Weight Loss Pitfall #6: Night Eating

The Pitfall: When I did traditional dieting, I did "good" all day but then night came. All of my good intentions would go out of the window. I'd find myself going to the kitchen to graze for food, even though I wasn't hungry. The Way Out: I realized that I was just eating out of habit and the only way to change a habit is to replace it with something else. Most of the time, I was eating because I was either bored, tired, thirsty, procrastinating, or stressed. But I didn't want to keep living as if I believed the lie that "food fixes everything." I wanted to start dealing with the truth. The Change: If I had the thought to go to the kitchen to eat, the first thing I asked myself is "Am I hungry?" If the answer was yes, I would go eat and enjoy it. But if not, then I'd ask myself, "Why do I want to eat then?" If I didn't know, I would go drink a large glass of water since I knew hunger and thirst are often confused in the brain. Then I would wait until I got an answer as to what was going on with me. At times, I'd ask the Lord for insight. James 1:5 promises:

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

I'll admit that the waiting felt uncomfortable and "wrong" at first. But what felt right for me at the time was one of the very things that made me overweight in the first place! Because I wanted something different, I needed to do something different. So I needed to be willing to feel "wrong" in my mind at first to make things right in my body again! I knew my mind would eventually catch up. When I identified the real issue, I dealt with that directly:

• Bored: Created a list of dreams/goals/tasks that I had been putting off and do something easy off the list to get started, then keep working the list
• Tired: Went on to bed or took a nap
• Thirsty: Brushed and flossed my teeth to put a pleasant taste in my mouth and then drank some water or herbal tea
• Procrastinating: Since this often happened when I was overwhelmed, I'd break the thing I was procrastinating on into small steps. Then I'd do the easiest thing on the list. Typically that would be enough to get me into action.
• Stressed: This varied; I'd listen to praise music, perform a stretching routine, or pray to release the issue to the Lord

I also found that I most often wanted to eat convenience foods at night. When I didn't have them in the house and actually had to make the effort to cook food to eat, that also helped me not to eat at night. Only when I was really hungry would I take time to cook something. I also discovered some foods made me feel full and some made me hungrier. I made a note of those that kept me satisfied and structured my daytime eating around those. When I did that, I was less likely to eat at night. Kimberly Taylor takebackyourtemple.com P.S. Stress can be a major roadblock to your weight loss program because it increases Cortisol production, a hormone that contributes to belly fat storage. If you don’t deal with it, you’ll leave yourself vulnerable to food cravings and a host of health problems. So learn to handle it to keep it from handling you! The Take Back Your Temple Program will teach you how to manage stress in Godly ways. You’ll learn how to maintain your calm and confidence, release tension, and melt your cares away. There's no time like the present to get started. Click here to learn more about the Take Back Your Temple Program.