Tips for the evenings.

[redmel]

Does anyone else REALLY struggle come the evening?

I can manage fantastically all through the day, junk food just doesnt bother me... I will eat porridge/weetabix/eggs on toast for breakfast all between 180-250 cals. Then lunch will be tuna pitta, omlette, salads, jackets...max is usually about 350cals.... Then in the evening we eat a healthy meal between 400-600cals usually, if the lower count I will follow with a yoghurt or choc bar.

The problem is once the kids are all in bed I cant keep out of the biscuits/crisps/crackers and cheese etc etc all sacky stuff!! It is driving me mad but I just can't seem to get a grip of it.

Has anyone got any tips or coping strategies.

 

[ApplySomePressure]

How about when the kids are in bed you go for a nice long walk either yourself or with a friend? That way you've distracted yourself for a while and even if you do eat once you get in youll have earned some calories from the walk?

 

[RaineyJane]

Yep this is a problem I have struggled with for years redmel! Back when i was steadily losing weight, as pressure sez, I went for long walks with a friend in the evenings. Really took my mind off it. Failing that, I just thought to myself - would I reallly feel better or worse if i ate that chocolate. Sometimes that didnt stop me but surprisingly a lot of the time it did. I think another important thing to remember is that if u do give in, remember that its only one day and you will get back on the wagon tomorrow.

Hope this helps a bit hun! I could also suggest going to the gym etc in the evenings but with children I dont know how feasible that is.

xo

 

[janey26]

I have solved this problem by going to bed !!! Not very social I know but easier now it's dark nights !! He he he

 

[LittleSis]

How about saving some cals so you can have a Cadburys Highlight or some Laughing Cow lite on a couple of Ryvita??

The other thing to do would take up a hobby you fancy doing.. Something crafty.. If your busy with that it should take your mind off, of eating..

 

[NatalieMeadows]

I go to bed too Janey!!

 

[Patchninja]

Just to help you kick the habit, why not just get rid of all that stuff out the house for a week or so? It won't do the rest of the family any harm to not eat cheese or the rubbish for a while.

 

[TTfan]

yeah I have the same problem, it can be terrible. I generally try to make sure I don't have any snacking food in the house (harder if you have kids I know though), keep myself busy or get the OH to shout at me. If it's really bad I go to bed or weirdly try to do some exercise as I find that for an hour or so after a workout my appetite is completely gone. Oh! And the other thing I do is tell myself that if I am still hungry in an hour then I can have something, it's just a silly mind trick, but once I've survived and hour I feel less like I want to give in.

 

[RachBlue]

I only cracked this by making the hardest (and best) decision of my diet/food related life: to eat my most filling and tasty meal at midday, and to have cereal and 2 cups of tea for supper.

We get indoctrinated from nursery age onwards to look forward to a big, filling, tasty evening meal, and yet on MOST diets it's impossible to make a totally satisfying brilliant meal that will be enough to stop us keep looking for that little bit more that will "hit the spot" and send us to bed totally full, happy, and not feeling even a wee bit deprived... :hmm:

And yes, I TOTALLY get that if you eat lunch at work, you may find this a hard one to work in, but changing my emphasis has cured what was really a lifelong habit of expecting so much from the evening meal that nothing, at least nothing much under 900cals, could hit that spot.

 

[NatalieMeadows]

I've been making snack bags up for my evenings containing broken up biscuits weight watchers ones or Jaffa cakes,broken up pink n whites fruit buttons grapes and a few tasty sweets like wine gums I make each bag up to 100kcals and do a few for the week so they are ready to grab when I feel the cravings coming in it really helps and it's like my own pic n mix bag

 

[redmel]

Oh Wow Rach I was just coming to read replies and ask a similar question....

I was pondering the old saying of breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper/peasant......

I was thinking whether something like that would work for me, but I am not a breakfast person really, although I do force myself to eat it... I also realise that it is days when I eat a full evening meal that I am most 'snacky' I actually didn't consider eating the main meal at lunchtime.....will definitely give this some thought.

Thank you to everyone for your replies, I really appreciate them unfortunately I have tried most of them but with not much success I was exercising once the two tots have gone to bed but by then I really am shattered and I have tried twice now now, but by the end of two weeks (both times) I begin to feel ill and drained so have decided to give that a miss for a while. Having no snacky food in the house isn't really an option with three skinny hungry boys and a 6'2" husband who needs to NOT lose weight. It ends up costing me a fortune down the local shops in snacks as and when, whereas if i do a full weeks shop at asda i can stock up on the smart price biscuits/crackers etc I really can't afford to do it any other way! And I am fine all day the junk doesnt bother me AT ALL it is literally the evening.

I can't afford gym or class fees, and long walks wouldn't be feasible.

Maybe I need to fit a lock.to the 'goody' cupboard and give the key to dh haha x

 

[thatlittlebit]

I was acutally going to post a topic about this, eating in the evenings. What i do is save lots of calories usually about 300 for the evning, which means I can have 2 bowls of cereal or 2 packets of cereal after dinner.

There's always people going, oh dont eat after 8 because your metabolism slows down but this is the only way to keep me going (if that makes sense_)

 

[iwillsoonbeslim]

When in a snacky mood I drink the whole of my litre bottle of water that I always keep filled, ready to drink (and also refill it the second I'm done...amazing how much more often you drink if it's ready to swig, but maybe wouldn't if you had to take it out the tap. Odd, I know!) and follow it with a lovely cup of tea (I account for 6 cuppas every day, sometimes I have more, sometimes less, but doing it this way makes tea 'free' in my head lol). If I STILL want somthing after all that water and cosy cuppa, then I clearly DO really want it, and then I'll have it and enjoy it, safe in the knowledge I've added to my water intake, and given myself a good chance at NOT eating it. Which, I'd say. 8/10 times, works, and I don't fancy anything after all that liquid.

I'm lucky though, I also have four dogs, no kids, and regularly grab them for an impromptu walk cos I've decided I fancy X to eat, and need to earn X extra calories to let me! lol

 

[RachBlue]

Maybe I need to fit a lock.to the 'goody' cupboard and give the key to dh haha x

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with that idea - wouldn't you do the same for him, if the boot was on the other foot?

That's precisely the tactic my guru Doc Gullo advocates, he also suggests doing something similar for kids' snacks, and I read online ages ago someone saying if they're too small for a key and box, to make them a fun "swag bag" they can keep their sweets in, that way you have a HUGE mental block in place about raiding their own bag, which doesn't exist if it's a free-for-all in the cupboards...

Whatever works is what matters here - and I wasn't brought up with constant access to sweets etc anyway, I don't think most of my generation were (and older than that certainly weren't), so having one little "tool" like a box or swag bag isn't going to scar them for life!

Another of his ideas is to steer them towards having stuff you don't like, that they do, whenever possible... :hmm:

Oh, and don't forget - if you're eating the stuff, they're not getting it - so be VERY careful how much of what they "need" is about them having access to the extras, and how much is your inner self-destructive munch-monster trying to keep its OWN ready access!

"I have treats in for my family" + "I eat the treats myself" = they don't get the bloomin' things in the first place!!

That, and/or you end up buying twice as many...

When in a snacky mood I drink the whole of my litre bottle of water that I always keep filled, ready to drink (and also refill it the second I'm done...amazing how much more often you drink if it's ready to swig, but maybe wouldn't if you had to take it out the tap. Odd, I know!) and follow it with a lovely cup of tea (I account for 6 cuppas every day, sometimes I have more, sometimes less, but doing it this way makes tea 'free' in my head lol).

I absolutely second that - I spent a few quid to buy nice water bottles to have everywhere I sit, it really makes all the difference! :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[Morrigan]

I don't have anything helpful to add but I have been reading this thread with interest at the evening is my problem time too. I tend to stockpile large amounts of calories for the evening as I'm so frightened of not having anything left when I really need it! Part of the journey has been learning to not be afraid to eat earlier in the day and learn to deal with hunger in the evening.

 

[NatalieMeadows]

I'm the same Morrigan I always make sure I have 200 left at night as when I don't I overeat!

 

[Pomooky125]

Yep, I do this too! My food is so healthy throughout the day - it wouldn't enter my mind to eat anything like a biscuit or chocolate etc. After dinner though, eeeek!, I can hoover up the whole kitchen.

The idea of lunch being the main meal is really interesting. I often have a snack at lunch time with a view to an interesting dinner but still pig out straight after I have washed up!

I feel really hard done by if I don't have a full to brimming evening meal and then carry on some more as well. I may give this a go, if only to break the nasty habit of binging after dinner that I have developed.

I have also done the early night routine. This works a treat but with a young teen in the house, it would be rather harsh to leave him on his tod!

Pomooky XXX