discouraged, gaining weight back, self sabatoge?

newsharonkay

Omgosh. What a horrible week. If you look ay my diary it looks ok but its after I post that I start the nighttime snacking that seems to rule me. Its a emotional thing not a hunger. The more I try to stop the more I am doing it. Does anyone out there binge at night like I do? Bought 2 bags of Dove chocolate because they were 2 for 5.00. Thought it would last a very long time but ate it all in 4 days. That's what I do. I know to not buy it, not have it in the house but I think it is going to be different this time.
Just need a little support here.. Very very down up in the middle of the night and am just disgusted with myself.

pootle69

Feel free to add me :-)

Ainar

That's why I don't buy tasty stuff in bulk anymore... I would just ate it all lol. When I want something I go to store and buy just as much as I'm gonna ate that day. Helps a lot with binging. Also make sure of logging it even if you are over your calories. Otherwise what's the point of logging food? It's just illusion. It's like drinking 2 bottles of Vodka and saying that you drink just one glass, cos you write down ony one. That's now gonna give you a real picture and seeing a real picture helps to keep you motivated.

Don't feel bad. You will do better next time, past is a past. ^^

Just like everything also will power needs a workout to get stronger. One way how to exercise it is by buying something very tasty, just a small tiny portion. And then let it stare there on table when you can constantly see it. And set yourself at ime limit after how long you gonna ate it - 1h, 2h, etc. But make sure that for that time it annoys you. I guarantee that if you do this constantly and increase torture time slowly you will train your will power up like a muscle. Try it, it's fun.

63hanson

Awww Sharon, I'm sort of having the same problem...not the night time snacking, but self sabotage. I've not been logging my food hardly at all. I keep telling myself I will do it later, but then never do it. I tell myself a bigger portion will be okay because I deserve it...afterall I've been doing so well these past months.

I'm not sure how we get past this. I guess this is when it really gets hard, we have to get our mentality back where it was when we started. So on that note, let's get back on the bandwagon. We can do this! Remember it's 99% mental.

chloeRichardson1

Hey Sharon,
I can be a night time binger too. I have banned stuff that I know I would binge on from the house. The only chocolate I have in the house contains mint... I hate that. It does make me think whether I really want it if I have to leave the house to get it. I have tried to distract myself by doing something that occupies my time, whether it be go for a walk, prepare my lunch for tomorrow etc. I also talk to myself to see why I am sabotaging myself and try to bring back my thoughts of how I hate the way I look when I look in the mirror. Most important of all is not to beat yourself up if you have a bad day. Log back on and admit to what you have eaten and face it. Then hopefully you won't keep punishing yourself and proceeding on a downward spiral.

newsharonkay

ok honey!! Lets do this.. Log ALL our food. Feel better just admitting it!! thank you for caring!!

Stonekerry

I know that at some point in the day or week that I'm going to want chocolate or a bag of crisps. So I've made a deal with myself. Firstly - it's ok - just make sure that it doesn't ruin the whole week and secondly - if I'm desperate for it I'll go and buy a small bar - check the calories and then make sure I burn off those calories before I eat it. 9 times out of 10 I'm so happy with myself for doing the exercise I find I don't actually want the chocolate or a mug of low fat hot chocolate suffices instead. If I do want it I will eat it but know that I've already burned the calories off.
Perfect world I understand and I'm not always that good and that's ok as well - as long as I've logged the calories so I can understand what's happened when the scales haven't moved! Take 1 day at a time and don't beat yourself up. Good luck.

KimLHin

Sharon, I think I eat at night out of boredom. I have been trying to keep myself busy to avoid that. chloeRichards has some GREAT ideas! You can do this!

pwittek10

What are your triggers?
It just because it's night time?
Is it because your lonely?
Or is it all the food ads on TV?
It is very import to log all of the bad stuff too.
This is a life process not just a diet.
Good luck and never give up on yourself
You are worth it!

poohbear1958

Feel free to add me (a fellow 55 year old) for mutual support

Scienceteacher42

One thing I have started doing is I don't look at the price of the food anymore, I look at the calories. I don't let myself say, oh it only costs so much money, instead I say this will cost me 500 calories, and I put it back. The value of your food isn't a dollar sign, it is the calories that count.

Don't buy it if it costs too many calories. I hope this helps.

janatarnhem

Me too, make sure it is all logged.....drives me crackers when I sabotage myself like this

fit4lifeUcan2

When I first started trying to lose weight I couldn't keep any junk in the house period. I told my husband and kids that till I get a hold of my triggers they would have to go out for their snacks and not bring them in the house. They had daddy time by doing this. They all would go out after dinner to the local ice cream place for their treats. Then they actually stopped doing it and decided on their own that they didn't want to eat it. Same goes for chips and other snack foods.

My ticker shows my new goal by the way. I've already lost 69 pounds.

Just don't buy it and bring it home. Lately my husband has been buying junk food again and bringing it into the house but I have no desire to eat any of it. I like how good I feel now and know that for me nothing good comes from eating that stuff.

Its not easy to do but if you commit to a healthier lifestyle you'll get there.

Add me as a friend if you like.

edited to add that when I feel the urge to eat at night and know that I'm not hungry I go for a walk instead. Avoid your boredom eating habits by walking, doing some sort of exercise or take up a hobby. Anything that will get your mind off eating. I used to find myself standing in the doorway to the fridge just staring at everything....not at all hungry, just bored. I thought what the heck am I doing? Got my sneakers on and went for a walk instead.

mamadragon

So know the feeling!I've gained back 40 pounds that has taken me years to lose . I've gotten discouraged but now I'm starting over again. Emotional eating is my trigger to gain so I watch it when I'm stressed out. At times, I catch myself other times I don't. You'll do great and lose again!! It's going to be tough but you can do it!! :happy:

PunkinSpice79

I crochet. It keeps my hands busy.

RobynSmithIBECHS

Hey! I know what night time binge-a-thons look like so I have a little message on my cabinets and refrigerator that I leave at night that says "you don't need it". Also I get comfortable so that I don't want to get up and do stuff.Surf the web for a while, it will distract you enough to keep your mind from food. Last tip, get rid of the crappy things like Dove (though delicious I don't think it is something to be eaten after 6 pm) and replace them with healthier things like Greek yogurt and granola.

Best of luck and I will add

Robyn

MSeel1984

Omgosh. What a horrible week. If you look ay my diary it looks ok but its after I post that I start the nighttime snacking that seems to rule me. Its a emotional thing not a hunger. The more I try to stop the more I am doing it. Does anyone out there binge at night like I do? Bought 2 bags of Dove chocolate because they were 2 for 5.00. Thought it would last a very long time but ate it all in 4 days. That's what I do. I know to not buy it, not have it in the house but I think it is going to be different this time.
Just need a little support here.. Very very down up in the middle of the night and am just disgusted with myself.

Late night snacking gets me too sometimes. My biggest struggle is that I tend to eat more at night than earlier in the day. Since I don't eat enough in the first part of the day, by the time I get home at night I'm famished and I over-do it. So I've been trying to eat more earlier in the day and assure I have at least a 150-250 calorie deficit by the end of the day. Sometimes I don't, but lately (for the most part) I do.

Feel free to add me-it's always good to have a supportive network of friends around you.

shutupandlift13

Like others have mentioned and something that has helped me is to not buy the things in the first place. It's easy for me as I live on my own so I don't have other people's eating to keep in mind when I grocery shop. Every so often I will buy a small individual bar of chocolate and keep it in the freezer, a little forced portion control.

Also, it's important to really understand how much you can eat while still being able to lose weight. Many people restrict calories and even certain foods way more than is necessary to lose weight. The over restriction can lead to binges for various reasons, physiological and psychological.

This is a long but very helpful post: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013

And it's shorter but still very informative version if you're really that pressed for time: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

They both mention weight training or resistance training, but that's more preferential than anything. These methods, if you set your activity level correctly, work perfectly fine for people who would just like to lose weight with diet. If there is something active you love doing, keep doing it and it can also be an alternative activity possibly the next time you feel like overeating if you're stressed or emotional. Find other things to do than eat when you feel upset because eating isn't helping the problem in anyway and it's probably making it worse because it's causing weight gain which is stressful.

Best of luck to you!

amirahdaboss

Omgosh. What a horrible week. If you look ay my diary it looks ok but its after I post that I start the nighttime snacking that seems to rule me. Its a emotional thing not a hunger. The more I try to stop the more I am doing it. Does anyone out there binge at night like I do? Bought 2 bags of Dove chocolate because they were 2 for 5.00. Thought it would last a very long time but ate it all in 4 days. That's what I do. I know to not buy it, not have it in the house but I think it is going to be different this time.
Just need a little support here.. Very very down up in the middle of the night and am just disgusted with myself.

trust me, i know the feeling
my mom sent me two bags of that exact chocolate, and i finished it within a week. however, i got back on track and lost 11 pounds within 2 weeks of working out and eating right

shutupandlift13

Omgosh. What a horrible week. If you look ay my diary it looks ok but its after I post that I start the nighttime snacking that seems to rule me. Its a emotional thing not a hunger. The more I try to stop the more I am doing it. Does anyone out there binge at night like I do? Bought 2 bags of Dove chocolate because they were 2 for 5.00. Thought it would last a very long time but ate it all in 4 days. That's what I do. I know to not buy it, not have it in the house but I think it is going to be different this time.
Just need a little support here.. Very very down up in the middle of the night and am just disgusted with myself.

Late night snacking gets me too sometimes. My biggest struggle is that I tend to eat more at night than earlier in the day. Since I don't eat enough in the first part of the day, by the time I get home at night I'm famished and I over-do it. So I've been trying to eat more earlier in the day and assure I have at least a 150-250 calorie deficit by the end of the day. Sometimes I don't, but lately (for the most part) I do.

Feel free to add me-it's always good to have a supportive network of friends around you.

This is another good thing to point out to. Most research shows that meal timing and frequency are purely preferential when looking at things within a 24 hour day... and even up to a week at a time. I you aren't naturally hungry in the morning, then don't eat and you'll have those cals for a big dinner and some snacks later. If you do get hungry throughout the day, pack small snacks and eat more frequently. Find an eating schedule that works for you and allows you to stick to a caloric deficit, that is the "right" way to eat. The myths of breakfast increasing metabolism as well as the garbage about 6 small meals a day are just that, myths.

Most of my binges were occurring in the evenings... and I was eating breakfast and lunch just because that's what I was "supposed" to do when in all reality I wasn't actually hungry. So I stopped eating breakfast and in most cases unless I'm really active at work during the day, stopped eating anything at all until at least 5pm. And it's allowed me to keep my cals under control and feel satiated with a full and yummy meal for dinner usually followed by ice cream or a piece of chocolate, etc. Dieting doesn't have to be miserable and tasteless. I still eat potatoes and pasta and bacon and red meat in general.

So yeah, find a meal schedule that works for you and find an appropriate calorie goal so that you're still losing but you're not eating so low that you start triggering a binging response.

Brainless64

Welcome to my world, but for me it starts even before night.

I had a toal binge out yesterday, as near as I cna calculate ate around 5000 calories.

Now if I am very good I should be able to nullify that excess 3000 calories over the next 3 or 4 days (never mind that I should have eated another 750 less to loose) and then get going again.

newsharonkay

Thank you everyone.. You made my day and gave me the courage to get back out there. My weigh in is tomorrow so maybe I can burn some of that off today. Added many of you as friends. Lets do this together!!!

_chelseadawn

I have the exact same problem except I start to feel like I just want to eat everything from the mid afternoon until I got to bed.

I have found that if I leave breakfast a little later instead of eating it the second I get up that all of my other meals are pushed forward a bit. I make sure that what I eat helps me feel full for longer or I break my meals up and have a couple throughout the day so that I have a healthy but filling dinner and then a snack after dinner. I find that that helps so so so much. I also remind myself what I want.

As you said about not having the food there. It really is the best solution. Make your nighttime snack foods healthier. Even if it's a tasty yogurt or cruskits/rice cakes with some sort of low calorie spread/dip eg. hommus, broken up so they take longer to eat. Sometimes I'll even just cook some frozen peas, corn and carrot and eat each piece individually if I'm going to go over my daily intake because it is time consuming so I generally eat less.

You said it's emotional eating for you, for me I think it's more that I'm just generally hungrier at that time of the day. I would say though that it used to be the hunger plus boredom. The trick is to catch yourself mid action and physically stop and think your way through it. "Do I need this?" "Will it help me get to my goal?" "'Am I hungry?' - If yes, 'is there something healthier I could eat which would satisfy me?'" "Am I bored?' if yes, "what else could I be doing which would be more productive?'". Another thing to think about is what are your emotional problems which are leading to your eating at this time of the day and what are other ways in which you can cope with them.

I am a Psychology Graduate and I'm studying a post graduate course on alcohol and drug studies at the moment. A lot of the information also applies to addictive/over eating and weight loss. I have found it extremely helpful.