Eating Late at Night: Handle Eating Late at Night Cravings

Is Eating Late at Night Ruining Your Figure?

If you are eating late at night, you probably already know that it is taking a toll on your weight loss efforts.  The junk food you eat after the kids have gone to bed is one of the primary reasons that women over 40 struggle to lose weight.  Don’t worry, I am not condemning you for it, junk food tastes good, if it didn’t it would not be a multi-billion dollar industry.  On top of tasting good, junk food is quick, easy, and usually readily available.  In essence, after a long day, it is the perfect late night snack for eating late at night.

Eating Late at Night- Problems Women Face

Women over 40 share many common problems when trying to lose weight.  Most have exceptionally busy days.  Trying to juggle their time between work, family and other obligations can take its toll.  In the rush to satisfy the needs of everyone around them, women often neglect themselves, and their health.  Very often women over 40 looking to lose weight jump from one fad diet to the next.  Ultimately, each of these diets ends in disappointment.  One of the main problems with many of the fad diets is that they rely on restricting calories to an absolute bare minimum.

Eating Late at Night- Why Fad Diet’s Don’t Work

We all know that in order to lose weight you have to use more calories than you consume.  There are two big problems with most quick weight loss diets.  First is the calorie restrictions themselves.  Eventually, your body is going to adapt to the lower level of calories, and once that happens the only way to lose more weight without incorporating exercise is to consume even fewer calories.  This cycle continues over and over, until you are eating so few calories that your body is no longer getting the nutrients that it needs.

This problem is even more dangerous for women over 40 than it is for everyone else.  As your body gets older, it requires higher amounts of certain nutrients in order to stay healthy.  When eating so few calories, your body will start to crave the nutrients it is lacking.  These cravings are often most evident once you have settled down for the night and eventually you find yourself eating late at night, and it usually is not a healthy snack.

The limiting of calories brings about the second biggest problem with fad diets, and the main reason your find yourself eating late at night, your blood sugar levels.  Throughout the day, your blood sugar levels fluctuate, and when it gets too low, it triggers chemicals and hormones that tell your body it needs to eat.  Many of the diets around promote eating 4 to 6 small meals each day.

That number of meals is actually the perfect number; the problem is found in the amount of calories you can consume at each meal.  If you eat six meals every day and your total calorie intake is only 1200 calories, your blood sugar is going to spike and fall all day long.  Once you finally eat that last meal at six or seven at night, it is a long time until the morning.  During that time, your blood sugar is going to drop and your body is going to crave food, which ultimately leads to eating late at night.

Eating Late at Night- When Should You Eat a Large Meal?

Many women over 40 have found that a simple way to avoid eating late at night is to eat your largest meal for breakfast, followed by a mid-morning snack and a light lunch.  After lunch, you should try to consume a mid-afternoon snack, followed by a medium sized dinner, and a healthy snack a few hours before going to bed.  By spreading your meals out throughout the day, you can avoid the highs and lows that your body encounters.

The snacks should be low in calories and nutrient dense.  The “main” meals should all have a moderate amount of calories with the most coming at breakfast, followed by dinner, and then lunch.  By eating this many meals, your metabolism also stays active all day long, thus burning more of the calories that you consume and helping you to lose weight more effectively.

Eating Late at Night- How to Avoid Junk Food Night Eating

When you consume 1200 calories or less, you often feel like you are starving, and because of the amount of calories your body is used to, your body calls for a quick fix to get your blood sugar back to where it normally is.  Junk food is often the easiest food available for that purpose.  By spreading their meals out over the course of the day, many women over 40 have found that they can consume more calories overall and still lose weight.  In addition to being able to eat more calories, the frequent meals also help curb their desire for eating late at night.

If you build a healthy late night snack into your diet, you can still enjoy munching on a snack while you watch television before bed.  Eating late at night does not have to add extra pounds to your frame, if implemented correctly and in a healthy manner, eating late at night can actually help you avoid the midnight junk food binges.

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