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‘Stop Eating After 7pm’ Challenge

AloeSvea said:
So - easy? Not at all!

And it's how I remind myself that I do still want to live as long as I can - that I endure the periodic hunger that such a long term IF regime entails for me.

Living with some hunger is a funny kind of way to remind myself I like being alive - but there you are!
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@AloeSvea Excellent post which I have read several times to assimilate with my own experience and thoughts.

I am finding it easier and easier each day to stop myself snacking in the evening, but I don’t think it will ever be a case of not WANTING to snack.
I can’t say I have noticed any appreciable improvement in my FBG but my waist and thigh measurements are coming down slowly but surely.
 
Thought provoking posts regarding reasons we eat late / snack / binge, or whatever we want to call it.
I am going to re-examine my own motivations for fasting, or not fasting. When I fast properly, there is no hunger. In fact there is generally an enhanced feeling of wellbeing. So, I need to consider what it is that makes me not feel like eating before noon, often before 2pm. Then want to eat late in the evening.I had convinced myself it was because I don’t like to swim or exercise after a meal, and my exercise programme is generally mid morning / early afternoon. Currently that timetable is disrupted due to health problems (not diabetes related). Yet still my eating pattern hasn’t changed. Will ponder this a while.

In keeping with the theme of the thread, and in preparation for my declared intention to, shamelessly, use the Lenten season as a reset, I actually made a start yesterday, and finished eating at 6:50pm. With just water to drink after that. I still don’t feel like eating at 11:10 this morning.
 
I love reading all of your posts and it gets me thinking of my motivation. I’m hoping by doing this for a few months I’ll get out of the habit of just automatically going to the fridge or cupboard mid evening, staring into it and pick something up to eat even though I’m not hungry. I’ve overeaten for decades and my ‘feeling full’ receptors are severely broken. Hopefully doing this will put me right again.
 
Polished off our supper well before the 19.00 deadline this evening and I'm still feeling pleasantly full.

Having your last meal of the day no later than, say, 18.00-19.00 and avoiding snacks afterwards gives your stomach, liver and pancreas a well-deserved rest before you hit the hay. Not only do I sleep better, but it's worked wonders for my post breakfast readings the next morning.
 
MrsA2 said:
Did manage last planned food by 6pm, but then had a whisky at the pub and came home and ate some hm lc brownies, only 2 but didn't need any!
Classic example of alcohol lowering my will power.
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Evening @MrsA2.

Alcohol weakens my resolve too, especially when out with friends who are drinking. You can keep the potato crisps, but if somebody passes round salted and roasted peanuts ...
 
After a few months of doing this, primarily to a) give my insulin response a break to increase "time in range" for BG, b) retrain my cravings so I don't graze throughout the day and evening, and c) reduce the risk of carb/portion creep through snacking/treats, I'd like to offer some tips that have worked for me if you're struggling.

1) Make sure your main meal at dinner is higher protein, fat, and/or fibre. A combination of two or more of those is better.

2) Hydrate during and after your dinner. Sometimes our bodies mistake thirst for hunger, plus fluid intake with meals increases fullness (particularly if meal is high fibre). If you're very low carb, particularly keto range of carb intake, this can be especially important.

3) For me, boredom is the enemy of abstaining from snacks. Admittedly, there are probably a thousand reasons we snack, but habit and boredom are two major triggers for me rather than actual hunger. Keep yourself busy or entertained. Read that book you've been meaning to, watch that TV show you haven't got around to yet, do chores, or just occupy yourself with something that brings you joy, and it will help take your mind off food.

4) A few others have mentioned intermittent fasting (IF). I intermittent fast probably 3-4 times a week, generally where I "skip" breakfast and go through from dinner the night before to lunch the next day. However, sometimes IF just doesn't cut it, I want to eat something but don't want a full meal. On these occasions, I turn the relevant meal into a snack and eat a smaller portion, centred around low carb snack foods. It can help scratch that snacking itch psychologically, plus if you track it then it lowers your overall intake / meal portion size (if that's what's important to your goals, for example, if you're trying to lose weight).
 
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Yesterday finished by 6:20 but then I had a Jammy Dodger when a plate of them were being passed round at bookclub at 8:30! :rolleyes:
Thanks for the input @Paul_ I find a nice large glass of very cold sparkling water with my evening meal helps with the feeling of satiety
 
LivingLightly said:
Evening @MrsA2.

Alcohol weakens my resolve too, especially when out with friends who are drinking. You can keep the potato crisps, but if somebody passes round salted and roasted peanuts ...
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Just to remind - alcohol WILL provoke an insulin response - absolutely! Due to the energy it provides. Even if zero or low carbs.

My own feeling is - if the goal is to lower your insulin response, as an insulin-sensitising endeavour - and a very healthy endeavour it is indeed if insulin resistance is the basis of one's T2D - then well, er, um - alcohol has to go along with food on the don't do it after 7pm! I'm really sorry be saying this.

Hence the in the evening - cold water, sparkling water, hot water and herb teas (if like me and you need something involving ritual to prepare, and a bit of taste to the water).
 
MissMuffett said:
I love reading all of your posts and it gets me thinking of my motivation. I’m hoping by doing this for a few months I’ll get out of the habit of just automatically going to the fridge or cupboard mid evening, staring into it and pick something up to eat even though I’m not hungry. I’ve overeaten for decades and my ‘feeling full’ receptors are severely broken. Hopefully doing this will put me right again.
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Miss Muffett - are you SURE you have been overeating? It wasn't just what you were eating? (And along with this thread topic - when you were eating.)

I've been keeping a T2D journal for the duration of my, er, T2D 'journey', and thought I ate a huge amount, as in energy (calorie) load, and was pretty surprised to find at various junctures that it was not an excessive calory load, but yeah - for me - the amount of wholegrain wheat products and calorific drinks (fruit drinks) that did the real dirty to my waist line (what waist!). And yeah - sweet things like ice cream, desserts and candy and so on.

And I see that you normalised your weight - along with your carb load? That's correct, right?

My own analysis of myself is not that the feeling full receptors are broken, but that I have very active hunger hormones, which is a family thing on one side at least. So, you know - in all likelihood inherited. Could that be your situation too?
 
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