nightime hunger

[hoot temple 25]

I have found I get just as hungry or the feeling even at night watching tv every 2 hours or so. retired and used to staying up late. thoughts?

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

You may be hungry. Why not plan for a small, high-protein evening snack?

[JamieLogical 8,708]

A couple of possibilities. First, you could legitimately be hungry. How far out from surgery are you? How long are you going without eating? For me, if I don't eat every 3-4 hours, I definitely get legitimately, physically hungry.

Another possibility is head hunger. If the TV your watching include commercials, I will still, to this day, see certain food commercials and thing "I NEED THAT RIGHT NOW". I can usually talk myself out of it pretty quickly when I assess how I'm really feeling, what I've already eaten that day, whether or not I am physically capable of eating whatever it is, etc.

Yet another possibility is that you still associate watching TV with snacking. I know that pre-op, I had certain Snacks that I associated with certain shows. I would ALWAYS eat ice cream while watching Survivor, for instance. Or chips & dip while watching Nascar. So I had kind of a trained psychological behavior of eating Snacks while watching certain things and that association didn't magically disappear when I had surgery on my stomach.

Finally, it could be excess acid mimicking hunger. Most people who experience GERD experience it more in the evening or at night. So even if you don't have acid issues during the day, you might still have it at night. If the "hunger" you are feeling is stomach rumbling/growling, then this is likely the culprit.

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

...or, you could be thirsty.

[Montana Gal 448]

​I agree with @@JamieLogical, for me food and t.v. just go hand in hand. It's an old unhealthy eating habit I have had to change. If it happens now, I will grab a healhy snack on my approved list and eat mindfully. Even closing my eyes and enjoying the taste of a good apple and eating it slowly. Something I never did before. Hope this helps some, good luck and hang in there!