HELP!!!! I have an addiction:(

kmaclpn

Hey MFP Pals,
Help!!!! I am a victim of eating barely enough food during the day and BINGE eating late at night.. it quite literally kills me.
I have tried so hard not to, but I seem to be hungry at night the most. I also eat emotionally and when i'm bored and i try to explain to my Boyfriend that binge eating is like smoking cigarettes a person who is addicted to smoking as trouble explaining their addiction but all they can say is they cant stop, its very hard to explain but I am emotionally and mentally addicted to eating how long after eating better will it take to become use to eating that way versus the old habit??? when will I stop craving bad food ALL the time and more so at night?

ClassicGirl79

I can relate - it's like we think those secretive calories consumed in the dark don't count. :-S

Have you considered playing with your sleep schedule? I know it sounds weird, but you might try getting up REALLY early and eating a healthy, protein-heavy breakfast. Stay up (no napping!) and focus on eating healthfully every 4-6 hours and getting a good workout in. By the time 9:00 rolls around you should be wiped out, and hopefully the novelty of the shake-up in your personal schedule will carry you over into repeating it the next few days so that you can sort of start building a new habit? Good luck! :-)

abcerc

I deal with the same situation regarding late night binging. I have been reading a book called "Shrink Yourself" that has been extremely helpful for me. I'm an emotional eater too. There is also a website that you can view a lot of information- shrinkyourself.com. You have the option to sign up for a fee, I have not signed up- but there is a section at the top titled "Articles" that is free. There's all kinds of great information on the site. Hope it helps!

nas24

I also have a similar issue. The best way i know to do it, is to eat every 2-3hours. I take what i plan to eat for lunch and cut it in half. I eat one half at my lunch time and save the other half for 2 hours later to get me over that hump till dinner. Frequent, low cal snacks really help too. Also drink lots of water threw out the day, helps you feel fuller and notice that you are actually full. I even put slices or lemon, limes and or oranges in my water to help increase the amount i drink. GL! You can do this!

futurefitgirl88

My advice would be to eat more during the day...I have binge eating disorder myself probably not a chronic one. But if I surround myself with trigger foods ...I'm bound to eat it...i'll eat anything sweet/with chocolate....so I steer clear of it... And remove those foods from your household which causes you to binge. Have a proper healthy dinner and then make a mental note that you are not eating anything else before breakfast 2moro!! that usually works for me.

When I feel like binging or eating things I should not ...I drink diet coke...Its bad for you...but it works for me...

watcherII

i'm right there with you. i've learned a few tricks to help myself stay on track. first, i drink some ice water before i'll let myself snack. filling up my cup and sipping it through a straw are sometimes enough to sidetrack myself, so i don't even think about snacking. if i still want something, i sit and think about what i really want. sweet, salty, creamy, etc. if i can't make up my mind, i stick to water. if i know what i want, i will allow it, if i still have the calories. if not, i have to work off the calories before i eat it. often, that's enough to put me off it, cuz i don't want to work out or walk if it's late.

another trick is to keep 100 calorie snacks in the pantry. either the prepackaged, or ones i repackage. i will buy the snacks i like, including m&ms etc, and repack them into single servings, or half servings. that way i can get a taste to satisfy my craving, without eating my way through a box of cookies or bag of chips. you still need your willpower not to grab 5 baggies, but it does help. and knowing how long it took to count/measure out the servings helps me stick to one serving. one last thing: skinny cow caramel truffle ice cream bars will satisfy a snack craving completely. 130 calories and delicious, i have yet to keep snacking after having one. good luck!

kmaclpn

Thanks everyone its nicce to know I'm not the only one!!! I think because I stay up late as well that contributes

katzba

I used to have an "addiction" to diet pepsi. I wanted to stop drinking it but didn't think I'd be able to. So I looked up info on how to change a bad habit. I read that it takes about 21 days to change a habit so this guy suggested that you print out a calendar with 21 dates and the numbers printed on it (so if you were starting today Day 1 would be 8/26/11). Then, everyday you don't do the habit, you cross out that date. BUT, if you slip up, you START ALL OVER AGAIN. So, for example, if you mess up on Day 7, instead of being on Day 8 the next day, you would be back to Day 1. It sounds simple but it helped me because I thought, well, I only have to try this for 21 days and if I can't do it, I'l stop then. It made it seem easier than having to do it forever. I drank tons of Diet Pepsi and haven't had any since Feb. 1st. Don't know if this will help you but it sure helped me.

brittanyjeanxo

Hm. I have no idea about the eating at night thing personally, but I was an emotional eater as well. I would eat when I was sad, mad, happy, even bored. One of the best ways to replace a habit is to recognize the habit and why it's bad for you, and try to replace that habit with a good one, such as exercising. How late do you go to bed? Perhaps if you went to bed a little earlier you would feel less compelled to eat since you'd be, well, sleeping.