Breaking the binge habit (help!)

i struggle, mainly that certain time of the month, with the exact same thing....you sound like your are describing me at times...I have found that since i have upped my water intake....i usually drink 15 eight oz glasses of water a day, this has helped with those cravings and helps me feel that lovely full feeling that i need...hope this helps...plus try to visualize how bad you feel after you eat all that.

Me too, its almost like I just eat because I like something to do as well. I started chewing gum as a result, but I don't think chewing as much gum as I do is healthy...

You are eating too little during the day and that's why you binge at night.

I had the same problem. Eat junk till I literally pass out from discomfort and probably the blood sugar rush from all the processed carbs.

Its more to do with ur mind I realized, after reading the book "Women, Food and God" by Geneen Roth. (the book is not religious) This book tremendously helped with my binges at night and I hope it will help u too.

craving is horrible isnt it.

have you tried something like putting the, for example, Special K box, on the table in front of you and seeing what thoughts come up, without actually eating any. As someone else said earlier, craving tends to come from something other than hunger (assuming your body doesn't actually need the calories). A counsellor I was seeing suggested that instead of walking past the biscuit aisle (my particular weakness) with my eyes averted, I should go and stand in there and see what happened. It felt weird, but I did feel more in control afterwards. She said it is something to do with the energy used trying so hard NOT to do something, if you can get your thoughts along the right lines, it is much easier to make a decision that you are not going to eat x, y or z rather than continual, exhausting, resistance

or I have found Paul McKenna's anti-craving thing works. It involves doing certain physical things, like tapping your collarbone, and verbal things, like humming Happy Birthday. It sounds mad, and I felt an idiot when I tried it, but it really did reduce the craving. It is also something to do with re-setting your thought patterns, like stamding in the biscuit aisle

good luck, if you are hitting your cal targets, you are doing very well with it already

No, you're not a Binge eater. It's normal that your body wants to eat until you hit your calorie count for the day. If you have a large deficit, it's most likely the cause with the combination of nibbling on 200-300 calorie foods a day. Your body naturally wants to eat until it's full when you first start eating in the morning because your stomach doesn't have a built in calculator. Your stomach literally does not know how to divide your calories throughout the day. Tricks that a lot of fitness pros use is drinking 2 full glasses of water before each meal to trick your stomach into thinking that it's full, but I hate using that trick because you just pee it out 2 hours later and become hungry again. If you like spending all day in the bathroom, by all means drink drink and DRINK! There is something else you can do that is more natural. Skip breakfast, lunch, and only eat dinner. That way you won't be hungry every 3 hours. Count your calories just for dinner and you should be fine.

I'm not talking about eating until I'm full. I'm talking about 1,000-4,000 calorie binges until I feel like I want to throw up. And then eat more. I think that probably counts as binging. Lol. Especially when done multiple times a week. Unfortunately, I cannot skip breakfast and lunch... I become light headed and dizzy after a few hours (and have no energy for my training sessions), but I think the water thing might do the trick. I don't mind being hungry after 2-3 hours, I'll need to eat again by then anyway. I'm trying to break the binging habit to help stabilize my metabolism, so I think the one meal a day thing would be counter productive for me. I appreciate your suggestion though, thank you.

i stand by what I said. You are not eating enough during the day so you binge at night as you said to the tune of 1000-4000 calories. 1200 is NOT enough especially since you appear not to eat back any exercise calories. This has nothing to do with improving your self-control! I stopped bingeing when I learned to feed myself properly and I lost the weight and I'm not feeling like *kitten* anymore from bingeing.
Eat lots of veggies, especially filling ones like broccoli and cauliflower. Eat good proteins like chicken, fish, eggs, beans, nut butters and some beef. Eat some fruit. Eat some olive oil on those veggies! You started this thread to get some advise. What you are doing is obviously not working for you and yet you will continue doing what isn't working. Makes no sense to me.

Large amounts of starchy things, like white rice or pasta or bread make me crave sweets like nobody's business. For the most part I've cut them out of my diet and am much happier for it (and have lost 3.5 lbs in a couple weeks), but the other day at work we had a lunch meeting with pizza. I ate two pieces, a whopping 800 caloires, btw, and was starving quickly after. I also immediately craved the M&Ms my coworker keeps at her desk. I don't have that problem when I skip the bread.

Just something to consider...

Drinking a lot of water helps, though right before bed might not be a good idea. Maybe a cup or two of decaffeinated green tea. Chewing gum also helps. Try to find something else to do at night when you get these cravings. Maybe go for a walk, jump on the treadmill or elliptical, whatever you have. Maybe an online yoga video? Something else to occupy your time. Also, remind yourself of what your goals are. If you are truly hungry or your body is craving something that it needs, that's fine. But if you aren't hungry and are just eating for the sake of, try to remind yourself of your goals. Maybe post them on the fridge or cupboard, so that when you are about to binge eat, you stop and evaluate if you are really hungry or not. As you said, it does take time, but you will get there. Best of luck.