Why You Binge At Night Plus Proven Steps to Stop

You’ve been good all day. You ate a low fat yogurt parfait for breakfast, salad with chicken for lunch, and resisted the cookies your coworker brought into the office.

And then you walk in the door from a long day and immediately head for the pantry.

Minutes later you’re arm deep in a bag of chips and that feeling of guilt and shame sets in. Immediately you think to yourself — why don’t I have more control? Why can’t I stick to healthy eating? 

With feelings of complete defeat, you give in. You keep eating and vow to start over again tomorrow. 

Sound familiar? You’re not alone. 

Whether it’s the minute you walk in the door from a long day or after everyone in the house is asleep, this experience is incredibly defeating.

Though it feels lonely, you’re not alone. Nighttime binge eating is a common struggle, and there are many things you can do to take back control.

As a registered dietitian, certified intuitive eating counselor, and body image coach, I’ve helped hundreds of women end the struggle with nighttime binge eating. Keep reading to understand why you binge eat and how to stop. 

What is Bingeing vs. Overeating?

Bingeing and overeating are often used interchangeably. Before diving into the reasons for nighttime bingeing, it’s important to understand how the two differ.

Bingeing involves consuming large amounts of food in a short period and is often accompanied by feeling out of control. It’s not just about eating too much; it’s about feeling unable to stop.

Some people who binge don’t realize it’s happening until it’s too late. Others are completely aware that it’s happening, but still are unable to stop. After a binge, you may feel disgusted, ashamed, frustrated, and guilty. 

Overeating is when you eat more than your body needs, but without the sense of loss of control. You might: 

• Find it very difficult to stop because you’re really enjoying the food
• Choose to keep eating even though you know you’re full (either because it tastes so good or because you know you won’t get this food again tomorrow when you’re good again)
• Be unaware that you’re overeating until after it happens because you missed your body’s fullness cues

When overeating, you likely feel overfull and uncomfortable afterward. You also feel guilty and frustrated with yourself, but it may not have the same emotional weight as bingeing.

Whether you binge or overeat, getting to the root cause of your eating issues is key to actually putting an end to it. This article will address both.

Disclaimer

This post is not a substitute for medical advice. While the below describes the most common reasons for bingeing and how to address them, if you find yourself bingeing regularly to numb emotions, it might be a sign of Binge Eating Disorder (BED), a serious condition that requires professional treatment. If you’re struggling with BED, I strongly encourage you to seek help from a registered dietitian and therapist who specializes in BED.

5 Common Reasons You Binge at Night

Bingeing can happen at anytime of day, but for many nighttime is a particularly triggering time of day. Below we explore 5 of the top reasons you binge at night.

You Don’t Eat Enough During the Day

The biggest predictor of binge-like eating is actually restriction. This is common among dieters and those who want to lose weight. And under eating during the day often leads to a binge at night.

It seems logical to limit your eating during the day if you’re trying to lose weight. Unfortunately this often leads to over compensating at night. 

It feels like you just don’t have enough willpower, but it’s actually your brain and body trying to protect you. I know that sounds insane when you have been told you need to eat less to lose weight, so stay with me. 

You may be able to push through hunger for several hours, especially if you’re busy. But eventually, under eating catches up with you and your body tries to make up for what it didn’t get earlier in the day. 

It does so by pumping out hormones that increase your drive to eat carbs and sweets. These foods can be difficult to stop eating, especially when you’re very hungry because you are more likely to eat quickly and miss fullness cues. 

The same phenomenon can happen even if you’re not trying to lose weight, but maybe you: 

• Are on medications that suppress your appetite earlier in the day.
• Drink a lot of coffee or other caffeinated beverages throughout the day, which can temporarily suppress your appetite.  
• Are highly focused and miss hunger cues while at work or caring for kids or others.
• Have suppressed your body’s daytime hunger cues with low-calorie diets or intermittent fasting.

Whatever the reason, intense hunger will lead to overeating, no matter how much self-control you think you have. And continuing to follow this pattern will keep you stuck in a restrict-binge cycle.

If you want to understand more about how eating too little drives nighttime binge eating and exactly what to do about it, we cover this in detail inside my FREE Training How to Finally Feel in Control Around All Foods. 

You’re Trying to Eat Perfectly 

The perfectionist mentality is common among binge and overeaters. It usually comes along with a desire for weight loss, though it may also just be a quest to eat a certain way for health reasons.

Whether that’s following a specific diet like keto or WW or just cutting out certain foods like sweets, snacks, carbs, fast food, or processed foods, you go all in. You can keep up with it for a bit. 

But eventually something breaks. You have a long stressful day and your partner brings home cookies, or there are brings in cupcakes in your office for a birthday. You’re tired and decide to eat one. 

As you’re eating it, you’re berating yourself for not being stronger. This leads to what is often referred to as ‘F-it’ mode or a last supper mentality.

Because you messed up, you might as well just keep eating ‘bad’ foods until you start over again tomorrow.

Cue the nighttime binge. 

Even if you eat enough during the day, you’re still restricting. Research shows that even the anticipation of restricting a food can actually lead you to eat more of that food. 

Learn more about mental restriction and getting out of the perfectionist mentality inside my free training. 

You’re Not Allowing Yourself to Eat Foods You Enjoy or Want 

Deprivation is a powerful trigger for bingeing. Similar to the above, when you deny yourself the foods you love, you’re more likely to crave them.

When you finally give in, you can’t stop. This is often because while ou eat, you are telling yourself that you have to do better tomorrow. 

This signals alarms to your brain to get it all in now, which triggers a binge. This most often happens at night when you’re in a safe place like your home.

Avoiding certain foods also contributes to nighttime bingeing because you are never fully satisfied.

I call satisfaction “taste fullness.” When you eat foods that satisfy your taste buds, it sends signals to your brain that you are done eating. 

If you’ve ever craved chocolate and instead chosen to eat blueberries, which leads to almonds, then a rice cake with low fat peanut butter, grapes, some sugar-free pudding, and eventually a whole bar of chocolate — that’s lack of satisfaction at play.

This also happens if you choose low-calorie, low-carb, or low-fat foods and try to convince yourself that you like them. 

You Have Unmet Emotional Needs 

If you don’t relate to any of the above, bingeing or overeating may be a sign of something deeper emotionally. 

Food can be a source of comfort, especially when you’re dealing with stress, exhaustion, loneliness, or boredom. This may be heightened if you were given food to cope with feelings as a child (this lollipop will make you feel better).

If you eat to avoid your emotions or eat as a way to cope with them, you’re definitely not alone. Nighttime can be particularly challenging because it’s often when you’re alone with your thoughts, or finally have time to decompress. 

You’re Eating in Secret

If you eat one way in front of others and a different way when alone, this can contribute to bingeing.

Often this looks like eating healthy and low calorie with others and then when you’re alone eat all of the foods you love but wouldn’t want someone to see you eating. 

This can be especially prominent if you feel judged about your body size, or if others comment on your eating habits. Eating in secret can create a cycle of shame and guilt that fuels bingeing. 

Is Binge eating at Night a Problem?

Bingeing and overeating at night not only has negative physical impacts, but it can also cause mental and emotional distress.

While occasionally eating past fullness is not a problem, regular binge or overeating is something to address.

How to Stop Nighttime Overeating and Bingeing

If you’re ready to put an end to bingeing at night, the following 5 strategies will help you take back control. 

Ditch Dieting and Focus on Fueling Your Body 

Ironically, restrained eaters (those who are dieting or trying to control what they eat) actually eat more than unrestrained eaters. 

That’s why, one of the most effective ways to end nighttime overeating is to focus on fueling your body instead of eating less. This prevents you from getting too hungry, and is a key part of ending the restrict-binge cycle. 

Aim to eat 3 balanced meals with enough calories, protein, and carbs for your body. Most adults need one to three balanced snacks as well. 

Inside my free training, we dive deeper into why this matters and how to know how much your body needs. 

Let go of the all-or-nothing mentality 

This can feel very challenging, especially in a world where you’re told if you eat perfectly, you’ll be healthy. And in-turn reach a weight you desire.

That’s not only completely untrue (because health and weight are determined by much more than what we eat, and there is zero data to suggest eating clean or perfectly is necessary for health), but it’s also setting you up to feel like a failure.

While this may seem completely unfathomable, giving yourself permission to eat foods you enjoy (including those that aren’t considered ‘healthy’), actually leads to eating less of those foods.

In fact, people who try to restrict end up eating more tempting foods than those that don’t restrict. 

You can reach and maintain a healthy weight for you while still eating foods you enjoy. That’s an important part of healthy eating for the long term. 

Inside my free training, I walk you through how to get out of this mindset. You’ll learn to stop mentally restricting food, take the power away from these foods, and ultimately end the binge.

Incorporate Satisfying Foods Regularly

Choosing foods that satisfy your taste buds helps tell your brain that you’ve had enough to eat, and prevent overeating.

Consider: 

• Flavor
• Textures
• Temperatures
• Volume/weight of the food

For example, explore whether you are in the mood for something cool and creamy like yogurt or something warm and cozy like oatmeal.

Do you want something light, cool, and crunchy like a big salad, or something hot, more filling, and heavier like chili?

As a former client once told me, including something that made her happy at every meal really helped her be able to stop eating when she was full. 

That food wasn’t always (or even often) what’s considered ‘junk’ either (although sometimes a bit of chocolate does the trick). 

I know this can feel incredibly scary, especially if you’re prone to overeating and bingeing.

This is why inside all of my programs we use a strategic step-by-step method to help you eat foods that satisfy you without overeating. Get started with my free training.

Build Your Emotional Coping Toolkit

If you binge at night as a way to relax, out of boredom, to cope with stress, or as a reward for getting through a tough day, that’s a sign you need to work on your emotional coping skills. 

While therapy can be very helpful here, it may not be necessary for you if you build the right skills.

Many of my clients find that therapy isn’t enough because it’s missing the other things we’ve talked about above. Though it does complement this work really well. 

Inside my signature program The UNDIET Method, we tackle emotional eating from the ground up. First by setting up your foundational self-care and implementing techniques throughout the day to reduce those feelings. 

And then we layer on in-the-moment coping skills to help you cope with your emotions without reaching for food. This tiered approach is incredibly effective because it tackles emotional eating from all angles. 

Final Thoughts to End Nighttime Bingeing

Overeating or binge eating at night can be a frustrating and isolating experience, but you don’t have to live this way.

It’s really important to understand that nighttime bingeing isn’t your fault. It’s not a sign of a character flaw, lack of willpower, or something you’ve done wrong. 

In fact, it’s rarely a result of just one thing. It’s often so closely tied to dieting history, that it’s essential to unlearn all of your dieting beliefs, stop dieting behaviors, and the relearn how to approach food so you can find peace in the evenings. 

If you’re ready to get started, my free training, ‘How to Finally Feel in Control Around All Foods’ is the perfect place to start. It will give you a deeper understanding of the behaviors you might be engaging in that aren’t helping, and will provide a clear path to finally stop overeating and make peace with food.