- A dietitian determines that the cause of her client’s nighttime eating isn’t a lack of willpower.
- The woman was not eating enough during the day, which caused her to overeat at night.
- Adding a protein-rich breakfast and an afternoon snack were among the tactics that helped.
As a registered dietitian with nearly a decade in the field, the most common complaint I hear is some variation of “I can be ‘good’ all day long, but as soon as I get home at night, I can’t stop eating.” People feel defective, like they have no willpower, or like they have an addiction to food. But, based on science, experience and practice, I can confidently say this is rarely the case.
My specialty centers on “overeating” and our relationship with food. I began working with “Sarah” (not her real name), a busy professional in her early 30s who felt completely out of control in the evenings, eating foods she didn’t even want and “undoing” all her efforts during the day.
After we made a few minor tweaks to her diet and routine, her nighttime snacking and overeating are all but gone. And here’s the part that may surprise you the most (especially if this pattern feels familiar): The root cause of her out-of-control nighttime eating started as soon as she woke up.
She Tried to Lose Weight for Years
Sarah had been dieting for decades. As a young teen, she attended Weight Watchers with her mom and then spent years trying every diet, from low-carb, low-sugar, low-fat or low-calorie to throwing out all the snacks (only to buy them again a few weeks later). Sarah exhausted every exercise trend or program, but nothing lasted for more than a few weeks.
As her career took off and her life became busy, her pattern of dieting for weight loss became a desire to be healthy. She adopted a vegetarian diet, focused on fruits and vegetables and started a regular exercise routine she could sustain. But her nighttime eating and out-of-control feelings around food only seemed to intensify.
A Pattern I Was Familiar With
When Sarah began walking me through her typical day, there were some early red flags. Her morning typically started with a 20-minute strength session or a 30-minute spin bike ride. She would make a smoothie with almond milk, a handful of spinach and some frozen berries for breakfast.
At work, Sarah would eat a lunch that usually included a veggie-packed salad with some fruit and rice cakes on the side. She’d power through her afternoon at work, feeling worn down and tired out, then come home in the evening to make a “healthy dinner” of grilled tofu with roasted vegetables or a stir-fry with beans, veggies and cauliflower rice. More often than not, she would end her dinner feeling completely stuffed.
Then, only an hour later, she was back in the kitchen, grabbing a cookie (then another and another), a few handfuls of chips, a spoonful of ice cream (then another and another).
I often see this type of nighttime grazing and binge behavior in clients. While emotional eating and disorders like binge eating can look similar to this scene from the outside, Sarah’s situation didn’t seem to be tied to an emotional response. Based on her routine and meal patterns, the reason was likely physical.
The Hidden Cause Behind Her Nighttime Overeating
When Sarah walked me through her typical day, I spotted two critical problems:
1. Not consuming enough calories during the day
2. Poorly balanced meals.
The 150 calories at breakfast and the lunch that was no better were mostly carbohydrates. These meals digest quickly and can cause blood sugar swings because they lack protein and fat, which are essential for slowing digestion.
Research shows that including protein at breakfast not only supports more even energy digestion and release after breakfast, but its effects last throughout the day, with reduced glucose spikes after lunch and dinner. Sarah’s low-calorie meals, predominantly made of carbs, were sending her blood sugar and energy levels on a rollercoaster ride throughout the day.
By 6 p.m., she’d eaten less than 500 calories and had gone six hours without food. Long fasting periods like this can activate regions in the brain that trigger strong urges to eat and intensify food cravings for high-calorie, palatable foods. Her body went into survival mode, sending urgent signals to her brain to eat, making it difficult to be mindful of what and how much she was eating.
By dinner, Sarah’s blood sugar was low, and her hunger hormones were active, leading to the “out of control” feeling as she ate. The cookies, chips and ice cream were her body’s biological response to running on empty all day. This is the body trying to prevent starvation, not a lack of willpower.
How We Solved Her “Out of Control” Nighttime Eating
Once we identified that Sarah had an undereating problem, we made strategic changes to her diet.
Focused on a Protein-Rich, Filling Breakfast
We made her favorite morning smoothie protein-rich and filling by adding protein powder, Greek yogurt and a spoonful of chia seeds. Now, she starts her day with 30 grams of protein, more than 400 calories and a serving of healthy fats. This gives her energy throughout the morning and supports lean muscle growth from her morning workouts.
Gave Lunch an Upgrade
We added chickpeas, nuts and plant-based meat alternatives to her salad, and packed it into a whole-wheat pita or served it with a baked sweet potato. Now her lunch offers a mix of complex carbs, protein and vegetables for energy that carries her through the afternoon.
Added an Afternoon Snack
Going six or seven hours between lunch and dinner was a driving force behind pre-dinner snacking and overeating at dinner. We planned a simple, balanced snack for her to eat toward the end of the workday. This helps her feel less ravenous when she returns home, so she can focus on preparing dinner and then eat it more mindfully.
Created a Mindful Nighttime Snacking Routine
Within the first two weeks of adjusting her breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack, Sarah’s nighttime snacking and overeating decreased by more than 75%. She felt more energized throughout the day and was more intentional about her evening eating.
Why Nighttime Overeating Is So Common
This pattern isn’t unique. In fact, it’s one of the most common patterns I see as a dietitian. We’re conditioned to believe that we need to eat less, or focus all of our attention on numbers and calories, powering through hunger and ignoring what we actually need to feel satisfied. Then, add busy schedules, poor sleep and eating while watching TV, working or doomscrolling, and our bodies end up screaming for more energy and nutrients through an intense urge to eat.
Not sure if underfueling is causing your nighttime overeating? Here are some signs:
- You eat very little during the day (often less than 800 to 1,000 calories before dinner)
- You go five or more hours between meals without snacking
- Evening eating feels urgent or desperate, regardless of how you feel emotionally
- You eat foods you don’t even particularly want
- You have a history of dieting or restricting calories or nutrients.
Dietitian-Approved Steps to Try Today
If anything in this article resonated with you, here are some strategies to help your nighttime eating feel less chaotic.
- Start your day with a protein-rich breakfast. Aim for 20 to 30 grams of protein. Eggs with whole-grain toast, Greek yogurt with nuts and berries, or a protein-and-fruit smoothie are all easy, protein-rich options.
- Plan for a balanced lunch. Include protein, complex carbs, healthy fats and vegetables in your midday meal, whether you bring it from home or order out. Try a grain bowl with chicken, a loaded salad with beans and quinoa, or a hearty sandwich with fruit.
- Add a midmorning or afternoon snack. Try to avoid going more than five hours without eating. Snack on foods such as an apple with peanut butter, a cheese stick and crackers, or Greek yogurt with granola between meals if needed.
- Make nighttime snacks intentional. Once you’ve addressed the biological drivers behind your nighttime overeating, you can feel free to enjoy a nighttime snack if you choose to do so. There’s nothing inherently wrong with eating a snack at night. But now, it’ll feel like a choice, not an urge you can’t control.
Meal Plan to Try
7-Day Diet Meal Plan to Lose Weight: 1,200 Calories
The Bottom Line
If you feel out of control around food at night, it’s likely not a willpower problem—it’s a fueling problem. Eating too little during the day, especially meals low in protein and fat, can set off intense hunger and cravings by evening. Prioritizing enough calories earlier in the day, with balanced meals and planned snacks, helps steady blood sugar, calm hunger hormones and make nighttime eating feel intentional instead of urgent.
