I eat really good all day and then will get these cravings for $hit food at night. I can't seem to stop them, any suggestions. Thanks guys.

eat more healthy foods!

how many calories are you taking in, and whats your weight/height?

You might wanna plan a meal for like 2hrs before you go to bed... Maybe whey powder in water..

I did that for a few weeks and never went to sleep hungry again... Didnt seem to hurt progress either.

eat more healthy foods!

how many calories are you taking in, and whats your weight/height?

approx. 2000 kcals/day
6'1 175

Well, this stuff is more about psychological thing, sometimes this tragedy happens to me when I'm eating too less calories than my body needs, sometimes we tend to eat bad foods at night because of stress level..
To cure this problem, I usually eat a pretty big midafternoon snack, let's say maybe 350-400 calories. (which is about 4-5 PM). Then I'll have something light at 6-7 PM, maybe just skim milk or protein shake, or maybe just a can of tuna. Then I'll go to bed at 8PM. This works for me, hope it helps you... :cool:

Green leafy veggies and sugar free jello. The veggies fill you up like crazy and they are calorically dirt cheap for their volume. Then you have little bit of sugar free jello to leave a nice sugary taste in your mouth and you're good to go. Just a little mind trick I use on myself.

Along these lines would it cause any problems to have a protein shake 2 hours before bed? Would the protein metabolize into fat?

I have the same problem, I have the evening munchies and cottage cheese doesn't do it for me.

This by far is the worst part of my diet, evening time. Shame on me I just had a slice of chocolate pie, I need to find find something better.

Any ideas appreciated

rr

try upping your calories 200-300/day(you should only be losing 1-2lbs a week), make sure you are getting most of your carbs from vegies and fruit, make sure you are getting a good lean protein source every 3 hours as well as fruit/vegies with as many meals as possible, have a GOOD breakfast! also make sure you are getting enough carbs/protein around your workout

I eat really good all day and then will get these cravings for $hit food at night. I can't seem to stop them, any suggestions. Thanks guys.

This sounds counter-intuitive, but it's true and has been scietifically proven:

Get the junk food you crave. Open it up. Smell it for about 5 minutes. Don't eat it. Don't even put it in your mouth. As hellish as this sounds, it works. You will no longer crave it. Your brain will forget about it and you can get on with your night without cravings.

Think about it, how many times have you walked passed a restuarant, a barbeque, or a candy store, and smelled the wonderful fumes? But you didn't go eat the stuff, even though you were drooling at the mouth to. In a few minutes, you forgot about it and no longer craved it. Part of the brain's satiation mechanism is actually smell. Your brain gets the scent signals, and actually starts to think it ate it. Your smell and taste scences are very closely linked.

So, in this case, sniffing works, just as long as it's not glue!

Nobody's said it yet... take in more water. When cravings hit me, I drink water. It's only a temporary "place-holder", and since the problem is at night, you can help stave off the cravings until bedtime with water in your stomach.

I second the water.

Also, go to bed earlier. Your judgement and willpower wear down when you get too tired, and staying up late watching TV is a guaranteed ticket to empty calories. You can't eat if you're asleep, and you need lots of sleep to get in shape, too.

A lot of good advice here which I'd try before doing what I used to do a lot and now do occasionally, which was fill up on water and heathy food (I'd still have a craving for something sweet) then have a small amount of the food you are craving. Usually if I ate 1 square of chocolate when I was already full, that would do it. The trick (for me) is to make sure you are not actually hungry.

Don't be afraid to bust out a chicken breast and veggies before bed if necessary.

Basically when I do the same thing now, I substituted the chocolate for 'Kashi Go Lean Crunch', which is sweet, but I guess better than chocolate.

I like the smelling it idea. I might try that because I do tend to get cravings when I'm still full - sometimes for heathy stuff, but that would still put me over my desired cal intake. Since I'm bulking now I usually give in, but I'm definitely curious to see if it would work for me.

Cravings at night are the worst. I hope you dont have my problem - my fiancee LOVES to snack at night. So, the other night I'd just finished my workout and pwo shake and she decides to make some toast with nutella... or the other night she grabbed a bag of spicey shrimp chips (my fave chips)... it's just not fair to tempt a guy like that.

I gotta keep grabbing my stomach fat to remind myself not to give in... it's tough! (I find my stomach fat gives me a lot of motivation though - when I am tired on the bike and I have almost talked myself into quitting I grab my stomach fat and push a little harder)

I find my stomach fat gives me a lot of motivation though - when I am tired on the bike and I have almost talked myself into quitting I grab my stomach fat and push a little harder

Excellent advice. I've done this a few times in frustration... grab a handful of fat in a problem area, then look at that snack item. Guaranteed to be less attractive.

My idea of a cheat meal is having a packet of ramen noodles. 380 calories, eek! That's 1/2 of my total daily caloric intake.

My idea of a cheat meal is having a packet of ramen noodles. 380 calories, eek! That's 1/2 of my total daily caloric intake.

Then you need to re-evaluate your diet. That is extremely low and unhealthy.

Nobody's said it yet... take in more water. When cravings hit me, I drink water. It's only a temporary "place-holder", and since the problem is at night, you can help stave off the cravings until bedtime with water in your stomach.

Just wanted to throw my $.02 in on the water...

Maybe it helps fight hunger cravings for some (although I don't know how, it doesn't remotely work for me). However, he's claiming that he has cravings for junk food. I get cravings for junk food at times even when I am already full. It's a different issue. The only way to fight the craving for junk food is discipline. Other than that, there are really no ways except for a "healthier" option.

I personally satisfy a lot of my "junk" cravings with Choc Chip rices cakes topped with Natural Peanut Butter and Bananas. It comes out to about 400 calories (500 cals if you have skim milk too). I love it and while it's not the best, it sure is better than eating cookies/cake/brownies, etc.

Then you need to re-evaluate your diet. That is extremely low and unhealthy.
HA! It's been working for me; I was at 245 around september 11 and now i'm at 221, i'd say its working out just dandy :lol:

HA! It's been working for me; I was at 245 around september 11 and now i'm at 221, i'd say its working out just dandy :lol:

That's wonderful. The people starving in Somalia are skinnier than anyone here. Does it mean they're healthy?

Suit yourself. Remember, you're not looking to lose "weight", you're looking to lose "fat"...

HA! It's been working for me; I was at 245 around september 11 and now i'm at 221, i'd say its working out just dandy :lol:

Yay! A whooping 24lbs in little over a month...

Makes me wonder how much of it was fat, and how your metabolism is doing right about now. :confused:

Plus you cant keep that up forever... As soon as you have a week or two of regular eating watch how the scale goes back up through the roof.

Not trying to bash here, but read a little more and educate yourself in what you're doing so you dont end up at the same place you started or worse.

:gl:

yeah you can take the "working for me" too literally
of course eating less than 1000calories a day is going to "work" but there are some basic things that all humans need (such at at least 1500-1800calories per day) for basic living, you cant avoid this, no one can avoid this
when people say "it works for me" you can say this with things like.... low-vs-high GI post-workout, heavy whipping cream, pre-fatigue training, heavy training, etc.... but NOT starving yourself
start eating more or you WILL regret it later

when people say "it works for me" you can say this with things like.... low-vs-high GI post-workout, heavy whipping cream, pre-fatigue training, heavy training, etc....

You can say what you like, doesn't mean it is true. I guess it depends on your definition of 'working for me'. If all you want to do is loose 24 lb on a scale in 1 month - it worked. If all you want to do is feel like you had a good workout or ate well afterwards, there are lots of things you can do and many 'work' in that you will get stronger, leaner etc.. Question is are they the optimum way (or at least close) of achieving your goals?

Whoa, didn't expect everybody to jump at my throat! Thing is, I hate exercising, so with a relatively sedentary lifestyle the real way to lose weight is to cut calories.

Makes me wonder how much of it was fat, and how your metabolism is doing right about now.

Worst case, 1/4 of the weight people lose is lean mass. There are some studies showing that can be limited with weight training. On the other hand, fat people have proportionally more lean mass to lose.

And metabolism doesn't actually change all that much -- all effects from even crash dieting are on the order of 10% (beyond reduced energy needs due to mass loss). It goes back to normal after about a month of maintenance eating. The thinking about people regaining their lost weight because of a slowed down metabolism isn't supported by the evidence. A much better explanation comes from set-point theory.

My idea of a cheat meal is having a packet of ramen noodles. 380 calories, eek! That's 1/2 of my total daily caloric intake.


Holy crap
Please for your own benefit read the nutrition FAQ here
Also if you need someone to help guide you or whatever feel free to PM me but eating 750 ish calories a day is going to drive your metabolism into the ground and turn you into nothing but bones and and a bunch of hanging loose skin.

Whoa, didn't expect everybody to jump at my throat! Thing is, I hate exercising, so with a relatively sedentary lifestyle the real way to lose weight is to cut calories.

Not jumping at your throat, just advising you to a better way of loosing weight and keeping it off..

Sooner or later you're going to have to exercise if you want to keep loosing weight or maintain... You cant live on 750 cals for the rest of your life.

And you're just 19, what are you going to do when you're in your 30's and your metabolism starts to slow down??? Cut down to 300cals??

Just think about it... Goodluck with whatever you decide to do.

You can say what you like, doesn't mean it is true. I guess it depends on your definition of 'working for me'. If all you want to do is loose 24 lb on a scale in 1 month - it worked. If all you want to do is feel like you had a good workout or ate well afterwards, there are lots of things you can do and many 'work' in that you will get stronger, leaner etc.. Question is are they the optimum way (or at least close) of achieving your goals?
when we are talking about someone eating less than 1000 calories a day, i dont think its good to give any excuse for them to continue that, because it will be very harmful to their body, its worse than just "not optimal" its damaging, and when it comes to people starving themselves, i dont kid around!

when we are talking about someone eating less than 1000 calories a day, i dont think its good to give any excuse for them to continue that, because it will be very harmful to their body, its worse than just "not optimal" its damaging, and when it comes to people starving themselves, i dont kid around!


Good reply. Hopefully Themactor will take note.