Anxiety and Food

kajozq
kajozq Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been trying to get a hold of not eating too much. It goes well for a week and then suddenly I get this feeling in my head that doesn't go away, makes it seem like anxiety that tells me to eat that.
Anyways, do you guys have any tips?
Any tip could help :)

Replies

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,937 Member
    How little are you eating? Maybe it is too little. What are your goals?
  • kajozq
    kajozq Posts: 4 Member
    Well, recently I haven't been tracking my calorie intake but if I had to guess I'd say it's between 1800-2000 calories?
    The problem is that I can't seem to control myself when it comes to candy or any junk food (some or most of those calories are from these).
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,415 Member
    Many people have trouble with compulsively eating some foods.

    I have whole list of things that set me off, always sugar or wheat involved.

    Can you try avoiding foods that trigger you?
  • kajozq
    kajozq Posts: 4 Member
    @cmriverside
    Me too! Sugar and Wheat
    I tried to avoiding. It worked for a while but it doesn't seem I can do that again regularly :(
    It lasts for weeks and then again I start eating too much.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,415 Member
    I just try to get back on track as soon as possible.

    Log all of it, that helps to see the numbers and with me it was motivation. Hiding it or denying it happened didn't work, but being accountable to the numbers did.
  • kajozq
    kajozq Posts: 4 Member
    @KrissCanDoThis
    Wow!
    Thank you so much, I'll keep that in mind every time I want to binge.
    Hope you can achieve your goals, keep going!
  • ssee11
    ssee11 Posts: 2 Member
    Chances are, if you are those didn’t demonize those frudgsicles and just let yourself eat them (even if you are the whole box) you wouldn’t want to binge them in the future. If you follow the binge it almost always leads to restriction, physical or mental
    KrissCanDoThis wrote: »
    What I've been trying to do, because of my binge eating disorder is

    Acknowledge it that it's happening and make different choices.

    So let's say my brain is screaming at me to eat..

    I could go up and eat those fudgsicles in my freezer..

    But first, I choose carrots... I weigh them, log it and eat it.

    Wait a few min... still wanna eat? Okay. Go up and pick something else healthy. Log it, eat it.

    As I watch my calories go up and up, often times that visual plus waiting a few min to decide if I want to keep eating will make a difference.

    By the time I eat these two snacks tho, maybe that urge has left, maybe it hasn't.. but usually it's a lot calmer and more manageable.

    Fighting the urge to eat often makes my urge worse, but acknowledging it and being present in my choices while I'm choosing them, is a whole lot better then just going and picking that one thing that's probably going to gaurantee I'm gonna want more, more, more.

    It's not going to be easy, it will take practice and you might fail at it, but try it every time... if it only works 50% of the time... that's 50% less sugary binges, right?
    KrissCanDoThis wrote: »
    What I've been trying to do, because of my binge eating disorder is

    Acknowledge it that it's happening and make different choices.

    So let's say my brain is screaming at me to eat..

    I could go up and eat those fudgsicles in my freezer..

    But first, I choose carrots... I weigh them, log it and eat it.

    Wait a few min... still wanna eat? Okay. Go up and pick something else healthy. Log it, eat it.

    As I watch my calories go up and up, often times that visual plus waiting a few min to decide if I want to keep eating will make a difference.

    By the time I eat these two snacks tho, maybe that urge has left, maybe it hasn't.. but usually it's a lot calmer and more manageable.

    Fighting the urge to eat often makes my urge worse, but acknowledging it and being present in my choices while I'm choosing them, is a whole lot better then just going and picking that one thing that's probably going to gaurantee I'm gonna want more, more, more.

    It's not going to be easy, it will take practice and you might fail at it, but try it every time... if it only works 50% of the time... that's 50% less sugary binges, right?

  • moogie_fit
    moogie_fit Posts: 280 Member
    ssee11 wrote: »
    Chances are, if you are those didn’t demonize those frudgsicles and just let yourself eat them (even if you are the whole box) you wouldn’t want to binge them in the future. If you follow the binge it almost always leads to restriction, physical or mental
    KrissCanDoThis wrote: »
    What I've been trying to do, because of my binge eating disorder is

    Acknowledge it that it's happening and make different choices.

    So let's say my brain is screaming at me to eat..

    I could go up and eat those fudgsicles in my freezer..

    But first, I choose carrots... I weigh them, log it and eat it.

    Wait a few min... still wanna eat? Okay. Go up and pick something else healthy. Log it, eat it.

    As I watch my calories go up and up, often times that visual plus waiting a few min to decide if I want to keep eating will make a difference.

    By the time I eat these two snacks tho, maybe that urge has left, maybe it hasn't.. but usually it's a lot calmer and more manageable.

    Fighting the urge to eat often makes my urge worse, but acknowledging it and being present in my choices while I'm choosing them, is a whole lot better then just going and picking that one thing that's probably going to gaurantee I'm gonna want more, more, more.

    It's not going to be easy, it will take practice and you might fail at it, but try it every time... if it only works 50% of the time... that's 50% less sugary binges, right?
    KrissCanDoThis wrote: »
    What I've been trying to do, because of my binge eating disorder is

    Acknowledge it that it's happening and make different choices.

    So let's say my brain is screaming at me to eat..

    I could go up and eat those fudgsicles in my freezer..

    But first, I choose carrots... I weigh them, log it and eat it.

    Wait a few min... still wanna eat? Okay. Go up and pick something else healthy. Log it, eat it.

    As I watch my calories go up and up, often times that visual plus waiting a few min to decide if I want to keep eating will make a difference.

    By the time I eat these two snacks tho, maybe that urge has left, maybe it hasn't.. but usually it's a lot calmer and more manageable.

    Fighting the urge to eat often makes my urge worse, but acknowledging it and being present in my choices while I'm choosing them, is a whole lot better then just going and picking that one thing that's probably going to gaurantee I'm gonna want more, more, more.

    It's not going to be easy, it will take practice and you might fail at it, but try it every time... if it only works 50% of the time... that's 50% less sugary binges, right?

    this is the key!!!!!!!
  • ChickenKillerPuppy
    ChickenKillerPuppy Posts: 297 Member
    edited April 2020
    Yup - don’t avoid those foods, make a plan to eat them in moderation so you don’t feel deprived and binge. Plan to have a sugary treat every day if you need, just make sure it’s a reasonable portion and that you account for the calories. I meal plan and include dessert. Or cheese. Or other things I love. I weigh and measure them and include them in my meal plan. It’s actually fun to get to decide which treat (Skinny cow ice cream sandwich? Cadbury cream egg? 100g of halo top with 1T chocolate syrup ?) get to be my treat for the day. I know the calories and they are part of the total calories I plan for the day. Perfectly allowed and no guilt!
  • eryn0x
    eryn0x Posts: 138 Member
    To the OP, my best tip is to be really aware of how you’re nourishing your body and mind. Plan healthy meals, don’t under eat, know that you need to eat and slow and steady wins the race.
  • Conorrob
    Conorrob Posts: 1 Member
    KrissCanDoThis wrote: »
    eryn0x wrote: »
    KrissCanDoThis wrote: »
    @ssee11

    I have binge eating disorder.
    Every food is a binge food. Not just the fudgesticks.

    So much this. When I binge it’s not always unhealthy. I would come home from work and stand with my fingers in a bag of frozen blueberries and feel HORRIBLE. It’s the loss of control that affects you. Then often after that I would feel so bad I’d eat something else, maybe more unhealthy. The anxiety from the lack of control would sometimes cause me to be sick.

    The good news is that I have a lot better handle over it now so there is hope!

    It's a loss of control that you really only understand when you're older too..

    When I was a kid, the countless times I left my room in the dark after everyone was asleep... quietly opening the fridge and scanning for what I could eat, and opening a big Tupperware bowl of cold soup and just standing there in the fridge digging through it to eat pieces of meat and potato.. closing the lid after feeling ashamed and scared of someone seeing me and going back to my bed... only to 15 min later go back out and find something else.. and opening a package of raw bacon and eating that.

    As an adult living paycheck to paycheck eating $300 worth of food in less then 2 weeks and having to borrow money for more food, cause you just couldnt stop eating packages and packages of chicken, steaks, hotdogs, even veggies, I would cook turnip, mashed potato and carrots, mash them all up and then stir a jar of cheese wiz into it and eat the entire pot with as much bread and butter as i could until i was ready to explode.

    You try everything you can to stop eating, you throw away all your food and leave yourself with nothing, you spend all the money in your bank account, you cut up your debit and credit cards, you leave yourself nothing but bottles of salad dressing and stale ice cream cones and after consuming all that.. as much as you want to starve yourself.. it's like you're not even you anymore and you go and borrow money for food only to have it last less then a day.


    Dont demonize fudgesticks? Just binge and you wont binge again in the future? Please.

    The amount of therapy and struggle I've gone through to be able to get to the point where I can finally put into practice a positive change in the behavior that's done nothing but consume my soul for almost 30 years.. to be able to acknowledge those binges, over eat if need be and NOT wake up the next day in total chaos or wanting to correct and just carry on is a huge achievement for me.

    I still have lots of therapy i need to get.. i am no where near perfect, but it really does trivialize an eating disorder when someone just says "maybe if you didnt demonize them and just ate them, even if it's the whole box, you wouldnt want to binge in the future"..

    It kinda makes me get my back up because it brings back memories of my ex telling me "if you dont want to eat, just dont eat it's that simple"

    Anyway.. lol


    I literally never post... But this (and your other comment) is one of the most interesting and thought provoking replies to a thread I've seen on this forum. Thank you for you insight on this matter as I'm sure it will help OP.
  • Unicorn_Bacon
    Unicorn_Bacon Posts: 491 Member
    @ReenieHJ

    I am sorry to see that you are struggling right now. It can feel like you're drowning when you're stuck in a binge cycle and days later cant seem to get your head above water.

    There is medication but if you want you can add me and I will tell you about it.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,183 Member
    ssee11 wrote: »
    Chances are, if you are those didn’t demonize those frudgsicles and just let yourself eat them (even if you are the whole box) you wouldn’t want to binge them in the future. If you follow the binge it almost always leads to restriction, physical or mental
    KrissCanDoThis wrote: »
    What I've been trying to do, because of my binge eating disorder is

    Acknowledge it that it's happening and make different choices.

    So let's say my brain is screaming at me to eat..

    I could go up and eat those fudgsicles in my freezer..

    But first, I choose carrots... I weigh them, log it and eat it.

    Wait a few min... still wanna eat? Okay. Go up and pick something else healthy. Log it, eat it.

    As I watch my calories go up and up, often times that visual plus waiting a few min to decide if I want to keep eating will make a difference.

    By the time I eat these two snacks tho, maybe that urge has left, maybe it hasn't.. but usually it's a lot calmer and more manageable.

    Fighting the urge to eat often makes my urge worse, but acknowledging it and being present in my choices while I'm choosing them, is a whole lot better then just going and picking that one thing that's probably going to gaurantee I'm gonna want more, more, more.

    It's not going to be easy, it will take practice and you might fail at it, but try it every time... if it only works 50% of the time... that's 50% less sugary binges, right?
    KrissCanDoThis wrote: »
    What I've been trying to do, because of my binge eating disorder is

    Acknowledge it that it's happening and make different choices.

    So let's say my brain is screaming at me to eat..

    I could go up and eat those fudgsicles in my freezer..

    But first, I choose carrots... I weigh them, log it and eat it.

    Wait a few min... still wanna eat? Okay. Go up and pick something else healthy. Log it, eat it.

    As I watch my calories go up and up, often times that visual plus waiting a few min to decide if I want to keep eating will make a difference.

    By the time I eat these two snacks tho, maybe that urge has left, maybe it hasn't.. but usually it's a lot calmer and more manageable.

    Fighting the urge to eat often makes my urge worse, but acknowledging it and being present in my choices while I'm choosing them, is a whole lot better then just going and picking that one thing that's probably going to gaurantee I'm gonna want more, more, more.

    It's not going to be easy, it will take practice and you might fail at it, but try it every time... if it only works 50% of the time... that's 50% less sugary binges, right?

    Seemingly, you don't struggle with an eating disorder, at least not a binge eating disorder. I don't struggle with an eating disorder, either - lucky for me. I just like yummy food more than is good for my future health, so I've needed to learn to balance that out. It hasn't been all that difficult, really, and it's easier the longer I'm in maintenance (currently year 4+). A key part of my life is moderating treats, as you say, so I think that's great advice for people like us.

    I appreciate that I don't have that level of psychological struggle, the situation Kriss describes so heartbreakingly clearly. I'm glad she's here and willing to share that experience, so I can understand it better. I empathize, but don't truly understand, in my gut.

    Not everyone has the same challenges; not everyone can address the challenges they do have in the same way.
  • Avidkeo
    Avidkeo Posts: 3,204 Member
    @KrissCanDoThis wow.

    I have never seen so succinctly worded exactly how the binge cycle feels. It really really struck a chord with me. And described exactly how I feel.

    I don't binge often, I can usually control it for months at a time. But in times of stress, its just as you described, like someone accidentally hit a switch and you literally cannot stop. I'm generally a sweet tooth, but when this binge switch has been tripped, everything is what I want. Chips, chocolate, yoghurt. I even ate caramel sause with a finger. And yes, I have thrown things in the rubbish, only to go back later and fish them out again (usually a fresh trash bag and well wrapped food).

    So yeah those saying just don't eat do not understand that you literally cannot stop until that urge has passed. And most of the time you don't realise until after.

    I have found ways of dealing with it, and am getting better at recognising the switch had been flipped while in the binge and can do more to stop. But generally I find managing that stress first is the best step - though easier said than done.
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 7,075 Member
    KrissCanDoThis wrote: »
    eryn0x wrote: »
    KrissCanDoThis wrote: »
    @ssee11

    I have binge eating disorder.
    Every food is a binge food. Not just the fudgesticks.

    So much this. When I binge it’s not always unhealthy. I would come home from work and stand with my fingers in a bag of frozen blueberries and feel HORRIBLE. It’s the loss of control that affects you. Then often after that I would feel so bad I’d eat something else, maybe more unhealthy. The anxiety from the lack of control would sometimes cause me to be sick.

    The good news is that I have a lot better handle over it now so there is hope!

    It's a loss of control that you really only understand when you're older too..

    When I was a kid, the countless times I left my room in the dark after everyone was asleep... quietly opening the fridge and scanning for what I could eat, and opening a big Tupperware bowl of cold soup and just standing there in the fridge digging through it to eat pieces of meat and potato.. closing the lid after feeling ashamed and scared of someone seeing me and going back to my bed... only to 15 min later go back out and find something else.. and opening a package of raw bacon and eating that.

    As an adult living paycheck to paycheck eating $300 worth of food in less then 2 weeks and having to borrow money for more food, cause you just couldnt stop eating packages and packages of chicken, steaks, hotdogs, even veggies, I would cook turnip, mashed potato and carrots, mash them all up and then stir a jar of cheese wiz into it and eat the entire pot with as much bread and butter as i could until i was ready to explode.

    You try everything you can to stop eating, you throw away all your food and leave yourself with nothing, you spend all the money in your bank account, you cut up your debit and credit cards, you leave yourself nothing but bottles of salad dressing and stale ice cream cones and after consuming all that.. as much as you want to starve yourself.. it's like you're not even you anymore and you go and borrow money for food only to have it last less then a day.


    Dont demonize fudgesticks? Just binge and you wont binge again in the future? Please.

    The amount of therapy and struggle I've gone through to be able to get to the point where I can finally put into practice a positive change in the behavior that's done nothing but consume my soul for almost 30 years.. to be able to acknowledge those binges, over eat if need be and NOT wake up the next day in total chaos or wanting to correct and just carry on is a huge achievement for me.

    I still have lots of therapy i need to get.. i am no where near perfect, but it really does trivialize an eating disorder when someone just says "maybe if you didnt demonize them and just ate them, even if it's the whole box, you wouldnt want to binge in the future"..

    It kinda makes me get my back up because it brings back memories of my ex telling me "if you dont want to eat, just dont eat it's that simple"

    Anyway.. lol

    This is truly an incredible post,thank you for sharing the struggle of what it's really like.

  • John772016
    John772016 Posts: 133 Member
    KrissCanDoThis wrote: »
    eryn0x wrote: »
    KrissCanDoThis wrote: »
    @ssee11

    I have binge eating disorder.
    Every food is a binge food. Not just the fudgesticks.

    So much this. When I binge it’s not always unhealthy. I would come home from work and stand with my fingers in a bag of frozen blueberries and feel HORRIBLE. It’s the loss of control that affects you. Then often after that I would feel so bad I’d eat something else, maybe more unhealthy. The anxiety from the lack of control would sometimes cause me to be sick.

    The good news is that I have a lot better handle over it now so there is hope!

    It's a loss of control that you really only understand when you're older too..

    When I was a kid, the countless times I left my room in the dark after everyone was asleep... quietly opening the fridge and scanning for what I could eat, and opening a big Tupperware bowl of cold soup and just standing there in the fridge digging through it to eat pieces of meat and potato.. closing the lid after feeling ashamed and scared of someone seeing me and going back to my bed... only to 15 min later go back out and find something else.. and opening a package of raw bacon and eating that.

    As an adult living paycheck to paycheck eating $300 worth of food in less then 2 weeks and having to borrow money for more food, cause you just couldnt stop eating packages and packages of chicken, steaks, hotdogs, even veggies, I would cook turnip, mashed potato and carrots, mash them all up and then stir a jar of cheese wiz into it and eat the entire pot with as much bread and butter as i could until i was ready to explode.

    You try everything you can to stop eating, you throw away all your food and leave yourself with nothing, you spend all the money in your bank account, you cut up your debit and credit cards, you leave yourself nothing but bottles of salad dressing and stale ice cream cones and after consuming all that.. as much as you want to starve yourself.. it's like you're not even you anymore and you go and borrow money for food only to have it last less then a day.


    Dont demonize fudgesticks? Just binge and you wont binge again in the future? Please.

    The amount of therapy and struggle I've gone through to be able to get to the point where I can finally put into practice a positive change in the behavior that's done nothing but consume my soul for almost 30 years.. to be able to acknowledge those binges, over eat if need be and NOT wake up the next day in total chaos or wanting to correct and just carry on is a huge achievement for me.

    I still have lots of therapy i need to get.. i am no where near perfect, but it really does trivialize an eating disorder when someone just says "maybe if you didnt demonize them and just ate them, even if it's the whole box, you wouldnt want to binge in the future"..

    It kinda makes me get my back up because it brings back memories of my ex telling me "if you dont want to eat, just dont eat it's that simple"

    Anyway.. lol

    Okay, loved the lol at the end...@KrissCanDoThis..
    Actually, found your post very informative, thank you.👍 Thank you for sharing your personal struggles.

    As someone who had to 'not demonize' various foods and learn that I could be satisfied with 'a serving', & now in maintenance, all those previously demonized foods are readily available- I just don't care. Though, just because I can have a serving and be satisfied that doesn't mean everyone can.

    My path isn't everyone's, there's nothing wrong with that.

    OP lots of great advice above, you got this!
  • Unicorn_Bacon
    Unicorn_Bacon Posts: 491 Member
    Hiding my food was something early on that I developed, when I was young, before I even started grade 1, my mom was probably just a little younger than I am currently, she had a lot of her own demons and while my dad worked, she wanted to sleep late into the afternoon.

    When I would wake up, making any kind of sound was a big no no, so tv had to be really low, I couldnt play with toys that made noise and unfortunately that also included food packaging or cooking methods.

    I would eat breakfast in the morning and when lunch time rolled around if she heard me she would scream at me to get the *kitten* out of the kitchen. She scared me a lot when I was a kid and she got angry.

    Now I asked her about it as an adult and she said that often times she didnt even know what time it was and thought I was eating her out of house and home.

    However as a small child, that isnt something I would think of as a reason and to me, she was just preventing me from eating food.

    The sneaking out of my room was just the night time actions over the course of years, but I also developed habits to prevent being discovered, like not using the microwave, sliding my fingers along the fridge door to stop it from making a suction sound when it opened, if something did have plastic, like an open pack of hotdogs, I would hide it under a pillow to get my hand inside.

    I also was terrified of being caught, every time I got food, I had a fear she was going to wake up and catch me eating, so I often did my best to eat small things and quickly. I tried not to eat anything that looked like I had taken food from it.. which is why those large bowls of cold soup were a go to, or I would eat things that weren't actually a "food" like spoonfuls of sugar from the bag.

    My mentality with food was bad during school years too, she would send me to school with an appropriate lunch and snacks for the day but during first recess, while other kids were eating a snack and then spending that time playing, I had my entire lunch inside my coat pocket, eating it hoping no one would see me and making sure no one saw me chewing.

    I unfortunately cant remember if I went hungry for the rest of the school day or maybe other kids would of given me something from their lunch.

    Since I was already obese by 9, as expected there was bullying, and eating anything during those years had to be done in secret, and those habits also continue into my adulthood... I eat what is considered a normal amount of food in front of people, but if I'm at a party or something, if the food is unwatched, I would shove foods into my mouth as quick as possible, just chewing enough to be able to not choke on it before someone catches me. Same with at work, any snacks or food consumed, most of it I do without anyone seeing me. I'll hide things in my pockets or back pack so no one knows I have it. If I get a lite extra to eat at dinner, I'll hide so no one knows I ate more.

    The shame and fear just weighs you down so much. You just cant stop eating and wish you could stop, but you're alone and all people see is some fat girl eating too much like a typical stereotype.

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