How did YOU break binge monster ?

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graelwyn
graelwyn Posts: 1,340 Member
in Food and Nutrition
It can be such a vicious cycle to get stuck into, especially given it is often emotionally based, so I am wondering what tactics and methods others have used to put a stop to their binges, and also how they tackled the fact the cravings can often be even worse the day after a binge ?
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  • aalpass
    aalpass Posts: 124 Member
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    I definitely know what you mean! I'm getting better at it but definitely no saint. So far the things that I find work are.. don't get on the carb train to begin with. As soon as you have sugars , you crave them. It's like kicking the chocolate habit, the first 3 days are the hardest, then its out of your system and its easier to say no.
    I try and prevent the binge, eating at first sign of hunger a low GI food that will keep the blood sugar even, and I haven't done that I try and recognise the binge for what it is. Start with peanut butter on wholegrain toast. Its yummy but also satiating. If its emotionally driven you need to recognise that too. Sometimes its as simple as saying aloud to myself, I'm sad, I want that bag of marshmallows simply because i'm sad. I can go for a walk or I can sit here and eat this and feel more crap. Sometimes I give myself permission to do so and I'm entirely accountable then for it, but at least I've done it mindfully, which I think is half way to kicking the binge!
    Hope this helps, even if it's advice from a fellow binger! :)
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
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    I thought I was an emotional/binge eater but it turns out changing my macros and reducing my sugar intake solved the problem. Just reducing my carbs wasn't enough until I cut way back on the fruit and weirdly enough the string cheese. Once my total sugar was under, I don't know, say 40g a day the uncontrollable eating went with it -- just cutting out grains wasn't enough.

    Before the only way I could deal with it was just to try and limit the damage. I eliminated all the sugary snacks and the like from the house and I'd eat massive bowls full of vegetables, fruit, cheese & nuts in between meals and just tried to keep the calorie damage to a minimum -- like eat an entire watermelon kinda binge. I also gave myself "permission" to eat up to my maintenance calories whenever I wanted to without guilt. Another strategy was simply to try and hold off eating as long as possible because once I started the daily struggle with overeating began.

    From my own personal experience I think what I was eating was effecting something in my brain that caused the binging. Possibly made worse by emotional stress but ultimately I believe my eating was a physical problem induced by my diet and not an emotional, learned behavior that needed to be corrected.

    My heart goes out to you and I wish you the best. :flowerforyou:
  • mandyann53
    mandyann53 Posts: 4
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    I cut the junk for a week, always saying "I can have it tomorrow." And then after a week, I was fine. Haven't looked back. I can eat half a cookie now. If you had suggested eating half a cookie to me a month ago I would have said you were crazy, but somehow I got here.
    Some things you need to take the time to consider the grossness off. Chips were a major trigger food for me, and just today I had to move away from my boyfriend while he ate doritos because the smell was grossing me out.

    So basically
    "I can have it tomorrow."
    Until one day I realized I didn't want it anymore.
  • monicalosesweight
    monicalosesweight Posts: 1,173 Member
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    I opened my diary to the world to help me feel a bit guilty. I gave up wheat because of a wheat allergy and went gluten free. You'd be surprised how much I was craving it. After that, I made my favorite foods but measured out in small portions and the right calories. To be honest, having five small mini-meals throughout the day has helped with the hunger cravings. Also, I try to keep the calories between 300-500 calories until I reach my final meal of the day. It really helped spreading it out and made me less hungry.

    The key idea here is you have to choose to take the right path. If you want to get healthy, you have to be ready for it. I decided it was time for me to do something. I still eat some of the things I love but in tiny portions so I don't feel like the world will end.

    Whatever you do, don't go under the calorie count that the system gives you! That will make you want to break your diet! Seriously. You'll stress yourself out and your body will be convinced your starving and will store weight - not loose it.
  • graelwyn
    graelwyn Posts: 1,340 Member
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    I am currently even considering just restricting myself to my home so I am nowhere near shops and thus cannot buy any of this stuff for a few days, even though I would be missing the sun. It is ironic to find oneself in this situation when I used to be brilliant at restricting and wouldn't have touched the junk with a ten foot pole. It is like, everything sugary and sweet I see, I want, and life just doesn't work that way. I really need to refind my self control as this food serves no useful function other than to sate a temporary craving and a loneliness.

    I have tried sticking to one cheat meal a week, I have tried allowing one treat a day, nothing seems to stop the binges other than allowing myself to eat a bit of what I want, when I want it, but then that isn't healthy either, as there should be a once a day maximum limit to having the less clean and wholesome foods ideally. I cannot fathom why I have hit this habit where I feel impelled to go and buy endless different items, so I have a bit of each texture and taste and have it all at once, like it is all going somewhere or like I will never have it again.

    This all or nothing mentality is a killer and is pushing me to dearly wishing I was anorexic again and had that amazing self control I had back then. I don't see why I would experience this knock on effect, over a decade + after the initial illness.
    There is only so much a psychologist can suggest, and she lacks the personal experience to be able to offer any true and tested tactics, and is dealing with various issues, as opposed to my eating issues, Hence I find myself asking for input here as I KNOW a lot here have had issues with binge eating, and have somehow found a way to stop buying the junk and to stop feeling the urge to inhale entire bags of cookies.

    This is not so I can lose weight, but because for one, this pattern of eating is incredibly destructive and unhealthy mentally and physically, and because for now, I wish to maintain at 126Ibs and I will not be able to do that if I carry on binge eating every week, no matter how much I exercise and eat well the other days.
  • jaycgibbs
    jaycgibbs Posts: 6
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    What I would do is boil water for some tea whenever I felt the urge, then I make the tea sweet with calorie free sweetener By the time is brewed and consumed, the binge urge has either gone away or has been satiated. I would do i with green tea, because thats helps your system.
  • DaysFlyBy
    DaysFlyBy Posts: 243 Member
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    I suppose it's controversial but the only thing that worked for me was intermittent fasting....basically I just give myself an 8 hour window in which to eat. When I was just eating small meals all day I would get so overwhelmingly hungry I'd eventually snap and binge, plus I was angry all the time from being so constantly hungry. IF has been the most freeing thing I've done since starting MFP, but it's not for everyone. I hope you find something that works for you. Binges do as much damage psychologically as physically, such a hard issue. (hugs)
  • cbeutler
    cbeutler Posts: 667 Member
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    I started by identifying foods that set me up for a bing. For me candy and soda. Then made a no snacking rule. I eat only 4 times a day. If I'm starving tough the next meal is the next time I eat.

    The first three weeks were tough, pretty smooth sailing since then.

    Oh a friend told me, "being hungry isn't the worst feeling in the world." strange but it really helps me. Good luck.
  • Jesycah
    Jesycah Posts: 5
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    I generally just drink a lot more fluids when I want to binge. I'll eat like 70 calories in saltines and then drink tea or water.....Find a drink that will fill you.
  • crystalslight
    crystalslight Posts: 322 Member
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    bumping. I also need ideas to help with the "binge monster".
  • sawadoll
    sawadoll Posts: 39 Member
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    I am liking these ideas. I eat when I am bored lately. I used to be very strict about what I ate and since I am nearing my goal weight, I feel I can relax but I am falling back into bad habits. I have set my calorie allowance to 1200 for the next week to make up for my 2 days of 2500cal days (my normal cal intake is 1600) binges today.

    I am going to take some of the ideas so far and THROW OUT all my beloved cookies. I am such a cookie monster!
  • Kara_xxx
    Kara_xxx Posts: 635 Member
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    I definitely know what you mean! I'm getting better at it but definitely no saint. So far the things that I find work are.. don't get on the carb train to begin with. As soon as you have sugars , you crave them.

    That.

    When have you last heard of someone having a protein binge. :laugh:
  • couponfun
    couponfun Posts: 714 Member
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    I'm a big-time emotional eater/binger, and to top it off, I'm a drinker especially when stressed. I like the idea of the tea, though. I can't stand artificial sweetener in mine but unlike my coffee, about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of sugar is perfect for me, which is still WAAAAAAAY better than the massive bowl of chocolate ice cream plus tons of toppings or a 24 ounce cup of Bacardi Limon & Sprite I would normally turn to. When I drink tea I don't seem to want to eat anything because of the after taste so maybe that's something I should incorporate into my daily routine.

    I need to get rid of the PEPSI monster in this house :grumble: I try to resist but it's always around...awesome ideas as usual folks
  • mogletdeluxe
    mogletdeluxe Posts: 623 Member
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    Bump SO MUCH.
  • ReinventingLisa
    ReinventingLisa Posts: 104 Member
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    I noticed immediate difference when I did the following:

    -cut carbs/sugar
    -cut wheat out of diet
    -up healthy fats

    The reduction in carbs/sugar was the first thing I did, and it only takes 2-3 days to not feel hungry. I eat more of my own version of low carb but pretty close to Atkins, and feels great. Every now and then I will have an off plan day and I notice the difference in how I feel when I have more carbs/sugar.

    I also took wheat out of my diet. I've been reading how wheat today is not the same as our grandparents and may be bad for human health. Strangest thing is that I've never been more regular in my life. Also, this seems to b the thing that REALLY did the trick. I haven't had a binge in months. I recommend looking at the Wheat Belly website since I know they had a testimonial recently on the blog of a woman who had a horrible eating/binge disorder and finally was able to control it after removing wheat.
  • imogen11
    imogen11 Posts: 15
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    I too am having issues with binging and am really perplexed by my own behaviour as I have never had an issue with binge eating before. Over the past year, I have lost around 13 kilos (29 pounds) but that weight loss has been at a stand still for quite some time. For the first 6-8 months, I never binged and I never had any difficulty in sticking to my plan. It was actually easy.
    I've never been one to eat for emotional reasons, but I think it may be a combination of stress and also due to placing myself under such prolonged calorie restriction. I can now FEEL when a binge is coming on (perhaps that's a positive). It's definitely stress related. I've just been through an upheaval with work and have just started a new job and am very overwhelmed by it, so I think that may be a contributing factor. Like you, I can't have a tiny taste of something without it leading to a prolonged binge. It's like it 'sets me off'. So, usually my only option is to continue to place myself under prolonged calorie restriction.
    Lately, I tend to binge at night on stupid things like greek yoghurt and peanut butter (I no longer keep peanut butter in the house). I am now trying to allow room within my daily calorie goal for some fruit and yoghurt each night and am hoping this evening snack will stop that unplanned night-time binging. My other idea is to allow some room in my weekly calorie goal for a treat (and learn to stop at that and not have it 'set me off), but I'm on a very low weekly calorie goal of 1200 so it's quite difficult to create sufficient surplus, even with a lot of exercise.

    It's weird and I really want it to stop. Not understanding my own behaviour is a very strange feeling. This binge eating has really come out of left field.
  • luluzombie
    luluzombie Posts: 22
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    I think being truly honest in your food diary is one part of the equation, I second the public diary/self-shaming route. Guilt is a powerful emotion and associating guilt with binging means I know I will feel worse after a big binge than when I feel rubbish and want to binge.
    LuLu x
  • sarahc001
    sarahc001 Posts: 477 Member
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    I second the IF solution, but I'm usually just not hungry in the morning, so eating between 1 and 9pm really works well for me. It allows me to actually eat a large meal and stay within my goals. I even went several weeks this summer where I was quite busy and traveling- not logging, and not eating the best nutritionally speaking, but still keeping to the IF time schedule- with no ill effects.

    Previously I ate small meals (even in the morning, when I wasn't hungry) and found I was hungrier as a result. First, eating breakfast actually made me hungry again within a few hours (and I was eating egg whites and a low-carb tortilla, so it wasn't the carbs!) Then I would eat again because I was supposed to keep to several small meals a day. Because that's what everyone says, right? I made it work, but it was just really hard. Intermittent Fasting isn't for everyone, but for me it is great!
  • nonstopjamhen
    nonstopjamhen Posts: 20
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    I think you have to give some thought to what is making you want to binge in the first place.

    I was a terrible binge-eater for years, and I’d always feel horrendous afterwards, sometimes to the point of wanting to throw up. I tried everything – once I even fasted for 10 days in an attempt to reset myself, but none of it worked long term.

    However, as soon as I left university and took myself out of the situation that was making me unhappy, the need to binge went away. I never binge now, it’s almost strange to look back and remember the hold it had on my life.

    Anyway, food for thought. Hope this is helpful in some way.
  • Illona88
    Illona88 Posts: 903 Member
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    I just went cold turkey by skipping the snack isles in the supermarket and thus not buying any snacks.
    If it's not in the house, I can't eat it.

    Also eating something small every couple of hours (snacking) can help with not getting so hungry that you start craving something unhealthy.

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