Binge Eating / Emotional Eating

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Fay84Vegan
Fay84Vegan Posts: 225 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Has anyone got issues with Binge eating / Emotional Eating?

I had a great week last week but this week I've got a cold and my emotions are getting the better of me and eating is what I do to 'feel better'.

I Binge on Healthy Food most of the time but that still puts me over my calories & wrecks my day because I find it extremely challenging to stop!
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  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
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    I emotional binge eat as well. Today I found out they are moving my husband's office to Phoenix next year so I've been a wreck all morning. After I weighed and ate my second serving of my kids gold fish I could see what the rest of the day was about to be like so I picked up my toddler and we went outside and played with chalk. It was a great distraction and helped me get a better handle on my emotions.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    When you say you binge on "healthy food," it makes me wonder if you're getting enough of what you need day-to-day. I tend to struggle with the compulsion to binge when I eat too low fat. Are you getting enough fat?
  • michellemybelll
    michellemybelll Posts: 2,228 Member
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    yep. but not on healthy food. on sweets mostly.
  • Ohwhynot
    Ohwhynot Posts: 356 Member
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    Add me. I am a wreck some days and really struggle with this. Most of the time, I keep it in check. Monday... I was like 3500 calories over.
  • cjgallant65
    cjgallant65 Posts: 9 Member
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    All the time. Most of the time I don;t realize that's why I'm eating but I am starting to get more tuned into it. If I can identify that's why I'm eating I have a better chance of stopping it
  • allysongordon1
    allysongordon1 Posts: 4 Member
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    Something I've learned about losing weight is that it isn't just about what you eat but also about what you feel. I binge eat junk food like there's no tomorrow when I get too stressed out or depressed. What I've now learned to do is leave positive sticky notes all about my room and my house and maybe leave notes on my phone just as a reminder that everything will be okay and I don't NEED to turn to food. It's just something small and it might not help everyone but that's my advice:)
  • Mischievous_Rascal
    Mischievous_Rascal Posts: 1,791 Member
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    Your protein and fat goals are pretty low. That would make me starved!!!

    Try to get those macros up to 0.6-0.7g/ lb of body weight for protein and around 60g/day for fat (especially important for nutrient uptake and hormonal function in women).
  • Fay84Vegan
    Fay84Vegan Posts: 225 Member
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    When I Binge I'm not actually hungry... If I'm hungry I eat - I have no problem with that!

    Sometimes my emotions trigger me to eat and eat and eat even though I don't need to & this is the problem!

    No foods stop the feeling I get & no amount of food stops it from happening ...!
  • Fay84Vegan
    Fay84Vegan Posts: 225 Member
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    Does anyone that suffers from Binge Eating KNOW what THEIR Triggers actually are...??
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    Fay84Vegan wrote: »
    Does anyone that suffers from Binge Eating KNOW what THEIR Triggers actually are...??

    Yes, I know what mine are.
  • Savanna2015mfp
    Savanna2015mfp Posts: 40 Member
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    Yes!!! I struggle with this everyday...
  • BoogeyBrat
    BoogeyBrat Posts: 212 Member
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    Fay84Vegan wrote: »
    Does anyone that suffers from Binge Eating KNOW what THEIR Triggers actually are...??

    I do. I have a couple and I've worked out solutions to most of them.

    #1 I'll eat out of boredom. I've stopped this for the most part because now I won't eat unless I'm actually hungry. If the answer is yes, I'll eat. If not, I'll drink some water and go find something to do.

    #2 I'll eat if I've had a bad day and feel like I deserve a treat. For this I'll go ahead and have my treat, but it's something that isn't going to break the bank when it comes to my calorie allotment. No ice cream, cookies, or brownies. I like Chobani coconut yogurt so that's what I'll usually have.

    #3 I'll eat if I'm woken up numerous times in the night. This one I still have trouble with because I'm not awake enough to register that it's not a good idea. I'm not hungry, it's more like a tired, groggy feeling and I'll instinctively head for the fridge. I try to not keep foods that will get me in trouble in the house for this reason.
  • afigirl113
    afigirl113 Posts: 14 Member
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    I'm a bored/emotional eater. My bf works nights, so I'm home alone a lot. I do fine with my eating at work, but when I'm home and I don't have anyone to talk to, I eat. When I have a rough day, it's worse. It's a hard thing to deal with, but using this app has really helped me. People on here are truly supportive and helpful.
  • Cirque95
    Cirque95 Posts: 22 Member
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    I'd say that I've had problems with binge eating for a while. It tends to happen when I'm stressed, upset, bored or sometimes even when I'm happy. Whenever I was under a lot of stress I wouldn't have the energy or the motivation to cook so would go to the shop and buy things like chocolate, cakes and sweets and then binge on those instead of eating normal food. If I was feeling bored then I'd just keep snacking all day on things like crisps and sandwiches, stuff that tasted good.

    It really is frustrating because I actually eat healthy most of the time, I rarely have takeaways, don't drink fizzy drinks and eat normal portions of healthy well balanced meals. I also push myself really hard at the gym. It just annoys me because that sort of stuff doesn't show, it's the binge eating that makes me put on weight and makes me have a need to diet. I'll work really hard to lose the weight, then I'll let my guard down for a few weeks and it will all spiral out of control with the binging and I'll give up with trying to be healthy. Then I'll get to the point where I realise that I've put weight on, so I have to diet to lose the weight and then the cycle begins again. It's like I could spend the whole day eating healthy food and working hard at the gym, then something will happen and I'll end up eating like 800 calories worth of chocolate. It really is frustrating. :'(
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,900 Member
    edited February 2016
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    When you say you binge on "healthy food," it makes me wonder if you're getting enough of what you need day-to-day. I tend to struggle with the compulsion to binge when I eat too low fat. Are you getting enough fat?

    For me not getting enough protein can lead to uncontrolled eating.

    @Fay84Vegan you only had 11% protein yesterday. What about adding some vegan protein powder to your juice drinks and legumes to your other meals?

    And like @janejellyroll said, add some fat. You were only 11% for that yesterday as well. I add walnut oil and such to smoothies to boost the fat content of that.

  • angpowers
    angpowers Posts: 83 Member
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    some people think binge eating is like several 100 cals over ... if you're like me ... I can eat and eat and eat and eat when this happens and its nothing. Neither full nor satisfied and I don't know why, but its like a frenzy. I literally feel out of control and just can't seem to stop.

    About 2 weeks ago -- I tried to log every bit of it just to see -- I'm sure I missed some -- but it was like 4,000+ cals

    My triggers seem to be when I'm too tired. I try to get as much sleep as I can, but my daughter has a condition which doesn't allow that most nights. Other triggers, food was withheld when a child. I literally got about 200cals a day for months ... now it's like I have to eat it all when these feelings come on. Other triggers are boredom and just feeling lonely or isolated. Also, I stopped my birth control. That has surprisingly helped.

    I've learned that sometimes I can evade these binges when I stop, breath and pray. I've taken on a 30 day yoga boot camp challenge (just doing it by myself in my home) and it has helped SOOOOO much!!! I'm on day 17 and I'm feeling so much better.
  • angpowers
    angpowers Posts: 83 Member
    edited February 2016
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    Just looked at your last week or so in your diary. Maybe you aren't varying your diet enough? Maybe some of the binge eating is because your body is wanting something different?? I saw that when your hungry you eat and when you feel a binge coming on that your not necessarily hungry, but its definitely something. As far as your diary, your fat is fairly low and when vegan, protein is about where you are at. But that might be an area to look at. But most of all, I would try to quiet your body and really reflect on what could be possible triggers since you aren't actually hungry. And honestly, I think most binge sessions aren't when people are actually hungry. To me, that seems to be a common thread.
  • Mischievous_Rascal
    Mischievous_Rascal Posts: 1,791 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    When you say you binge on "healthy food," it makes me wonder if you're getting enough of what you need day-to-day. I tend to struggle with the compulsion to binge when I eat too low fat. Are you getting enough fat?

    For me not getting enough protein can lead to uncontrolled eating.

    @Fay84Vegan you only had 11% protein yesterday. What about adding some vegan protein powder to your juice drinks and legumes to your other meals?

    And like @janejellyroll said, add some fat. You were only 11% for that yesterday as well. I add walnut oil and such to smoothies to boost the fat content of that.

    OP, eating too little fat and protein IS going to interfere with your hormones, thus deregulating your emotional system, along with all your other systems. We are a whole being, and everything functions together, so taking a nutritional imbalance out of the equation is doing yourself a disservice. Try getting some adequate fat (50-60 grams per day) and protein (80+ grams per day) in you for a month straight and see if this issue stops for you. It certainly worked for me.

    Best of luck.

  • JessicaOnFitTrip
    JessicaOnFitTrip Posts: 11 Member
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    Fay84Vegan wrote: »
    Does anyone that suffers from Binge Eating KNOW what THEIR Triggers actually are...??

    Definitely.
    Stress, Anger, Loneliness, Overwhelming emotions.

    I use overeating/binge eating/emotional eating to soothe myself when there's nothing going right.
    What helps me is realizing that maybe I really don't want to eat that full pizza, I just really want to get a handle on whatever it is that's bugging me.
    Then I move onto, can I control this situation I'm in or not? Thinking it through helps me realize I'm not hungry/craving it, just trying to soothe my emotions.

    I also binge on junk food/comfort foods up to 6,000 calories in one sitting. I'm not proud of it, but I have reduced the instances.
  • JeffFit70
    JeffFit70 Posts: 41 Member
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    Yes. Binge/over eating is an ongoing struggle for me. Slowly getting better, but it is still a thing.

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