Handling Nighttime Munchies!

If you're going to be successful on this program, you have to do a whole lot of analyzing and studying of you own habits.  That is DEFINITELY true. 

You can't just say "I'm going to follow this" and not think about it.  You SHOULD think about it.  You should analyze your own habits, and determine your problem areas, and work on them....little by little.

For instance, do you have a problem with nighttime eating?  Watching TV with your family, do you feel an almost overwhelming desire to eat something?  ANYTHING?

You're not alone. This is a very common situation and one we've all fought.  The problem is, you've established HABITS around that time of day, that situation, even that specific chair you sit in and what you're watching on TV!  Everything works together in your brain, so that the second you sit down and it's 8 pm and your favorite show comes on, your brain immediately starts demanding you eat whatever your favorite goodie was that you used to eat at this point in time.  Or for that matter, ANY goodie. 

So how do you STOP that behavior? 


It's really quite simple....and yet it's not easy to do, and it takes T-I-M-E.  (you didn't want to hear that, right?  I don't blame you LOL).  But as fast as this program works, the 'habit changing' part DOES take time.  And patience.  With YOURSELF. 

You must BREAK those connections that established that habit.  And make NEW connections instead, around a HEALTHIER habit.

For instance....if you always ate "X" off program food when sitting in that chair watching that show, tonight make an effort to PLAN your MF evening snack 'instead', for that period of time, and/or have a cup of herb tea with it. 
There are lots and lots of wonderful, delicious herb teas out there....in flavors from peach to blueberry to almost everything in between.  Try different ones until you find a favorite...then 'make a big deal' out of heating the water for your tea, using a pretty teacup and saucer, etc. 
And if you're having an MF meal at the same time, break it down into small pieces, cut it up, or put it in a tiny custard cup and use a small spoon.....a little plastic spoon works wonders sometimes for me.  The smaller, the better....so you can enjoy each tiny little morsel and take your TIME with it.

BANISH all the off program munchies from your sight.....believe me, your family doesn't need them, either.  If they must eat something, find something that you can 'take or leave', that doesn't really make you feel deprived.  If they love those green jellyfish crackers or whatever and you could care less, FINE, then they 'stay'.  On the other hand, if they are insistent in having something dangerous for you, I would sit down and have a long heart-to-heart with them. You'll usually find that the people who love you UNDERSTAND and will have that treat 'elsewhere' during the day....OUT OF YOUR SIGHT.  They don't 'have' to munch it in front of you!

I've been guilty of practically STRANGLING my poor DH when he gets to crunching his pretzels.  UGH.  There's just something about the way he eats them, he makes so much NOISE with them, rustles the bag, shakes the bag, etc. etc. 

I had to have a long talk with him to get him to STOP.  He eats them upstairs now, when he's on his computer.  But in front of me?  He has something else. 
Bottom line - it helps to have them substitute some goodie that isn't going to set your TEETH on edge.  And they should keep it OUT OF SIGHT, in a drawer somewhere, not on the kitchen counter where you have to stare at it, and for pete's sakes.

Oh - and by the way, THEY can SERVE THEMSELVES, you shouldn't be waiting on everyone.  Even a 6 year old can handle getting an apple out of the refrigerator, right? 

Have a big container (preferably a half-gallon or gallon size) of pure, fresh, clean cold WATER at your elbow, along with your water glass.  Sip from it all night long.  Yes, you'll be in the bathroom a lot...this is a GIVEN on this program, folks.....it goes with the territory, and every time you pee, you can tell yourself "I'm losing FAT", because guess what?  You very well could be.  Fat doesn't just come 'out' via a bowel movement, you know.  It's everywhere....in the molecules of whatever we 'eliminate'.  (without putting too fine a point on it LOL). 

Every time you go to the bathroom, it's a GOOD thing.  Don't look at it as a hardship. It's a wonderful thing....!  Because you're losing weight!

Keep sipping that water and plan 'when' you want your final MF evening snack.  For me, I make it last thing at night just before I go to bed, so that I won't go to bed on an empty stomach and have to listen to my stomach growl.  It prevents nighttime sleep-eating, too LOL.....(when I was a kid I did this all the time!  I raided the refrigerator at night, half asleep, because it was the only time it wasn't supervised LOL). 
But you decide.  For you, you might be better off having it earlier.  I don't know.  Everyone's different...experiment to see what works best for you.

Do NOT, repeat NOT look at the food commercials.  Get up and go to the bathroom.  Put your head down and write out your food log for tomorrow.  Get yourself an iPad or a laptop and surf this website.  Do whatever you have to do to NOT stare at the screen during those times.  (and remind yourself that a). the food doesn't REALLY look like that when you order it, and b). those beautiful skinny women shown eating it in real life wouldn't TOUCH the stuff LOL).

I found, for the first, oh, 6-8 MONTHS on this program, that having my laptop in my lap at night, a cup of herb tea at my side along with my ever-present water glass, and surfing this website, reading and commenting on blogs, writing my own blog, surfing through the forum posts, etc. all helped KEEP ME BUSY and my mind occupied so that I could make it easily through the night!  I'd look up and suddenly it would be close to 9 pm.

Oh....that's another thing.  Ever consider going to bed earlier? 

Yes, SERIOUSLY!  What's wrong with going to bed early?  Not a thing!  In fact, you may find you get up 'wide eyed and bushy tailed' the next morning, because you've actually gotten enough SLEEP!  And what are you missing?  You can record your favorite shows if you really want to see them, and watch them the next night (BEFORE 9 pm).  You can avoid getting overtired and thinking 'I need something to eat' when in fact what you need is REST.  You can re-establish a decent body clock timeframe so that you're not ready to KILL when that stupid alarm goes off in the morning....always way too early, it seems, right?

You might even be able to (gasp) get up EARLIER....and get some exercise in first thing in the morning!  What a concept!  You could simply go for a walk around the block!  The air is crisp and clear first thing in the morning, it's quiet, and if you do your exercise earlier in the day, it's my personal opinion that your metabolism is raised LONGER throughout the rest of the day versus working out later (the actual experts are divided on this subject).

Bottom line, you'll have GOTTEN IT DONE.  What a great way to start your day!  You don't have to worry about exercising, because you've DONE it already!  Woohoo!

So....my feeling is 'early to bed, early to rise, makes a person healthy, wealthy, wise....and SLIM!'  LOL! 

Find what works for YOU.  You may not be as nuts as I am, 9 pm IS rather early LOL....so make it 9:30, or 10 pm.  Whatever you decide, stick with it, your body likes the routine. 

You don't have to be a slave to the munchies at night.  Little by little, you can CHANGE those unhealthy habits.  You start with substitutions....like I said, having herb tea and/or your MF snack 'instead'....then eventually you might 'graduate' to just having a glass of water next to your favorite chair or the couch when you watch TV.  You don't HAVE to stuff your face while watching TV, you know.  It's NOT a pre-requisite.  No matter how long you've been behaving that way, you CAN undo the habit and develop some good habits instead!

Give it a try tonight.  One step at a time.  One night at a time.  Build on your successes....put a gold star on your calendar when you make it through OP tonight.
And tomorrow, just repeat!  Pretty soon you'll realize that you've totally CHANGED what used to be an unhealthy habit into a good one!