Strategies for Night Time Eating

I was a constant night time eater.  Sitting in front of the TV made me so happy at nights.  Now I am realizing how lost  I am!  I find myself walking in and out of the kitchen a million times!! 

Anyone suggest how to curb this?  This can definitely go on for hours for me!

 I'm a knitter and I find that this really helps keep my hands busy.  Is there anything you are interested in that you can do in front of the tv to keep you quasi occupied?  If all else fails, munch on ice chips?

I was a nite time eater too, I worked the afternoon shift, so nite time was my time to eat and watch TV, I was lost at first, but I started drinking protein drinks, and keeping myself busy, by playing games on computer or doing word search puzzles, or drink my protein drink and go to bed early lol. Now I don't want to eat at nite after my dinner, I will have my sleepy time tea and go to bed.. I hope this help some....

You have made the really important first big step - recognising it is an issueand WANTING to make changes! 

My solution (for whatever it's worth) was to talk it over with my family and ask for suggestions as to how to help me manage this.  The recommendation was for us to get away from the floor in the house where the kitchen was, and watch TV in another room - in our case in a bedroom or in the basement.  Everyone has been great about this.  Some nights I just announce that I'm having trouble and I need to go somewhere else, and I either have someone who joins me - or I fend for myself.  Either way, it's made a really big difference.  And on those problem nights I turn off the volume on the commercials, which for some reason really helps push back the "get to the kitchen" feeling.

Claire

It is a habit, probably a long used habit (I have the same problem)  Being aware you are not hungry and it is simply a habit is the first step.  Doing something other than watching TV at night would help, if you can think of any other activity for a while might help break this habit.  That or as was suggested finding somthing to do while you are watching tv, sipping on water, crunching sonme ice chips, the idea is to occupy that mind space with an alternative.

Our eatting habits developed over our lifetime we cannot change them overnight and the surgery is simply a tool to help us.  We still have hard work to do.  Its really great you have identified that this is a trigger to eat for you, like I said that is the first step, and that is a big first step Now onto overcoming that bad habit and replacing it with a positive one.

You can do it~We all can do it.

Cheers

Perhaps a change in the media you consume might help?  My hubby and I really enjoy the evenings we spend with him as DJ, playing music for us both that we both like.  (I could be the DJ if I wanted to be, but we just sort of fell into the pattern of him doing it, and it's fun and romantic and we talk and laugh and sing along and have fun.)

Before I was married and lived alone, I also distracted myself by either playing music on my music player or computer, cranking it up, singing along, sometimes even dancing (shh, don't tell anyone).  Heck, when you're alone, no one can see you be totally embarrassing. :)

Also, sometimes when I'm eating at night it's because I'm bored, or even tired.  So I "distract" myself by taking a nap or going to bed early.

First off - how are you doing?  I hope that your recovery is going better.

This night time eating is a big struggle for me too - I have lots of strategies that I try:
1. knit
2. do nails
3. go to bed
4. go to value village and shop for new clothes (my personal fav)
5. call someone/ talk on the phone.

I think the home page for OH has a 50 things to do instead of snacking - look at that list.  The more things you can try the better - no one thing will work all the time.

I wish I could tell you that these work great and I've never had a problem - but truth is this is a big struggle for me.  I'm 15 months post op.

When you do have something that wasn't in your plan - don't get down on yourself.  Keep working on it.

And walking in and out of the kitchen a million times - counts as exercise :)
 

I was like this too.  A trick I use is to brush my teeth.  Once you have the minty taste in your mouth you don't want to eat anything right away. I do needle work and often do a sudoku or other puzzle when I watch TV.

I don't know if you have the same restrictions as RNY but I try to drink more in the evening. I am a real stickler to the no eating and drinking rule, so it helps me stay on track because if I am drinking water or tea I won't eat anything within 40 minutes of doing so.
Sometimes I also have gum or sugar free candy, those might depend on what is going on around me. What the sugar free candy though, it gives me more gas. I mean hard ones that aren't too many calories, not sugar free chocolates.