Anonymous wrote:None of this advice is particularly good because it's all trying to answer your question. What you are asking the wrong question.

Meaningful changes come from meaningful reflection. You need a way of reframing your outlook. Listen to the way you talk. You can't imagine a night without snacking. You don't want to start a tedious routine of working out.

you are mentally resistant to change, which means you need the right approach. I'm not sure what exactly will work for you because I don't know exactly why you're snacking at night (I think you said stress. So you need to address that stress first)

Why do you think starting a new routine will be so awful? What is it that keeps you from wanting to work out or walk more?

But the poster who said you should start with working out is probably right. It's easier to start a new habit than to quit an old one.

See if the exercise helps your stress levels, see that you can get yourself into new routine. And then you can deal with mindless snacking at night next

Wow. This is such a thoughtful response. Not the OP but I too have a "snack" at night problem. I work out already but once the kids are in bed, I crave a glass or two of wine and all the snacks. I'm probably snacking because I'm bored or filling a void. So, how do I stop?

I have been in this boat. I found the approach in the book Change Your Schedule, Change Your Life to be very helpful in reducing my snack craving. The idea is to eat, sleep, and exercise in harmony with our circadian clocks. I get up and exercise in the morning before breakfast. Eat and sleep same times every day.

It also helps to brush my teeth when my kids do before their bedtimes.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

I'm very similar, OP. Before I met my husband, no matter how hard or how many days I exercised, how well I ate during the day, or how many baths/hobbies/projects I tried to keep my hands full, I still snacked at night because I was alone and bored and depressed, and that time of day was when I had time to sit and feel sorry for myself. Fixing that issue was the only thing that truly helped me in the long run, along with antidepressants. Lots of good advice here, but I would try to find some solutions to the loneliness/boredom problem first. Maybe see a therapist too.

This is my weird inverse logic.

For me, my diet is more impactful than working out. If I want to lose weight, I have to really tighten up my diet. But, it's easier to tighten up my diet if I work out in the morning. I'm more reluctant to eat what I shouldn't if I just worked my tail off earlier that day.

Hi OP - I totally get your struggle. I was a chronic snacker (my meals were completely healthy, but snacks were my downfall) for years and finally have kicked it! I haven't read any of the other responses in this thread, but here's my two cents:

First things first: stop buying the snacks that are killing you. If they're not in the house, you can't eat them. Either buy no snacks at all for yourself, or replace everything you're buying with healthier alternatives - veggies and fruit.

DO start working out, even if you haven't kicked the snacking yet! I find that on days where I workout, I feel better about myself and my fitness goals and actually end up eating healthier. I don't want to cancel out any progress I'm making at the gym by loading up on unhealthy food, so I'm better at avoiding it. On the other hand, on lazy days where I don't get any movement in, I find myself snacking more.

Last thing - take control of your evenings. Pick up a new hobby (I recently started crocheting - it keeps my hands busy while watching TV, so I'm not interested in snacking!) or try incorporate some light exercise, like yoga or stretching. Take up journalling or some form of creative writing. Honestly, I've realized that the key is keeping my hands (or my body in general) busy. Doing something other than completely mindless TV watching will help the time go by faster without thinking of snacking and might even add a new element of richness to your life.

Best of luck.

I wish you the best of luck. I know what you are talking about. When my kids were younger and went to bed, I would make a plate even if I had dinner, and enjoy it in peace while watching a show! I looked forward to it so much. But, I worked a very physical job during that time. So that helped and I went to gym almost every night, which clearly is not an option for you as your DH works at night. What I recommend is do pay for gym membership and you will then feel guilty if you don't go. Take a few easy classes that will make it a routine and an obligation. It becomes addictive after couple of weeks. And make sure you have some light and healthy snacks for the evening. I would buy that huge jar of artichokes from Costco, and put some vinegar on it and that would be my evening snack as opposed to chips. And I make a lot of fish, also for snack I would have prosciutto and some hard cheese like Parmesan or similar. I love food, so I choose things I like to eat but that are not heavy carb for the evening. A side observation, an older guy in my neighborhood started walking a lot some 5 years ago. He was overweight, quite a bit. I see him all the time when I walk my dog, he goes into every court, he has lost so much weight! I have no idea what else he is doing, but he walk, only walks, and not fast every single day, I will finish my dog walk and see him on the other street, he walks. I suspect that might be the only thing he does.

I have had good luck with limiting myself to three meals a day no snacks. I try to go at least 5 hours without eating between meals. I do not worry to much about what I eat for the meals (though reasonably healthy/sized). Once I open up to option to snack there is really no ending.

OP, maybe try the night workouts at home as others suggested? It will suppress your appetite and help you sleep better. I've flipped my schedule around from a.m. workouts to p.m. workouts after kids are in bed and hubby is having his iPad time.

Working out gives me the motivation to eat better. I don't want to work that hard to get fit and ruin it with my fork.

Find something you enjoy as far as working out. I love my Peloton, I find working out on it fun, and I am super proud of myself afterward.

Anonymous wrote:I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been. I need to lose roughly 30lb. I’m motivated to do this, but it’s so much change!

I’m an emotional eater. I’m bored and lonely at night when the kids go to bed. My husband works nights, so when he’s working, I’m alone. Eating is what I look forward to. It’s like I can’t picture my evening after 8:30 without thinking of snacks. I can do great all day, but once the kids are in bed, all rules are out the window.

I’m not looking forward to the gym. I think that routine will be as hard as stopping snacking in the evenings.

Which should I work on first, because I don’t think I can do both successfully.

Should I work on my diet first, then add the gym once I’ve mastered that? Maybe once I’m down 10lb from food alone?

Thinking of also adding walking in. Starting with a daily walk to pick up my kids from school (roughly 20 minutes total), and then maybe adding longer walks, weather permitting. Then, a gym routine.

I don’t even know what the best approach is. I know I won’t succeed at all until I knock out this evening snacking. Help!

Working out does not itself cause weight loss. It isn't about calories when talking about working out. Working out can increase muscle mass and general metabolic rates, which is good always--regardless of whether you ate. However, you cannot outrun a bad diet. You could work out to supposedly burn all the calories you eat. Your body would drop its metabolic rate during the times you don't work out to make up for it anyway, and you wouldn't lose weight.

I'm one of those people who has willpower to DO things, but not to NOT do them. So I'm great at working out. I have literally worked out every single day this year except for 6 days. But if you asked me to diet, I would have a really hard time with it. I'm decent at portion control and I'm decent at putting together balanced meals. But I like dessert after lunch and dinner, and I like a bit of snacking. I like wine, so if you asked me to give that up, I'd be sad and have a hard time going totally without.

Maybe you're like me and you'll have more willpower for exercise than you do for diet. It's worth a try!

Anonymous wrote:The key is to lower your carb intake. Eat snacks that are low, low, low in sugar. Adding cardio to the mix, will speed up your weight loss goal. Stay. Too aged and it the scale value will lower.

This. Lower the carb intake, up your cardio (start small, nothing too drastic or you will be starving) and STOP all the snacking. You do not need to be nibbling on food all day long and training yourself to do so is not a good strategy for losing weight.

You know how I got fat? By eating breakfast every day and by snacking on "healthy snacks" throughout the day. I also ate a "healthy" lunch and dinner.

I wound up gaining quite a bit of weight eating like that because I was eating too many calories. Unless you are eating a low calorie diet, portioned out into 6 teeny tiny meals because you are planning on getting your stomach stapled and need to train for that....stop the snacking.