food addict! coping after 8 am binge! seeking advice

leannems · May 2014

I don't necessarily struggle with binge eating, but I do struggle with mindless eating (eating 2,000 calories without noticing because I'm bored). This has been what's helpful:

1. Figure out why you're craving. Usually my reason is because I'm not in control of something else emotionally, so I comfort with food. Most frequent culprit is stress from work.

2. Pre-log your main meals for the day (typically breakfast, lunch, dinner). Use MFP. Whenever you get the urge to eat, go to your log, see if you have room for it (or maybe part of it) as a snack. If so, eat the part you have room for, if not, swap out your meal plan to see if you can fit some in, but also recognize that you need to fuel your body for the rest of the day, so taking out your entire dinner for a few cookies isn't going to work.

3. No trigger foods in the house. No eating directly out of the bag/box/whatever. Pull out a serving size and put the rest away. My husband even hides foods which trigger me so he can have them and I am not bothered by them. The funny thing is, if I happen upon his hiding spot by accident, I still won't eat it - I think it's sweet that he took the effort to hide it from me, and I don't want to bum him out by eating it after he made that effort.

4. Recognize that willpower is like a glass. You can keep that glass full by feeling good about yourself. By working out, feeling proud about your body (even if it's not perfect, it's still a work in progress), eating healthy, dressing nice, accomplishing goals, etc. But there are lots of things that empty the glass - stress, negative emotions, bad feelings. If you focus on keeping your willpower glass full, it's easier to avoid temptation. When your glass gets a little empty, it's harder (so if you're stressed, or bored, that empties your glass; it's then much harder to avoid temptation. Instead of letting the glass empty, go fill it up with something - even a glass of real water!).

5. If you binge, MOVE ON. It is not an excuse to eat bad the rest of the day. Someone once said to me, so if you tripped on one stair, would you fling yourself down the rest of them? No, then don't eat like crap the rest of the day because you screwed up one meal.

Think about talking to someone about why you might binge; finding the underlying cause will help. Good luck.

CorlissaEats · May 2014

Have you ever tried charting your binges on your monthly cycle? Balancing periods where you might have an easier time staying on track with a period when you know you tend to go high on consumption?

I dont have a binge problem per say, but I do really notice that I am prone to urges to eat more and hunger starting 8 days before TOM is expected. That increased urge sticks around for me until about half way thru his visit. I've been logging for over 8months now and I can tell you that a majority of the days that I go over my calorie goals are within this period- I actually have 3 spikes in each cycle and they almost always happen in the same day(s) in that cycle. My goal is set to 1889 and has been higher when I was heavier so there is a lot of room for extras already built in. If I wasn't trying to stay within my goals, I think I can safely say that I would be eating about 1000-1500 calories more than I aim for during my spikes.

I bring my calories with me to work so I am limited by what I have with me that day and that enforces some control for me. This works for me for when I am at home: filling half your dinner plate with steamed veggies gives me the bulk and volume I need to get full without messing with my calorie goal for the day. If I am not full then I really have to fight the urge to pull out the bag of chips after dinner. I dont have any useful suggestions for the emotional components of binge eating...sorry.

lotekgirl · May 2014

I'm feeling your pain right now. It's absolutely miserable and depressing.

I'm so mad at myself right now for binging on something this afternoon that I NEVER eat and haven't touched since I was a child....a whole box of Little Debbie cakes! I don't know what got into me today. I went to the store to buy a bar of dark chocolate to help get rid of my sweet cravings today.

I bought the dark chocolate, but on the way to the register I spotted a shelf full of Little Debbie boxes. Normally I have no interest in those types of foods, but for some reason I grabbed a damn box and came back to my office with them. I had one pack and felt fine about it. Then every time I came back to my desk and started working I couldn't stop thinking about the box of junk in the back room.

I think my biggest trigger is stress, and I use food as a distraction so I can stop the work that's stressing me out and force myself to take a break. Normally this isn't a big deal beacuse I'm *usually* pretty good about only buying healty foods to snack on. But ENTIRE box of Little Debbie snack cakes!?!?

I've been an emotional eater since I was a child. Luckily, I was very active through college and never was fat, but after 2 children and a desk job, I'm really struggling to get into shape and have been stuck at a size 14 for a long time now. I did log everything I ate today to hold myself accountable and recommend you do the same. I'm going to try to do 100 burpees or some other very high intensity exercise today to burn some of those calories.

Are you physically active at all? If boredom is one of your triggers, try to find a physical activity, even if it's just walking in a park, that you can do during times of boredom to burn some calories and keep you busy so you're not eating. Good luck to you!

Archon2 · May 2014

To Onmyown70: Hey, just a thought, but some people have great success with hypnosis. Perhaps it might be worth going to some sessions with a good hypnotist? It can help change the part of your mind that overwhelms your willpower. Those "pro-binge" thought only have to win against your willpower for a few minutes in order to mess up your plans.

Don't give up, just get back on track!!

spaghetti77 · May 2014

I have posted on here and it is great to hear all these people sharing the same problems - well obvioudly not great we have a problem but it is nice to share the very real upset of feeling out of control with food. I have had eventual sucess in dealing with anxiety adn panic attacks by trying over and over and over again with different methods and I am happy to keep trying until the problem goes away. So I am going to try just one thing to help me this week that I have read about - as I'm working at the computer and that is a place that triggers me ( problem solving at the computer) my rule is - don't eat at the computer. Maybe start with one rule where there is a trigger point - seems simple.

spaghetti77 · May 2014

Sorry did I say I was just going to try one thing? Also this week I am going to try and eat what I fancy (which is sometimes what is on my partners dinner plate and I feel a pang of sadness and REAL stress inside me because I want that but tell myself I can't have it).

Point being - I find that I 'eat around' what I REALLY want - eg I want toast and honey - but because its high carb and not best choice, I eat a tuna salad, maybe a ryvita cracker and pate and then hoping an orange will put a full stop to it.... and then after consuming 400 cals or so of good food choices, still unsatisfied - I have the toast and honey! Ok the others are healthier options but, like I said I end up overeating my cals by not just eating what I wanted.

I also often end up not burning off my over indulgenece (maybe too busy, too late in the day, tired, sick, whatever) So this week, I'm going to try and satisfy apetite in what it asks for, I'm not worried I will be eating toast and honey 24/7 coz I love veggies, salad and fruit and my exercise too. Maybe in the long run I need to cut down on sweet things all together as I think they do make the body just ask for more. But I find fruit and yog as a dessert (less sugary than a tiramasu say) keeps the body a bit calmer. So maybe limit the amount of sugar per serving say less than 12g sugar in any sweet treat. But if you are like me then you think about ways of fixing and managing food addictions all the time 'problem solving', then trying it, then forgetting what you were supposed to be trying this week eg. less sugar, eating without TV. But I'm hoping my next plan will help with all of the autopilot overthinking food in the long term.

I'm going to take a look at this book 'Eat, Drink and be Mindful' by Susan Albers and consider starting my own mindful eating group. I have been running a mindfulness group with a friend for 3 years or so, it says the 10week course should be for licensed health professionals but I feel confident and mature enough to start a small informal local group.

If a group isn't a realistic option then just take a peek at this download, its notes for a 10 week course, full of useful thought provoking things and to me I think the really most useful thing on this download is the chart on page 24, it looks like a car speedo that you fill in to see when you eat mindlessly and when you eat well... here is the link. Really worth a read if you are interested in mindful type things.

http://eatingmindfully.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/eatdrinkbemindfulsupportgroupalbers.pdf

It's basically buy the book, work through it in a group. You prob could do it on your own - there is a special app to support the course/mindful eating too if you like that type of thing. She has a great website too that is worth a look at.

http://eatingmindfully.com/

Also here is a printable poster for mindful eating from her website you can stick on your kitchen fridge (and cupboard, and pantry, and freezer all the places you keep food)!

http://mindfuleatingcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/appleposter.pdf

Ok, that's my plan this week - sorry if I've rambled or hogged the post! I hope someone gets something out of it.

food addict! coping after 8 am binge! seeking advice

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