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How To Stop Overeating At Night & Ruining Your Diet

Want To Stop Overeating At Night?

First of all let's start by clarifying - meal timing is irrelevant.

If you missed one of your planned meals throughout the day and opt to eat it immediately before going to bed that's completely fine.

As long as you're hitting _____ amount of calories on a 24 hour basis you're golden.

This applies to both bulking and cutting.

If you're bulking and you get in your last meal of oats and whey protein at 10:00pm it's not going to immediately be stored as fat (although many personal trainers and fitness magazines will try to persuade you otherwise).

What we're talking about here is the derailing of your diet in the evening.

During the day we've all got jobs, study, various commitments to deal with so we're less susceptible to going off the rails while we're occupied.

It's at night when you retire for the day that you're most likely to self-sabotage yourself.

I know all about it, hitting each of the meals on my cutting diet perfectly - yet I'd often find myself streaming a documentary with a tub of ice-cream a few hours later.

I discovered there's a few simple things we can do during the day to ensure success at night...

See also
The Cheat Meal Explained (And Would You Benefit From The Rock Cheat Meal?)

Below Are 5 Techniques I've Used To Stop Overeating At Night

Implement a few of these techniques and find what works best for you, if you're currently in a bulking phase you likely won't want to be surpressing your appetite as suggested in technique #1, in which case I recommend focusing on #3 and #5.

1 - Suppress Your Appetite With Green Tea

Drink several cups of green tea throughout the day

Green tea is one of the few supplements that actually has studies to prove it does work. This NO BS supplement along with its rock bottom price (green tea extract) make it very attractive during a cutting phase and drinking green tea for weight loss has quickly become one of my few staple routines while I’m cutting down for a photoshoot (for reference I stack green tea with caffeine and dandelion root extract, but more on that later).

Green tea extract (derived from the leaves of green tea) and weight loss has been the subject of many studies, all of which suggest that green tea extract indeed does work due to the content of catchecins, which are responsible for many of the health benefits we experience from tea. An increase in exercise-induced fat loss is also one of the benefits of green tea extract.

See also
Steak And Eggs Diet Supplements - What Should You Take While Following Vince Gironda's Diet?

One of the biggest benefits I personally find when supplementing with green tea extract (or drinking several cups of green tea) is appetite suppression – if you’re looking to fast through the morning or suppress your appetite in general to prevent going over your daily caloric intake or binge eating I highly recommend you supplement with green tea.

2- Fast Through The Morning

Think of your caloric intake as if it were your bank balance.

If you spend the majority of your money in the morning you're not going to have much left to play with come the evening.

Therefore I've personally found that by fasting through the morning and having my first meal around mid-day I'm able to save the majority of my calories for later in the day - the result? No desire to overeat at night.

This is a typical 16 hour fast with an 8 hour eating window (eat from mid-day to 8pm, fast through the evening and morning).

I've discovered that I'm not only more energetic because my body isn't trying to digest food in the early hours of the morning, but my focus on writing etc. is through the roof.

3 - Identify & Eliminate Your Trigger

If there's a certain activity or event that causes you to overeat at night then eliminate it!

See also
The Best Blender For Protein Shakes & Bulking Smoothies

If you reach for a bag of buttered popcorn every evening that you watch Netflix on the couch then instead of drinking green tea throughout the day or using any of the other techniques here it's simple.

Don't watch Netflix on the couch.

Opt for production based hobbies instead that'll keep you busy.

4 - Drink Water Before You Eat

Not only do I recommend drinking a gallon of water a day, if you're struggling with overeating at night I'd drink a tall glass of water or two before your last planned meal.

If dinner is your last meal of the day drink water before and with your dinner.

This'll have you feeling fuller than normal without any additional calories - hopefully deterring you from the unwanted late night snacking.

5 - Create An Evening Routine

“If you don't have a plan, you become part of somebody else's plan"

Have a plan.

When you've got an evening routine you're accountable to it, it's when we have no plan that we're most likely to end up having an unplanned caloric blowout.

You can check out my full evening routine here.

Here's a summary of it...

  • I plan the following day (create my to-do list, set mini goals)
  • I work on my mobility (foam rolling and dynamic stretches)
  • I take care of my skin (coconut oil)
  • I read
See also
4 Big Benefits Of Proats (Protein Oats)

What's Your Take On Overeating At Night? Let Me Know Below! 

Scott J.
Scott J.https://ignorelimits.com
I’m SJ. I’m a fitness enthusiast and published author. I transformed my body from a skinny fat 135lbs with 18% body fat to a solid 192lbs at 8% body fat. I became qualified in a field I was passionate about. I founded several online businesses that allow me to pursue ideas and projects in my life that I am passionate about without having to constantly worry about money. I published several eBooks explaining the training and dieting techniques I used to achieve the body I have today. I learnt a plethora of new information on dieting and fitness by reading and applying what I read, to find out what does work and what doesn’t work, because as I’m sure you’ve noticed the health and fitness industry is full of non-sense claims and BS. I found out what was true and what worked for me and applied that knowledge. And you bet I had fun during the whole process.

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