Waking Up in the Middle of the Night to Eat & those las...

[workoutqueen]

Hi everyone,

I figured I'd post this because this everyone here seems so helpful..so here goes> Does anyone wake-up in the middle of the night to snack or binge? For example, I often wake-up at about 1 or 2 in the morning and I start going off on junk food (my favorite are teddy grahams) or some other unholy thing. The weird thing about it is that I seem to be in a semi-conscious state--I'm aware and then I'm not. I sometimes find trails of what I ate in my bed--just when I think I start to question if I ate something or not. I've read up on Night Time Eating Disorder (NES) and I'm not there yet. This and my strong cravings have prevented me from losing those last ten pounds! I often get up in the middle of the night to urinate and I think when this happens, I realize that I'm hungry or I'm just craving something. My exercise routines are great, I exercise 5-6 times a week but it's this and my after dinner love of desserts that is holding me back. By the way, all day long I do well, with fruits, veggies, whole grains etc.. I need help in a big wayx( Any suggestions?

 

[dallas68]

Hi, I can see why this would flip you out, good all day, dedicated to working out, and sabotaging it at night! My mother and sister do the exact same thing! My mother describes it just like you did, sometimes she isn't even really aware that she ate in the night. She's never looked into this and just lives with it, but I've heard her talk about preparing healthy stuff, so when she wakes up, she'll reach for something that won't totally undo all her hard work. Maybe if you put the Teddy Grams somewhere weird, or hard to get too, it would help you . What did the articles you read say? Do they know what causes this? I know my mother doesn't sleep well, never has. Maybe stress or poor sleep has something to do with it. Wish I had more to give ya, but wishing you good luck. ~Carolyn~

 

[endorphin_junkie]

RE: Waking Up in the Middle of the Night to Eat & those...

I hear you Sister! I go through spurts of high discipline contrasted with periods when night time eating seemingly undoes all of the good I have done. I remember Laura (Maximus) saying something to the effect that she loses 50lbs/year, it's just the same 10lbs. five times. That's me all over and it's the periods of night time eating that inevitably cause me to put the weight back on. I don't eat in the middle of the night but often if I fall asleep on the couch in the evening, I'll head to the kitchen and eat before turning in. Sometimes I'm half asleep as I munch mindlessly and consume the bulk of my daily calories in that time. I know for a fact that when I muster the discipline to avoid eating after dinner I will lose 5 - 10 lbs with no problem. I wish I had some better suggestions for you. One of my snacks of choice is Peanut Butter so I'll have the kids hide it from me or get it out of the house all together, maybe the Teddy Grahams have to go for a while. I know that I am an emotional eater and I have been feeling kind of empty and fragile lately, food is my hug from within but then when the fullness settles I feel heavy and close to self loathing. It's such a vicious cycle that can only be broken with much support and discipline from within and without. I know that other will have advise for you, people here seem to be able to relate to and shed light upon any problem or obstacle we face. Your ace in the hole is your commitment to working out. Perhaps you could put a glass of milk or juice in the fridge to drink when you wake up to quiet the hunger pangs while satisfying you a bit more than just water. Maybe you could take the addicts approach and say to yourself that just for today you won't cave to the cravings. Not forever, just for this day. HTH.

Take Care
Laurie

 

[workoutqueen]

RE: Waking Up in the Middle of the Night to Eat & those...

Thanks ladies for your prompt responses, believe it or not, they were still very helpful. I think what I need to do again, is re-read the book I was referring to entitled "Overcoming Night Eating Syndrome" by Kelly C. Allsion. This book gives a series of exercises to help you determine if you fit in this category. There appears to be some gray areas. One question asked is Do you need to eat to go back to sleep? (which is no in my case) and forms of depression (which I don't have) but it does mention anxiety and I am the proverbial worrywart So, I'll keep plugging at it--It's so true.. you lose the same 10 pounds over and over again.

Thanks again, ladies.

 

[smoogy]

I do this every now & then, most of the time when I'm stressed but still working out hard. I think it's a combination of both, emotional eating & probably your body saying to feed it so it can rebuild itself after those hard workouts. What I try to do is keep a lean protein, readily available in the fridge. I don't feel guilty about eating it & I don't reach for muffins or cookies or whatever else there is.

Marla

 

[Kit_]

You may want to try allowing yourself a little tiny bit of the *bad* stuff before you go to bed. Just a few bites, so it won't kill your diet, but will over ride that craving in the middle of the night. And see if that helps as it could be the fact that your telling yourself no too much. Okay that sounds strange but I know a lot of clients who get into no this no that. And then they find themselves eating it. And that’s because their subconscious or they subconsciously want it so bad, that they go into autopilot and eat it. So give yourself want you want, and it probably will clear up some. And at least this way you can monitor how much you eat, rather then be have asleep and grabbing it by the handfuls. Another reason is you’re the rebellious type, you don’t like being told you can’t have something, and even if it’s you telling yourself no. You subconsciously rebel, and do the thing your not suppose to be doing. Or it could be your not really all that happy with your diet, or you’re the type of person who needs something sweet to keep them satisfied with food.

It’s also always better to eat what your craving in small portions then to ignore the craving, 9 out of 10 people who ignore their craving actually eat more, then they would have if they had just indulged themselves with a x-small portion.

Also you may want to keep a food diary for a week or two, and write down everything you eat and how you feel about it. I know you won’t be able to do this on your nightly sleep binge eating, but you should be able to do it the rest of the time. But this may point something out to you. Instead of having that high calorie cookie, you had a fat free one. Did this really satisfy you? Or did you notice yourself hungrier and still carving? Or you seem to be munching more on things then you normally do? This could be healthy things, it doesn’t matter its healthy or bad (well it does but not for this question), if you munch more or less when you don’t get what your really craving but just a semi healthy substitute?

But a food diary is a wonderful thing to have, as it will really tell you about yourself and your eating patterns. And once you find a few of them, you can modify your diet to fit your needs better, and won’t be craving in the middle of the night for empty carbs and sugar.

Good luck,

Kit

 

[workoutqueen]

Thanks Kit and Marla,

I really appreciate your advice. I have been keeping food diaries for years. What happens, is I do it for 12 weeks or so and then get sick of it. I will admit that I usually just list my food and the calorie content and not my feelings. You are right about me rebelling. Let's face it, keeping a food diary for the rest of your life is not realistic. But I will admit each time I do it I lose weight. The other thing is I try to allow myself some "treats" but depending what it is I will still each too much of it. Even though I measure the food out! So, I still know how much I've eaten but get upset because I couldn't do the "one serving" I know the other solution is not to bring it home..but tell that to my husband. (Between his love of oreos, doritos and teddy grahams I'm doomed! And yes, I do put the junk food in a different cabinet in the kitchen...but I "sleep walk" to that to and eat it! I'm dead serious about that too. But anyway, I digress. I think it's also the fact that I workout hard. I guess it's all about behavior modification. I shouldn't strive for perfection..just improvement. Thanks guys..this is so helpful.

Katrina