are delicious

Drink tea
Eat sugar free jelly/fruit
Go to bed 🤣

I developed a bit of an evening snacking habit while taking Mirtazapine, which is well known for giving you the munchies. These both helped:

Increasing the size of my breakfast slightly, a bit more fat, and always having eggs at breakfast. Seems to set me up for the day, I don’t get so hungry later on and the desire to snack reduced as soon as I started eating like this. I was afraid of weight gain on the bigger breakfasts, but have actually lost a few kg. Also eating a bit more protein and fat at lunchtime and cutting the carbs slightly.

Don’t give myself the option to snack after evening meal - tell myself the kitchen is closed. As the hunger that was partly driving the snacking isn’t there, it’s a lot easier to resist the psychological urge to snack.

I’ve always found that poor sleep increases the desire to snack a lot; maybe go easy on yourself until DS’s sleep has settled down?