Eat healthy at work, binge at night

MagnumBurrito

You have built a bad habit and habits are based on three things. The queue, the action, and the reward. I'm guessing your queue is be good all day healthy wise. The eating well at breakfast, lunch, dinner and working out is the action. The binge is the reward.

Basically you need to find a new reward. Rewards are important and keep people on healthy habits. That's why a lot of people have cheat days. If you don't have a cheat day and you're craving a reward for all your good habits, eventually you're going to crack. Some people need small daily rewards, especially at first while willpower is building up.

I suggest finding some reward that isn't one your kids snacks. This will help change the habit because you won't think about binging after you've had your predetermined reward. Also by predetermining the reward, you won't have to spend any more will power beating yourself up over eating something not that healthy. A lot of people use dark chocolate or an ice cream bar as a reasonable job well done.

You can do it.

ninerbuff

Personally I eat whatever I want till 11:30pm. If I've ensured I've taken in the essential macro/micros I need each day and have calories left over (regardless of time of day), then I eat whatever I feel like as long as I stay within the calorie restriction I've made.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

SLLRunner

Curious question: Is there a reason you don't log your food? That's the whole reason why I use this site. You say you were always starving, you likely weren't eating enough to sustain your activity level. I will say, as someone who logs everything I eat, this feeling hits me sometimes too. Our routines sound are strikingly similar. I eat well all day, hit the gym hard, and then eat my planned healthy dinner but sometimes, I'm still really hungry. I'm not gonna deprive myself when I'm THAT hungry. So, I make sure I have healthy things on hand that I can snack on while staying within my goals, so it works out fine for me. Because I'm keeping track. I don't buy food I know I shouldn't eat/ keep it way out of sight, out of mind. Having something decent and planned that will satisfy my sweet tooth readily available helps stop the binges.

Maybe you should consider starting to log you intake instead of guessing. You might not be eating enough calories (especially if you're working out really hard) So naturally you're gonna be hungry. Also, making sure to eat before you work out might be helpful. Its obviously better for you to eat a whole lot of fruits and veggies until you're full than it is goldfish and chocolate.

It's not so much that I'm guessing, I'm just eating healthy (but still clearly have problems). I still had these problems sometimes when I was counting calories except I was WAY harder on myself. Like, I wouldn't eat hardly anything the next day to make up for the bindge sessions. I mean I was skinny... but 24/7 I was thinking about food. My hair was falling, I was always hungry, etc. I know it works for everyone else but in my case it took an unhealthy turn. And I want to not go back to those dark times ever again I still use MFP for the forums though! I mostly read what others post to get more knowledge on things but I also do like to ask when I really need the help.

If you are trying to lose weight, logging helps you keep track of how many calories you are consuming. Using a food scale to measure portions helps with portion control so that when you want those snacks you don't overdue it, especially if you are committed to staying within your calorie goal.

You can eat healthy all you want, but if you eat more than you burn you will gain weight. If you eat as much as you burn, your will stay the same.

Perhaps you are bingeing at night because you are not allowing yourself balanced foods during the day. Take a look at my diary and see what I eat. I lost 44 pounds with plenty of well balanced diet, and I have ice cream just about every day.

I encourage you try some of the logging suggestions here.

TheFrugalFatass

Relaying my own experience, I cannot eat certain things at all without them precipitating a binge. Sweets and potato chips are two things I absolutely, positively cannot allow to pass my lips. I literally cannot stop eating them once I start, so moderation does not work for me with those things. To a lesser extent, I have to be aware of how many "white" foods I eat as well, because white foods are generally highly processed and are metabolized like sugar. You may want to get rid of the binge foods for now, or have the other people in the house who eat them hide them in a cabinet. You may even want to lock them up.

I've found that it's hard to binge on fruits and veggies because they are so dense in fiber. You'll fill up a lot faster eating apples than you will candy bars.

albayin

I can relate...I can work all day without wanting any food but I have to eat at dinner. Its not really alway a binge per se, but dinner has to be the biggest meal of the day.

I am trying to rever the process by eating more at lunch to see if I can go without dinner at night.

Ilana503

I have the exact same problem and was just struggling with this same thing last night. When I had a nutritionist many years ago she gave me two helpful pieces of advice in terms of binging and late night snacking. The first was to count how many times I got up to go to the kitchen. Sometimes I'll be in my room with a snack and say this is it, and then go back four times. Counting how many times Ive actually gone scavenging in the kitchen is really helpful. It makes you stop and think, wow this is my third trip to the kitchen, do I really need to be in here? The second piece of advice was mainly just about mindful eating. She asked me if when I'm eating chocolate or anything if by the fifth bite I even really taste what I'm eating anymore. I thought she was crazy, but she was right. Oftentimes, I'll be snacking and realize I'm sitting here stuffing this rosemary tomato flavored cracker in my mouth and I don't even taste that flavor anymore. Or I'm eating skittles and I literally can't taste them anymore, but it feels go to be eating. The mindful eating of what does this taste like is very helpful. I've also taken to working out at night, which is when I snack most. To get up for work not completely exhausted, I need to be asleep by around midnight. If I work out from 9-10 or 10-11 and get ready for bed, that really leaves me no time to snack and watch TV for hours (if I'm being responsible). When I worked out at 4 when I got home, I'd have the entire rest of the evening to eat dinner, have a snack, hang out, have another snack, more snack.... Working out later helped me stave off the late-night snacking, while in the early evening I was doing other things - Facebook, cooking dinner, eating dinner, chores, etc. Hope this helps! It did for me.

deb4ala2

For me, when I get hungry, I grab a couple of pieces of sugarfree gum. It really helps me when I wanting to snack at night or late afternoon.