Help!!! Binge eating...

Emmandaline · November 2014

I lost 30 lbs last year, but all year (this year) I have been hovering around 200 lbs. (I am 5'3", so I should weigh 130-150 lbs.) I have been tracking everything I eat, and have found that I eat around 1700-2000 calories on a normal day, but I have been binging about twice a week. Each binge meal is about 500-2000 calories, bringing my total number of calories for that day up to around 3-4000.

On top of that, I am a college student and under high stress levels constantly. Last year, I did yoga and bicycled in my free time. This year I have no free time, and the "good" yoga instructor from my school's gym left. I have tried to do yoga on my own to help relieve stress, but its not the same as going to a class. My college schedule is crazy this semester and tomorrow I have nine hours of classes to attend. Finals are coming up and I don't know how I am going to make it. On top of that, I have no money to pay for next semester and I haven't been working many hours at my job because I am so busy with school. So yes, stress is a factor.

I live on campus, and my meal plan allows for two meals a day, so I eat a large, early breakfast and grab a bagel with cream cheese, an orange, and two hard boiled eggs for lunch. (the only breakfast food durable enough to withstand the heavy textbooks in my backpack.) This is not that filling and by dinner (sometimes 7 hours later) I am starving and this is when I usually binge.

I don't know what to do, my family won't understand. (My mom lost her weight by eating 1200 calories a day and eating the exact same disgusting shake, same tiny sandwich on cardboard bread with three pieces of baby spinach, and tiny portions of lean, home-cooked dinners topped with fat-free cheese. I just don't have that kind of willpower.) I'm tired of being fat, and I'm tired of being tired of that. Last year was smooth sailing, this year has been a struggle.I figured hey, here is a website I am a member of with free message boards. To anyone who has read this far, thanks for considering my problem! Any advice is welcome.

Linnaea27 · November 2014

Ugh, school stress can really do a person in. (I am writing my master's thesis presently. . . taking a few minutes break and looking at MFP!)

You've found a good website here! The tools it provides will be very helpful. Use them

-- the calorie calculator, the food diary, etc.

First, it sounds like you need to find a way to have some snacks on hand. Weird that the school's meal plan doesn't include lunch, and the cafeteria doesn't have snacks like fruit available all day. Anyway, I think it would be very helpful for you to carry some vegetables, cheese (like cottage cheese, string cheese, and so on), and single portions of nuts with you each day, to snack on in the afternoon. I tend to overeat snacks right before dinner time also if I haven't been able to eat anything from noon until 7 pm, so packing snacks has become an essential thing for me.

Also, if there's a way to have a few more veggies for lunch, and maybe some meat and/or soup, that would help you stay full longer. A bagel is a high-calorie and low-satiety item, unfortunately

(and for me, things made from white flour make me HUNGRIER than before, so I usually avoid having them be the main item in a meal). I've found that soups combined with a protein (hard-boiled eggs, lunch meat) and a small sweet or chocolate make a satisfying lunch. Buy canned soup on sale and heat it up at lunchtime.

There is no need to lose weight by eating only 1200 calories of food you wouldn't normally eat. Use the tools MFP gives you and honestly log what you eat. It is likely you'll find it easier if you choose to eat less of very high-calorie and non-satisfying foods like chips etc., but it's not necessary to cut anything out entirely unless you have binge trigger foods. Basically, eating balanced food and making sure you have snacks so you don't get ultra-hungry in the afternoon should help you with the desire to overeat/binge, as long as it's mostly a hunger issue and not so much an emotional eating one.

Can you get financial aid? I understand COMPLETELY about intense stress from worrying about school finances. Having a few loans (one semester's costs will not make for dangerously large loans) is way better than fearing you won't be able to get an education because you don't have the money right now.

Help for stress--take a short walk in a quiet place on your lunch break if you can. Take just a few minutes a day just for you (paint your nails, take a slightly longer shower with some nicely scented soap, go outside and look at the stars, for example). Get some chamomile or kava-kava tea and have it when you are feeling particularly stressed (kava-kava is an amazing stress reliever). Complain to/commiserate with your friends!

Linnaea27 · November 2014

OMG, sorry that is so long. I hope at least some of it's useful!

dustipaul25 · November 2014

I feel your pain! I am fulltime single mom, fulltime student, fulltime employment. Stress is a factor in my life as well and I barely have spare time. I have recently carved out some time for me to go to the gym. I go regularly but I need to get my diet under control as well. I am so impatient when it comes to my weight loss. If I diet and exercise all day then I expect to see results at the end of the day. Lol. I also am obsessed with the scales. I step on the scale EVERY time Im in the bathroom. I know that's not realistic nor a good thing but Im obsessed. I don't have much support in my little journey either. I mean I have people tell me they are proud of my trying to change etc, but that's about the extent of it. Everyone I know is already thin or comfortable with their current weight. I want to be thinner, but most importantly, I want to be healthier. Healthier for myself, and healthier for my son. Feel free to add me if u want. I could use all the motivation I can get! Ive got roughly 100 lbs to lose so I will be on here for a while. Lol

Emmandaline · November 2014

Definitely useful! I've been trying to come up with portable snacks, but canned soup sounds like a great idea. It is weird that my school's meal plan doesn't include lunch, but I do have access to a microwave. Thanks for answering!!!

Emmandaline · November 2014

I definitely agree to that!!! Also, about the stepping on scales thing, remember that all those little changes can be due to neutral/good things. For example, when I don't drink a lot of water, I weigh "less" but I know that's just because I'm dehydrated. Also, (people have probably told you this) muscle does weigh more than fat.
I can't use that excuse though, because my workouts so far have been fairly low-impact!

berninicaco3 · November 2014

I have a moderate problem with food addiction.
I associate eating with entertainment, and with stress, both.

As I understand it, electronic cigarettes have half the equation: there's something in your mouth, it feels like a cigarette in part!

So if I'm going to snack, rather than struggling in vain against the urge, I do binge:
I eat a whole pound of broccoli. I eat 2 pounds of baby carrots (that gives diarrhea...).

Honestly it doesn't take long: a carrot every few seconds and a big bag is gone.
Do you know how many calories are in TWO POUNDS of baby carrots? 300.
You can completely stuff your face for an hour straight, fill your stomach to bursting, and it's 300 calories. much much better than peanut m&ms (one of my favorite snack foods.

Veggies are my e-cigarettes. They're half of of what I'm craving, but a 'non-toxic' version. Hopefully one day I'll never crave food as an anti-depressant at all.

Now, there's also no need to starve yourself, and feeling hungry => destructive binge eating is counter productive.
One advice I was given, and it works for me, is no big meals but rather 6 tiny snacks spread evenly.
My current job has 15 minute breaks every 2 hours. Perfect! I grab a yogurt and a handful of nuts, a big bowl of broccoli and a couple leaner turkey jerky sticks, a banana and an egg. You get the idea. Nuts, carrots, yogurts, I like those jerky sticks (also straight up deli meat, no sandwich) are great snacking foods: portable and don't need a microwave, and within reason, can tolerate a few hours outside a fridge without issue.

Some other advice...
I looked at my eating habits, and I'm the same. I stay in control until I am burned out at the end of the day, and then I lapse and I lapse hard. Clean eating for 14 hours straight is demolished by a box of donuts or a giant bowl of granola or a pint of ice cream or whatever your 2000 calorie binge meal is.

I try to have less at hand: make it so I have to go to the store to get that stuff,
I try to have some sweets: greek yogurts and chocolate almond milk are sugary but not very bad to cut cravings (the almond milk is the worse of the two),
I have those pounds of veggies,
and finally... just going to bed earlier works wonders for me. If I stay up late to finish a task, 8 times out of 10, I don't finish it anyway, I'm tired (and weak of will) the next day, and in those extra hours I stayed up, I binged, turning a 2000 calorie day into 4000. I believe there are good studies, I'd have to find some, saying that tired and bleary-eyed people are munching people. Sleep deprivation to finish a paper is a great way to end a diet.

CynthiasChoice · November 2014

I don't have much advise for you, I'm sorry. I just wanted you to know I read all of your post and really sympathize with your situation. Hugs! - from a soon to be mom of a college student.

My only suggestion is to eat protein and healthy fat in the morning instead of carbs. Maybe get up 15 minutes earlier and sit down at the commons to eat instead of trying to carry food in your backpack. Eating protein and fat will help your brain function better. Who couldn't use that?! Keeping nuts and a piece of fruit in your backpack sounds like a good idea, too.

Also, choosing what you say to yourself is so important! It's perfectly OK to rant once in a while, but try to follow that up with some positive self talk. Good luck to you!

CynthiasChoice · November 2014

Oops, I misread your post - sorry - you do eat a big breakfast, and carry breakfast food for your lunch. Wow, that's rough not having a better option for lunch. What do your friends do?

thiswillhappen · November 2014

If I were you I would try to pack cheap filling snacks and carry them around with me during the day. When I'm on the go, I like to carry a ziplock bag full of almonds with me. I can snack on them throughout the day so I'm not starving by dinner time. Consider that!

Also - it sounds like you're very busy, but try to prioritize yoga, especially if you found it worked for you in the past. It seems strange, but the truth is that the times when we feel that we don't have time to exercise are conversely the times when you need exercise the most. It will help you with your stress levels, your binge eating, your focus in school, and overall feeling of wellbeing. There are TONS of free videos on youtube so all you really need is your mat and a small quiet space in your apartment or room. If you do just ten minutes of yoga a day every morning, I'm sure you'll start feeling better and eating better.

Conclusion: A combination of healthy snacks throughout the day + regular yoga will really help, and everything else will fall into place with patience and perseverance. Good luck!

brightresolve · November 2014

I hear you, Emmandaline! I have a daughter in college myself, and I myself have struggles with stress-eating and emotional eating. This site has really worked for me, every day that I take a few minutes to log my food and exercise.

My feedback would be it's not about depriving yourself or being more strict (that unrealistic and gross sounding 1200 calorie diet) - it's about making small changes one by one to support a healthier, WORKABLE and sustainable eating plan for yourself. You're already working so hard, and under so much stress - the food has to be easy and appealing, something you can know is fueling the healthy person you choose to be.

If you can get off campus once in a while on public transportation, you can supplement your dining-hall diet with things like soup (someone had a great idea there), vegetarian chili (super good nutrition,) raw almonds (a small handful can satisfy for a long time,) peanut butter and celery or apple slices or whole grain bread, tuna with a little lofat mayo on whole-grain crackers.

I totally agree on the protein thing. Sugar and white carbs just lead to more cravings for me.

If you have access to a fridge, plain greek yogurt is a taste worth acquiring (it's really good with fruit, you won't miss the sugar!)

Good luck to you, and if you would like to add me as a friend please feel free

gotogirl81 · November 2014

hey hun, I feel ya with the eating good 80% of the time, and then binging when things get out of hand with stress/life/hunger/etc..
I came across this blog yesterday. Have a look at this article. it may help you.

http://www.canyoustayfordinner.com/2014/11/05/how-to-recover-from-binge-eating/

tedrickp · November 2014

http://www.niashanks.com/

Nia Shanks (who is awesome) just released a kindle book called "33 Ways to Break Free from Binge Eating". It is also awesome. It does cost 3 bucks but worth it IMO.

Tea_Mistress · November 2014

I sometimes have a problem with binge eating, if I've been out all day and I come home ravenous from walking everywhere and not eating. Something that does help, before anything drink 2 huge mugs of water - then start brewing some hot green tea. If I really feel bingey - I'll boil a whole head of broccoli and eat that with my meal.
- But rehydration is really important.
- Pre-logging can help too so that you know you have a proper meal waiting to be prepared

Part of the reason I binge sometimes is because I don't know what to eat that will fit into my calorie goal and I'm too hungry to figure it out (consequently eating all the things), so I pre-log the night before as much as I can

Emmandaline · April 2016

I just looked on this thread for the first time in a while! I still struggle with binge eating, but reading these posts helps. I feel lucky to have you guys on my side!

Help!!! Binge eating...

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