Stopping Late-Night Eating Urges

They say the first step is admitting you have a problem.

Guess what? I have a problem. I like to eat.

So what? Everyone likes to eat, right? Yeah, but I really like it, and it's a problem.

I'm fine during the day at work. I'm fine because I don't bring any extra food. I don't have any snacks in my desk drawer. Very rarely do people bring donuts or cake for the group to enjoy. So it's a relatively safe environment for me.

But when I get home? Now that's a different story. I'll have a snack when I get home from work. Then we'll eat dinner. Almost immediately after dinner I'll start looking for something else, usually something sweet. The evening continues like that. Almost every hour I'll find myself in the kitchen getting something else to eat. It's almost an out-of-body experience. I don't remember getting up; I don't remember going into the kitchen. But by the end of the evening, I've consumed probably an extra 600 to 1,000 calories that I didn't need.

The nutritionist I visited with recently said that I'm probably not getting enough food during the day and I'm hungry when I get home. Maybe, but I don't think so. I very rarely feel hungry at night. It's just habit or boredom that causes me to do this. I have to break this habit.

The frustrating thing is that the weight is still slowly coming off. I'm at the end of my belt, and I'm about to have to buy new jeans. But I wonder where I would be if I'd cut out the evening snacking before now.

So I'm stopping this, and I'm stopping it now. I have instituted a rule: No eating after dinner. No matter what. I have to say "after dinner" because if I say "no eating after 7" then I'll cram until then. So dinner it is. I'll eat my good, healthy, sensible dinner and then I'm done.

Is this doable? Is it maintainable? I think so. I do well with concrete rules. I've done it before with no sodas. Which, by the way, I've totally gotten away from. I told myself that one diet soda a day wouldn't be so bad, and I've totally let it get out of control again. So I'm back on that rule, too.

Here are some of my rules:

1. No sodas.
2. No eating after dinner.
3. Exercise every weekday morning, at least 30 minutes of cardio.
4. Drink at least 64 ounces of water.
5. Track my food.

No sodas started Monday. No eating after dinner started Tuesday. Exercise has been going steady for a few weeks now. Last Friday I met with the trainer and added in some weight lifting (which I loved, by the way). I couldn't believe the amount of energy I had Friday morning. I felt like I was about to jump out of my skin. That is definitely something I could get used to.

Drinking water? I've been doing that for a long time. It's not as easy on the weekends, but I usually get it in. But then there's tracking my food. I absolutely hate tracking my food. But it really goes hand in hand with not eating in the evenings. I have to think that if I have to write it down (or search for it online), I'm less likely to eat it.

In a follow-up consultation with Keri Glassman that I had a few weeks ago, we talked about snacking at night. She suggested that I find something else to do when those urges to explore the kitchen pop up. We came up with a few ideas. I've had success with reading a book or Bible study and prayer. She also suggested exercise. I don't really like exercising at night, just for that energy boost I mentioned earlier, but it's a good idea. I suggested chewing gum, but she wasn't a fan of that idea as much. Probably the best idea is to go to bed. Waking up at 4:45 every morning makes me pretty tired by the evening. Instead of trying to finish that TV show, why not just go to sleep? Do you have any other tips or ideas?

Like all life changes, it will take time. But I'm pretty confident that if I keep up with these "rules," I'll really start to see some significant changes.

After decades of dieting only to gain it back, two That's Fit readers have decided to finally rethink their relationship with food and exercise over the next year to move toward a lifetime of fulfilling, healthy living. Come by every week as Ashley and Lee share their successes and challenges as they tip the scale.