Binge Eating

I need help with this as well. It seems that loneliness is often subdued by those yummy late night snacks. I always feel awful afterwards. It is never worth it.
I feel your (stomach) pains!

Since you've identified it as emotional eating, food will not satisfy it. Remind yourself of that. Long-term you need to deal with the underlying emotional issues and figure out other ways to handle emotions. Shorter term try
* any habit breaking technique - most of the best ones replace a bad habit with the formation of a good one; for instance, every time you want to binge, do 5 minutes of exercise
* meditation
* yoga
* reading
* any other distraction that uses both hands and preferably one you enjoy
* brush and floss your teeth
* put on some music and dance
* drink at least 4 ounces of something
* write an entry in a gratitude journal
And make sure it's really emotional eating. A binge is never healthy.
But if you really just mean minor grazing that puts you over your daily goal calories, check to see that it's not based on a real physical craving. For instance, I used to have a problem when I was low on protein or magnesium. Eating tons of other stuff wouldn't stop it, but just a small amount of what I needed would. Another common cause of cravings is dehydration. If it's a craving rather than binge eating, see http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Robin_Bin/view/cravings-282817 for more ideas.

BEFORE you put it in your mouth, put it in your food diary! I have always been a late-night binge eater, but since starting on MFP, I enter things before I eat them so I can see what I am really putting into my body. It's like my brain shut off all judgement and let my tastebuds and stomach take control. Out of curiosity, I entered a typical nighttime snack for the 'old me' into my food diary, and I was shocked and disgusted to see that it totaled more than the DAILY calories I am eating now.

It's not always easy to control the urge to pig out at night, but if you can force yourself to look at the calories of what you are putting into your body before it happens, you may lose your appetite!

Friend me if you need any support, I know what it's like

Hi,

I have binge problems too. I was told about Overeaters Anonymous http://www.oa.org/.

Look for a group in your area. I am going to start going to one in my area next week.

An aquintance of mine who is an Psychologist (she deals quite a bit with clients that have eating disorders) suggested this to me.

BUMP = Bring Up My Post - In other words, move it up in the "recent" list. Also used (incorrectly some would say) by many posters on MFP to add a posting thread to the person's "My Topics" list to make it easier for the person to find again later.

For other MFP terms, see http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Robin_Bin/view/mfp-terms-introductory-274185

I just tell myself that I can wait and have it tomorrow and go read a book or take a bath or do some yoga.

Oh man, I hear you. I've lost 33 pounds (ten before starting MFP and have gone from there) and I felt/feel like I'm at a roadblock and it has to do with FOOD. I got my act together with exercise (I've now become in love with having a personal trainer, having a workout schedule, etc.), but food is so delicious! And then there's binging.

I think it has less to do with food intake and more of the emotions, at least this is my case. I bought this book, "The Binge Eating and Compulsive Overeating Workbook" and it's been a real eye-opener. I don't agree with everything in the book, but there are things that have made the light bulb go off for me. For instance, the author discusses habits like hoarding calories or training your body to only be hungry when you want to binge, which, GUILTY. I have never been a breakfast person and saw myself hoarding calories until dinner, which meant eating alone.

In short, binge eating is a big problem that has less to do with willpower and weight loss and more to do with what the causes are. Some things that have helped me curb my binging has been meal planning, scheduling hang outs with friends, going for a run, etc. But in the end, I know I still have a long way to go.

Good luck and know you're not alone! It's a lot of soul searching that goes into stopping binge eating.

For me binging isn't about how much I'm eating throughout the day...it's about trying to escape my emotions (even boredom). I could eat three meals, and still binge on something in the evening. Even if the calories don't pile up past 1,000, I still feel out of control. So, I'm working on counting calories and exploring why I'm uncomfortable and turn to food when I'm happy/upset/bored.

I used to binge eat. I would eat till I got sick. I follow the Atkins "diet"/way of life now. And I love how I'm in control of my eating. It really helped me be in the drivers seat of my food issues. So if you want buy the book. It talks about emotional eating.