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Does any of the following sound familiar?
You wake up in the morning full of resolve. “I will NOT pig out on chocolate again tonight. My new healthy habit starts TODAY”.
However, by the end of the day chocolate is the only thing on your mind. You cant stop thinking about it. “Just one wont hurt, will it? I will definitely stop at one this time”.
An hour later and the whole packet is gone, “How the hell did that happen?” you ask yourself.
Its an all too common scenario for my coaching clients, meaning that they take 2 steps forward and 2 steps back on the journey to their goal.
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Below are some tips to help curb your night time over-eating habit
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Physical tips
1) (Mostly) Eat filling meals that manage your blood sugar levels.
Hunger is never helpful and neither is low blood sugar (after a crash).
When you crave a high carb hit, resist the urge and feed yourself with a balanced meal instead. I know this will be tough at first, but do it knowing that you are balancing out your blood sugar levels, hence eventually reducing the craving.
- See my portion plate video lesson for guidelines on how to build the perfect (and easy) balanced meal
- **Also see my 4 part series on managing your blood sugar for health and weight management
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2) Eat less calories earlier in the day, to “save calories” for the end of the day.
Then allow yourself to have XXX calories of chocolate (or insert your choice) with NO feelings of guilt, restriction, shame or otherwise.
Sometimes to simply allow yourself to eat it is enough to stop the bingeing (and sometimes not).
Contrary to popular belief, eating at night time will NOT result in automatic weight gain. Your body cant tell the time, its the total amount you eat over the course of the day that’s important.
Please feel free to eat when quite hungry and stop when satisfied, even if it means breaking the so called “rules” (Ie – eating your first meal later in the day)
Please test and measure this one for yourself. If you find yourself eating more at the end of the day then give this one a miss.
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3) Neutralise your taste buds with green tea, mints or brushing your teeth etc.
** However, please do this in conjunction with the below emotional tip, not instead of.
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4) Go to sleep earlier.
Couldn’t we all do with some more quality sleep?
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5) Get a new hobby
Is eating or drinking whilst watching TV or scrolling social media your night time hobby?
Your way to unwind, entertain yourself, even feel fulfilled. Maybe its time you got a new hobby. One that serves you in a healthier way.
I cant tell you what to choose as your new hobby, but its something to think about isn’t it?
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Environmental tips
Do you think the slim people back in the 50’s and 60’s had way more will power than we do now?
Of course not, but the environment they lived in looked a whole lot different.
Wherever possible make it convenient to choose the healthier option – cut up veg sticks, packet salads, packaged up leftover meals etc.
Make it difficult to choose the poor option. Put your temptation items out of sight, out of reach or don’t even buy them at all in the weekly shop.
You cant eat what’s not available.
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Motivational tips
1) Focus on a NOW benefit, not a “sometime in the future” benefit.
Example –
I am NOT going to eat or drink the XXXX, so I will feel proud of myself when my head hits the pillow tonight and / or I will feel light and energetic first thing tomorrow morning.
Not because I might lose weight or be healthier at some random stage in the future.
I talk about this tip and more in the video below.
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2) Repeat a mantra to yourself
- This is my new normal
- This (good habit) is just what I do now
- I no longer choose to eat to avoid my feelings
- I will create my life with intention, not out of habit
Mantra – – This (good habit) is just what I do now
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Emotional tips
1) Know that you are consuming XXX for a reason, FOR A PAYOFF.
Know that it does NOT make you weak, bad or any other horrible emotional term you might come up with to call yourself. Know that it is SO common and there are MANY OTHER PEOPLE that do this also.
Know that it is usually to avoid a feeling of discomfort and / or to release some pressure that has built up.
After all, you have used willpower all day on the little decisions, the brain power, the arguments, the worrying, the FEELINGS, the stress.
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Solutions..
1a) Aim to cut down on the amount of willpower you need throughout the day.
- Less decisions
- Less sweating the small stuff
- More help.
- More passion, purpose and self care where possible
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1b) Aim to determine what your pay off is and come up with a healthier option.
Example –
Wine after work can be used to de-stress and STOP the monkey mind at the end of the day.
If you were to simply tell yourself to drink a green tea instead (or similar “healthy” advice), this does NOT address the issue. It can possibly makes it worse because now you feel like a failure.
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I urge you to come up with a list of 20 other actions / habits that give you the same de-stress pay off. Go old school and write them down with pen and paper.
Then test those things out over a period of time. Knowing that it will take some practice and not expecting perfect results in 1 week.
Why 20 ideas ?
This forces you to get a little creative and come up with some out of the box ideas.
** Also see – Improve your weakest link
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Last VERY IMPORTANT note.
You MUST stop with the ALL or NOTHING thinking.
“Oh well, I’ve blown it now, I may as well eat loads more crap and start again tomorrow”
NO. NO. NO.
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I cannot stress this enough. You don’t get a clean slate the next day.
Everything you consume today affects how you look and feel tomorrow (and the next day and so on)
If you eat 300 calories of unplanned chocolate, it makes NO sense to exacerbate it by eating 900 more calories.
Your body is more like a bank account where everything IN and OUT counts.
Its not a test that you either PASS or FAIL.
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I would LOVE you to choose 1 or 2 of the above options and test out how they go for you.
I would love to hear how it all goes over on my Facebook page.
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Would you like more help and coaching with your health and fitness goals?
Find out how I can help you here >> WORK WITH ME
Chriss