Nighttime overeating is a common culprit to wrecking a fat loss diet. Here’s how to stop overeating at night so you can still lose weight.

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Between work and kids and life and drama, being on point with the diet can be quite simple during the daytime.

You’ve got a routine. Time is likely too short to give things much thought, so you can keep things simple with your healthy habits.

It’s when the kids are in bed, the inbox is managed and the downtime begins with Netflix. When you finally have that chance to relax. That’s when the real struggle begins for most dieters.

The night is dark and full of terrors indeed.

And if you find yourself mindlessly strolling over to the kitchen looking for food like a White Walker looking for humans to munch on, you’ll want to read ahead.

Overdoing at night is one of the most common culprits that prevent people from losing weight sustainably and successfully. Next to weekend overindulgence, the two obstacles can combine to totally wreck that calorie deficit.

We’re going to put an end to that today with a few simple strategies to help you stop overeating at night once and for all.

Let’s get into it.

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Before we dive into this thing, it’s important to note that eating at night is not a big deal. Eating a lot at night is not a big deal, either.

As I’ve pointed out countless times, the calorie deficit is going to drive your weight loss journey. If you are in a deficit consistently, the weight will come off.

That means you can eat all of your calories before noon, or all of your calories after 8pm. It simply does not matter as long as you have those total daily calories in check.

But we’re not talking about being on point. We’re going to address the unhealthy habit of blowing up your diet with mindless eating and snacking and imbibing on adult beverages.

If you are not careful, it can ruin your deficit … or worse, take you into a calorie surplus and lead to unwanted weight gain.

So let’s battle that with a few actionable strategies to help you stop overeating at night:

Determine if you are really hungry

It all starts with managing your actual hunger levels. If you are truly and physically hungry, it would be less about craving chocolate and more about just wanting to eat anything, even a plate full of leafy greens and protein.

Be sure to read this article about the psychological games your hunger will play on you and how to find a better way to determine actual physical hunger.

If you are really experiencing physical hunger every single evening, that is your body telling you something that must be addressed. And it might be a sign that you should go on and eat an actual nutrient-dense meal.

A nutrient-dense meal will look less like a bag of chips, or handful of cookies and a soda, and more like this:

• 20-30 grams of lean protein
• 2-3 handfuls of leafy green vegetables
• 1-2 servings of a starchy carb source
• 1 small serving of dietary fat if the protein source is extra lean

If that hunger is less about this kind of sustenance and more about just wanting to feast on a pint of ice cream, you’ll need to dig a bit deeper.

Nourish your body during the day

When you’ve been led to believe that starving yourself with an aggressive calorie deficit is the only way to lose weight, it can be easy to fall into the trap of simply not eating big enough meals during the day.

Then you get home and you’re ready to stuff your face hole.

Let’s change that. First you’ll need to make sure you are aiming for a moderate calorie deficit. Not sure what that looks like, I’ve got you covered with this article.

Then you’ll need to make sure that the meals you eat during the day are not just glorified snacks masked as meals.

Drop the protein bars. Opt instead for big salads with tons of protein.

Skip the cereals. Aim for a plate of eggs and egg whites with veggies and a side of toast.

Higher volume, higher fiber, higher protein foods are the goal during the day. They’ll keep you full. They’ll provide more energy. They’ll help keep you from going crazy when you get home.

Eat a bigger dinner

This goes hand-in-hand with the previous point. You’ll be less inclined to go face-first into a bag of pretzels every single night if you are actually satiated.

So if overeating at night is a major issue, then let’s provide the body with a ton of calories at night to keep you full of nutrients and not snacking on junk.

Remember, total calories at the end of the day are what really matters for weight loss.

Save room in your calorie bank account for larger meals later in the day.

Let’s share a quick example:

Melissa is currently eating 1750 calories per day to stay in a moderate calorie deficit. She’s a busy mom of two and works a steady 9-to-5 job in an office setting. Her days are pretty hectic.

So to stop overeating at night, she opts to eat lighter during the day when her schedule is the craziest.

Breakfast for Melissa is protein-heavy with tons of fiber and vegetables and she keeps it around 300-400 calories. Lunch is more of the same with a salad and around 300 calories.

Out of her total calorie target, she’s only used about 750 calories, mostly from protein and a little fat.

She’s saving the majority of her calories from carbs for the end of the day; now she has about 1,000 calories remaining. So when Melissa makes pasta or that rice dish for the family dinner, she can enjoy that meal guilt-free and it will fit nicely into her plan.

Again, the goal is a nutrient-dense meal and not some free-wheeling excuse to go all “If it fits my macros” style binge bomb. The nutrients, fiber, protein and carbs will keep her full throughout the rest of the night.

And keeping full throughout the rest of the night will keep Melissa away from the pantry where the kids’ snacks like to taunt her as soon as those little hellions go to bed.

A few important notes:

• For many people, eating higher doses of carbs closer to bedtime can promote better sleep.
• Keep in mind that some people with digestive issues might have a problem with larger meals or carb-heavy portions later in the day. So it’ll be up to you to play around with this strategy to find what works for you.
• And once again, this is not a lifestyle that can fit everyone. If you have a history of disordered eating, this might not be the best strategy for you as it can be easy to ignore the nutrient-dense mandate and just start bingeing because you have the room in your calories.

Enjoy a low calorie snack

Snacking at night doesn’t mean you have to eat like an asshole. It’s totally fine to enjoy a quick treat as long as it fits your lifestyle and keeps you within your total calories for the day.

A few lower-calorie options include:

• Cottage cheese
• Non-fat Greek yogurt
• Vegetables (baby carrots, cucumbers, celery)
• Low-fat cheese sticks
• Fruit (apples, bananas, blueberries)
• Leftovers from dinner

And keep in mind that you can totally have things like chocolate or cookies or a glass of wine. As long as those treats are kept to measured portions and do not lead to full on indulgences that get you off-plan.

Go to bed earlier

Late-night eating can be commonplace when dinner with the family happens during the early evening hours and you’re left to hang out for hours before bedtime.

If you’re a night owl, it might be time to revisit that lifestyle and hit the pillow earlier.

Sleep is incredibly important to overall health and is associated with a ton of not-so-awesome factors:

• Higher levels of body fat
• Increased hunger and cravings
• Lowered lean body mass (aka, muscle tissue)
• Mood swings
• Higher stress
• Earlier death (yikes)

Suffice to say, this whole narrative of brohood that involves #NoSleep and #GrindingAllDay is bullshit and actually detrimental to your ability to perform at a high level.

“But Pete, I don’t have time to sleep between kids and work and life.”

Yes you do.

Give a click through to this article and perform your own little time audit to find out where you can prioritize a few things to make more quality sleep happen.

And once you’ve made that a priority, let’s review some actionable steps you can take right now to get more peaceful shuteye:

• Create a consistent bedtime routine (yes, just like the routine you give your kids)
• Shut off the electronics and leave them away from your bed
• Make sure the room is dark, get some blackout curtains if you need to do so
• Keep the room cool (aim for about 65-70 degrees)
• Take small steps to slowly walk back your bedtime if you are a night owl (start by going to bed 15-20 minutes earlier for one week and then adjust from there)

Ideally, you’ll be trying to head to bed by 11:00pm. Perhaps even earlier. I’m typically in bed and snuggled up to my pillow by 10:00pm so I can be well-rested and energized to kick off my daily morning routine and start my day with a purpose.

Eliminate the trigger(s)

This one sounds easy, but so few people actually do it. If you don’t have chips or ice cream in the house, then obviously you cannot eat them. Period.

Understand what your triggers are and then remove them from your environment.

This will really suck for a good week or so while your mind adjusts to the restriction and doesn’t get that dopamine reward hit from your nightly indulgences. But, once you fight that battle and settle in, you’ll realize that you never really needed that snack in the first place.

Maybe that trigger is emotionally based. If that is the case, you’ll need to develop some self-awareness around this issue.

Keeping a food diary and making note of your emotions around eating time is a nice place to start.

Replacing a negative response to the emotional trigger (overeating) with a more productive response (like reading, meditation or even exercising) can go a long way to repairing that negative relationship.

Speaking to a professional is another way to ensure you are treating yourself with care and patience and acceptance.

Talk to a professional

Overeating at night is one thing. Habitually bingeing at night is a completely different issue entirely.

I want to be clear that if you think you might have an issue with disordered eating, it is imperative that you speak to a professional.

You are not alone. It is more common than you think. And a professional will help you find the right path back to a healthier relationship with food and eating.

Forgive yourself and get back to work

Slip ups will happen. You can opt to remove all of the triggers and still find yourself ordering in so you can stuff your face with a pizza.

Or maybe you have kids in the house and total elimination is simply not possible. So sometimes you’ll give back into the cravings.

You are a human, you are not perfect. Nor should try to be perfect. I want you to understand that.

Mistakes will happen. Your goal is to minimize the frequency of those events and be as consistent as possible.

It’s that self-acceptance that is probably the most important part of learning how to stop overeating at night. You’ll realize that it’s simply not possible to always avoid this one, but it is possible to avoid it most of the time.

And then be okay with that.

I want you to understand that one slip up won’t define your journey. As long as you get back to work and never give up, you’ll reach that goal.

Let me help you learn how to stop overeating at night … 

I’m here to help you out. 

If you have any questions, reach out. I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “Stop Overeating at Night” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Or you can hit me up anytime on the socialz on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

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