Early 20s and addicted to food.

Eat macro and micro nutrient foods and you should be good. im a 6'2 337 lb man who is a food lover and it seems as though you may have what I have which is i need to stay full at all time or i will binge. by eating mounds and mounds of vegetables and protein....I stay prettty satisfied.

its pretty hard to get fat from eating salad, broccoli, asparagus, spaghetti squash...id say almost impossible

My personal opinion on this is - you've just got to train yourself.

Your stomach will be stretched and used to getting large meals and snacks. It will adapt to whatever volume (not type, just amount) of food you are putting in it. A larger stomach will ask to be fed more regularly. It will also send more signals/hormones to your brain.

Training it is the only way to pull it back in to line (and shape). Eating mass loads of veg and salad does work but, unless you are strict it won't teach you portion control.

The only way to tackle this is consistency in portion size no matter if you feel hungry. Don't be excessive, eat 'normal' portions but, then stop. After a while, and this depends on the person, you'll suddenly realise that you aren't as hungry as before.

I had to do a food diary a little while ago, logging what i would normally eat. One meal stuck in my head - We went out for a meal and I ate almost all of the starter (that was supposed to be shared) - a stack of onion rings and dip, I then ate my meal, I then finished of my kids meals, I then had dessert and forced myself to stop through embarrassment - not because I was full.

I was still hungry for roughly an hour after that meal and it wasn't until we were wandering around some shops that I realised I felt comfortably full.

I ate probably the equivalent of 2 and a half meals (or maybe more) and it took over an hour after eating for my body to say I was full. That was something I hadn't paid attention to before and it was surprising - and worrying.

I then had to go on a strict diet. I spent the first five days feeling homicidal. By the end of two weeks I was settled in to what I was eating (protein/veg/salad/dairy/small whole carbs) and NOT feeling excessively hungry. I had shrunk my stomach back to where it should be. I didn't even realise it was happening either. It was a random thought that crossed my mind that made me realise I wasn't as hungry. I had successfully trained myself.

Hi mnorris0821. Food is lovely Food is great! Sweet foods are comforting. Food is one of life's most available pleasures. Food is a great distraction from the unpleasant things in life especially fear. Food is more readily available than ever before in increasingly tempting forms. Food is a substitute for love, a substitute for intimacy, it numbs bad feelings for a while. BUT using food for all the wrong reasons causes deep deep misery and the more you do it the deeper the addiction becomes entrenched. It is an addiction....just like alcoholism. However you can give up alcohol but not food so It is not easy to beat. You have gained a habit of using food for the wrong reasons and you may not even remember when you started this. Habits are very very hard to break. If you can like minibandit train yourself to not use food in this way, then that's great. It is so hard though because 'control' is such a big issue and when you try to control your eating you actually are making the problem worse. The time to control the problem was when it first started and you probably don't even remember exactly when. If you can recognise 'why' you abuse food and find another way to deal with the root problems then that's the way to go about it. You will be happier when you can deal with the root problems and use food properly. Some people find great strength in God to overcome this problem. I really hope you overcome this because I had it for years and I remember walking to work in the morning and stopping at every shop to buy a chocolate bar to eat along the way. It is a miserable existence and a complex problem. Remember all you are doing is taking something pleasurable and using it to cope with some of the harsh realities of life. It's quite normal when you think of it....but it is not helpful at all. God bless you!

I read somewhere that the feeling of hunger is an emotion, and like any emotion, we can have some control over how we deal with it. For example, if you're getting angry about something, you remove yourself from the situation to reduce the anger. The same with hunger - if you feel hungry, trying doing something that will keep your mind off it - clean the house, go to the gym, ring a friend and chat on the phone for a while...keep yourself busy.

It may also be worth taking a minute to stop and think whether you're actually hungry or you're just bored. There are often times where I have felt hungry, but when I think about eating something, like some cereal, I find I'm not actually hungry, I'm just craving a certain food (usually chocolate!!). It is important to be able to distinguish between hunger, thirst and boredom.

Make sure your meals are full of protein, fat and fiber to help satiety. Have healthy snacks within easy reach so you can graze throughout the day - consider sticks of vegetables (carrots, celery, peppers) which are low in calorie and high in fiber. These sweeter veg will also help when you want something sweet.

If your doctor says your tests are normal, chances are your 'hunger' is psychological rather than physical, i.e. your brain is telling you to eat, even though you body doesn't need/want it.

edited for typos

Hi there! I understand what it feels like to be hopelessly addicted. I personally suffered from a horrible sweet tooth and was eating A LOT of sweets daily. Three weeks ago I finally decided that enough was enough and I needed to kick the habit. I never have candy in my house, at my desk at work, etc. I still want candy, but it's gradually getting easier. It takes a few weeks to kick a bad habit, so my advice is to push through your cravings for large amounts of food, plan what you are going to eat on a given day ahead of time, and be patient

It actually sounds like compulsive overeating rather than an addiction per se. You could try cognitive behavioural therapy strategies to manage your uncontrolled urges. If you have a smart phone I suggest a CBT diary/app might be helpful if you can't afford professional assistance.

I can definitely relate to you and your situation. I am not very good at being mean but I could sure try and would appreciate it if you could be mean to me as well