How I Swerve Late-Night Cravings (and how you can too)
It’s 11:00pm and excuse my french but i’m pretty fucking hungry! 😂
I’m 30 days out from my first bodybuilding show. I haven’t gone off plan once, but my brain is narrating hot dogs and milk chocolate cookies like a David Attenborough doc. My girlfriend said “cereal-milk cookies” and now I can hear them. Meanwhile I’m eating lean mince/chicken with rice or baked potato and the MVP of this prep is Tabasco (which I’m retiring on Sept 27 out of sheer trauma 😂).
Enough about me. Here’s how YOU can dodge cravings using what’s working for me - plus a few science-backed tricks.
The Anti-Hunger Stack (use more of these as your diet gets harder)
Low calorie density = big plates, few calories
Think piles of veg, potatoes, oats, fruit, broth based soups, chicken/fish. Junk is mostly the opposite: tiny portion, loads of calories.Protein every meal
Aim for (1.6–2.2 g/kg) daily. Protein blunts hunger and steadies you.Fibre high
25-40 g/day from veg, fruit, oats, beans. Fibre + water = a fuller gut and calmer brain.Move calories to your hungry window
Not hungry at breakfast but ravenous at night? Cool—eat lighter early, save macros for later. Match food timing to your appetite, not someone’s template.Ditch liquid calories
Sodas/juice/shakes vanish without fullness. Go diet drinks or water. Bonus: drink a glass before meals and eat slower.Caffeine (earlier)
It suppresses appetite. Use it AM/early PM; cut it if it hurts sleep (poor sleep = more cravings).Reduce SUPER TASTY triggers
Don’t bring the COOKIES home. Keep the kitchen boring during a cut. The less you see/sniff, the less you spiral.Sleep & steps
7–9 hours + daily steps keep hunger hormones saner. Zombie sleep = snack gremlin.
Late-Night Toolkit (what I actually do)
Sugar-free jelly - you could opt. for pickles, cucumber, big salad bowl.
Diet soda / sparkling water / mint tea while you ride out a wave.
Brush teeth / mouthwash = taste reset.
10 minute rule: set a timer. Walk, stretch, shower. If you still want it after, reassess.
Kitchen closed: lights off, food away, tomorrow’s first meal prepped.
Restaurant protocol: drink water before the meal, talk lots, eat slow. Order protein + veg + potato/rice, skip liquid calories.
“I slipped. Now what?”
Cap the damage (e.g. 500-700 kcal), protein first, veg after.
Log it, no shame spiral, back on track next meal.
When to deploy more tools
Early in the diet, keep things moderate.
As hunger builds, dial up the stack (more volume foods, more fibre, more timing tricks).
After the cut, transition. Keep the anti-hunger habits while calories climb to maintenance so you don’t rebound.
If you want a plan that survives real life (and the 11pm gremlins) that’s literally what my coaching does: you set the rules, we build the high satiety meals you’ll actually eat and keep you honest when (if you’re anything like me) your brain starts singing about cookies.
