What do you do on a day when you can't stop eating?

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onelentilatatime
onelentilatatime Posts: 208 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Even though I have been eating moderately and healthily pretty consistently for 5 months, and have lost 60 lbs so far, I occassionally have days when my body is screaming out to be fed all day. If you have any thoughts on what causes this or how to deal with it would love to hear them. This is what I know so far:

CAUSES

Lack of sleep is the main cause.
Stress can also trigger it.
Possible that lots of exercise can trigger it too

SOLUTIONS

Eat lean protein
Drink water
I find drinking electrolyte water can help
Distract yourself
Give yourself permission to eat anything you want but in one hour's time
Relax - sometimes I find the desire to eat is bound up with some kind of tension in my body and if I mediate or relax it lessens.

These solutions partly work for me but I can't seem to make the cravings go away permanently. I ate over 6000 calories yesterday when it all went wrong. Would love to hear your thoughts.
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Replies

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    I don't follow any kind of food restriction so if I like the food I make it work, I also work on a rolling 7 day defecit so if I'm hungrier one day I will eat more but only if I already have those calories in the bank

    I just haven't needed to crash and burn and I credit that plan with it
  • mihaelapopolan
    mihaelapopolan Posts: 79 Member
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    Don't feel bad about those calories.I struggle with the same thing, about twice a week on average. But I try to listen to my body, and if that means eating more calories, I just go ahead, but try doing the healthier options. And yes, like rabbtjb pointed out, I save some calories from the previous days, just in case.
  • SwankyTomato
    SwankyTomato Posts: 442 Member
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    I up my protein and fat when I get like that.

    Also, what do you have in the house that makes you hit 6000 calories? I have to keep my house mostly "junk free" otherwise I would go non stop too.
  • mihaelapopolan
    mihaelapopolan Posts: 79 Member
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    Agreed. Cleaning out the junk food from the fridge and cupboards and filling them up with healthies helps enormously. Maybe that's not something new, but once you get down to doing it, it's really great.
  • onelentilatatime
    onelentilatatime Posts: 208 Member
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    Thanks for great ideas do far. I wasn't in my house .. always harder to do when travelling.
  • fat2strongbeth
    fat2strongbeth Posts: 735 Member
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    Lots of hot tea, salads for snacks. I try to change my environment too if possible. Go for a short walk.
  • SandyCoils
    SandyCoils Posts: 164 Member
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    My trouble times are usually the weekends, BUT, I tend to get out more, walk more, and rest more on the weekends. I also have more time to play on my Wii. Saturday I was able to play the Wii and do over 20 flights of stairs which helped me sooo much.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    Nothing works for me. I've tried it all, lol. Frankly the best thing for ME is to follow my craving (typically... complex carbs). Otherwise I just eat other things hoping it will go away, but it won't, and I end up just eating more in the end than if I had given in right away.

    But that only happens when I ovulate or when I have PMS really... and typically I naturally tend to be less hungry the next day at least, so I usually mostly make up for it that way.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    I eat. It's my responsibility to use moderation.
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
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    I just eat. There are days like this. You just pick right back up and get it together the next day.
  • scrittrice
    scrittrice Posts: 345 Member
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    This caught my eye:

    <<Possible that lots of exercise can trigger it too>>

    Do you eat back exercise calories? Once I started doing that, I realized that I wasn't irrationally hungry--I hadn't been fueling myself enough. I know everyone says MFP overestimates exercise calories, but it's been spot on for me.

    Agree that protein helps a lot.
  • blueboxgeek
    blueboxgeek Posts: 574 Member
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    My best tip is distraction. I'll find something to do. I'm in to crafts so will start making something. Or go for a walk or paint my nails.

    If after an hour or so I still want to eat my arm then I am probably genuinely hungry and will just try and make the most of the calories I have spare. Something protein heavy if possible. Although sometimes I just think sod it and eat what I like. One day over calories and the rest of my life to go.....it ain't a big deal.
  • carlosjenno
    carlosjenno Posts: 174 Member
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    The only time I usually get to that point is following either 2 or 3 hours running or 6+ hours out cycling. I'm generally ravenous, but have burned sufficient calories to eat what I like by that time! On days I'm excessively hungry, I try and eat protein in the form of lean meat and vegetables for carbs instead of cakes or processed stuff. I sometimes fail however. On those days, I just write it off and don't worry about it. Not sure how you get to 6000 calories though, that would be a bit beyond me, even on big exercise days...
  • rightoncommander
    rightoncommander Posts: 114 Member
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    If you've lost 60lbs, you're doing something right and really should be giving others advice rather than seeking help! Don't look at single days in isolation at all. I used to weigh in on a Friday, and log whatever happened at the weekend so I could be sure to balance it out over the week.

    It sounds like your bad days are a little more unpredictable. Just log it and make a plan to make up for it over the next week or so. Don't beat yourself up, you're already doing great!

    It sounds like stress was the trigger to yesterday's eating. You've already found some stress management techniques to deal with these problems in another way. Decide now how you will deal with stress the next time using one of the methods you've found effective in the past, and just give it a try!
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
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    Eat. Drink. And be merry.

    Sometimes I need a re-feed to fill the empty tank, or need to "carb up" and replenish burned up glycogen stores - especially day of and/or day after a longer (10-miler or longer) training run. I'll just eat and eat and eat ... and I don't even feel guilty about it. It's needed.

    Mine's usually on the order of 600-ish to maybe 800 calories over the normal daily quota.

    Log it and move on with life.

  • Foodiethinking
    Foodiethinking Posts: 240 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Don't just go for protein, go for carbs too. When it's from lack of sleep, your body is craving energy in the form of food, which carbs directly provide. I find it's easier to give myself a big o' bowl of pasta than sit knawing on nuts, chocolate, crisps before I eventually cave and decide I should have a meal... Better to cut it off at the source ASAP!
    Also, if I am up all night, I've usually achievement something with my uni-work so I'm not TOO hard on myself.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    If I were not feeling satisfied with my normal calories then I suppose I would look at the type of food I'm eating. I would see if maybe I am too low on protein or fat or some nutrient and eat more of those kind of foods.
    I would drink more water to see if that would help.
    I would sleep if I were tired.
    I've noticed that my eating spikes toward the time of my period. As long as I don't go too far over my goal one day or so of eating more doesn't seem to throw things off too much.

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    how many calories a day do you regularly consume?
  • hwestphal
    hwestphal Posts: 5 Member
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    I'm terrible about this! In fact it just happened yesterday! But in the past I find that searching Pinterest for something really awesome and indulgent (be it dessert or not) and then heading to the store to get the stuff to make it and then actually following through on making it, then I eat one normal sized portion and if no one else does, I destroy it as soon as I take a portion (because I have zero will power). Then I eat it using baby utensils. Tiny bites. And I stare at it, and I close my eyes and savor it. It works, most of the time. Other times I think I truly am just THAT hungry...or hormones are working their evil deeds. In which case, you just loose! LOL! Seriously though, I think throwing in an indulgent day every so often keeps your body guessing and also, keeps you from giving up completely. But don't do it every weekend. I did that for years and never lost anything, and just couldn't figure out why! My biggest issue is when I just don't FEEL like cooking...then I snack myself into oblivion eating crap that doesn't really fill me up or satisfy me. I mean, who gets full on crackers? I've started learning to keep a portion of bean soup frozen at all times. Bean soup fills me up, and its a comfort food from my childhood. Split Pea does too. Both are high in good carbs, and low in fat...even if you add ham! And also, nuts. Eating about 12 almonds with a piece of fruit will usually put snacking in check. Good luck. Feel free to friend me. We'll commiserate together! LOL!
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    If this is something that happens frequently I'd start to look into the causes of it.

    If you think it's related to sleep (lacking sleep can reduce your ability to exert willpower and it can increase your cravings and the combination of those two factors can make dieting tough at times) then you should look at methods of improving sleep quality and/or quantity.

    As far as damage control I would probably look at ways to better manage your food environment. So for example if you make things like fruits and vegetables and lean protein sources prevalent in your environment, and you make energy dense, heavily refined foods scarce or inconvenient in your environment, then you're more likely to consume the former vs the latter. And most people aren't capable of going on a broccoli and apple binge.

    I don't like the idea of a one hour buffet, so to speak. Pure speculation on my part but that seems to be a way to encourage binge eating.

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