Weight Loss help

Hi Coach Nova – I really need to lose at least 20 lbs and was wondering what you would recommend for night time eating. I know it is important to get enough protein in each day and of course exercise is important too, but night time eating seems to be my downfall. I notice that when I’m busy during the day I don’t think so much about food but at night I seem to graze. Can you help? Thanks!

Hi MtnMama! I’m so glad to see you here on Feel Better Network. Thank you for your question. I have some ideas to help you with your weight loss!

Night time eating is a big challenge for many trying to lose weight. When you eat late at night your body doesn’t have time to burn off the calories and carbohydrates. So, the excess gets stored as fat while you sleep. And, since you just ate late at night, chances are you wake up not hungry in the morning reinforcing the physical cycle. The ideal time to eat is during the day while you are burning calories. Our bodies develop a rhythm to eating resulting in a “habit clock” that takes some time to unwind. The first step is being aware that you need to retrain your body to be hungry when you will burn fuel for healthy and productive weight loss – during the day.

The next step is creating an action plan. Developing a successful plan requires a solid motivation. What’s your motivation for staying on track? Examples of statements of motivation are: I want to feel healthy. I want to have more energy. I want to feel lean and strong. Write down your motivation statement and place it where you will see it through out the day.

Plan ahead the night before what you will eat the next day. Space small meals two to three hours apart starting 30 minutes to an hour after you wake up. This will get your metabolism going and begin retraining your body to eat during the day.

I’ve struggled with this too! I’m super busy and find sometimes I’m working away and lose track of time. What I’ve found to be helpful is to set a reminder alarm on my phone to go off when I’m suppose to be giving nutrients to my body. No excuses! After a while, your body learns to “wake up” its hunger cues automatically.

If you follow your plan, and make sure you have enough protein, you will be much less likely to eat at night.

The word that stood out to me in your post was “graze” which implies to me, that you may also be eating out of boredom. Are you stimulated enough in your life? Try adding a new activity, a new challenge, or a new project to your day. Food tends to fill up empty spaces in someone’s life. Take some time to evaluate what space food is filling up for you at night.

If you’d like to explore that further with me that would be great! Give the “empty space” some thought and let me know what surfaces for you.

I’ll be here to help!

Best,

Life Coach Nova

WOW – what GREAT suggestions Coach Nova! I can see that A BEHAVIORIAL CHANGE IS necessary – I am taking your advice to heart and THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!