Problems with Overeating

Sounds like you're a binge eater too. I struggle with this also and so do a lot of other people here. Feel free to add me and you also may want to check out this group. They have a monthly challange me vs binge where you try to have as many binge free days as possible in a month.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/726-binge-eating-support-group

add me too! I now log everything , even when I overeat- I also have binge tendencies, I know what you go through. good luck!
stay on the site and add more friends it's helped me so much!

I completely know where you are coming from. I am starting the same thing tomorrow because I just recently started this. As for active friends, I don't really have any friends with weight issues and have been struggling to get below 240. So yeah I also don't have much of a support group.

I over eat all the time when I am not on a motivated diet. Feel free to add me, I just dropped below 300 on today's scales.

Congrats!

I've been known to put away entire pizzas (sometimes with breadsticks...and ranch, of course), restaurant meals plus appetizers and dessert, multiple fast food meal combos, full-sized bags of chips, whole boxes of crackers and/or cookies, entire boxes of cereal, half-gallons of ice cream, entire trays of coffee cake, liters and liters and liters of calorie-laden beverages......well, you get the picture. I could (and regularly have in the past) put away 4000-5000+ calories in a day EASY.

You are not alone :flowerforyou: You may add me if you'd like.

I"m in. Let do it! We all got this. Add me too.

I have all the same problems. I have 12 friends on here and only 2 have logged in recently. I need support from people that are going through the same thing and all of you look like you are .. Add me too plz!

Haven't read all the posts so if this was mentioned already I apologize.

I believe, and I'm not an expert, just someone whose done a lot of reading and research, that binge eating CAN be caused by a number of factors among which is lack of nutrition in the foods we eat.

The body KNOWS you need micro nutrients as well as macro's and if you aren't putting them into it then it will strive to get them so I always recommend that you start by looking at what you are eating rather then how much. I also suggest watching movies like 'Fat, sick and nearly dead' and 'Hungry For Change'.

First, pizza and chips isn't food, it's entertainment (in my book) and eating them often or in large quantities isn't a good idea (we all know this). How to stop doing that, I think, is the key that we all seek so here is what I've done:

First accept that we do not know what to eat nor how much of it and that while we assume that since it's in the 'food' store and approved by big brother (Uncle Sam says it's ok right? -- FDA? USDA?) we are most likely WRONG.

Second, look SERIOUSLY at what we need daily -- women need about 25 grams of fiber. An 8 inch Pappa Johns Pepperoni Pizza has ONE GRAM of Dietary Fiber....so even eating FOUR of those won't get you even close. Chips? Nadda really.

So we KNOW we need fiber right? Not just for the obvious reasons but for various reasons right? From Mayo Clinic:

foods containing fiber can provide other health benefits as well, such as helping to maintain a healthy weight and lowering your risk of diabetes and heart disease.

To get the required daily fiber someone has to eat A LOT of carbs! Ooooh those evil carbs right? NO! Yes it's a good idea to stay away from Ice Cream and Soda but that doesn't mean don't eat carbs! Sheesh! Carbs are more then just sugar but are things like Cereal Grains (Rice, Wheat, Oats, Farro, Quinoa etc) as well as fruits and veggies. For breakfast try eating oatmeal (train yourself to eat it if it's not what you normally eat).

One bowl of oatmeal (3/4 cup measured) contains 6 grams of Fiber -- that's as much as SIX 8" Pepperoni Pizzas!!! -- and since that's only 230 calories you can add a scoop of Chia Seeds to get an additional 4 grams of fiber for another 85 cals and finally top that off with some Agave Necter to sweeten up up (3/4th TBS) for 45 calories and you have a low cal breakfast that gives you almost half your daily fiber (for women) and will tied you over for a few hours (unless very active).

To continue on this theme you could eat whole grains for lunch with olive oil to get the much needed EFA's (which help keep the body from adding more fat some research suggests) and a low sodium spice to keep it interesting. 1 to 1 1/2 cups of whole grain rice (long grain brown, short grain brown, black), Quinoa, wild rice, lentils etc can continue to keep you satisfied and help prevent binging....

Finally, for dinner, eat a HUGE green leafy salad with lots of things like carrots, celery, broccoli etc tossed in. Use a low cal dressing (and measure it) and stuff yourself silly with salad. Then when you start gnawing on that pizza you won't have room to eat it all!

Be sure to drink lots of water too and keep yourself full with water and whole grains, salad and such so when the urge to entertain yourself with food arrives you have less room to stuff it.

And last but not least, if you eat more then you should GO WALK IT OFF. Calculate how much extra you ate and how many miles you'll have to walk to wear it off and get those shoes on and start walking.

make that a habit, change you life, live better and learn about food and perhaps the life reasons you eat this way and you CAN turn it around and eat better, lose the weight and love life

Hi :flowerforyou:

Like the other posters I struggle with overeating/binge eating and just random mindless eating. You can add me to your friends if you'd like.

Also, if you like to read two books that really opened my eyes to why I eat what I do.
Mindless Eating - By Brian Wansink
End of Overeating Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite - David Kessler

Good luck!