Help PLEASE....midnight cravings

[amtuamor22]

Can anyone please give me some advice? I do very well all throughout the day on the Atkins diet, and then for some strange reason in the middle of the night I get these intense cravings and I usually always give in. Sometimes its just a piece of cheese, but I feel like a hawk looking for a prey. I'll eat anything in sight. Please HELP!!!

Thank You!! :spin:

[HogarthNH]

My two tips:

1) Eat a snack, preferrably one high in fat, about an hour before bedtime.

Don't worry about that old misconception about eating right before bed turning directly to fat -- if you're in Ketosis, you'll burn it off quickly, but not before it sustains you through your "snacky" period.

2) Remove all evil food from your house!

That way, if you do end up going snack-attacky, you can endulge and you can't possibly screw up badly. I guarantee after two hard boiled eggs, you're not going to want to eat the other 10. :)

[amtuamor22]

Any particular high fat snacks you recomend before bed time? I'm not too much of an egg fan.

[HogarthNH]

Cheese?
Cold cuts wrapped around cream cheese?
Leftovers?
Pork Rinds?
Whipped cream with a little splenda?

Anything you would normally eat and feel like eating!

[Kaillean]

I have the same problem with late night hunger. I attribute this partly to being a huge snacker while watching the tube at night for as long as I can remember.

I tackle this two ways. 1) I eat more during the day. I used to not eat breakfast and would start eating most of my calories after 3 pm or so and basically eat until I feel asleep. :eek: Since low-carb I've been religious about eating breakfast, but still sometimes let lunch slide too long. And then I find I'm very hungry at night. So I really try to eat a good lunch and often a small snack around 4ish. We eat dinner around 8 or 9 pm.

2) Do have a snack in the evening if you feel like one, but keep it small and don't make it a "graze". The tip to eat a high fat one is good. Fills you up. Cheese is good, or a piece of meat. I also really like 20 olives or .25 sunflower seeds (which also helps with that crunchy/salty urge).

I find that eating fruit with cream or a splenda-sweetened treat at night really slowed me down, so I try not to do that anymore.

Good luck!

[amtuamor22]

Thank u Kaillean,

I will take your advice. I crave salty things for most part, and there are always chips( reg. ones) on the fridge. I tried cream cheese with some splenda, but seems to stop my weight loss and i wake up feeling bloated. :daze:

[downscale]

An opposing viewpoint: Don't eat anything after dinner! No evening snacks!

If you get hungry in the evening, have a glass of water or two. You will find it really does the trick.

Protein Power says that most cholesterol is manufactured by your body at night while you are sleeping. It recommends that once dinner is over, the kitchen is closed. I have made this my rule and, even when I think a little something would be nice, I just don't do it. No decision to make --it is simply not an option.

[amtuamor22]

Originally posted by downscale
An opposing viewpoint: Don't eat anything after dinner! No evening snacks!

If you get hungry in the evening, have a glass of water or two. You will find it really does the trick.

Protein Power says that most cholesterol is manufactured by your body at night while you are sleeping. It recommends that once dinner is over, the kitchen is closed. I have made this my rule and, even when I think a little something would be nice, I just don't do it. No decision to make --it is simply not an option.


I strongly agree with you, but prob is, I do drink water before going to bed with a vitamin. I wake up several times during the night to go the bathroom, and my appetite kicks in and cravings. I rather not eat at anything, but its hard.

[downscale]

Just give it a week or so and see what happens. Once you break the cycle for a while, the cravings will probably subside.

Good luck.