Binging... every night

PetiteLittleFlower

Maybe we can add each other and support one another at times when we feel like a binge! I have been fighting the urge all night

sa11yjane

bump

AJ_G

I hope you are not going by the myfitnesspal default protein goal because it is severely below what you should be eating. For maximum muscle preservation during a cut and maximum muscle building, everyone should consume .82g/lb of body weight in protein. This not only helps build and preserve muscle, but the increased protein helps keep you full longer and prevents binges. You should also consume .4g/lb of body weight of fat per day for hormone production. I eat at least 150g protein a day and it keeps me full. This is 3 times what the myfitnesspal default is.

RickyLuvsMary4ever

I still have food binges, but they are less and less!

First thing I did was keep trigger foods out of reach!

Next I pay more attention to my feelings, stress, uncertainty and boredom makes me susceptible to binges.

ecdce

If you're just binging out of habit, you can try to schedule activities in the evening so you can't binge, or at least are less likely to. Game night with friends, long bath, walk in the park, movie, whatever you enjoy. Especially if you're with others, you will be less likely to spend the evening eating if you're doing things that don't allow you to just sit around and eat.

nainai0585

I understand how you feel, the only difference is that I'm a "green" smoker at night only and the munchies really kick in. Since I know I'll be smoking that night, I'll eat less calories during the day so that I still have enough left over that I can have a veggie plate (no dipping sauce though b/c I don't like it), or a bowl of chips, etc.
Sometimes I go over if I have company joining me and they bring their own snacks, but usually its just me.

What I have found that has worked for me is logging what I plan to snack on earlier in the day so that it is already calculated, or, if I happen to go over what I have allotted myself, I will log those snacks into the next day.
If I don't want to snack or have already at my calorie limit for the day, I find brushing my teeth prevents me from snacking (I love the minty taste but hate eating with it b/c food just tastes off) or I will go straight to bed.

onwarddownward

Television and Facebook are loaded with food porn. I do an early morning swim, so I go to bed early and I never watch TV anymore. Those ads are targeted to hit you where you live. They'll make you hungry even if you just ate. Identify triggers and then eliminate them.

nicoleharding1

I think there are a few things you can do which can help.

1. Work out what food group keeps you feeling full - as people have suggested, increasing protein and decreasing simple carbs may help you to feel fuller on fewer carbs so that you aren't hungry outside of meals.

2. Eat your food slower. Your body can't react very quickly to tell you that you're full so eating slower can help your body to catch up with what you're eating. You could try putting half the amount of dinner on your plate you normally would and then you have to get up to put more on your plate. You could also have your food in really small pieces, like using child sized knives and forks. This means you're not consuming more calories than necessary. You can also go for very small snacks. For example you could eat a handful of chocolate raisins one at a time and feel like you've eaten more because it took longer than if you ate a bar of chocolate. Also, make sure you chew everything carefully and deliberately so that you get the full flavour of your food and slow yourself down.

3. Go for several smaller meals rather than fewer big ones.

4. Use shopping lists for your food shop so that you can limit the binge foods you have in the house. My binge foods are cheese and chocolate so I buy just 50 or 100g of cheese from the deli counter and I've bought a multi-pack of kit-kats (107 cals each) so if I fancy something or if I find myself with some calories to spare AND I'm also hungry I can have a little bit, but not binge.

5. Drink more. A lot of lists of losing weight I see recommend drinking two glasses of water before meals, which I don't think sounds healthy personally but the idea can be helpful. When you feel hungry outside of mealtimes try having a glass of water or a herbal tea - NOT juice or tea or coffee due to the sugar and/or milk in them. This might help with some of the cravings.

6. Find out lower cal versions of the foods you're binging on. It took me awhile to not have chocolate everyday, but I started buying expensive (which also puts me off eating all at once!) dark chocolate so I got the taste of it without the sugar rush and the calories.


You need to figure out why you are binging - the FLAB thing which someone else posted before helps with that. You need to figure out if you're not getting enough 'fullness' for the calories you're eating for meals and adjust accordingly. You need to figure out how to limit the damage of the snacking.

I hope this helps and I wish you the very best. Well done for being brave and posting it. Don't forget we all have these bumps in the road and that we're here to support one another.