How to Curb the Midnight Munchies and Lose Weight
As long as I can remember, I was told not to eat past 7 PM, so perhaps that is what stimulated the subconscious desire that stimulates my hunger pangs and munchie madness by 8 PM.
No matter what I have done to curb what I call the Midnight Munchies, I always lose the battle and pack on the pounds without losing the weight I wanted.
The other day it occurred to me that since I was already eating past 7 PM consistently, why not eat my dinner at 8 PM instead. That way I wouldn’t eat dinner and eat junk late in the evening.
That solved a small part of the problem, but why was my desire to eat more food consistent at night? It didn’t make sense to me. During the day I usually had to force myself to eat. I wasn’t hungry, didn’t want it, and forgot to eat. But then I was tired.
So why wasn’t I hungry during the day? The answer was, because I was so busy during the day, I was distracted! I had so much going on that I didn’t want to eat. So I started to exercise at night to keep myself busy and avoid the television, which always gave me the munchies.
However, the draw back to exercising later at night was that I couldn’t fall asleep. With so much adrenaline and endorphins running through my body, I was wide awake. What was the solution?
If I ate at night, I packed the pounds on. If I exercised at night, I couldn’t sleep, would be exhausted the next day, which would trigger my junk food junkie munchies in a huge way and I would eat more.
Here are the steps I have taken to shed those unwanted extra pounds (it works for those who have families as well. Simply eat a little bit of food with your family and the rest of the lighter portion of the meal when you get the munchies at night!)
For me I have found that meat, however much I don’t like it, curbs my appetite. But I don’t want a big lump of meat sitting in my tummy all night long. So I have switched around my meals and helped to curb my appetite all day long. *
- Breakfast: Chicken breast, a piece of high fiber and protein bread with ½ pat of butter melted on it and a glass of orange juice. (Lots of pulp is the best. That helps fill you as well as gives you extra fiber.)
- Snack: Three bean salad, artichoke hearts, fresh veggies or something along those lines.
- Lunch: Some type of high fiber pasta with tomatoes, basil, artichoke hearts or some type of protein and yogurt. Sometimes I have homemade chili or soup. That is really satisfying.
- Snack: Same as the mid morning snack or go out for a really good fat-free frozen yogurt. Honey Farms makes the best.
- Dinner with the family or just you. Don’t eat a lot, but eat the heavier portion of the meal during dinner time. Meat, potatoes, whatever is on the menu. Leave a salad or the lighter portion of the meal for later.
- 8 PM, munchies cravings hit big time for me, so it’s time to pull out the food put aside from earlier on and eat it now.
- If you find you still have the munchies at around 9 or 10 PM, pop popcorn in olive oil and use fat free spray butter, heated in the microwave, on the popcorn (see recipe below).
If eating the rest of your dinner later at night bothers you, and then eat your meal as you regularly would but try popping approximately three cups of popcorn (not microwave) in 1 tsp olive oil.
Then take the fat free I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray (only the Spray bottle is fat free. Don’t ask me why.) and put about 1 – 2 tsp into a bowl and pop it into the microwave. Put a little bit of salt into the butter after it’s heated and then put it onto the popcorn. This will stop your craving and not put many calories into your stomach.
This regular regime, will help aid you in your quest for a healthier life and a lighter you. Losing weight is hard, that is a fact, but you can lose it eating and leading a more active lifestyle.
*Always check with your doctor of course before you change your eating and exercise routines.
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