How Do You Stop Late Night Eating?

I Have four children myself,from ten months to eight years old, and have had the same problem. Some helpful tips that have worked for me are eating dinner later, say six or seven o'clock instead of four or five, which helps you to last until bed time. Secondly, when a late night craving hits I will grab a stick of my always near-by sugar-free gum, and with my mouth chewing away, I tend to forget about the thought of snacking. Lastly, when the two previous ideas just don't cut it, I take myself, as far away from the kitchen as I can- read a book in my bedroom, play with my kids in their room, ect...Hopefully this will help.Good luck!

I don't. I work it into my calorie budget.

1. Make yourself a priority.
2. If the house isn't straightened, oh well. It'll get messy again anyway - you're just already there.
3. Get your 5 year old involved in taking care of him/herself - get dressed, brush teeth, clean up toys, etc.
4. Get your other half involved in day to day chores and/or shopping and/or taking care of the kids to relieve the pressure on you to get it all done by yourself. If you cook, he does the dishes. If you do laundry, he folds, etc.
5. Cook in bulk and freeze in portions. Instead of making dinner for just that night, make it for several nights and freeze left overs in portions. Do this several nights or weekends in a row, and you'll have many meals ready to go.
6. Use paper plates some nights.
7. Stock the house with healthy snacks so when you're hungry late at night, you grab a piece of fruit.
8. Get your portions in check and follow the food pyramid guidelines for healthy eating.
9. When you're ready, start tracking your food intake and see where your biggest calorie busters are coming from.
10. Limit take out to 1-2 times/month.
11. Plan ahead as much as possible-what foods you'll eat, when you'll shop (on the way to picking up the kids from day care, for example), etc.
12. Take a break from the household duties now and then and do something for just you.
13. Get to bed earlier to get more and better sleep. For me, this is one of the biggest contributors to me eating poorly. If I get great sleep, it's so much easier to make healthier choices and I'm not as hungry through out the day. Lack of sleep not only makes be a grouchy bear, but I want to eat high calorie foods. I have to work extra hard to fight that want.
14. Join a weight loss program that works for you. I personally really like weight watchers. I've learned that I can eat nearly anything with planning and portion control. I like the group meetings, as I learn something new all the time and it's very supportive. Depending on where you work, they may have a program at your work place.
15. Start small. Make one change at a time and realize that to change your late night habits probably requires changes in other parts of your life first. It's all a domino affect and one change builds on another.

Good luck!

I think you have some denial and victim hood going on here. You obviously do have time to buy and eat food, otherwise you would be starving and skinny. You choose to wait until the evening to eat, then conveniently you are not hungry in the morning, or even at mid day, if you were believe me you would eat.
My questions for you are:
Why are you not eating any meals with your children? Do they ever see their mother eat? In the time you have alone why can't you prepare some healthy meals for work for the following day? As simple as a turkey sandwich on whole wheat with an apple or orange and some pretzels.
Do you exercise at all?
I think until you address why you choose to eat alone and all your calories at one time, you are not likely to change your behavior; I don't buy it's because you forget.
My advice is to, even when you binge at night, make yourself in the morning eat a bowl of cereal and a banana with skim milk (should take all of two minutes to prep and 3 to eat) eat lunch that you prepped the night before, eat dinner(portions count more than what you are eating) with your kids. You may find you are too full to eat at night.
Find some way to exercise every day, so you burn a minimum of 200 -300kcals per day (approx 2-3 miles of walking--yes I know you don't have time, but somehow lots of people find this time to workout daily). I have a friend who goes to school full time, has two kids, a husband, and yet finds time to eat healthy and train 35-55 miles a week for a marathon. Currently you are consuming 2,061 K cals per day to maintain your weight; reduce this to 1752 K cals, with the added exercise you should lose a pound or so a week.
Sorry if this sounded harsh, but I feel as if you need to be woken up from your pity party.

It's something I struggle myself at times. My usual rule is no eating after 11PM, period. Nothing, even my healthy foods like cottage cheese, veggies or nuts. That keeps me in check. It's a matter of willpower!

Good advice, Sara. I agree with you. Eating dinner later in the evening, say 7-ish, helps to carry you through the rest of the eveing. Make it light, though, maybe a small amount of protein, some veggies and a couple of AkMak crackers. Don't forget your supplements for added protection..

I used to have a problem eating late as well (big dinners at 10pm or later). But I've stopped doing that. I think what worked for me are:

- Eat breakfast. It's the most important meal of the day.
- Eat a big lunch. This will sustain you for the rest of the day. Force yourself to eat a big lunch.
- Eat a snack between 3-5pm at WORK. This will effectively "ruin" your appetite for dinner.
- If you must eat dinner, eat a small dinner at 7-8pm.
- Go to bed early to avoid staying up late. I tend to eat in 3-4 hr intervals. So if I go to bed early, I beat the hunger.
- If you do eat past 9pm, I recommend soup. It "tricks" your stomache into thinking it's full, but you really just drank a bunch of water.

After three weeks of this, I don't eat late any more even if I stay up past midnight. The first two weeks were the worst! But now, the idea of eating a big dinner actually makes me feel sick. It's also additive. Nutritionists and body builders always say you should have a big breakfast, sensible lunch and light dinner. If you essentially skip dinner, you wake up really hungry. As a result, you flip your diet so your meal sizes start off big in the morning and end small in the evening.