FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE A FOOD ADDICTION

You need to forgive yourself, firstly. One lapse does not a failure make.

Secondly, you might want to consider eating no starches for a while. They actually make you hungry. I'm especially talking about rice, potatoes, bread and pasta. I had to do it and it was hard. It's not hard now.

Thirdly, don't eat it if you don't write it down first.

Fourthly, drink your water. All of it. Sometimes your body doesn't know it's thirsty and you think that it really wants you to eat something. Also, the water fills you up.

Fifthly, you're weighing everything before you eat it, right?

Sixthly, you're having small meals, regularly spaced, right? Your body needs to know you're not starving. That helps a lot.

You can do this, but it takes some organization, definitely.

bump

Bump!! I have this problem too - especially with chips lately. I guess the key would be to NOT buy them, but then it would probably be something else in the house.

Yeah it happens to the best of us....and that's why I started on MFP....the best thing I can tell you is: I have looked at how much you have lost...52! That's great, look at how much you have accomplished and I like to quote a famous teacher that recently died: "You don't count how many times you fall. You count how many times you get up" (Jaime Escalante) So it will happen, but at the same time, you will learn. Keep up the good work. You can do it!

as i was reading this i was eating a piece of leftover chicken from dinner...thats me tonight. i did good today, but i "think" im hungry. i just ate that, and im wondering what else can i have right now...and im not happy about it. i dont think its a failure, just a tripup. i think we should just man up to what we did, and try to stop it or curb it next time. good luck to you, and to me...we will be fine!

I have a problem with binge eating too. It's triggered by salty or carbohydrate-heavy foods generally (for me).
The only way I've been able to combat it as such is:
1. Not having binge triggers in the house. (No instant noodles, no chips, just healthy stuff.)
2. If I feel I'm going to binge, I force myself to have carrots. Just carrots. That way I'm still technically bingeing but it's not as bad as if I have 2,000 calories of chips and instant noodles.

I understand whole heartedly how you feel. I struggle with the binge eating too. Important for us bingers to realize is that we CAN change this behavior. Sure we're going to have ups and downs, but the key is to have more ups Focus on the fact that you have already lost over 50LBS!! That's amazing!! Focus on the success, tomorrow is a new day!

I am SOOOOOO with you and spent the better part of my life bingeing! thank God introduced me to someone who was just like me and had "it" in control! I gave up sugar, carbs and alcohol for 47 days and totally cleanse my system and all the cravings went away and i was able to get into control. I started using MFP and exercising slowly crept in. After a while I introduced some alcohol and a very small amount of sugar and carbs sneak in from time to time because that is just the realism of life.

I have always used potatoes, brown rice and brown rice pasta, whole grain not whole wheat flour products and have had a lot of success! I also had to do a lot of soul searching to get to the core of why I kept myself in this fat suit my whole life. It's not fun but the results and confidence I feel is AMAZING! I love the fact I like looking in the mirror at the person I am becoming and always wanted to be.....good luck!!!

I have been there, as have many others. You are not alone, that's for sure. I think the fact that you realize it and can own up to it, puts you back in control. Take one day at a time. Forgive yourself and move on. You might think about freezing leftovers in individual portions so they are not easily accessible for binging, yet you're not wasting the food. I HATE wasting food. I was always raised to clean my plate and I do, along with my children's too! That is one goal I have, to stop cleaning their plates so I can keep track of my calories better.

We are here for you! You can do it!

I think that kind of thing can happen to anyone. I guess it depends on how often it happens to see just how serious it will be for you. 3,500 over your daily maintenance would be add a pound of weight which would really affect the week for me.

I know that I can't get through the evening without eating big meals so I try to leave my bigger meals to the end of the day. I have my lunch quite late in my day and have my dinner a few hours after that. Both those meals would be satisfying foods like chicken and potatoes (poss with veggies). If I do this then I don't usually have mad cravings!

Maybe you can be creative about it. You need to have a deficit to lose weight, another important factor is how compliant you are to keeping the deficit, but how you pace your meals is totally up to you. I have even heard of some people who eat just eat basic protein meals through the day and leave all their calories for one huge meal (this is apparently supposed to be around your workout times). I am not suggesting that for you, just illustrating creative solutions which work for some people.

The other thing to remember that you don't need to eat in deficit your whole life! This isn't permanent! It is just until you have removed the excess weight. Then you increase you calories to maintenance levels!

Anway, good luck with your journey and be gentle with yourself. There is no upside to beating yourself up over these things. Your mental talk is important! I no longer use hard or really vibrant language around negative things (I consider this beating myself up). Instead I try to use vibrant exciting language around the things I do well and if it is "bad" then my stock phrase is "that wasn't ideal". Seems so boring eh? Yes, that is why it works so awesomely! If I totally crash and burn on something and stop and say "yeah, that wasn't ideal" it puts a cap on it, but doesn't leave me with any hard feelings - it is actually kind of funny to me. Then because it isn't painful to me I can look at it (whatever it is) and try to figure out how to do it better.

Well, I rambled for quite awhile, but I have hope that these things which work so very well for me, may be of some use for you.

this is me to a capital T. Always in the evening after a good day

i think i have been dealing with this my whole life. I have really good days where I feel ok and acceptance runs deep inside me. Then. Out of nowhere, I will eat a whole box of cookies. I love carbs abd cheese, its definalty my downfall. I have tons of support and I know dieting tools from here to china. I just cant seem to keep my mind and body onthe same schedule.

I saw an interesting show on hunger and the brain on ABCnews the other night. They explained that in normal people, when they crave something, they take a bite and their amigdala stops the cravings. In people with food addiction, they take a bite and the cravings increase until they're full.
I just thought that was pretty interesting.

http://www.fit-after-fifty.com/blogit/blog6.php?title=food-addiction-certain-foods-arouse-your-brain&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

"In Kessler's new book, "The End of Overeating," he describes how the part of the brain the amygdale, which is the area of the brain that controls our desires, can affect overeating.
For most of people, when they see a tempting snack like a potato chip, it's the area of the brain will light up with activity and send feelings of anticipation and want. And once they start eating it shuts off. But for an overeater the amygdala remains activated while eating, creating that feeling of want, even after five, 10 or even 50 chips.
"We now know that the brains of millions of Americans are being excessively activated. Not everybody," Kessler said. "Let me give you [some] characteristics. Hard time resisting foods, a lack of feeling full, hard time stopping, a preoccupation, a thinking about foods between meals. And the foods that really arouse our brains are a combination of sugar, fat and salt, in other words, junk food.""
"Small noted there was an area of the brain that "should be shut off when you actually taste what you've been smelling."
"In people that are overweight or obese, the area's not being shut off. It's still so high," she said."

Yes that is an interesting article, I guess we (overweight folks) are thinking if the first bite was good and satisfying then the last bite will be the same. I have decided to give myself a "cheat day" beginning at 12 midnight Saturday night until midnight Sunday night. That way during the week all I have to think about is staying within calories for one day at a time, then if I really am craving something (not liver and broccoli) I can have it on that one cheat day. It may slow down my loss but maybe in the long run I can meet my goal.