Katieusa68 wrote: »

I have these days now. About once a week. I am cruising along, sticking to the diet, no problems. Then suddenly, I find myself eating 6 single serving bags of Cheetos, a roll of ritz crackers, and spoonfuls of peanut butter. More than 1500 calories. I don't know why I am doing this.

One thing you could try, and this will sound very strange, would be to do this:

Before you eat ask yourself if you are hungry. If you are not hungry and you still choose to eat whatever it is you eat, you will say out loud:

"I'm not hungry but I'm going to eat this anyway"

Another thing you could attempt would be to evaluate your food environment. Do you have bags of Cheetos and sleeves of Ritz crackers lying around your house? Could you stop buying them? Could you make your access to those foods more challenging?

These are subtle things that can make a big difference for some people.

At the very least, I think it would be beneficial for you to try to identify what causes you to choose the food you choose.

Sometimes we eat because of hunger, but often times we don't.

Katieusa68 wrote: »

SideSteel, you have some good points. I live in a house full of carb eaters. My husband buys candy bars by the case at SAMs. He has no problem eating one of something. However, I crave whatever is there that I like until it's gone. He has been good about only buying the candy that I don't like. Remarkably, the sweets have not been a real problem. Maybe because they make me feel so bad within minutes of eating them. So the home environment and the foods available are an issue that I need to address and make more changes. But the reason I eat all of that without hunger is a mystery to me. I tell myself not to, but my hand reaches forward and takes the food and then it's all over! I have maintained my weight for 8 months and I cannot go back to what I was. This scares me though.

Talk to your family about how they can help you with your diet and your health by helping you manage your food environment.

One massively helpful thing you can do would be to make sure all of the energy dense "junk" foods are NOT VISIBLE in your immediate viewing area and that they are hard to access.

Got a box of ritz? Literally stick it behind a wall of canned goods so you don't even see it when you open your cupboard.

Bury the ice cream under three feet of frozen vegetables so you can't see it and so you have to work more to get it.

Keep vegetables (and fruit if you can fit that into your carb budget) immediately visible and convenient in your environment.


Doing this will potentially reduce your frequency which you eat junk food and it may also reduce the number of times your willpower is tested by these foods.

In addition to SideSteel's awesome suggestions, you can also try having a dedicated cupboard for that stuff. Ideally, up high if you're short or down low if you're tall (basically, a pain to reach). This puts them in a place you won't accidentally encounter them and makes it less convenient to access them.

Also, double check your food intake and goal settings. It's possible you're not getting enough fat or enough food in general (even if "not enough food" is 100 or so calories), or if you're eating a trigger food (artificial sweeteners are a common one). Try tweaking and see if that reduces the drive.

I feel you. I've "fallen off the wagon". Hard. On my butt. I live with a parent and she loves junk and carbs for herself and my nephew and she expects me to just have "self-control" even though I'm trying to recover from binge eating issues. Soooo helpful.... not.

Had an emotional eating episode 2 1/2 days ago that took me right out of ketosis. Recovered immediately, but still not back in my keto range. I feel sluggish and am indulging in some self pity nonsense. But that's how i feel. Stopped going to the gym 5 days ago. I had been on such a good roll. I feel derailed and I'm beating myself up even as I'm telling myself not to! Family stuff hurts, I already know that. For right now, my plan is get back in ketosis, then back to the gym. Put it all in the rear view mirror and don't look back. It's nice to have a place to say this, so I don't wind up stuffing it or eating it.

If you are doing ketogenic diet, and you have these problems, maybe you should take it slow. Go down slowly with carbs.

I agree with Dan. 1500 calories is not a huge amount. If you really are hungry, try having some fat first. A fat bomb or I find even a spoonful of double (heavy cream) can go a long way to staving off carb cravings.