Sleep eating

Hi everyone!

I'm making pretty good progress to my weight goal...I've lost around 105 lbs so far and still going strong! However lately I've been struggling a lot with sleep eating. During the day I'm able to stay under or at my calorie intake goal. At night though, I'll wake up and consume like 300 calories half asleep. I don't even realize what I'm doing until I'm finished or nearly finished eating. My boyfriend even brought it up to me this morning...said I woke up at like 3 am walked right past him to the kitchen like he wasn't even there, got a bowl of cereal and a popsicle, ate it, and fell back asleep before he even came to check on me a few minutes later. It's so distressing :( I'm ready to put locks on my fridge and cabinets. 

Has anyone on here dealt with this before? What steps should I take to reduce it? I'd appreciate any advice!  Thank you :)

Are you working with a health professional to figure this out?  

I haven't yet. I've just recently realized its a real problem, so I haven't had the chance to contact any of my doctors about it yet. I do plan on bringing it up to my therapist next week though.

Good!  I hope that your team is able to shed light on this.  I've read/heard things about people with similar issues and that it has to do with your brain somehow not turning off your body while you're sleeping.  (I heard a This American Life once from a guy who had this problem and actually jumped out of a hotel window in his sleep!!  Super scary.)  It's treatable, though.  So I'm hopeful that there's a solution for you as well!

Thank you! Yes that's exactly how I've been feeling lately, like my brain isn't turning off all the way when I go to sleep at night. I don't plan on jumping out of any windows though lololol. 

Do you take medicine for sleep like Ambien?  I have heard that sleep walking is one of the possible side effects.  Good luck!

You can buy alarms meant for pool gates- when the door is opened it will trip it.  They are loud and will for sure wake you up.  Test it while awake though, because I don't want you to have a heart attack! I used to work in a sleep lab, and parasomiacs have the ability to open locks and such.  Not sure if putting a child lock on the fridge would do anything. 

I have heard of this.  It is an actual sleep disorder, though I cannot remember what the exact name of it is.  Talk to your doctor,maybe he can refer you to a sleep center.  My sister had sort of the same problem except she would wake up in the middle of the night and be unable to control her eating.  She was aware what she was doing, just out of control.

Anne

I was also thinking are you taking Ambien?

my M.I.L takes it and she not only sleep eats

but she has sleep driven leading to car accidents..

it's a scary and dangerous drug IMHO...

My sister has driven in her sleep on it, called people and ordered food. The worse was she shot her husbands truck while on Ambien.  Scary stuff and she still takes it.

Eating in my sleep is something I have never done so can't help you.  I am wide awake when I make my bad choices.