Night-time eating

I’ve finally got my groove back in the exercise department. I’ve been logging many sessions at the gym, and none are excessively long. This is something that I’ve got ot be leery of, as I’m prone to get into the mindset of “if 30 minutes is good, then 30 minutes is great!!” However, most of the literature I’ve read indicates that this causes muscle loss (resulting in metabolism slow-down), and an increase in cortisol (a stress hormone which can often induce eating, and had also been tied to fat retention around the belly). And aside from this, in the past when I’ve started extending my training sessions I eventually wind-up burning out and quitting. So I’ve been focusing on intense interval training for my cardio, and heavy weight multiple muscle exercises for my strength training.

Where I’ve been falling down is in my eating. I had a couple of good days after I last posted, but since then it’s been sorry. I start out with good intentions; my day is more or less planned, lots of healthy choices at home, all of it. I eat good quality food up to and including supper. And then the snacking begins. A bowl of oatmeal fits into my plan, but not three bowls, all topped with sugar and cream. A portion of chips measured out is fine, but not mindless eating until I have no idea how much I’ve consumed but my belly hurts and bag seems suspiciously deflated.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to address this. I am not someone who can say “no food after 7:00pm”; firstly, because I’m active but can’t eat very much at one sitting, so I need one last mini-meal/snack around 9:00 or I am HUNGRY, and secondly because I would eventually rail against any such rule I put in place and wind up eating the world one night (the WORLD).

A couple of potential underlying factors have been indentified by me. One is that I’ve been feeling unsatisfied at home. While in many ways Nick and I are compatible, we have different versions of housekeeping and domestic-ness. This means that I do more of the cleaning, have to nag him about larger jobs we agreed we’d do (i.e. painting the interior), and either we prepare our food separately or I cook for both of us, but he has never prepared a meal for me. And I’m really starting to resent this. And while this may seem like I’m over thinking something that doesn’t need to be addressed at this juncture, I just wonder if I want this for the rest of my life. Ugh, I can’t believe I just said (wrote) that aloud.

A less angst-y reason for the continuous snacking may be that I’m just not getting enough food and my body is seeking more calories.

In considering solutions (and addressing the less difficult one first), I think I may try to eat more, especially for my supper meal, and maybe plan to have something in line with my cravings for “dessert”, but something that still offers some fuel for my body. For example, given my chip cravings, I may try baking up some fries tonight. And as for the other issue, I did talk to Nick yesterday about it. I’m not sure how much he absorbs, partially because I’m not sure how to convey how important it is to me. I say again, ugh.