Midnight snacking
I need some serious advice to stop my midnight snacking. It's like... when I have slept and I wake up early I need to eat. Mostly it's something healthy and then I go back to sleep again. I don't know what to do, or how to stop it. It's like I can't sleep before I eat something and it's effecting my sleep. I don't sleep well anymore :/
@EvilRegalsReadToo
Hi there, I'm sorry this is causing you so much distress and disrupting your sleep. It sounds like it feels very much out of control--I know how frustrating that can be.
I think there can be so much resentment and questioning toward "hunger" with all the diet culture swimming around saying things like "if you're hungry maybe drink water instead to trick yourself because maybe you aren't REALLY hungry"
But the truth is that all hunger is real and legitimate and the only way to truly satisfy it or make it "stop" is to feed yourself.
So your post has me wondering if, perhaps, you aren't eating enough based on what your body wants and needs during the day which is why you wake up so hungry--does this seem true? Are you limiting your intake at all?
I know it FEELS like it because of all the pressures we're surrounded by, but snacking isn't a bad thing to do. It keeps us full and gives us energy. Depending on how early you are eating dinner, it makes a lot of sense to wake up hungry. I also know that judging and being angry with yourself over this snacking can really make things worse because it can get you caught up in an anxiety/self-fulfilling prophecy cycle--hating snacking, feeling like you shouldn't snack, restricting yourself on some level, going too long without eating, waking up very very hungry and having no choice but to eat immediately, being upset with yourself for doing it, hating snacking, feeling like you shouldn't snack, and on and on and on
Point blank your body needs and deserves food and it's important to keep it satisfied and full of energy--while we sleep our bodies are constantly working to grow and restore--this process takes a lot of energy and even if it FEELS like we're doing nothing while we sleep, we burn a lot of calories through these internal processes so it makes complete sense to wake up hungry.
Finally, there's no such thing as healthy and unhealthy food! Every food offers nutrients and energy. "Unhealthy" foods like carbohydrates are full of glucose which is the body's FAVORITE form of energy. Whatever you eat, your body knows exactly what to do with it.
So in summary, I have had similar fights with my hunger and I know how frustrating it can be, but it is possible to change your mindset and your habits to ease the discomfort you're feeling.
Some suggestions I have for you:
• Consider how much you're eating during the day and whether it's truly enough for you--are you restricting students all? Even mentally I.e feeling like you "shouldn't" eat certain things or amounts?
• Consider eating some sort of snack before you go to bed so you are not quite so intensely hungry during the middle of the night
• Consider reaching out to your doctor about your sleeping struggles--they may be able to prescribe a sleeping aid if that is appealing to you, and also rule out any other underlying issues that may be causing insomnia
• Consider seeing a registered dietician who could help guide you in your eating decision making and help you determine what amount/types of food your body needs to stay satisfied and energized
Take care and best of luck!
-Shanna
Meant to say restricting INTAKE not students, thanks autocorrect!
@Shanna hi and thank you for answering! I am currently undereating by a lot of calories (I stay under 800 to 600 calories a day). So that might be the answer to why I am undereating. I have been fasting from 7 PM to 11 AM for over a year now, and it has worked out fine only eating at meals and all that jazz, as I really have no way to control my snacking. I will eat everything in sight, so snacking is not for me, I have figured.
So yes, I am totally undereating and I know that. I know it's a problem but as I'm not skinny enough to get treatment (the ED center said themselves) I can't get any help for it right now.
I would love if I could snack before bed, but as said earlier I can't control my snacking. And I kinda "have to" follow my rules, or else I... I don't really know, bc I always follow my eating rules :3
I am already taking meds for insomnia (I am schizophrenic and hearing voices, especially when I'm trying to sleep), and I have fall asleep very well for the last month or so. The only problem I have with sleeping right now, I think, is after nightly eating when I feel guilty for doing that. But even if I don't eat something, I have problems with falling asleep, bc my brain just goes: "Food. Food. FOOD!"
I would love to see a dietician, but I think I have to tackle this problem in another way to begin with though. But thanks for the advice, I will try some of it out <3
@EvilRegalsReadToo
I'm sorry it's such a struggle AND I'm sorry that you were told you aren't skinny enough for treatment--it's horrendous that a treatment center told you that and it isn't true--eating disorders exist at all sizes and weights and they are all worthy of treatment. You deserve care right now, not down the line when you meet an arbitrary size requirement. I'm not sure where you're located and you don't have to post it here or anything--but if you ever want some help searching for a treatment center with a better understanding who could see you, feel free to PM me and I'd be happy to help. I spent a very long time unable to believe I had an eating disorder and needed help because I wasn't severely underweight--weight isn't a treatment requirement and I'm sorry they made you feel that way. No pressure though--I know it's a tough decision and if it doesn't seem feasible for you right now that's totally okay. The offer always stands :)
What would it be like if you broke an eating rule? What do you think would happen?
Where does the guilt from eating at night come from do you think?
wishing you the best! I know how hard it can be and I admire you for pushing forward
@Shanna hi again :)
Yeah they are shit, I concluded that. I live in Denmark, I can say that here no problem, and the nearest treatment center doesn't want me bc they don't treat BED (I don't have BED) and I think (but I don't know) that they don't treat ppl who are normal weight (I am normal weight). So I don't really know what to do anymore, other than keep going until I'm underweight and can get treated. And they don't wanna treat me either bc I have schizophrenia and they don't want that inside their treatment center (they don't want to be responsible for me and my phcycoseses, which I don't have anymore bc of meds).
I realized that I had an ED like... a few years ago when I stopped eating alltogether, and I got hospitalized but not at an ED treatment center but a normal psych ward. I begun eating again yes, but never to a point of normal. And with a therapist I realized that I have had an ED since I was 13 (I'm 23 now).
I don't know, really. But I know what happens when I don't follow my workout rules. That triggers anxiety attacks and makes me go panicky and even self harm. I feel soooo bad, when I don't do it that I never want to skip a workout day again. And I can only imagine what would happen if I broke an eating rule, as that is even worse for me.
I don't know where the guilt comes from. Bullsh*t it isn't something I don't know, but I have a rule of not eating before 11 am, so that's one of my rules and that makes me feel guilty, when I break them :3
