Why Am I Always So Hungry in the Evening?

You’ve had a busy day. You’ve been up early, got the children sorted, gone to work, answered approximately a million questions and somehow managed to get everyone fed.

You’ve grabbed something for lunch, probably had a couple of coffees and promised yourself you’d eat something properly when you got home.

And now, finally, you’ve sat down.

Except you’re hungry.

You’ve had dinner, but you’re still thinking about food. You find yourself going back into the kitchen, opening cupboards and looking for something else to eat.

And before long, that familiar thought arrives:

“Why can’t I just stop eating in the evening?”

Maybe you decide you’ve been greedy. Perhaps you tell yourself that tomorrow you’ll be more disciplined, cut back on the snacks or try not to eat after dinner.

But before you make another food rule, I’d like you to consider something.

Have you actually eaten enough today?

But I eat normally during the day!

This is something I often hear from women who tell me they’re always hungry in the evening.

They don’t necessarily think there’s anything unusual about how they eat during the day.

They have a coffee in the morning, grab something light for lunch and perhaps have a snack in the afternoon.

That’s just their normal routine.

But when we start looking a little more closely, they sometimes realise that they haven’t actually eaten very much.

Maybe that salad at lunchtime wasn’t particularly satisfying. Perhaps they’ve got into the habit of ignoring their hunger because they’re busy, or they simply don’t think they need anything else until dinner.

And by the time they finally sit down in the evening, they’re really hungry.

Now, I’m not saying that everyone needs to eat three meals and two snacks a day. We all have different needs, appetites and routines.

But it’s worth considering whether the way you’ve become accustomed to eating is actually giving your body what it needs.

Just because something has become your normal doesn’t necessarily mean it’s working for you.

And if you’re regularly finding yourself ravenous in the evening, perhaps the first thing to explore isn’t how to eat less at night.

It’s whether you’re eating enough during the day.

Why being busy can make it harder to notice hunger

When you’re juggling work, children and everything else that needs doing, eating can become something you fit in around the rest of your day.

You might notice you’re getting hungry at lunchtime, but there’s something you need to finish first.

Then somebody needs you, a meeting runs over or you’re rushing out to collect the children.

By the time you get around to eating, you’re absolutely starving.

Or perhaps you’ve become so used to getting on with things that you don’t really notice your hunger until it becomes difficult to ignore.

And this can carry on throughout the day.

It’s not necessarily that you’re deliberately trying to eat less. You simply haven’t made much time for yourself.

But your body still needs feeding, even when you’re busy.

Your hunger doesn’t disappear just because you’ve got other things to do.

And when you finally stop in the evening, you may notice just how hungry you actually are.

Sometimes you’re hungry. Sometimes you just fancy something nice.

I also think it’s important that we don’t turn every evening snack into a problem that needs solving.

You might have eaten enough throughout the day and still fancy some chocolate while you’re watching television.

You might enjoy having something sweet after dinner.

You might be hungry again a couple of hours after eating.

None of those things automatically means you’ve done something wrong.

Food isn’t just fuel. It’s also something we enjoy, something we share with other people and something that can be part of a perfectly ordinary, enjoyable evening.

Of course, sometimes we eat because we’re bored, stressed or simply enjoying a moment to ourselves after a demanding day.

That’s worth being curious about, particularly if it’s happening regularly and leaving you feeling uncomfortable.

But we don’t need to jump straight to the conclusion that eating in the evening is something you should stop doing.

You are allowed to enjoy food without needing to justify why you’re eating it.

So what could you do differently tomorrow?

Before deciding that your evening eating is the problem, I’d encourage you to look at what happens earlier in your day.

Think about your usual lunch. Does it actually satisfy you, or are you hungry again an hour later?

If you know you’re going to be out collecting children, working late or heading straight from work to another commitment, could you take something with you to eat?

Perhaps having an afternoon snack would mean you don’t arrive home absolutely ravenous.

And when you do have dinner, could you allow yourself to eat enough to feel comfortably satisfied rather than stopping because you think you’ve had what you ‘should’ have?

You don’t have to change everything at once.

Perhaps tomorrow you simply try having a more substantial lunch and eating something in the afternoon when you’re hungry.

Then notice how you feel in the evening.

Not because there’s a perfect way to eat that you need to achieve, but because you’re learning what works for you.

Looking after yourself includes feeding yourself

I want you to think about how much attention you give to making sure everyone else has eaten.

You make the packed lunches. You sort out dinner. You check that the children have had something before their activities.

And then somehow, your own lunch becomes a coffee and whatever you can find in the fridge.

I know how easy it is to get caught up in everything that needs doing.

But looking after yourself doesn’t have to begin with another food plan or a promise to be more disciplined.

Sometimes it begins with something much more straightforward.

Making sure you’ve actually had enough to eat.

And if you’re still hungry in the evening?

You’re allowed to eat then, too.

You don’t have to earn your food by having a particularly productive day, completing a workout or following all your rules.

Your body needs looking after on the busy days as well as the quiet ones.

And that includes feeding it.

Want some support with that?

I coach women 35+ who want to feel better in themselves and find a way of looking after their body, food & movement that works in real life.

If you’re tired of second-guessing what you should eat, feeling guilty around food or constantly promising yourself you’ll start again tomorrow, we can work through what’s happening for you and find a different way forward.

Find out more about 1:1 coaching

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