Evening Snacker

[dayone]

Hello,

I read up on No-S over the weekend, and I gave it a go yesterday. I was fine until about 7-8pm and then I experienced a pounding headache and gnawing hunger. I usually consume a large amount of calories in the evening and I think the absence of snacks had something to do with my "symptoms". I'd love to hear from those who have battled the night-time snacking. I'd appreciate any and all suggestions...


dayone ~25~ ~ BC, Canada~ ~100+ to lose~

[kccc]

A few suggestions, some of which are actually contradictory, so pick and choose...

1) Did you eat a decent supper? Sometimes people who come from prior diets underestimate their meals (because they're used to making up with snacks). Try eating a pretty big "evening plate" for a while - and that's my top suggestion. (Also, going to bed a bit earlier may also help.)
2) You may be dealing with a kind of "detox" from being accustomed to lots of junk. If so, the evening issues should go away in a few days if you tough it out.
3) Conversely, you may be a "phase in" type, and perhaps allowing yourself a (limited choice/amount) snack in the evening would be a transition strategy that worked for you.

I'm sure there will be other suggestions as well. Whatever you do, watch to see how it works and continue to evaluate. As BrightAngel says, all of us are "experiments of one."

At the beginning stages, I do recommend (1) the podcasts (particularly the "strictness" one, which is my very favorite) and (2) a focus on "habit building" rather than immediate weight loss.

Good luck!

[moderatemeals]

Hi -
I too struggle with nighttime snacking. I'm a very healthy eater until after dinner and then lose all willpower completely. I think I use food in the evenings to relax. Here's a suggestion that has worked for me: I would incorporate a 4th meal a few hours after dinner for the first week or two until your body adjusts. For me, I have found a bowl of Cheerios or Oatmeal Squares does the trick! I think the worst thing you can do is go to bed starving because it might set you up for failure. If you start with 4 meals and can successfully go the day with that, you can then try to go down to 3.

Good luck!!
L.
PS I also agree with all of KCCC's suggestions!

[ShannahR]

I was also a huge night time snacker before No S. I estimate I ate half of the calories I ate in a day at night after dinner. In order to stop I did slightly increase my dinner. Not to the point that I was stuffed, I just made sure to be comfortably full at the end of dinner. If you do, there's no way you could be really hungry at 7 or 8 unless you eat dinner REALLY early. I noticed that when I got "hungry" after dinner, I wasn't actually hungry. I was actually bored. It had all the symptoms of hunger: thoughts about food, cravings, etc but it wasn't actually physical hunger. After a few weeks it went away. I won't say it was easy to ignore but it got easier over time--try to distract yourself, that can help too.

[ironsickel]

Hello,

I read up on No-S over the weekend, and I gave it a go yesterday. I was fine until about 7-8pm and then I experienced a pounding headache and gnawing hunger. I usually consume a large amount of calories in the evening and I think the absence of snacks had something to do with my "symptoms". I'd love to hear from those who have battled the night-time snacking. I'd appreciate any and all suggestions...


dayone ~25~ ~ BC, Canada~ ~100+ to lose~

You're pretty much in my camp. I would routinely consume 3000-6000 calories per day after 4pm. You also have about the same amount to lose.

All I can say is stick with it. The most amazing thing about this "program" isn't the pounds I've lost (and will lose) but how it completely transforms your relationship to food.

You can get to the point where you consume food, the food doesn't consume you.

The first few days were the hardest for me. I also gave up all non-water/coffee/tea as a "S" food. I used to pound down the diet soda.

The best advice I can give you to get through the first week or so:
1) eat three balanced meals throughout the day. I used to skip breakfast so that was the hardest for me. Make sure you're eating enough at breakfast and lunch.
2) drink LOTS of water! Most days I drink about 4 liters of water plus slam tons of coffee in the morning.
3) Make sure you're eating complex carbs in your diet. If you were a constant junkfoodie like me, you may be dealing with sugar withdrawals. I found (especially during that first week) that having a baked potato or some bread or pasta at dinner helped the cravings a lot.
4) If you still feel like absolute crap or you feel like you're going to cheat...go to bed early or take a nap. It's amazing what sleep can do to slake your hunger.

Week one the evenings were a constant clawing thought in my head that I must eat more!
By week two, it was down to a mild nagging.
By week three i thought about snacking maybe twice all week.

I don't think about it at all anymore. I don't even have problems on S days with late night snacking. I do snack on weekends, but a fraction of what i used to do EVERY day.

Hang with it. I can't imagine not living like this now. And i've only been on the diet for about a month and a half.

[dayone]

Thank you all for the many suggestions. I did eat a larger supper last night, and I went to bed early Thank you to ironsickel for the words of encouragement. It's great to hear that these "symptoms" will pass

All the best,

[ironsickel]

Thank you all for the many suggestions. I did eat a larger supper last night, and I went to bed early Thank you to ironsickel for the words of encouragement. It's great to hear that these "symptoms" will pass

All the best,

Cool! The biggest thing is to stick to the plan. No seconds, no sweets, no snacks. However, the plan says nothing about how full that plate can be.

If you are killing yourself that first week or two, load up that plate. After a few days or so, your body adjusts and realizes..."hey, i'm not starving! Maybe this is cool". Thats when the psychological stuff kicks in that Reinhard talks about.

You see that HUGE plate of food and you're like "woah, i'm gonna eat all that? I'm a pig!" And your plates start getting less full.

Be sure to let us know after a couple of weeks if you're handling it better. I didn't think it would EVER happen for me. I've had a huge "eat all the time" appetite since I was in elementary school. Took me about a week.

[oolala53]

I wonder how you're doing? BTW, it's possible the headache and other problems had nothing to do with your eating. Maybe it was just a coincidence...

I used to be an afternoon-to-bed eater. I've been a small-scale binger, too. Still do that some on weekends, but not during the week. But I was scared when I started No S, so scared to think that this might actually go on forever that I just didn't break the rules for several weeks. It took only a few evenings for me for it not to become an issue. But I was also aware before I started that my worst cravings (not HUNGER) were within a few hours of eating a meal. I knew that if I could get past 3 hours after a meal without eating, I would probably be fine. And it has been like that, except for some recent slip-ups. But I'm back on track.

I agree with having a good dinner. Include at least one portion of something that seems a little devilish every day or every few days. For me, that's a Bisquick-type biscuit with butter or a tablespoon of peanut butter all by itself or a good hunk of artisan whole wheat bread.

Other tactics people have talked about: brush your teeth early, chew mint gum, sleep early, take a bath. But the most important one is just knowing that whatever you do, that is the habit that will be reinforced and will be easier to repeat.

Good luck!

[sarapilar]

I would say drink much more good water all day long. Lots of times you are detoxing and need lots of water.