Bingeing at Night
nenshali
Posts: 331 Member
Hello my dear friends :flowerforyou:
I don't know if anyone can 'help' me actually, but maybe someone experienced similar things I did, so I decided to make this thread.
I am in recovery of an eating disorder, bulimia nervosa. And in general, I'm doing quite fine.
I'm in therapy and it is really helpful. My therapist helped me to identify several behaviours and made me help how to see when I start supressing feelings or trying to cope them with food.
I've had several weeks without a binge which was "directly" triggered through a stressful situation (which were dominant in the last months and years of my ED).
Anyway, those relapses still happen. And in general that's okay, I know it's part of the progress etc.
But what really frustrates me is the following: I started binge-eating at night again.
I experienced this already in earlier stages, which was caused through not eating enough, skipping too many meals, generally a stressful relationship to food, I guess.
But I simply have no clue why it is happening right now! The last few weeks, it happened nearly every night.
I start feeling the urge to binge in the evening. No matter how much I ate during the day, no matter how big my dinner was. I am eating enough, so that shouldn't be it (my therapist reads my food journal and agreed that I'm eating enough, so it's not just my opinion). And I cannot always identify whether it's hunger or appetite.
If I get huge cravings until midnight, I'm mostly able to either identify it as hunger and eat something, or identify it as appetite and try to distract myself. This works.. sometimes, at least.
But it's frustrating to know that even if I make it through the evening, I'll mostly blow up in the night. I go to sleep and after a few hours, I wake up and I simply need to eat. I am awake, I'm not sleep- walking, but I'm not questioning the act/the urge, I just go to the kitchen and eat. Sometimes, several times during the night.
I eat mostly stuff I also eat during binges. Bread, oatmeal, chocolate, cheese. So, fat and carbs.
I'm not cutting out certain foods anymore, I try to not restrict myself of anything and I found it really helpful,l it reduces my cravings a lot.
Still, it simply annoys me. I destroy all the work I'm doing during the day. I have no idea how to analyze this problem. I even tried to lock myself in my room during the night, but didn't really help.
I'm currently not working, I'm waiting to start studying in September. I'm planning to structure my days more in the future, eat more regularly again (I eat enough but I used to have a better structure, so there's not too much and not too little time between the meals etc.)
I don't feel unhappy and I handle criticism/conflicts much better now, so I'm not so sure how to handle this. During the day, I can try to use coping mechanisms, but that doesn't work when it happens at night.
My therapist, as great as she is, can't help here unfortunately. I simply have to work it out somehow.
Does anyone here know these urges to binge at night? If yes, how do you handle it? I'm happy for any input, no matter if it helps in my own situation, I just want to learn more about it.
Lots of love my dear :flowerforyou:
~Nen
I don't know if anyone can 'help' me actually, but maybe someone experienced similar things I did, so I decided to make this thread.
I am in recovery of an eating disorder, bulimia nervosa. And in general, I'm doing quite fine.
I'm in therapy and it is really helpful. My therapist helped me to identify several behaviours and made me help how to see when I start supressing feelings or trying to cope them with food.
I've had several weeks without a binge which was "directly" triggered through a stressful situation (which were dominant in the last months and years of my ED).
Anyway, those relapses still happen. And in general that's okay, I know it's part of the progress etc.
But what really frustrates me is the following: I started binge-eating at night again.
I experienced this already in earlier stages, which was caused through not eating enough, skipping too many meals, generally a stressful relationship to food, I guess.
But I simply have no clue why it is happening right now! The last few weeks, it happened nearly every night.
I start feeling the urge to binge in the evening. No matter how much I ate during the day, no matter how big my dinner was. I am eating enough, so that shouldn't be it (my therapist reads my food journal and agreed that I'm eating enough, so it's not just my opinion). And I cannot always identify whether it's hunger or appetite.
If I get huge cravings until midnight, I'm mostly able to either identify it as hunger and eat something, or identify it as appetite and try to distract myself. This works.. sometimes, at least.
But it's frustrating to know that even if I make it through the evening, I'll mostly blow up in the night. I go to sleep and after a few hours, I wake up and I simply need to eat. I am awake, I'm not sleep- walking, but I'm not questioning the act/the urge, I just go to the kitchen and eat. Sometimes, several times during the night.
I eat mostly stuff I also eat during binges. Bread, oatmeal, chocolate, cheese. So, fat and carbs.
I'm not cutting out certain foods anymore, I try to not restrict myself of anything and I found it really helpful,l it reduces my cravings a lot.
Still, it simply annoys me. I destroy all the work I'm doing during the day. I have no idea how to analyze this problem. I even tried to lock myself in my room during the night, but didn't really help.
I'm currently not working, I'm waiting to start studying in September. I'm planning to structure my days more in the future, eat more regularly again (I eat enough but I used to have a better structure, so there's not too much and not too little time between the meals etc.)
I don't feel unhappy and I handle criticism/conflicts much better now, so I'm not so sure how to handle this. During the day, I can try to use coping mechanisms, but that doesn't work when it happens at night.
My therapist, as great as she is, can't help here unfortunately. I simply have to work it out somehow.
Does anyone here know these urges to binge at night? If yes, how do you handle it? I'm happy for any input, no matter if it helps in my own situation, I just want to learn more about it.
Lots of love my dear :flowerforyou:
~Nen
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Replies
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You are not alone. I am struggling too. I also have bulimia but have not been acting out on the purging recently. I still have a hard time with the nighttime eating, like you. That is what pushed me to join this site today and start tracking my food and reach out to others. Thank you, for sharing.
Dini0 -
Are you able to set limits with yourself about what you can eat at night?
I apologize if this is dumb. I'm not as well versed in eating disorder nutrition as many people.
I'm struggling with overeating at night, probably because of job related stress. When yoga would probably help more, I still make popcorn instead. I'm thinking about making a rule that if I'm not hungry enough to eat a small bag of carrots or an apple, then I'm not really hungry.0 -
Is it possible for you to replace the binge eating behavior with a different one. Perhaps when you feel the urge to binge try chewing sugar free gum for a while. Since you have something flavorful in your mouthand you are continuously chewing you may be able to trick your binge craving away.
My relationship with binging manifest differently than yours. I binge if I allow myself to felt hunger. So my coping strategies is to have snack timed throughout the day (preplanned healthy snacks) so that I never allow myself to become really hungry. But since hunger isn't the trigger for you you will have to experiment with different strategies until you find something that works.
I know a lot of people recommend drinking water (or other low cal beverages) when the urge to eat arises since thirst can sometimes be misread as hunger.
I will be interested to read what others suggest.0 -
I get the munchies too, usually when I get home from work. It's when I'm done for the day/night but I'm not sleepy yet that it's the worst. I know it's not the healthiest thing, but diet dr. pepper really helps me control cravings. Maybe just the fizz and the flavor. And the caffeine helps me stay awake at work all night so I don't feel like I need to eat to stay awake!0
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Diet A&W Root Beer!! It is sweet and satisfying. And I do NOT like regular root beer at all.0
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Oh, I'm terrible at night! The kids are asleep - I'm drained from a long day of running after my kids (all wonderful - and I'm happy to do it, but it's exhausting!), working, and now I'm just starting to work out again after several years. It all adds up to "mmm ... that sounds good" as I sit in a quiet living room (hubby works the late shift) and enjoy some serenity. I think part of it for me is not having to worry about what anyone else will think of me eating whatever indulgence I'm digging into that night. At the same time, I always, always, always feel guilty afterwards.
One example - I just started to reorganize my eating habits and have started to work out again. What did I do tonight? I ate several hands full of potato chips. The only up-side is that I had quite a few calories left over from the day's food intake - so it was kind of a "cushion" for my nighttime cravings.
How to control the urge? I'm not certain, to be completely honest. I've never been very good at the willpower thing. I think until I can sort through my willpower, I will keep "reserving" some calories for the night time.0 -
I am so glad that I just found this post, because I just binged and ate a day's worth of calories in about a half an hour. Three servings of peanut butter, a cheese sandwich, oatmeal with sugar, butter, and milk. I have always had a problem about eating at night. I have been on myfitnesspal about 3 or 4 days doing well then this. It happens all the time. I have 135 lbs to lose and at this rate I will never get anywhere. I feel a little bit hungry and I just want to feel the comfort of being full. I have eaten that way for so long it feels right and normal. So I do not have an answer but you definitely aren't alone and I am glad to know that I'm not either. I like the suggestion of not letting myself get hungry I will try that, a preplanned healthy bedtime snack.0
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I don't know if this will help. I experienced the same thing, wanting to eat late in the evening. Getting up in the middle of the night to eat. So now I make sure that I save enough calories for my fav healthy snack and I eat is within 1/2 hr before bed time. On the whole this as taken care of the problem. On the odd night I still get hungry in the middle of the night. When that happens I eat a protein bar or fibre one bar, and adjust my calories the next morning. (I schedule my meals three days in advance.) I hope this might have given you some ideas. Good luck it is a difficult situation.0
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I thought I was the only one struggling with nightly binges. I will eat fine during the day, but around 9pm, regardless of what I've eaten that day, I eat. I'm usually not hungry, but I can't stop myself.
I'm currently 208.5 lbs. Not my highest weight, but certainly not my lowest weight. (I was 335+ in 2001 and my lowest was 152 lbs in 2007.) I don't understand it. I know I have a problem, but I don't know how to stop it. It's been going on for 3 weeks. I'm currently easing back on the night time eating and have lost a pound since increasing my water intake and exercise.0 -
I'm so happy to have the chance to see all of your posts! Everything is really familiar to me. I have the worst time with food at night. I think now it's because I just hate going to bed. I don't want to miss anything. I can tell I'm not hungry. I've only been a member of MFP for about a week, but just the act of recording my food each day has made me more accountable. I've been able to keep to 1200 calories most days. I have been able to get in regular exercise this last year and that has helped a lot. But, again, nights are my worst times. I can sometimes get around thinking about food by reading, exercising and getting involved with something online. I'm a granma and have had to deal with this ALL my life. I wish there were pills to cure this! Thanks for your posts! I look forward to reading them tonight.:drinker:0
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I binge around dinner and wake up a couple of times a night to eat. For me it seems to be about two things: anxiety about my insomnia (food helps me calm down and go to sleep) and Something about it being the last chance for food. It sounds silly but after breakfast you know you get lunch in 4-6 hours and after lunch you know you get dinner in 6-8 hours with maybe a snack between. However, at dinner I find myself feeling "yay, I made it through the day and now it's over. I followed my diet and this is the end." Somehow it needs to become a continuous thing without a start and an end. Or I at least need to change my thoughts on ways to celebrate the end of the day. I wonder if this is common with anyone else or if there is some different insight as to why nights are worse for a lot of us.
Sorry. Forgot to add what I do to try to help. Number one is staying hydrated. Seriously drink your two liters a day or you will get what my nutritionist calls false hunger. You want to eat to get moisture. It sounds silly, but it really is true. I also keep Flavored water at the bedside and it helps too. I have a list of foods I do not buy for keeping in the house ever because I know they will die a horrible death. This includes anything sugary, moist, and ready to eat like cereal, fruit snacks, and ice cream. If I get up out if bed, I walk around a little bit and go right back to bed. Once I even went so far as to lock up the fridge with a bike lock and kept the key out in the car. It worked but it was a pain and is shameful to admit that I did it. Other than the little tips, it is all about working on the core problem: stress or anxiety. Whether I am aware of it or not, I know that stress causes the eating to get worse and if I am unaware of what it is, then I need to sit down and figure it out.0 -
Wow! Am I glad I joined MFP and found this post. I thought I was the only one with this problem and now realize I am not alone! I can be so good all day, go to sleep and wake up sometime in the night and start eating! It doesn't matter what either. I eaten cookies, and chips and fruit and cereal and sandwiches. Sometimes I just don't feel like I can ever stop! I don't even feel full! I am trying to log what happens during the day to see if I can find a trigger because it doesn't happen every night. Anyone have any suggestions?0
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I know exactly what you mean. Nights are the worst for me. Tonight has been easier because I've got a lot of personal projects to do and I've been busy all night. I specifically planned this so maybe this is all I have to do; PLAN. So far, so good. Night all!0
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I am not an expert in bullimia, but I've suffered from binge eating disorder for 10 years now.
I'm wondering if you can make a change to your schedule to mix things up for yourself a bit.
Instead of having dinner at your typical time, have a snack, and eat later.
Also, go very high protein/low carb for dinner.
Perhaps a doctor can help you find something that can keep you sleeping straight through the night?
Just brainstorming. Not sure if any of this would work or if its not a good idea.
Good luck!0 -
If I eat later, around 7:30-8 p.m., I seem to have less desire or need for eating everything in the kitchen. That helps me. I've had trouble sleeping and I try to have low cal snacks and even diet pop that I can grab. I do this when nothing else helps. I've never had bulimia so I can't add anything to that part. This group helps a lot, though. Just to know that someone else is having similar problems.0
