How can I change my relationship with food? I always, always eat about 1,000+ calories at breakfast.

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Serena_Heart
Serena_Heart Posts: 13 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My daily allotment is 1,460, which is manageable. My behaviors, however, are dragging me down. I have always had this compulsion to eat a ridiculously HUGE meal at breakfast, and then of course I'm left with only a couple hundred calories for the rest of the day.

Do you have any tips, personal experience, or any comments on this that may help me break through this cycle of feeling the need to binge at first meal?

Thank you!

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Replies

  • chollands29
    chollands29 Posts: 46 Member
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    maybe you're so hungry first thing in the morning because you're starving yourself at night? try a few days of larger dinners and see if that changes how you feel first thing?

    I for some reason want to eat my big meal at the end of the day and so I save calories for then because I know I won't be satisfied 'mentally' with a small dinner, and so might go over just from snacking. As long as you're in your calorie range though I don't think it matters when you eat, if it is sustainable.
  • chulipa
    chulipa Posts: 650 Member
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    Spread your calories out more evenly through the day. Why and what do you eat for breakfast just interested my breakfast is anywhere between 200 -400 and im full
  • Serena_Heart
    Serena_Heart Posts: 13 Member
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    Thanks chollands29, you have a good point. Unfortunately, eating this much at one meal does cause me to be uncomfortably full. I will try flipping to dinner and see if that results in a more even spread of calories. It could work!
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Can you try skipping breakfast to see how you feel?
  • NewMeSM75
    NewMeSM75 Posts: 971 Member
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    If you're wanting a big breakfast, look at eating one with lower calories. Such as egg white omelets. I like the egg beaters egg whites. At 17 calories a serving, you can eat a ton of it. Some of my favorites are egg white omelet with refried beans, salsa and 2% shredded cheddar. Other options: load with veggies (mushrooms, peppers, onions, etc). Meat and cheese omelet with turkey or ham and 2% cheese.

    Egg muffins. You can find several recipes. These cook in muffin tins loaded with whatever you like; ham, broccoli, whatever.

    Go with the 40 calorie bread and light jellies. Smuckers light strawberry is good in my opinion.

    Breakfast pizza: top whole wheat pita with scrambled eggs, ham, salsa and cheese. Put under broiler til bubbling.

    Experiment. I'm a breakfast person. My husband isn't. These options helps me.
  • dubird
    dubird Posts: 1,849 Member
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    Sit down and split up your calories for each meal for your day. It'll be hard to stay with sometimes if you're used to a big breakfast, but you can gradually shift those calories to later in the day. Say, limit yourself to only 700 for a week. That gives you an extra 300 for lunch or dinner. Then, drop it some more. Another option is to limit it to 500 and add that extra 500 at night, either for dinner or dinner then a later snack. It's ok to eat something right before you go to sleep unless you have issues with acid reflux, so maybe a small snack right before bed will help.
  • Serena_Heart
    Serena_Heart Posts: 13 Member
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    chulipa wrote: »
    Spread your calories out more evenly through the day. Why and what do you eat for breakfast just interested my breakfast is anywhere between 200 -400 and im full

    I have struggled with binge eating issues since I was about 8 or 9. Here is an example of a breakfast I'd usually eat: 2 eggs fried in butter or olive oil, 1 potato, 50g onion, 1 T. ketchup, mushrooms, red peppers, on a bed of raw spinach. Then, 2 pieces of toast with butter, peanut butter, and jelly. On top of that, I could even eat 1 cup of grapes and then my usual coffee with heavy cream. It is not that food doesn't fill me up in the 200-400 calorie range, it's a behavioral issue.
  • refuseresist
    refuseresist Posts: 934 Member
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    What time are you eating this?
  • Serena_Heart
    Serena_Heart Posts: 13 Member
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    refuseresist wrote: »
    What time are you eating this?

    Roughly 9-10AM.
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
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    start saying you used to eat big breakfasts and now you are willing to try something different.

    make sure you have protien and fiber. eat slowly and chew slowly. some recommend drinking a glass of water prior to eating in order to feel fuller faster. stop eating when you are full
  • refuseresist
    refuseresist Posts: 934 Member
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    Maybe set a time limit for breakfast, cook yourself an omelette and time how long that takes to cook and eat. Then set a timer to tell you to do something else, force yourself to stop, have shower, walk the dog, go and buy a paper if the shops aren't too much of a binge trigger. Do you work?
  • chulipa
    chulipa Posts: 650 Member
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    I have always have a problem with food I like it it tastes good but I found out cuting back I feel so much better. I just had to stop and only eat what my body needs my life is more important than food I just didnt need.
  • Serena_Heart
    Serena_Heart Posts: 13 Member
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    refuseresist wrote: »
    Maybe set a time limit for breakfast, cook yourself an omelette and time how long that takes to cook and eat. Then set a timer to tell you to do something else, force yourself to stop, have shower, walk the dog, go and buy a paper if the shops aren't too much of a binge trigger. Do you work?

    That is a great idea :smiley:

    I work full-time, and I believe that's part of the problem. I'm self conscious about eating at work, so I tend to eat in my at-home time only. I should start bringing a lunch to eat in my car. My hours are afternoon, so it makes sense that this is happening. I've always been this way, but my current job makes it worse.
  • tincanonastring
    tincanonastring Posts: 3,944 Member
    edited September 2015
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    Meal timing doesn't really matter in the context of weight management, so if you're able to manage the rest of your day's calories, there's nothing wrong with eating the majority of them during breakfast. I know people who eat all of their daily calories in one meal.

    If you're having an issue making it through the rest of the day, either set a lower (but still high) calorie limit for breakfast (say, 50% of your daily calories) or add in some cardio so you can eat more as the day progresses.

    ETA: Sorry, I typed this and then took a while to hit submit. Didn't see your reference to binge eating until afterwards. If that's the case, you may want to just ignore what I posted! I like that idea about the timer and forcing yourself to complete activities before adding more food to breakfast. That's a great idea if you have the time in the morning.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,972 Member
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    Serena_Heart wrote: »
    chulipa wrote: »
    Spread your calories out more evenly through the day. Why and what do you eat for breakfast just interested my breakfast is anywhere between 200 -400 and im full

    I have struggled with binge eating issues since I was about 8 or 9. Here is an example of a breakfast I'd usually eat: 2 eggs fried in butter or olive oil, 1 potato, 50g onion, 1 T. ketchup, mushrooms, red peppers, on a bed of raw spinach. Then, 2 pieces of toast with butter, peanut butter, and jelly. On top of that, I could even eat 1 cup of grapes and then my usual coffee with heavy cream. It is not that food doesn't fill me up in the 200-400 calorie range, it's a behavioral issue.

    Have you had therapy for this? In particular cognitive behavioral therapy?
  • MoiAussi93
    MoiAussi93 Posts: 1,948 Member
    edited September 2015
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    Serena_Heart wrote: »
    chulipa wrote: »
    Spread your calories out more evenly through the day. Why and what do you eat for breakfast just interested my breakfast is anywhere between 200 -400 and im full

    I have struggled with binge eating issues since I was about 8 or 9. Here is an example of a breakfast I'd usually eat: 2 eggs fried in butter or olive oil, 1 potato, 50g onion, 1 T. ketchup, mushrooms, red peppers, on a bed of raw spinach. Then, 2 pieces of toast with butter, peanut butter, and jelly. On top of that, I could even eat 1 cup of grapes and then my usual coffee with heavy cream. It is not that food doesn't fill me up in the 200-400 calorie range, it's a behavioral issue.

    If that is your typical breakfast you have two options...1) Do something completely different that is less calories. 2) Just tweak what you normally do to reduce calories.

    For example, eating a potato AND two pieces of toast is A LOT of carbs...much more than you need in one meal. I'm not at all saying you must go low carb, but perhaps you should try cutting either the toast or the potato and keep everything else the same. That will save you at least a couple hundred calories right there (I assume you have some fat with the potato...either cooking in oil or butter), or even more (two pieces of bread plus one serving of peanut butter and one serving of butter is approximately 400 calories). Also, if you keep the toast, choose EITHER peanut butter OR butter, not both. OR eat both but use half as much as each. Both have a lot of calories. And/or have one piece of toast instead of two...that cuts out half the calories regardless of how you have it.

    Just doing that will save a few hundred calories and you can gradually reduce even more if you want to.
  • refuseresist
    refuseresist Posts: 934 Member
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    Serena_Heart wrote: »
    refuseresist wrote: »
    Maybe set a time limit for breakfast, cook yourself an omelette and time how long that takes to cook and eat. Then set a timer to tell you to do something else, force yourself to stop, have shower, walk the dog, go and buy a paper if the shops aren't too much of a binge trigger. Do you work?

    That is a great idea :smiley:

    I work full-time, and I believe that's part of the problem. I'm self conscious about eating at work, so I tend to eat in my at-home time only. I should start bringing a lunch to eat in my car. My hours are afternoon, so it makes sense that this is happening. I've always been this way, but my current job makes it worse.

    Put a structure in place limiting your opportunity to binge, if you have a phone which does alarms perhaps this might be useful. So in your head you go 'ok, breakfast times over', now its 'walk round the block time'
  • Serena_Heart
    Serena_Heart Posts: 13 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Serena_Heart wrote: »
    chulipa wrote: »
    Spread your calories out more evenly through the day. Why and what do you eat for breakfast just interested my breakfast is anywhere between 200 -400 and im full

    I have struggled with binge eating issues since I was about 8 or 9. Here is an example of a breakfast I'd usually eat: 2 eggs fried in butter or olive oil, 1 potato, 50g onion, 1 T. ketchup, mushrooms, red peppers, on a bed of raw spinach. Then, 2 pieces of toast with butter, peanut butter, and jelly. On top of that, I could even eat 1 cup of grapes and then my usual coffee with heavy cream. It is not that food doesn't fill me up in the 200-400 calorie range, it's a behavioral issue.

    Have you had therapy for this? In particular cognitive behavioral therapy?

    I have had therapy for other issues, but not with eating as the main focus. Maybe it's time :smile:

    I love all the suggestions I'm getting here, and think I will try them in addition to some CBT.
  • mamadon
    mamadon Posts: 1,422 Member
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    Breakfast is my favorite meal. You can be creative to get more caloric bang for your buck. A typical breakfast for me. is 2 slices of Sara Lee 45 calorie per slice bread, one egg fried with pam, two turkey sausage patties and a frozen hash brown patty. That is a pretty good sized breakfast for 415 calories.
  • ntinkham88
    ntinkham88 Posts: 130 Member
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    Eating a big breakfast is fine as long as your other meals are smaller so you can be within your calories. I suggest only putting a little on your plate at a time and use smaller plates. It actually tricks your mind to thinking you have more on your plate than you do. Also try to eat slower and savor every bite. I really struggle with this part but I know that if you eat too fast, you don't realize you're full until it's too late.

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