evening and nighttime cravings - help !

I have stalled and after tracking for a while on My Fitness Pall, it is certainly my old pattern of snacking at night.  I wish I could lock up the kitchen after a certain time or something.  We have dinner at 5 PM which is heavily protein meat.  But after that I usually have a protein pudding or shake which does nothing to satisfy me.  I suppose I need to go back to hard-boiled eggs or some other form of denser protein. (?)  This is had got to be head hunger and old patterns coming back - that is what I am thinking.  I feel hunger for sure but pre-surgery I ate and ate in the evening and now I see that happening again (I do have to wait a few hours between food) And I want carbs of course but have mostly kept my daily carbs to 50 or below,

Anyone else have this issue and how did you deal with it?

I don't usually have the late night cravings but during the week when I'm at work, I tend to get that afternoon craving a couple hours after lunch so I discovered iced coffee with sugar free flavored syrup. I've been making my own Starbucks version using their blonde blend (4 calories), sugar free flavored syrup & fat free mocha mix. At 35 calories & 3 grams of carbs, I can't beat that.
If you feel you really need something to snack on at night, maybe try to find something small & either salty or sweet depending on your cravings.
For salty, I like either a piece of cheese or 1/2 serving of Blue Diamond Habanero BBQ almonds. They are bold enough in flavor to satisfy me. Sweet? That would be iced coffee (decaf) or maybe a protein shake. I discovered a couple decadent flavors from syntrax... Mint Cookie & Double Stuft Cookie.
Hopefully others can chime in with some suggestions too.
Good luck!

 Those Blue Diamond Habanero BBQ almonds are the BEST!  I have them as a snack very often.  I also like the cheese for salty and make a frico with a 4 cheese mix (asiago, provolone, mozzerella, parmasean.  Sometimes I have both of these (less almonds of course) as my evening snack.  Very satisfying.

Terry, is the frico like a cheese crisp?  Because I love those.  I tend to just make them with parmasean cheese but I dont like to eat them very often since I usually want more than a little piece.  But I like the idea of your 4 cheese blend.  Do you buy all that cheese seperately or is there a shredded blend you can buy it all together?

 Jenn,

Exactly - a cheese crisp.  I buy an "olive garden" mix and use an ounce worth.  I've also made them with 2% kraft sharp and a bunch of other cheeses.  The cheddar is very good spread with PB2.  Kind of a PB/Cheese cracker combo.  I make all of my fricos on a shiny paper plate in the microwave for a little over a minute to a minute and a half depending on the cheese.  Most cheeses work pretty well.  I think many grocery stores will have a "quattro formagio" mix.

OMG, sharp cheddar & PB2???  I need to try that, thanks for mentioning that!!!

 You haven't really said much about what you are snacking on - pudding can be concerning even if you add protein to it.  A lot of commercially prepared puddings are high in fat and/or carbs depending on the type.  What are your other food choices?  Those can have a lot of impact as well.  Depending on what kinds of carbs you are eating, those could be triggering cravings.

How long are you up after dinner?  If you have a dinner of mainly dense proteins that should fill you up for a good 2 or 3 hours.  After that if you are physically hungry a snack like a light mozarella cheese stick or some veggies like steamed snow peas or grilled green beans can help.

If it is head hunger instead of physical hunger the you need to work on exploring what issues are driving your head hunger?  Don't settle for "boredom", thats a label not a cause in my experience.  Before you get up to go eat, take a deep look at what you are really feeling.  Then learn to deal with those emotions.

Well, dinner is from 5-5:30 and I go to bed at 11-11:30. And the pudding I eat is Wonderslim which is high protein. I actually crave non-sweet so maybe nuts or mozzarella cheese sticks would be best. I got in the bad habit of having the cheese with Melba Toast but don't really need the carbs.

Although I am over 3 months out, the two strictures I had kept putting me back to liquids so I have just been advanced to nuts and the denser proteins. . . . so maybe I just need to adjust to the process of getting my protein from food. I just hate that I have all this protein shakes, Wonderslim puddings and ProtiDiet fruit drinks - I over-ordered.

can you move diner to 6 or 6:30.  I notice if i have dinner too early then im starving by 9 or 10 pm.  but if we eat later, say 6:30 or 7 then im good all night.  haven't had surgery yet but i imagine it will be the same after surgery.

We have dinner so early to suit my husband's diabetic schedule - and because he is in a wheelchair so if we go out, we are trying to avoid the crowds. He eats at 5 PM so he can have his night-time snack at 9PM