Binge eating
Itsjustme86
Posts: 116 Member
Does anyone have advice for binge eating? I am doing okay adding more walking into my day and eating better during the day but then night I often binge! I also take a medication that increases my hunger so I am fighting urges to eat all day!
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Replies
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Did you binge eat prior to trying to lose weight? (I'm assuming that's your aim)0
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I take a short walk when I feel the urge.
Sometimes your body mistakes dehydration for hunger. Have a large glass of water and wait ten minutes.
Coffee, iced coffee, chai, tea, even a 15 calorie mug of beef broth can be very effective in staving off nibbles.
Learn which macro satiates you: fat, carbs or protein. For me and my husband, it’s protein. You make sure I have protein rich snacks on hand: jerky, yogurt, cottage cheese, skyr, slices of deli ham.
For example, we’re planning a large Mexican meal around 3 pm. We’ve saved up calories for it by combining it as lunch and dinner. But I know I’ll be hungry around 1 pm, so I’m planning a slice of low cal bread (Lewis bakeries Healthy white 35 cal), a swish of zero cal Mayo, and an ounce of deli ham (50 cal). That half a sandwich will be a nice protein hit for all of 85 calories and should hold me til that nice dinner.
That large early dinner probably means we won’t be hungry again til 7 or 8 pm. I have a batch of homemade skyr ice cream mixed chilling in the freezer for dessert. (Tonight’s ice cream will be Ambrosia. For those of you who aren’t from the south, that’s pineapple and mandarin orange with some sugar free coconut syrup and skyr, to be topped with maraschino cherries.)
If you get in the habit of pre-planning and knowing what’s comigg by, it’ll help tremendously.
I’ve also learned, I will never be a faster. I make sure I have nice snacks to look forward to every hour or two- a protein bar, frozen fruit and balsamic over cottage cheese, jerky, a small hard candy (don’t like hard candy so I’m perfectly happy with one or two), a half ham sandwich, Greek yogurt with honey, a rich frothy low cal chai. I just keep ‘em coming so I never get hungry.
You have to take the time to sit down, learn your body’s wants and needs, unlearn old bad habits, and find creative workarounds.5 -
I'm a binge-eater.
It's a hard thing to control but can be done. I chew a lot of gum, have a cup of SF hot chocolate or coffee when I feel the huge munchies coming on, eat small healthy snacks throughout the day like @springlering62 does.
It's definitely a mind over matter thing, at least for me. It's not easy by any means. But given time, you can retrain your brain, especially as you go forward and see your own body saying Thank You as it slims down.
And I cannot say this enough on the boards, but positive self-talk has gotten me through so much. It's a constant conversation I have, when I feel the need to eateateat. It makes things a lot easier than telling myself I can't do this, it's no use, I'll never succeed so why bother, etc., etc. If you say those things to yourself, switch that negative talk up to positivity.
With all that said, I had a few weak months early last fall where I gained 20# back, right through Christmas. I'm human and can only do the best I can for me.
Wishing you much luck!!7 -
I'm a binge eater too
Having a cut off point to stop eating anything with calories helps - occasional intermittent fasting.
Staying away from carb heavy food helps me too.
Not that any of these habits are consistent for me 🙄
I'm out of control this week.
I have been eating bread at breakfast which sets me off on one for the day - I always eat seeded wholemeal sordough so nothing white or processed but it just doesn't satiate - even with protien.
Everyone is different with what macros fill them up - mine is protien / fat
I can eat a giant plate of pasta and a giant dessert and be hungry not even an hour later.
So I have to try to stay away from it unfortunately.
Not every day though 😁
I also drink a lot of water and keep busy.
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Another binge eater, here. My hungriest time of day is afternoon, and that's when I eat the most calories. My danger zone is if I'm too hungry as I start cooking dinner, I eat all the foodz. And then I have this dinner I just made for family so I often eat that, too.
So for me, what works is:
- knowing when I'm naturally most hungry and having most of my calories then
- knowing my real danger situation and avoiding that
- eating enough calories on average. No strategy works if I've been undereating a couple days.
ETA: Good luck with the medication, OP. Maybe just consume at maintenance calories while on the medication, or if it is an ongoing thing, ease into a small deficit by cutting a few more calories each week. Part of it is how your brain is perceiving the new medicated hormone mixture, so give it some time and try sticking to something that is honestly doable for you. Don't make it overly challenging for yourself.
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This sounds unconventional and i don’t know if this will work for anyone else . But I tend to binge eat at night and have struggled to lose weight. This week I have lost a pound a day by downloading a free app called zero it’s a fasting application. I am fasting 13 hours I start anywhere from 6 to 7 pm and fast until the 13 hours is up . It has a timer on it and I don’t know why it motivates me but on nights it’s hard to fast I tell myself “well the timer is going so you can’t” so my food supply is cut off during my binging hours . I am getting 1400 calories in (my level mfp suggests). I was afraid that fasting for any part of the day would cause a bigger binge . But for me it is working to change my habits.8
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I am philosophically inclined to think that after 100,000 yrs of evolution, if our body is making us do something - there's a reason. We don't always know the reason, but there will be one.
So... bingeing. on what? On carbs/sugars? That can be a rollercoaster of scoff to raise energy, have insulin steal it all away, scoff again because on massive sugar low, have insulin take it all away again... etc.
Bingeing - when? What would happen if you knew you liked to eat like a pig at 8:00pm, so you planned your dinner for then? And made it a huge, 900 cal meal? And had a steak with the fat on, and salad, and avocado, and cut up cucumber, and a dessert of berries and yoghurt, and a glass of milk and went the whole nine yards on this big feast of mega healthy (but delicious) food?
I ask that one, because that's what I'm doing.
For me, it's got earlier in the day. I eat either at lunch or around 4, or maybe around 6. somewhere in there. I no longer have to feed a family, so I just eat what I want, when I want. And I like to have a nice big meal of yummy food with fats and proteins and deliciousness.
It's amazing how my eating has changed just being removed from the grind of 3 meals a day.
Anyway look at these binges and ask yourself why. The apple will bob to the surface of the barrel if you push it under. So when you see yourself bobbing upwards, ask yourself what you were pushing down. and maybe accept that this is a law of nature, and that you will have to play your cards differently? 3 -
For anyone diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder, or whose binge eating is consistently sabotaging their weight loss efforts, consider treating the binge eating first before taking a calorie deficit. Make a goal of weight maintenance at whatever current weight is, while focusing on changing eating habits and behaviors first. Taking a calorie deficit and exercising more might be triggering the nighttime binges for some people.
There are two resources that might be helpful, a book called “Brain Over Binge” by Kathryn Hansen, and a podcast and YouTube channel called “HalfSize Me” that provide some unique tools to change mindset and behaviors with regards to binge eating.
You can and should always reach out to your health care team, too, of course.6 -
Everyone mentions binge-eating due to not having enough calories, maybe during certain parts of the day. But I find, much less is addressed as far as binge-eating for emotional reasons. My binge-eating appears more likely due to stress, anger, depression, etc. That, IMO, takes a different approach than figuring how to lay out your meals and calories. It takes a lot of self reflection, positive self talk(as I mentioned in my prior reply), maybe journaling, learning to care about yourself enough to change your habits, working on replacing self-destructive habits with better habits. As much as I want and need to eat due to any of my emotions, I force myself to do something else, such as hop on the treadmill, read, work a puzzle, chat with a friend, anything that takes me out of my own head for awhile. I can't wait for spring weather to hit because I'd much rather do stuff outdoors any day for escape. Winter is so challenging for those who don't love it. 7
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I'm a binge eater too.
Its an ongoing struggle that I, for the most part, can handle but after a few years of heavy emotional stress, leading to taking a particular antidepressant, I put on 4 stone (56 pounds).
I had to come off them, I was too mouth hungry all the time and my increasing weight was making my mental health deteriorate further.
I am approx 25 pounds down doing, following Team RH.
For me, my emotional state definitely determines my liklihood of binge eating.
As I get happier, I dont need to binge as much.
But its a see saw for sure.3 -
Binge eater here as well as taking a medication that promotes weight gain. I got into a habit of binging and then (feeling so down) that I would calorie restrict as a result. It was a vicious cycle. I do try to eat more protein. I don't eat meat so I will drink a protein shake to help get my protein. My advice is get good sleep and eat healthy. Don't skip meals and eat enough protein to keep you satiated. Exercise helps too. Friend me if you need support.1
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I'm an emotional eater and binge eater, the two being connected. I've realised I cannot let myself get too hungry so I snack more and try to have bigger meals. As for the emotional binged eating element, I've found that managing my emotions has had a huge effect on my weight loss. When I'm stressed, upset or angry, I have a tendency to eat. When I'm angry, I don't even enjoy it. Seeing this for what it is has helped. The problem is that life is never plain sailing so it's easy for me to fall into the food trap when things get tough. I've also realised (eventually!) that if I buy it, I will eat it, so I just don't buy it. I started by just not even going to those aisles in the store and once that habit was broken it got easier. Definitely work out whether your bingeing is related just to your meds or other things too and then when you can understand it better you can come up with a plan.3
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In addition to all of the above, until you can get the bingeing under control or figure a way to accommodate evening snacks into your daily calories, perhaps ensure that you have low cal snacks to hand so that the impact of bingeing is reduced.0
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Compulsive binge eating is almost always a response to an unresolved emotional trauma.
If you don't address the trauma, you may never resolve the urge to binge, although you may learn to control it.
Most people are walking around with some degree of unresolved trauma, and most of them are totally unaware of it because they've developed unhealthy coping mechanisms to bury it: things like drinking, compulsive spending, or literally burying it with food.
Often it's trauma from relatively normal life experiences that just never got processed properly: parents divorce, childhood bullying, death of a loved one, etc, etc.
But typically, most compulsive unhealthy patterns have a trauma basis. So dig in and find the trauma and you will find the source of the compulsive binge eating.
Also, if people eat as a coping mechanism for emotional pain, then they can't just stop otherwise they're left with no way to cope with the emotional stress and pain. They need to first develop healthier coping alternatives, otherwise they can get overloaded by their negative emotions.8 -
Compulsive binge eating is almost always a response to an unresolved emotional trauma.
If you don't address the trauma, you may never resolve the urge to binge, although you may learn to control it.
Most people are walking around with some degree of unresolved trauma, and most of them are totally unaware of it because they've developed unhealthy coping mechanisms to bury it: things like drinking, compulsive spending, or literally burying it with food.
Often it's trauma from relatively normal life experiences that just never got processed properly: parents divorce, childhood bullying, death of a loved one, etc, etc.
But typically, most compulsive unhealthy patterns have a trauma basis. So dig in and find the trauma and you will find the source of the compulsive binge eating.
Also, if people eat as a coping mechanism for emotional pain, then they can't just stop otherwise they're left with no way to cope with the emotional stress and pain. They need to first develop healthier coping alternatives, otherwise they can get overloaded by their negative emotions.
This is the type of disagree that I wish people would come forth and admit, explain their thoughts. I feel it could promote a good discussion.
I, for one, felt your post was spot on. At least, it's my experience so that's where my opinion is coming from.
Life's traumas can definitely cause all those coping strategies. It also can cause one to develop healthier strategies as well. I always wished I could be that person who would seek out exercise and nature for coping, rather than self-destructive methods. I find exercise and nature help immensely but eating was just easier and highly accessible. 4 -
This is the type of disagree that I wish people would come forth and admit, explain their thoughts. I feel it could promote a good discussion.
I, for one, felt your post was spot on. At least, it's my experience so that's where my opinion is coming from.
Life's traumas can definitely cause all those coping strategies. It also can cause one to develop healthier strategies as well. I always wished I could be that person who would seek out exercise and nature for coping, rather than self-destructive methods. I find exercise and nature help immensely but eating was just easier and highly accessible.
*shrug* I ignore the "disagrees."
I have a background in psychology, medicine, and neuroscience, and I'm literally currently studying this for yet another degree. If people want to disagree with me, they're welcome to share their sources, and if they have something compelling to share, I'll happily consider how I might be wrong.
I love nothing more than learning a better way to understand things.
But a click of a disagree button alone? I learn nothing from that, so I just ignore it and stick with my academic and subject-matter-expert resources to inform my opinions.4 -
This is the type of disagree that I wish people would come forth and admit, explain their thoughts. I feel it could promote a good discussion.
I, for one, felt your post was spot on. At least, it's my experience so that's where my opinion is coming from.
Life's traumas can definitely cause all those coping strategies. It also can cause one to develop healthier strategies as well. I always wished I could be that person who would seek out exercise and nature for coping, rather than self-destructive methods. I find exercise and nature help immensely but eating was just easier and highly accessible.
*shrug* I ignore the "disagrees."
I have a background in psychology, medicine, and neuroscience, and I'm literally currently studying this for yet another degree. If people want to disagree with me, they're welcome to share their sources, and if they have something compelling to share, I'll happily consider how I might be wrong.
I love nothing more than learning a better way to understand things.
But a click of a disagree button alone? I learn nothing from that, so I just ignore it and stick with my academic and subject-matter-expert resources to inform my opinions.
I am not one of the disagreers, but after reading your comment I think trauma is more expansive than just the deep rooted stuff. We all have some kind of deep rooted trauma that has been formative for us. I also think that it isn't necessarily an unresolved trauma, cause you can't really resolve trauma. Maybe an "unmanaged" trauma that gets triggered from time to time. Semantics, I know. Ex. Boredom binging might really be triggering deeper experiences that led to experiences of loneliness, feeling unaccepted, invalidated. I also have a background in mental health (psych major that worked for many community treatment centers, during my edu though I took several critical psych classes which is why I am more focused on the softness of psych than the diagnostic) but moved into a second career a bit ago. I agree that the research is important, but I don't think it's a really one size fits all model as why people binge. Research is often pivotal. I think that the treatments look the same despite the reason (ex. Cbt is cbt, act is act). I think it really comes down to identifying our triggers and learning why we are triggered. If that has to do with trauma, then definitely it should be looked at. A great book that I recommend to everyone is based on ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy) that is fairly recovery based (still applicable to food I think) is The Happiness Trap. It's got some good skills in there.2 -
I am not a binge eater so have no direct advice on it other than I agree with some others here that in my experience and observation, binge eating is very often a symptom of other issues. I know some people have had good success with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for binge eating and other things. I myself found it very helpful for some other destructive behavioral patterns that I had. I did a ton of journaling during that time as well which really helped me reflect on things differently than just white knuckling it to correct the behavior.0
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Everyone mentions binge-eating due to not having enough calories, maybe during certain parts of the day. But I find, much less is addressed as far as binge-eating for emotional reasons. My binge-eating appears more likely due to stress, anger, depression, etc. That, IMO, takes a different approach than figuring how to lay out your meals and calories. It takes a lot of self reflection, positive self talk(as I mentioned in my prior reply), maybe journaling, learning to care about yourself enough to change your habits, working on replacing self-destructive habits with better habits. As much as I want and need to eat due to any of my emotions, I force myself to do something else, such as hop on the treadmill, read, work a puzzle, chat with a friend, anything that takes me out of my own head for awhile. I can't wait for spring weather to hit because I'd much rather do stuff outdoors any day for escape. Winter is so challenging for those who don't love it.
I share your observation that it is a mind over matter thing. It totally is for me, too. One definition of binge eating vs. run of the mill overeating is the sensation of being out of control. So even if a binge (by this definition) starts with legitimate hunger, it's is likely to proceed past the point of physiological satiety. That makes it a mental thing.
IMHO, emotional triggers and insufficient calories are not mutually exclusive contributors to binge eating. Both can contribute, and one can exacerbate the other. An emotional trigger might be more difficult to resist through other strategies (taking a walk, journaling, white knuckle will power) if I have been over restricting calories to start with. Alternatively, if I avoid the things that draw down my will power reserves, I have better odds of success in managing my way through the things I cannot avoid. It is a temptation reduction strategy that can be used while working through the emotional aspects.1 -
Here's my advice that has been helping me as I'm getting over binge eating and eating better lately:
If you're walking and you fall, you dont just lay there and give up. And you certainly dont purposefully make yourself fall because you fell before. So why on earth would you purposefully binge eat or over eat just because you had a slip up, or multiple slip ups??? it's illogical and silly. KEEP GOING, GET UP AND KEEP GOING.
YOU GOT THIS !!!!!!!!! 3 -
Does anyone have advice for binge eating? I am doing okay adding more walking into my day and eating better during the day but then night I often binge! I also take a medication that increases my hunger so I am fighting urges to eat all day!
There's lots of good advice above for actual Binge Eating Disorder, which should be addressed with a medical professional.
However, whenever I read things like "eating better during the day but then night I often binge" I wonder if "eating better" actually means "undereating" which then prompts the person to overeat.
Many of us when we come to MFP set our weekly weight loss goal too aggressively. I'd been a Biggest Loser watcher and thought if they could lose double digits of weight per week, a goal of 2 pounds per week was doable for me. Well, in fact I didn't have the weight to lose to support that.
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