How to stop late-night snacking

You do well all day, then the evening arrives and suddenly you're standing in front of the fridge. Late-night snacking is incredibly common, and it's rarely about a lack of willpower. Usually, there's a reason behind it.

Why it happens

• Under-eating during the day, so real hunger catches up at night
• Tiredness, which makes food feel more rewarding
• Boredom or habit, like snacking while watching TV
• Stress from the day finally having space to surface

Eat enough earlier

The most effective fix is often eating a proper breakfast and lunch with enough protein and fibre. If you're running on coffee until mid-afternoon, evening hunger is your body asking for what it missed.

Make dinner satisfying

A dinner with plenty of protein, vegetables and some carbohydrate keeps you full for the evening. An ultra-light salad dinner often leads to a raid on the cupboard two hours later.

Plan an evening snack

If you know you'll want something, plan it. A yoghurt with berries, a piece of fruit with a few nuts, or a cup of tea and two squares of dark chocolate is far better than an unplanned bag of crisps.

Change the environment

• Keep tempting snacks out of sight, or out of the house
• Eat at the table, not on the sofa
• Find a non-food evening routine: a walk, a shower, reading, a hobby
• Go to bed earlier; tiredness drives cravings

Use your log as a clue

Logging your meals for a week often reveals the cause: a skipped lunch, a low-protein breakfast or a long gap before dinner. Mealful makes logging quick with a tap or a photo, so you can spot the pattern and plan around it.