10 Clever Ways to Stop Eating Late at Night to Avoid Weight Gain

There’s one big reason you may still be holding on to excess weight even though you may not be eating too many calories through the day – and that’s night-time eating! Ideally, your last meal should be before 7 pm because when you eat too late into the night, most of the excess calories are going to be stored as fat. Emotional eating, extreme food deprivation during daytime, boredom, stress, are some common factors that can trigger night-time eating and that’s why it’s important to set a cut-off time over your last meal. Apart from causing digestive issues, gastric trouble, heartburn, and the most obvious outcome, “weight gain,” eating too late into the night can interrupt your sleep and what’s more, you wake up with a bloated tummy in the morning! Once in a while indulgence in the night with food is “okay,” but it’s a problem if it turns into a daily routine and then sets into a habit. As we have always maintained, taking scheduled strolls to the kitchen or refrigerator can sabotage your weight loss goals, more so at night, because most of these times, you aren’t even hungry and end up eating sugary, high-fat, and calorie-dense food. Late-night eating leads to weight gain and also increases the risk for chronic illnesses such as type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and even stroke. That’s because the body tends to store most of the calories as fat rather than burning it up as energy because it cannot metabolize most of the calories consumed at such a time. Since metabolism and other fat-burning hormones level dip as the evening approaches, and the body is getting ready to rest and recover, by consuming calories too late into the night, those calories are not going anywhere, and staying with you in the form of fat. Also, such people are more likely to develop insulin resistance which can pave way for type 2 diabetes later on. It also doesn’t help that night-time eaters have more cravings for sweet, salty and starchy foods in the evening. Through the evolution process, our ancestors learnt to eat really well in the evening so that most of those calories could be stored as fat as food was scarce in those days and there was no guarantee about when the next meal would be available the next day. But in the current way of life, it has translated into wrong and unhealthy eating habits. Your sweating out at the gym, untiringly counting every calorie, would go for a toss with a meal that’s too late in the night. So, here are some really clever ways to stop eating too late into the night.

1. Start on a Weight Loss Diet with a Proper Meal Schedule: To lose weight, you have to absolutely get into a calorie deficit and the easiest way to do that is to follow an effective weight loss program such as on the Rati Beauty app. The weight loss program trains you to stick to proper meal schedules and plans that discourage the body from going in for late night dinners and snacks. Download the app for more details and weight loss diet plans.
2. Don’t Crash Diet During the Day: Food deprivation during the day can trigger a ravenous appetite during nighttime to compensate for energy paucity during the day. If you don’t provide adequate nourishment to your body, it will hit back with a vengeance at night. Also, it’s not a good idea to skip breakfast because it might lead to overeating at dinner and increase frequency of snacking into the night. So, never crash diet to lose weight, follow the plans on the Rati Beauty app to lose weight by eating the right kind of food, not less.
3. Eat Protein Rich Breakfast and Lunch: Protein and fiber content in food drastically reduces night-time cravings because they keep you full for long hours, curbing unnecessary hunger pangs. You can find protein and fiber rich meals on the Rati Beauty app to lose weight succesfully.
4. Detach Emotions from Food: When we say lower stress levels to burn fat and break the cycle of weight gain, it’s due to the fact that stress alters eating habits by a great deal and most of us tend to crave for comfort food late at night when we are under stress and anxious. When under stress or even plain bored, people turn towards highly palatable food such as sugary and calorie-dense foods. Such items spike up insulin levels and when there’s a crash later on, you are gonna look for more food to satisfy the cravings, no matter the timing. Here are some effective tricks to curb emotional eating.
5. Cut Down on Processed Food: When we say cut down, we actually mean, ditch processed food with empty calories without any nutrient value, the body’s cravings for sweet, salty, high fat food increases in the evening and night!
6. Suppress Unnecessary Hunger Pangs at Night By Sipping on Water: Water is absolutely necessary for all physiological functions to run smoothly, and much more water is required to lose weight. Water is an absolutely calorie-free drink which is also a natural appetite suppressant, and a majority of time when you think you are hungry, you are plain thirsty. Also, dehydration can increase night-time cravings to a great degree, so always have a bottle of water at your bedside and sip from it when you feel hungry, instead of heading to the refrigerator to find a snack.
7. Drink Warm Peppermint Tea: Sip on warm peppermint tea in the evening to curb hunger pangs.
8. Practice Out of Sight, out of Mind Policy: When you stop bringing in unhealthy snacks into the house and the kitchen, it’s a foolproof way to avoid late-night overeating because most people crave for unhealthy snacks and junk food at night, and when you don’t have them in the pantry, refrigerator, or kitchen, you wouldn’t get up to look for them in the night.
9. Brush your Teeth After Dinner with a Minty Toothpaste: Brush your teeth immediately after dinner with a minty toothpaste and this habit would trick your brain into thinking that you are getting ready for sleep instead of giving it room enough to eat another snack later in the night. Mint-flavoured toothpastes make all foods taste bad, if you don’t believe us, try it for yourself!
10. Sleep for 7 Hours Straight: An uninterrupted and sound sleep at night is great for the mind and body, and absolutely great for weight loss, to keep hunger hormones in check, and to keep stress under control – all of these would help you curb that ravenous appetite. So, sleep well and sleep tight at night.

Hope these tips would help straighten up your night-time eating – a factor that prevents weight loss.