What are the pitfalls that you've encountered on this journey? Night time eating is a big one for me. I always was a late night binge eater. Although I don't binge eat any more the habit of craving food at night is a monkey on my back. There are times I can go virtually all day without eating but at night there are times when I'll be starving for food.

There is actually a syndrome related to nighttime eating categorized as either night eating syndrome (NES) or the sleep-related eating disorder (SRED). NES is characterized by evening hunger, abnormally increased food intake after the evening meal, nocturnal awakings with ingestions, morning anorexia, and insomnia. Unlike binge eating, excessive amounts of food are not eaten. Ironically, one of the treatments for NES is to eat regularly throughout the day and include protein at every meal.

If you suspect that you have NES then get yourself to a therapist who specializes in eating disorders. The National Eating Disorders hotline can be a good starting point: 800-931-2237.

I think I am discovering first hand what it feels like to lose weight very quickly and have the sudden influx of hormones to hit me. Today I was a mess but nothing a good cry didn't cure. I don't cry easily either but the damn burst in the shower.

I haven't been diagnosed NES, but I do have issues with night time eating that I've discussed with my therapist.

What's helped me a lot:

1. Swearing off eating after dinner. No more late snacking. I have herbal tea only after dinner. Kinda like a gremlin, I should never be fed late. LOL

2. Taking melatonin at 9pm really helps. Gets you to bed at a reasonable hour, and helps cut evening cravings. Improves your sleep quality and duration...which also helps with hunger. Improves your circadian rhythm.

1 hour ago, Creekimp13 said:

Kinda like a gremlin, I should never be fed late. LOL

Just gotta say, A+ reference. When I was a kid, I wanted a Gizmo of my very own, downsides be damned.

I'm a night owl and I do eat more at night, but I'm still trying hard to eat three meals a day and get enough protein. Putting the protein first means I simply don't have much room for other things.

Most of my challenges have had to do with my living situation(s). I've moved four times in the last six months, and have lived with a friend who had massive amounts of carbs everywhere . . . bread, rolls, cookies, donuts, potatoes, rice, you name it. Then I also spent several weeks in a motel with only a mini-fridge and a microwave for "cooking." (I also had to put my scale in storage then, and it was not good.) Now I'm with a friend who eats the way I should, basically, and I'm losing the ten pounds I gained back.

I can't wait until I'm in my own apartment again and in total control of what and when and how I eat.

One of my worries as a pre surg? Will i be able as a denture wearer to chew each bite 20-30 times? I have naturally been a bolter and swallower of food in the past.

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On 3/16/2018 at 11:30 PM, Creekimp13 said:

I haven't been diagnosed NES, but I do have issues with night time eating that I've discussed with my therapist.

What's helped me a lot:

1. Swearing off eating after dinner. No more late snacking. I have herbal tea only after dinner. Kinda like a gremlin, I should never be fed late. LOL

2. Taking melatonin at 9pm really helps. Gets you to bed at a reasonable hour, and helps cut evening cravings. Improves your sleep quality and duration...which also helps with hunger. Improves your circadian rhythm.

Good idea about taking melatonin. Thanks!

I have another snare in my journey. I have sleep apnea, yeah I know a lot of us do. When I sleep with my C Pap recently it aggravates my sinuses. Is it better to be able to breathe effectively all night if I have to blow my nose furiously when I wake up in the morning?[emoji275] I've been on 2 different antibiotics recently. I had planned to turn into a fast running antelope[emoji237] but I'm currently the Snuffleupagus[emoji208] instead. Sniffle snuffle sneeze!

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Work is an early pitfall for me. I'm usually in two or three different locations during the day, always by foot or public transport, and I try to pack as light as possible. That's making meal planning either really tough or really simple - I'm in the puree phase and I'm both exhausted and running mostly off of protein shakes on busy days. I've managed to duck work outings so far, but towards the end of this month's going to be a slew of them, one of them at a steakhouse. And work stress usually means grazing for me, which I caught myself doing a couple of days ago; grazing on pureed stuff, but still taking in way too much over the day for no good reason.

April's going to be a more manageable month, but jeez. This will all be a lot easier to manage generally once I can eat normal foods and just duck into a restaurant and eat an appetizer to recharge, but at the moment it's pretty rough.