Battling the urge to binge right now...

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jonzo21
jonzo21 Posts: 446 Member
in Motivation and Support
I'm really trying to control my binge eating. Sometimes it just happens and I'm not aware of it until after the fact and feel disgusted. But I'm completely aware of it right now, in this moment as I am trying to fight it.

I just have the urge to eat so badly right now that I can't even tell if its the fact that I'm actually hungry or my mind is playing tricks on me. I drank 2 full glasses of water so far. Did a total of 15 mins of physical activity to try and take my mind off it. And am now resorting to writing about my struggle on this forum as if that would somehow help.

I've locked my door. Stripped off my clothes (that way it would be more difficult to just go out into the kitchen to find something to eat. I'd have to take time to get dressed, which would give me time to consider what I'm doing).

I definitely ate enough today. I had about 1900 calories, and am still at a 500 calorie deficit according to my bodymedia armband, so its not like I'm physically starving. Also, I really don't have any "healthy" snacks I could eat in place of anything at the moment, unless I just have some lunch meat. But if I start eating anything, even with healthy intentions, I'm worried I won't be able to stop.

Thanks for listening.

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  • Ian_Stuart
    Ian_Stuart Posts: 252 Member
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    I can't see your diary, but I'm going to speculate that you have had too many carbs today. Or too many recently. Hardly anyone binges on chicken breast.
    Carbs beget carbs. Eating a sugary dessert or high carb food spikes your blood insulin level while the sugar is processed, but then you run out of sugar to process and still have high blood insulin levels. This insulin finds nothing for it to bond with, which causes your body to think that you are low on sugar (because in our ancestral environment there weren't such things as cupcakes), which makes you crave sugar so you go in search of something sweet. Basically it is millions of years of evolution insisting that you must be starving because your insulin levels are higher than the available sugars suggest and thereby messing up your diet plans.
    It used to be that fat and sugar were rare and our ancestors had to work hard to get them, which burned more calories. Our bodies learned to crave them so that we would be willing to expend the effort to climb that tree and get the sweet fruit, or hunt down the heavier (larger) fat carrying animals. Things like cupcakes and Snickers bars are super-stimuli. They push all of our ancestral craving buttons, but offer none of the nutrition that fat and sugar used to represent (healthy meat and nutritious fruits). One cupcake can be upwards of 500 calories. Do you have any idea how much meat that is? How many apples or oranges?
    I tell you all of this because knowing it has helped me to say no to those things. It doesn't fix the cravings, but it gives me a mental anchor to hold on to when those cravings try to pull me into the local bakery.

    My suggestion would be to change your macro goals to be higher in protein (at least 1g per lb of bodyweight (2g per kg) and then make your fat and carbs at least a 50/50 split for the remainder of your calories.
  • jonzo21
    jonzo21 Posts: 446 Member
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    Thanks for your response. I opened my diary up. I am only over carbs by -30 (which is actually pretty good for me lately im sure, although today is the first real day I've been logging food again)

    I bet it was all the sugar in the teriyaki bowl I had for lunch. Sigh
  • MdwstQT
    MdwstQT Posts: 230 Member
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  • Ian_Stuart
    Ian_Stuart Posts: 252 Member
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    Thanks for your response. I opened my diary up. I am only over carbs by -30 (which is actually pretty good for me lately im sure, although today is the first real day I've been logging food again)

    I bet it was all the sugar in the teriyaki bowl I had for lunch. Sigh

    It almost assuredly was the teriyaki bowl. Both the rice and the sugar.
    I disagree strongly with the carb allowance that MFP sets as standard. I'm probably 1.5 times your weight and I aim for less than 3/4 of the carbs that you have as a goal. Insulin is not only a primary hormone in making you feel hungry, but it is THE primary hormone for telling your body to store fat. Were I you I would set custom goals here. Leave your calories the same. Set your protein to 40% or about 140g and set both your carbs and fat to 30% each. These aren't hard and fast rules, but guidelines that will help with cravings.

    Feel free to add me if you have any more questions.
  • jonzo21
    jonzo21 Posts: 446 Member
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    I changed my goals, I will try that out. I'm concerned about meeting that carb goal. I'm a student who doesn't have a lot of time to spend cooking meals, sometimes I settle with something quick to bring like a sandwich. I don't like bringing salads to school because by the time I have the chance to eat it, the dressing gets warm and I hate that. I know nuts are supposed to be good protein and "filling", unfortunately I'm also allergic to tree nuts. I can do peanuts/peanut butter, but anything else is a big no no, and to be honest I don't like peanuts unless its peanut butter, but that opens up cravings for me. Any tips?
  • Ian_Stuart
    Ian_Stuart Posts: 252 Member
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    Yes! Get peanut butter that is just nuts and salt. It really is good without sugar added. Beef jerky is a great snack to keep you full. I also have the problem of not having a ton of time through the week, so I usually take a big bag of chicken breast, season it according to my current fancy and cook it all on the weekend. That way I have some easy stuff to grab and take with me.
    Unfortunately, the typical american diet is very carb-centric because the stupid food pyramid is still based off of 50 year old dietary science that wasn't even really science when it was new. So carbs are cheap and plentiful and healthy fats are hard to come by. I usually have to add protein powder to something throughout the day in order to get close to my requirements unless I want to eat just chicken breast all the time, which would slowly suck my will to live.

    I also make pulled pork in the oven and, if you make it properly, doesn't have to be terribly fatty. a $15 pork shoulder usually yields 6 or 7 lbs of cooked meat, which lasts me the week.

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