Ideas?

It's best if you can find out what your trigger foods are and avoid them at all costs. For me, it's breads. If I allow myself one roll, I'll end up eat 3, 4 or more! If I eat a turkey burger on a roll, I crave more bread, so I end up eating it without a roll. So, I have pretty much nixed bread from my diet altogether.

Try to fill up on denser foods like proteins and complex carbs. Review those times when you have binged- what triggered them? Were you really hungry or mostly bored or eating out of habit? Make small changes you can live with, remembering that it takes about 3 weeks to break/create a new habit.

Good Luck!

Okay, a couple more idea.

1.) I sip water all day at work. That keeps me from snacking. A good, old fashioned tea break in the afternoon also helps me too, on days when I feel my energy waning.

2.) Might sound a little hokey, but I've used meditation at my desk during particularly stressful moments. Here's one from a yoga dvd series I like. It appears on 'Fat Free Yoga: Lose Weight and Feel Great' from RaviAna (http://www.raviana.com/):

Breath Meditation with Hands Like a Teapot, 3.5 minutes
For this breath exercise, you will wrap your right hand around your left fist, placing your thumbs next to each other. You then slowly breathe in through your nose and breathe out through puckered lips, concentrating the breath out on the small space that is formed between your thumbs. This meditation is supposed to be calming and to help with anxiety.

Meditation: If you don't want to do the face and hand positions for the meditation suggested above, at least close your eyes and take some deep calming breaths. Shake it out, maybe even do some stretches - they're good for you.

Move: Get up and walk around a bit, or better yet, go up and down stairs a few times - if that doesn't burn off the nervous energy, I don't know what will! Plus it gets you away from your desk. Sitting too long is not good for us and we need to get up and move around as often as we can. If you think your manager will have a problem with you leaving your desk several times a day, give them a heads up that you'll be spreading your breaks out throughout the day if that's cool with them. Instead of two 15 minutes breaks, take six 5 minute breaks. Spread your printing out throughout the day and get up as soon as you hit print instead of going to get all of it once a day. If you have things you file, get up and file them as soon as you're done, don't let that filing pile up anymore.

Can you listen to music? There are a few days every month where I have to really focus on the task at hand to meet deadlines and I usually put on headphones in order to tune everything out. My personal favorite is alt metal (A Perfect Circle, Disturbed, etc) - something about it soothes me.

Hi timewiz.... I second the ideas about walking, breathing, and short meditation. Even if you think meditation isn't for you, it might calm your body down.

When I'm stressed at work, sometimes I watch these favorite videos on youtube. Skip the annoying ads in the beginning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T4vc1QqiPM (driving on a road by the sea in Norway)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjciQMz_irU (ocean waves)

I keep a photo of some spiral galaxies on my desk, plus a rock someone gave me. Nature soothes me, obviously. You might put something on your desk that connects you to calm feelings. Or you might buy a piece of jewelry or have something made that has special meaning to you... with a saying on it, or an object that reminds you of better things.

Also, I bought a 32 oz sport bottle and keep it full of water with lemon slices. I drink that all day and find it's a big help.

You might try aversion therapy. Find a photo of your favorite binge food (pizza, for example) and tape it side by side with a photo of a flat, blubbery stomach and rear end, because that's what will happen if you binge. If you look at the two photos when you feel the urge to binge on that food, eventually your psyche will connect the fat body with that food.

I sit at a desk so I get up and walk around the building. The fresh air does me good and I just walk away from the stress. Try and get someone to walk with you. Talk about something fun, movies, music or talk about why you're walking, vent your stress. Hope this helps.

When I am stressed I run!

I don't work in an office, so I don't really have the same experience as you. But my rule at home is that no food is allowed near the computer. It makes it difficult to just nosh on meaningless munchies, I actually have to get up and prepare a plate and eat it at the table. It sort of deters some of the inclination to snack. Also, I'm not a stress eater...I'm a boredom eater. A lot of times I find myself walking into the kitchen and standing at the fridge, not even knowing how I got there!! But, taking myself out of that physical environment, out of that room where I felt the urge, will sometime interrupt that thought process. Even just going into another room and futzing around with some paperwork or straightening pictures or looking out the window or just anything. Put something in between your thought of opening the fridge and actually getting to the fridge, place an obstacle there to break the idea apart. It works quite well for me. Um, when I remember to do it, lol.