Accomplished binger here-recognising triggers

onmyown70

I'm still trying to figure it out. I have been a binger for years and I probably do need to reach out more and have a lot to learn.

It is absolutely common sense but thought I would share any way.

TRIGGERS

1. SLEEP (lack of)

Lack of sleep, I have only (yes only) just realised this is huge for me. This week I hadn't been under doing kcal (probably over). I hadn't been restricting anything.

Last night my little one decided to wake me up a number of times... this morning I woke in a awful mood and the urge for cake was overwhelming. I gave in to the urges (oops) but they were huge.

Solution: Accept with a child sleep isn't always an option. Grab it when you can get it.

2. PMT

The usual, I'm thinking of taking fluoxetine for PMT but still considering the answers for this one

3. Just being around food I overeat (for me carbs, wholegrain or white)

I ignored that loaf of bread and cinnamon buns for days, I was busy and didn't think about them. yesterday afternoon I was tired from all my walking, and suddenly the urge to eat them all came. i have no idea where it came from and it wasn't an urge for just two slices or just one bun... I wanted the lot. i hadn't under cut kcal, or been restricting bread. In fact earlier in the week I thought I was cured as I had no urge to eat them what so ever. So I was caught out on that one.

4. Mood hoovers

I noticed the other day, after having a phone call with a family member who was obviously in a it of a bad mood, after talking to them I wanted bread... I had to stop myself in my tracks and think, I was upset, that's why I was eating. If I'm not tired and stressed I can recognise this and see why I am doing what I'm doing, but I hadn't even noticed, I was unconsciously going for food to "feel better"

Solution: working on recognising emotion and finding a better way to deal with it!

5. Impulsiveness

I thought I would share, this may not be useful, at all to anyone. I thought other bingers might want to add their triggers...

Chaskavitch

Good list. I'd never thought about being tired contributing to binging, but you're probably right. For myself;

1) Boredom - I just eat when I'm bored or if I'm doing something that leaves my hands free, especially if (see #2) delicious things are readily available.

2) Availability/convenience - If I have bread or crackers or chocolate chips in the kitchen, and I'm reading or working in the living room (next to the kitchen), or in the dining room, I'll just keep going back once I've started. If the package isn't open, though, I have a much simpler time not eating them at all, especially if I know my husband will notice

- Also, if I bring out a jar of nuts or a bag of candy, or really anything, and don't portion it out before I start to eat, I just keep going. I can eat a whole bag of almond M&Ms in one sitting, easily.

3) Thinking about it too much - I don't know how to get around this one, but if I'm like "hmm, some ice cream sounds good" at my lunch break, and then I think about the different kinds of ice cream I could buy, by the time I go buy groceries after work, I will almost certainly buy some ice cream as well. I might even eat the whole pint before my husband gets home, because otherwise he'll know that I ate a lot of it. May as well not leave any evidence, right?