Everyday Systems

Hi Folks,

I just started following the No-S way of eating on Sunday, and have had insomnia each night since (which is unusual for me). I used to do a lot of snacking at night, so going to bed hungry is a new thing for me. On Monday, I ate a large supper at 5:30 p.m. and went to bed at midnight, so was very hungry before bed. Last night, I was able to wait until 7:00 p.m. to have another large supper, but was still hungry when I went to bed at 11:30 p.m. Have others experienced insomnia when first starting this program? If so, what did you do to fix the problem? I know I should be going to bed earlier, but both my husband and I are night owls, so not sure how realistic this is.

For various reasons, I really wanted to get adjusted to eating just three meals a day. However, maybe I need to divide my supper into two portions and eat one around 5:30 and another around 9:30. Has this worked for others? I could also try having a small snack about a half an hour before bed, but very much want to get out of the night snacking habit.

If I choose to just eat my supper as normal and not eat again until the next morning, will this intense bed-time hunger gradually go away as my body adjusts to this pattern of eating?

Any thoughts/advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Yes, the evening hunger goes away.

I eat dinner at 6pm and I eat breakfast around seven after a pretty hard-core workout. I have tea or maybe a glass of wine in the evenings, but other than that, I don't have anything.

At first, I was very hungry.

Some tips:

When you start No-S, YES, you want to start with meals that may feel pretty large when you're used to tiny meals and lots of snacking. You can adjust later, but eat a big dinner.

Even now, my dinner is reasonably substantial (call it ~700-800 calories).

It's what works for me.

Thanks for the tips, Noel. It's great to hear from an experienced No-Esser! When I started this journey, I fully expected to struggle with between-meals hunger (which is getting a bit better already). However, the insomnia was an unwelcome surprise that I would like remedy as soon as possible. I just finished eating a hearty supper, so hopefully won't be "starving" at bedtime again tonight. If so, I may eat half a tuna sandwich or something and see if that helps me get to sleep. Wish me luck!

Just wanted to report that I don't get hungry before bed after dinner no matter what time I eat dinner- well, as long as it's after 5 p.m. and it's a real dinner, not just salad. In fact, I never got legitimately hungry even in the beginning. But the HABIT of eating often made me think I was hungry. Ignore hunger illusions!

I may still sometimes get that antsy feeling to eat, but I don't call that hunger anymore. And I sometimes have a decaf mocha or hot vanilla milk a couple of hours after dinner.

oolala53 wrote:Just wanted to report that I don't get hungry before bed after dinner no matter what time I eat dinner- well, as long as it's after 5 p.m. and it's a real dinner, not just salad. In fact, I never got legitimately hungry even in the beginning. But the HABIT of eating often made me think I was hungry. Ignore hunger illusions!

I may still sometimes get that anty feeling to eat, but I don't call that hunger anymore.

Yes! I did a lot of nighttime munching that was unnecessary. I often still have that feeling but most of the time for me it's not really hunger. I've not had it keep me up--I think I'd try a later dinner if it did, and see if that helped.