Are late night snacks keeping you from losing weight?  Some studies have shown that healthy and overweight individuals tend to eat the same number of calories during the day.  At night, however, overweight individuals tend to eat more calories.  Eating at night is often easier, and we feel less inhibited because we might be alone.  We are also less busy than other times of day. We want to slow down and destress and “reward” ourselves with fatty or sweet foods. If you want to lose weight, you need to find ways to curb late night hunger and replace that with healthy snacking habits.  Here are a few suggestions.

Do something else.  Unless you’re starving, you might eat at night because you’re bored.  If you feel the need to snack, try doing something else to occupy your mind.  Go for a walk or read a book; you’ll soon forget that you were ever hungry.

Do more healthy snacking during the day.  Even if you’re trying to cut calories, eating too little during the day will make you more likely to binge at night.  Eating 1500 calories during the day and being satisfied at night is better than eating 1300 calories during the day and munching down on a 500 calorie snack at night.  Try to eat the bulk of your calories earlier in the day and have a light dinner and maybe a fruit for an evening snack. Don’t let your blood sugar dip too low, and remember to eat breakfast!

Go to bed.  If you get the urge to eat shortly before you go to bed, just go to bed early.  Not only will this keep you from snacking; people who get enough sleep at night tend to eat less calories during the day.

Eat at a table.  No matter what you eat during the day, treat all eating events like meals.  We tend to eat while we’re doing other things like watching TV or sitting at the computer.  Eat all your food sitting at your kitchen or dining room table and don’t distract yourself.  You’ll likely eat less.

Healthy snacking at night.  If you must snack late at night, think about what you eat.  Instead of grabbing a bag of chips, get out some carrots with a healthy ranch dressing dip, fruit or yogurt.  Go for high fiber and protein which take longer to digest and keep you feeling full longer.  It’s also important to eat portioned snacks.  This way you probably won’t eat several portions at a time.

These are just a few tips to get you started.  Just remember if you make a decision to eat less at night and stick to it you will see results.

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