Binging/overeating when not hungry
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I'm not here to judge you!
Let's start with a hug...
Okay:
A) start small... really small. Drink an extra glass of water. Walk a little more than usual. Track & observe. You need to see your own dips & bumps.
sleep is key, but you may need some new rituals to get back to health there. Think about a healthy sleep ritual.
C) your eating/bingeing sounds emotionally driven. Here's a thought: it's not at all about the 1000 and one things you ARE doing; it's more about what you won't let yourself admit/say/feel/do. General 'busy-ness' sounds so much more palatable, no? But my guess is that this is more driven by anger or grief or anxiety or loss than you might care to admit to yourself. Can you pre-portion your next binge? Maybe just knowing it's there, packed like an earthquake go bag will keep you from needing to eat it. Maybe the next time you binge you cut the amount by one third, then one half... Practice small restraints & applaud yourself. They can be a path toward bigger ones.
D) could you use more fats in your regular food? Fats = satiety. Can you reduce sugars even modestly? In some people excess sugars can trigger binges.
E)know that you CAN turn this all around. You may not know the specifics yet but you can commit to this work. You are 1000% better than this. Your most terrible shame can be turned inside out & function as your deepest strength! That is in all of us.
F) find friends. Here. In real life. Wherever. Laugh and dust yourself off when you stumble because you will.
xo0 -
Sorry! I missed the part where you talked about how active you already are! I'm that way: I call myself fit-fat! I can easily keep up with everyone on a 10 mile hike at the drop of a pin but still don't lose weight. That's a CICO problem, plain & simple, at least in my case. I have to think of calories like money. I have a budget & I can't go over. Overeating is like credit card debt. I'll have to work twice as hard to pay it off. Recording & seeing what I'm eating helps me. Keeping sugars low helps me by retraining my palate. Eating plenty of healthy fats helps me feel full at the appropriate times. I also don't keep convenient versions of food around. If I want fries, well there's a potato. I'll need to peel, mandoline, fry and then clean up after those fries! Craving a sweet? Here's a bowl of apples; knock yourself out girl! I try to use every silly little trick in the book and see what happens. Everybody is different. You'll find what works for you. Yesterday I went to my absolute favorite annual United Orthodox food fair & I bought everything I generally eat at one sitting but I had them package two thirds of it up as carry away. I couldn't believe it but I really was full after that first bit! You CAN teach your old appetite dog new tricks!
xo0 -
Have you heard of intuitive eating? It helps you work past some of the emotional baggage and work on eating healthy amounts and using other methods to deal with stress, anger, sadness, boredom, etc.0
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I suggest reading "the Beck Diet Solution" by Judith Beck. It is not a diet plan, but a step by step process that helps you learn to think about your eating behaviours and make the necessary changes.0
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You might also get checked for sleep apnea. Sleep apnea can lead to weight gain as one is too tired to exercise and eat sugar to stay awake.
I had to get counselling to deal with the underlying emotional issues I was medicating with food. Until I did that I had no success.0 -
I am also a big Beck Diet Solution fan. She is a big fan of a two week planning period before making any big changes in your life, changing your negative self-talk into more useful thoughts (it is based on cognitive behvioral therapy techniques) and setting small, attainable goals. It is about getting off the yoyo dietinf for good and is full of good, practical strategies to make any changes you try more successful. She also has some very insightful and useful things to say about comfort eating.0
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I understand your situation and everyone on here gave good advice but I would suggest to talk professional (therapist) you had a lot on your hand that is very stressful. I feel there are other things that bother you beside what you are telling us but that's okay its not for us to know. Good Luck and hope everything work out for you0
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I know exactly how you feel with the binge eating when you're not hungry. I used to eat entired batches of brownies by myself. I would sneak into the kitchen late at night and eat sugar by the spoon because that's how addicted I was to sugar. Two things changed that for me. I started keeping a diary of when I felt like binging and realized I was mostly doing it when I was bored on the weekends so I started keeping myself busy and out of the house. I also started a low carb diet and my craving magically disappeared. Fat satisfies and fills you up so I don't have the need to snack on junk all day.
As for exercise, I am totally not a gym person. I do all my workouts first thing in the morning before my hubby wakes up and I do them right in my living room. I don't know if you're familiar with Beachbody but some of the popular programs are Insanity and P90X. A lot of those programs are only 30 minutes long so it's easier to fit them into your schedule.
Hope this helps!! Let me know
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I understand how difficult it is to break the cycle of binge eating. It's a really bad habit and you repeatedly promise yourself you'll stop until it comes round to it and you say "just tonight, I'll start tomorrow, I promise". The key to breaking your urge to binge is start right now. If you've messed up your diet by eating something you shouldn't have, DONT carry on!! That's like dropping your phone then standing on it to break it even more. Forgive yourself for your slip up, and carry on. When you feel the urge to binge, brush your teeth to make you lose your appetite, or drink lots of water. What I did, was I got a jar and filled it with ice lolly sticks with activities on them. When I got the urge to binge, I picked out a stick and did whatever it said on it. This would distract me from binging. Do house work, exercise, read, have a bath, go to sleep, go for a walk... Get moving and make yourself feel better. I hope this helped!0
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My answer won't be popular, but it can work very well for some people.
I could not shake my snacking until I adopted a very low carb high fat ketogenic diet. I usually eat less than 30 g of carbs per day, around 5% of my calories, and those carbs are from veggies, eggs, nuts and cream (no potatoes, rice, very little fruit, and nothing made from flour or starch). I eat about 70-75% fat and moderate protein (20-25%).
It took a few days, but my cravings for food are gone now and my appetite is greatly diminished. I have soe days where I eat around 2000 calories and others that are at 1000, but most days I eat around 1500 calories with very little hunger. I've lost about 30 lbs in the last 3 months, and am now at a normal BMI, yet still losing at a good rate.
If it interests you, look into LCHF diets like Atkins, South Beach, or a vLCHF diet like nutritional ketosis (phase 1 Atkins)
Good luck.
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My answer won't be popular, but it can work very well for some people.
I could not shake my snacking until I adopted a very low carb high fat ketogenic diet. I usually eat less than 30 g of carbs per day, around 5% of my calories, and those carbs are from veggies, eggs, nuts and cream (no potatoes, rice, very little fruit, and nothing made from flour or starch). I eat about 70-75% fat and moderate protein (20-25%).
It took a few days, but my cravings for food are gone now and my appetite is greatly diminished. I have soe days where I eat around 2000 calories and others that are at 1000, but most days I eat around 1500 calories with very little hunger. I've lost about 30 lbs in the last 3 months, and am now at a normal BMI, yet still losing at a good rate.
If it interests you, look into LCHF diets like Atkins, South Beach, or a vLCHF diet like nutritional ketosis (phase 1 Atkins)
Good luck.
I want to like this post 1000 times! LCHF has completely killed my desire to binge eat (and I use to do it ALL THE TIME). It's truly the only thing that has worked for me in that regard.0 -
Lots of interesting things there, folks, thank you for your time and thoughts. I hope some of your comments will help others too. Some of you do get what causes this, so thank you because so many don't .
What I eat and do the rest of the time makes no difference at all - and it's not a boredom issue. Some of you have really noticed that! I know, and do admit to myself, that this is a problem with my view of myself, and that I am overwhelmed with the list of things I need to do, or think I need to do, and a feeling of not being cared about.
I do think a counsellor/therapist could help me, but finding one I can access that is the right fit for me is a)overwhelming because I would need to take time off work and pay for it, not cheap either, and b) I live a long way from anywhere big enough to find someone. I am edging this way, but need to try again to manage without that.
I do run a very critical inner voice and know that this is where my problems lie.
Thank you again for all your input, I have found something useful in nearly every post. I'm getting up now to head off for a row. I went back to rowing last year, my most loved activity which stopped when I had my kids (it's very time consuming!), and I'm trying to get back to, but does not always help my mental processes as I am literally too fat for some seats in the boats.0 -
You need to stop making excuses.
Challenge that voice in your head that says, "I need all this because reasons".
Win the battle with yourself. You can do it. Just don't let yourself get away with this crap. Best wishes!0 -
My answer won't be popular, but it can work very well for some people.
I could not shake my snacking until I adopted a very low carb high fat ketogenic diet. I usually eat less than 30 g of carbs per day, around 5% of my calories, and those carbs are from veggies, eggs, nuts and cream (no potatoes, rice, very little fruit, and nothing made from flour or starch). I eat about 70-75% fat and moderate protein (20-25%).
It took a few days, but my cravings for food are gone now and my appetite is greatly diminished. I have soe days where I eat around 2000 calories and others that are at 1000, but most days I eat around 1500 calories with very little hunger. I've lost about 30 lbs in the last 3 months, and am now at a normal BMI, yet still losing at a good rate.
If it interests you, look into LCHF diets like Atkins, South Beach, or a vLCHF diet like nutritional ketosis (phase 1 Atkins)
Good luck.
I want to like this post 1000 times! LCHF has completely killed my desire to binge eat (and I use to do it ALL THE TIME). It's truly the only thing that has worked for me in that regard.
I wouldn't say it has completely killed my desire to binge (I'll probably have my last cookie craving in my coffin four or five days after burial), but it definitely helps. I've even gone whole days without a craving, which never happens when I'm out of ketosis.0 -
It sounds like you feel guilty. I hear a lot about what's going on but you're losing you!
Maybe an eating disorder but try some things 1. Coloring books for adults (intricate mandalas to color) - keep your hands busy and your mind zen
2. No food in the car.0
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