how can I stop my food cravings and bingeing??

nanavickig

If I am not busy I just want to eat!! Especially while watch TV. During the day I keep myself busy mostly and only really sit down to have breakfast and lunch, but in the afternoon and evening I want to eat all the time, and once I start I cant stop!! Cereals are one of my weaknesses, as well as all the usual, chocolate, ice cream, biscuits/cookies (which I try not to have in the house at all or I'd eat the whole pack) Help!! I exercise over 1000 cals most days already and eat back my exercise cals so I am not starving myself on too few cals. Any ideas to suppress these cravings and binges?

kg4ulu

Hi!
Keep those things that are your triggers out of your house. I've even bought them, gotten into and dumped it in the trash. If you see that you are doing that, dump it. Not throw the bag in the trash, Dump the contents.

If you are bored at night find something to keep busy. Remember to not eat out of boredom. Say NO and do something else. Drink a huge glass of water. Go clean something, read a book, just go do something. Do not let yourself be idle. I've had the same problem as many others surely have. It really is a mind thing. So until you can get the mindset that you are not going cave, do all of the above. Get control.

Kimberly

jeme3

I'd attack it by planning for it. You know you want to eat/snack at that time, so have healthy things to eat.

Air popped pop corn is crunchy, whole grain, and very low cal, and satisfies that need to just snack.

Bite sized raw veggies that you like, whole grain crackers with no added sugars etc are good, too.

Just plan for it in your day.

some people have good luck chewing gum instead.

Don't buy the bad stuff. Makes it much easier to make good choices that way!

JenRun1

I have the same problem. I have kids though so I have treats for them in the house. I have to hide the stuff so it's not in the pantry or fridge and kind of forget about it until I pack lunches.

For me it is all mental. If I start I cannot stop so what I eat in place of junk is hummus on carrots, peanut butter on wheat bread, 100 cal packs, granola bars, and then chug a glass of water. It fills me up and stops the cravings.

misssmarita

I very much agree with don't keep it at the house, try and keep busy, etc.

It sounds like you're a bit of a sugar junkie :P No shame, so am I. You might wanna try making your snacks something sweet, like fruit, or a small glass of chocolate milk. Obviously, neither of those will be good for you if you eat it by the ton, but they might be a good substitute. Also, I don't know what eating schedule you're on, but make sure you eat small servings but often, keeping your bloodsugar stabil and reducing your cravings.

GOOD LUCK!

MaraDiaz

I second the getting triggers out of your house. You also might discover triggers that are healthy foods for many. For me it's just getting too many carbs in a day. I hit 50 carbs and even if I reached that 50 by eating veggies and fruit I will be a cranky, craving beast the next day.

However I am sure some people manage to reduce cravings without going to the extremes I have to go to. I hope you are one of those people, OP, so you can moderate and not have to completely abstain. But if all else fails, try very low carb!

suzely0530

If I am not busy I just want to eat!! Especially while watch TV. During the day I keep myself busy mostly and only really sit down to have breakfast and lunch, but in the afternoon and evening I want to eat all the time, and once I start I cant stop!! Cereals are one of my weaknesses, as well as all the usual, chocolate, ice cream, biscuits/cookies (which I try not to have in the house at all or I'd eat the whole pack) Help!! I exercise over 1000 cals most days already and eat back my exercise cals so I am not starving myself on too few cals. Any ideas to suppress these cravings and binges?

The dietitians I work with recommend the book "MIndless Eating" by Brian Wansink, Phd. Perhaps that can help you as well.

krowanvil

No guarantees, but here are some ideas to try:
1. If you are doing all of your workouts in the mornings, try splitting them up (half in the morning, half in the afternoon). I am usually less hungry after exercising.
2. Instead of eating a “sit down” meal in the evenings, use those calories to graze on lower calorie foods all evening.
3. For me, the longer I go without high sugar/ high fat/ (insert your vice here) food, the less I crave it.
4. Take up knitting or some other hobby that you can do to keep your hands busy while watching TV. I read an article a while back that says we train ourselves to mindlessly eat while watching TV (nothing to do with actual hunger) and the best way to retrain ourselves it to find another action to keep our hands busy.
5. Have one of your family members put you in a straight jacket in the evenings. If you want it bad enough to use just your mouth and feet to get it, then you deserve it!:laugh:

lightdiva1

I cut out soda, junk food of all types, and switched to clean foods all in a week. I craved everything I was no longer eating. Here is how I am slowly overcoming this issue. 1. I trashed everything that was tempting. 2. I searched for foods that were healthy for me like veggies ad fruit that could take the place of my cravings. 3.. I did a cleanse. The cleanse helped get the gunk out of my system and helped reduce cravings. Trying new foods helped me find healthy options. I found I love strawberries on my salad. I love half a banana, handful of raspberries, blackberries and strawberries and a quarter cup of orange juice with 6 ice cubes blended together. I drink that around 7pm when the "snack attack" hit me. Its freezing cold, so I can't suck it down, tastes amazing, and cures my sugar craving.

I plan out my meals so that I can have snacks at night. I eat light during the day (when I am not hungry) and more after 4pm. I make sure to have breakfast, and lunch, I just keep the caloric fat and carbs down. Calories is usually under 250 for each. I am not hungry until after 4pm.

I also found keeping sncack items that I love around just in baggies. I love croutons. I bought some reduced fat, better for you kind and measured out a serving. (1 serving 30 calories, its like 4 croutons.) I placed the entire contents of the store bag into small baggies each only holding a serving. When I get snacky, I have a bag. Most days I end up just eating 1 crouton. So a bag now lasts me all week. Getting rid of the cravings is hard, but if its not in your house, there is no temptation.

I have children so some food has to stay. (I babysit 2 as well so 4 in my house.) Fruit snacks, holiday candy, pretzels and stuff. Here is how I avoid it. Every time I go into the kitchen and make it out without something bad for me I stop and smile and say aloud, "Drop of awesome!" This helps me stay motivated to keep way from the bad foods.

I decided to make a lifestyle change. There is no going back once I lose the weight. So if I have a day where the stress get so high I need comfort food, I allow myself to have it. There is no cheating when your not on a diet. I just make sure to exercise harder, longer, and make better choices the next day.

curejenn

I do exactly what a few have already suggested... plan for it. I know that on nights where I am going to be catching up on a favorite show once my daughter is in bed, I will want a snack. So I plan for it. I usually have a mini bag of popcorn (which takes FOREVER to eat) and a huge glass of sparkling water with some vanilla extract in it. It tastes sort of like a cream soda Prior to joining MFP, I lost 23 lbs and the key to it was not feeling deprived. During the day, the TV isnt on so my problem was just wanting a snack at night. If the cravings hit during the day I would maybe try to revamp your routine so that during the time you always want to snack, you are busy doing something. A lot of my eating was just habitual! Good luck to you!

SanteMulberry

There are two aspects to "craving/binging". One is the physical aspect, which is easily dealt with by cutting out sugar and wheat in addition to restricting carbohydrates to 100-200 grams (with the higher amount on heavier exercise days). The second aspect is the emotional aspect. Even though I have no more cravings and do not binge, I still think occasionally about a piece of cheesecake (formerly, my favorite dessert). The physical aspect is the stronger one and much harder to resist BUT it went away rather quickly as I stuck to the plan. The emotional one is much longer lasting but the strength to resist it is built up over time and occasions where you exercise restraint. When I first started my program, family and friends would say, "Oh come on, one piece of birthday cake isn't going to hurt--restart your diet tomorrow!" Sometimes I would weaken and it would set off a binge ("Well, now that I messed that up, I might as well eat whatever I want for the rest of the day.") Now, through having a couple of years experience, they would have to tie me down and stuff the cake into my mouth and force me to swallow it, :laugh: Seriously, they don't even offer anymore as they know the answer will always be "no".

frefrebelle

Agree with the above - I suggest Cold Turkey on sugar, all refined sugar!

It's a b*tch and takes about 3 weeks to really work, but you start to feel better after a few days and the cravings/compulsive eating really do go.

Good luck with it all

Ps must admit that I am still struggling post Holday season myself, after falling off the sugar wagon majorly

nanavickig

Some great ideas there, some seem too extreme for my liking though, like cutting out all the bad stuff altogether!! I want this 'diet' to be for life, and I want to be able to treat myself to food I enjoy sometimes, just not excessively. My problems don't start until 4pm ish usually, so Iast night I had a protein shake at 4pm and kept myself busy on the stationary bike, I was then busy running and preparing/eating/washing up dinner until about 9pm then I prepared myself lots of carrot and cucumber sticks with salsa dip and garlicy fat free cottage cheese to dip into and snack on all evening, this really helped stop me hitting the bad stuff!! Although I did take a low cal hot chocolate, a croissant and packet of french fries crisps to bed with me as my bedtime treat, but I had saved plenty of calories for these and still had calories to spare after!

bdamaster60

Save your calories for later in the day. It seems you know your patterns so this answer is simple.

lauren3101

Cutting out all sugar is a tad extreme for me, although I have heard on many occasions that it gets a lot easier with time. But I used to have the exact same problem as you and I am now much better at controlling it.

You need to prepare - you are obviously an 'evening eater', so save some calories for a dessert after dinner. I eat probably 50% of my calories in the evening as I like a big dinner and I like a 'dessert'.

Have a look at 'healthier' types of treats - I love air popped popcorn (you can have a LOT for not many cals) and I've recently become a fan of dark chocolate, as I normally find this is just enough to get rid of the sugar cravings but not enough to set off a binge. Also, low calorie ice lollies is a good one, they take ages to eat, they are sweet, and some are as low as 40 cals each. Sugar free jelly - a 240ml serving of Hartleys is 16 cals, and I find it really filling.

sigsby

Prepare healthy snacks ahead of time. That way when you start grazing it is easier than the unhealthy stuff.

spamantha57

You sound very much like me. Or at least very much how I usually was.

My biggest thing I had to get a grip on was portion control - regardless if it was good food or bad food. I could eat all the time if I wanted to, whether or not I was actually really hungry, & it usually takes a lot before I get really full.

I have a feeling what you really want is more control - control over the food & yourself.

I tried an experiment last year that worked pretty well (I eat later in the day too & that's perfectly fine if we know how to make it work.) My experiment was to spread out my calories throughout the day & I'd have an alarm go off on my phone every couple of hours with the calorie amount I could have then.
Example:
Breakfast 10am: 200 cals
Snack1 12pm: 200 cals
Lunch 2pm: 350 cals
Snack2 4pm: 250 cals
Dinner 7pm: 450 cals
Snack3 10pm: 250cals
Total day: 1,700

Just an example, but I tried it for a couple of weeks & noticed I had SO much more control over when & how much I ate, instead of giving in whenever I thought of eating something. ALSO: You don't HAVE to eat the full calories at that time, just be sure at a certain time, you haven't gone over the amount you planned to eat by that time. It helps for later on at night when you want to have a little extra something, be it a bigger dinner, a dessert, glass of wine, etc.

And of course, if you have cravings for certain foods that are necessarily good, just don't buy them or buy very little. You can't eat them if they're not there!

neandermagnon

The above advice is all good.

However, the first thing you need to do is ensure that you're eating enough in the first place, i.e. enough to sustain your body and activity levels and lose fat slowly. If you haven't done that, there's a thread called "in place of a road map" which explains how to do this, for healthy sustainable fat loss.

The reason why I'm suggesting this, is that bingeing and food cravings are a normal physiological response to eating too little, and many people eat too few calories while on a diet and could actually eat more and still lose weight, and find the diet a whole lot easier to stick to. Then they think that the bingeing is a psychological problem or a lack of willpower, when it's a normal survival response. So IMO you should eliminate that possibility first, because otherwise you're going to be constantly fighting against your body.

That said, if you know for sure you're eating enough, as I said the posts I saw above are good (didn't read all of them). There are multiple reasons for cravings and bingeing, and it doesn't always come from too few calories.

CovaJoser

Sounds like your normal meals are boring you and not keeping you full enough. Incorporate more protein and healthier carbs into your meals and you won't be having these cravings. You can spice up your food with healthier sugars like stevia or raw honey.

Or you could also try having some sweet, but nutritious snacks like peanut butter, banana and honey on whole wheat bread. Apples with pb, oranges, variations of raw nuts, cottage cheese with fresh fruit, oatmeal (my wife makes an amazing oatmeal dessert), yogurt with fruits....etc.

If you can't keep your cravings in check it will eventually show in your health/weight. There are very many healthy ways to feed your sweet tooth and you gotta change your mindset that you don't want to give up unhealthy foods. I mean, why would you want to put processed foods and unneeded sugars into your body? I mean sure, having 1 cookie isn't going to harm much, but it sounds like you want more than just 1 and on a very often basis.

goodnamegone

Have things like pieces of carrots and slices of apple instead, sometimes I eat those rice crackers too that helps me when I want to binge. If you know keeping busy helps then you know it's to do with some trigger in your mind. Maybe keep a diary of the emotions that are coming up before you binge. I know these things helped me. You're doing great with keeping fit and so keep that in mind too.