hi everyone, i know people were talking about this earlier but i was really hoping someone could give me advice on night eating. tuesday i woke up with a finishied jar of peanut butter on my bed and last night it was whip cream, it makes me stomach hurt and throws off my eating for the rest of the day, for instance, i don t get hungry till around noon. i do not even really remember eating the food and i eat it until it is all gone, i would really like to stop because my boyfriend comes back from iraq in february and we are going to be living together. i would really appreciate anyones advice!?

Well here is what I do. When I have a craving for something no matter what time of day it is, I keep telling myself that I can have it in five minutes. When the five minutes are up I then tell myself that I can have it in another five minutes and I keep repeating it. Eventually the craving will pass or I get too sleepy to eat.

If in fact you are eating without even realizing it, you need to see a professional about it. That's not normal and you shouldn't have to live that way. There is medication you can try and other forms of treatment as well. If it is to the point that you are sleepwalking to get the food, then you are at risk of injury to yourself (and possible others), and should seriously consider looking into the problem.

I noticed in your stats that you are 5'5". It seems to me you shouldn't have any weight to lose. Do you think maby you are not eating enough during the day and your body is so hungry that it tries to take over when your defenses are down? You seem to be choosing foods that are nutritious so maby you actually need the nutrients. The body is amazingly adept at self-preservation.
Maby you could post a menu of what you would typically eat in a day so we can see what is going on in that department.

Are you hungry when you wake up? Do you remember this at all? Or is it that you cant go to sleep, so the food helps you go back to sleep? Ive had sleeping problems in the past, Id wake up and the ONLY way I thought I'd go back to sleep was raid the frig...it was a comfort food thing and I usually did go back to sleep...I dont know if this applies to you if your eating for no purpose and also not even realizing it?

i am not sure it i am hungry or not when i wake up. i think i am a little bit but i definitely continue eating way past when i am full. thanks for the advice everyone
in a typical day i eat
1 low carb hot cereal,
2 laughing cow, veggies
3 chicken breast, pb on 1 slice wheat bread
4 tuna with mustard on lettuce
5 lo carb ice cream or hot tea

i also exercise for an hour daily, take a 2 mile walk every night and do an ab class 3x a week. i found that even if i eat more during the day, i still tend to eat a lot at night. also, i feel like i can't fall asleep unless i eat right before bed then i still wake uuup in the middle of the night, Does anyone else do this? maybe it is stress because every day i am worried my boyfriend is going to get killed in iraq

I'm not that familiar with the South Beach diet but it seems to me your choices are rather carby and would probably contribute to a lot of the cravings you are experiencing. Would it be possible for you to exchange the breads, cereals and ice cream for some more protein sources (expecially if you are exercising) and perferably a little more fat (ie. mayo or olive/flax/coconut oil)? Are you eating enough?? In your case 10 to 12 times your body weight would be approx 1250-1500 cals/day. I think you might find some relief from the uncontrollable cravings you are having if your blood sugars were a little more under control.

http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/Sleepeating.html

http://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleepeating.cfm

http://www.anred.com/nsred.html

I'd google "sleep-related eating" and see what you find. It sounds like this might be something you have.

I use to have this problem as well and what finally broke it was for me:

1. going to bed at the same time every night
2. having almost a ritual before bed ( brush teeth, stretch and so forth)
3. not falling asleep to the sounds of the television
4. getting a doc to prescribe me a few sleep aids (not that I advise drugs to solve it but once I was able to break the cycle it helped)

Plus I keep a calendar with each day I made it a night with sleep binging. And after a while I was determined to go farther and farther.

I hope you find a solution that works for you!