Can't stop bingeing at night
Replies
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iluv2jump221 wrote: »iluv2jump221 wrote: »Hi! So I have struggled with this mild binge-eating habit for about a year now, and every day I eat super clean and tell myself that I won't eat after dinner, but when the time after dinner comes, I always end up eating unnecessary food (whether it be healthy or dessert) and feel disgusting and bloated. I get to a point where I just eat everything in sight, especially peanut butter and ice cream. I wish i could throw it all out but my family eats it too! I have literally tried everything to get rid of this habit. I really need to lose at least 5lbs (i am 6ft tall, fairly muscular, and 160lbs) because I do prom dress modeling and Im an avid competitive equestrian so basically I need to be super lean. Ugh.
This has, more or less, been my struggle. I'm just begun to get a handle on it over the last 6 months, and some things that have helped for me.
1) Paying attention to hunger - What I mean by this is it's very easy, especially when you're used to binging on all kinds of sugar and fat, to start getting cravings. Often these cravings feel ALOT like you're hungry. What's worked for me to distinguish between the two is ask myself "Would I be totally cool with going down and eating a plateful of brocolli". If the answer is no, then I start to realize I'm not hungry, just craving.
If the answer is yes, I say okay and go grab a glass of water and make myself a small, maybe 200kcal plate of good food and then wait 30 mins. Usually I don't have a problem after that, if I'm still crazy hungry I might eat another round
2)Decoupling Food from Pleasure - I think a large portion of people that struggle with weight loss, especially binging, do so because they are emotional/boredom eaters. Quite possibly without knowing it. I've come to realize over the past year this really describes me, and I was pretty oblivious to it for a long time. Often at times where I didn't really have anything better to do, I'd find myself staring into the refrigerator holding the door looking for something to catch my eye. That's boredom eating, not hunger. Brocolli test works good there, and then I've made it my goal to try and replace that boredom eating with 15 minutes of being productive in some way.
The other danger is emotional eating. Which ranges from eating extra junk food because you slayed a hard workout that day, to craving food as a result of a stressful day, to wanting to treat yourself because you accomplished something meaningful. For me personally this is a very dangerous mindset. Food = Reward/Comfort just doesn't mesh well with weight loss, and makes it really easy to find excuses to eat more.
3)Chew, but don't swallow - I don't know if I'd call this a recommendation, but it worked for me. I would chew the junk food I wanted to eat to get the taste, then spit it out. Did it for about 2 cookies, then thought about it for a second and was thoroughly grossed out and all I could wonder is what, exactly, was I *kitten* doing? Helped me realize that I had a pretty bad mindset about food if I was willing to do that just to satisfy some cravings.
Thanks so much for all the advice!! Its really helping me out! I will admit i have done the chew and not swallow thing...and its gross. But i will keep everyhting in mind thanks!
Please please please don't do this. It is actually a symptom of an eating order.0 -
I eat a loverly protein pancake with nut butter and herbal tea (within my calorie macro) and save a nice relaxing hobby for evening. I also get really early to exercise and am tired and go to bed earlier. That all helps too0
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iluv2jump221 wrote: »iluv2jump221 wrote: »Hi! So I have struggled with this mild binge-eating habit for about a year now, and every day I eat super clean and tell myself that I won't eat after dinner, but when the time after dinner comes, I always end up eating unnecessary food (whether it be healthy or dessert) and feel disgusting and bloated. I get to a point where I just eat everything in sight, especially peanut butter and ice cream. I wish i could throw it all out but my family eats it too! I have literally tried everything to get rid of this habit. I really need to lose at least 5lbs (i am 6ft tall, fairly muscular, and 160lbs) because I do prom dress modeling and Im an avid competitive equestrian so basically I need to be super lean. Ugh.
This has, more or less, been my struggle. I'm just begun to get a handle on it over the last 6 months, and some things that have helped for me.
1) Paying attention to hunger - What I mean by this is it's very easy, especially when you're used to binging on all kinds of sugar and fat, to start getting cravings. Often these cravings feel ALOT like you're hungry. What's worked for me to distinguish between the two is ask myself "Would I be totally cool with going down and eating a plateful of brocolli". If the answer is no, then I start to realize I'm not hungry, just craving.
If the answer is yes, I say okay and go grab a glass of water and make myself a small, maybe 200kcal plate of good food and then wait 30 mins. Usually I don't have a problem after that, if I'm still crazy hungry I might eat another round
2)Decoupling Food from Pleasure - I think a large portion of people that struggle with weight loss, especially binging, do so because they are emotional/boredom eaters. Quite possibly without knowing it. I've come to realize over the past year this really describes me, and I was pretty oblivious to it for a long time. Often at times where I didn't really have anything better to do, I'd find myself staring into the refrigerator holding the door looking for something to catch my eye. That's boredom eating, not hunger. Brocolli test works good there, and then I've made it my goal to try and replace that boredom eating with 15 minutes of being productive in some way.
The other danger is emotional eating. Which ranges from eating extra junk food because you slayed a hard workout that day, to craving food as a result of a stressful day, to wanting to treat yourself because you accomplished something meaningful. For me personally this is a very dangerous mindset. Food = Reward/Comfort just doesn't mesh well with weight loss, and makes it really easy to find excuses to eat more.
3)Chew, but don't swallow - I don't know if I'd call this a recommendation, but it worked for me. I would chew the junk food I wanted to eat to get the taste, then spit it out. Did it for about 2 cookies, then thought about it for a second and was thoroughly grossed out and all I could wonder is what, exactly, was I *kitten* doing? Helped me realize that I had a pretty bad mindset about food if I was willing to do that just to satisfy some cravings.
Thanks so much for all the advice!! Its really helping me out! I will admit i have done the chew and not swallow thing...and its gross. But i will keep everyhting in mind thanks!
Please please please don't do this. It is actually a symptom of an eating order.
If you mean the chewing and not swallowing, I havent done it in a while, it was like once or twice and thinking back, its disgusting. So i will never do it again. Aw thanks so much for caring!
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mandykent111 wrote: »iluv2jump221 wrote: »Hi! So I have struggled with this mild binge-eating habit for about a year now, and every day I eat super clean and tell myself that I won't eat after dinner, but when the time after dinner comes, I always end up eating unnecessary food (whether it be healthy or dessert) and feel disgusting and bloated. I get to a point where I just eat everything in sight, especially peanut butter and ice cream. I wish i could throw it all out but my family eats it too! I have literally tried everything to get rid of this habit. I really need to lose at least 5lbs (i am 6ft tall, fairly muscular, and 160lbs) because I do prom dress modeling and Im an avid competitive equestrian so basically I need to be super lean. Ugh.
I have the same problem - I think that we all do.
You should check out Liporidex PM on amazon. I love all of their stuff. But this is my favorite bc its got no stimulants in and no melatonin either. I'm able to not think about food and get a great night sleep.
Thanks me later
I will look into it thanks!0 -
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Didn't read through all the posts, so I may be repeating things. I don't know if I call mine binge eating, but sometimes at night all willpower is gone and I want to eat. I find a way to explain why it's ok. Doesn't happen often, but very annoying because usually I'm pretty strict and can control myself.
These are things that work for me:
- eat less during the day so I do have 500 calories left for the evening
- go for an additional walk during the day to earn more calories to eat
- in the evening when I want to eat, I go for a brisk walk, incorporate some jogging. This gets me a couple of hundred calories and I often don't even want to eat afterwards, or not as much.
- have salads made in advance, and just eat that
- lots of water
- if I'm eating it's protein, and not carbs. Protein will satisfy me, but eating carbs wants me to eat more.0 -
Its so fustrating. I need to just try this advice. Im going to tomorrow night: brush my teeth right after dinner and just have water and tea the rest of the night while i study for midterms! Tomorrow is my day! Im afraid binging has become a habit (became one a long time ago) rather than like a psycological/emotional issue0
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hollynurse803 wrote: »
Then mine must be a snail. I never eat before noon but I've still lost 35 pounds so....0 -
Assuming you are eating enough throughout the day, it's less about hunger and more about being bored and wanting to munch on something. Try brushing your teeth right after dinner. It helps reduce the urge to snack.0
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@iluv2jump221 How many net calories do you consume through dinnertime?0
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kshama2001 wrote: »@iluv2jump221 How many net calories do you consume through dinnertime?
It says 245! Im pretty sure i usually have over 300 most days though. Like im definetly not starving or hungry after dinner0 -
I have this problem too, I can eat like a saint all day all within my macros and even my evening meal is usually very good. However come "dessert time" I want a little something, then something else, then something else. I usually crave buttery toast, nutella, chocolate, crumpets, cake, biscuits etc.! All the bad carbs.
I have to have something so I do try to save calories throughout the day for it. Otherwise I tell myself if I go and burn X amount of calories at the gym then a certain couple of snacks is allowed as my reward (as long as I'm within my calorie allowance of course).
I find having a sweet tasting drink (e.g. coffee with sweetener, diet soda etc.) helps squash sweet cravings and I like to doodle, paint or colour - adult colouring books with a new pencil case of lovely pens/pencils keeps my mind and hands occupied a treat!
Treating yourself helps too - e.g. I like to go and have a nice bubble bath or hot shower, wash my hair, use nice products, body creams and a nice spritz of perfume and some new clean pyjamas. This way I'm conscious of my body and I feel like I'm looking after myself in other ways so it motivates me to look after myself diet wise too.0 -
There is a lot of bad advice here.
1 ) Don't bother chewing and spitting out food - not only is this a sign of an ED but doing this releases metabolic signals that food is coming, when it is absent, you'll create further hunger signals that will reinforce the tendency to binge eat.
2 ) Do ignore any advice about timing of eating - if eating later helps, do it. Timing doesn't really matter with respect to metabolism.
3 ) Be careful with overly-restrictive clean eating. One of the reasons you might be binging is your clean-eating habit. Too strict in the day, results in giving in at night. You can eat a lot of different things and stay lean. A small piece of dark chocolate (if that is your thing) will not make you fat, will not destroy your goals. Learning when to relax allows greater focus on the right rigours.
4 ) Make sure your calorie deficit is not too large. You are only trying to lose a few pounds, too much calorie restriction, especially when highly active, can lead to further pressure for binging.
5 ) Macros - rather than focus on the "cleanliness" of your diet look to meet your fat and protein needs. Set them, track them and try to hit them consistently for a few weeks. See if meeting fats and protein reduces binging tendencies.
6 ) Take a supplement for vitamins - while not necessarily the most useful - some vitamin supplementation can reduce binging tendencies. Especially while dieting.
7 ) If you've been at this a long time. Take diet breaks. This doesn't mean eat everything in sight, but allow yourself a day or a week of balance - eat at maintenance and relax. Then refocus.
8 ) Feel free to try all the mind game stuff - nails, brushed teeth, etc... some of these can help to break a mold. But dietary habits are long term, focus on long term fixes.
Like riding a horse you gotta hold on but not too tightly.0 -
SqueakyBeans88 wrote: »I have this problem too, I can eat like a saint all day all within my macros and even my evening meal is usually very good. However come "dessert time" I want a little something, then something else, then something else. I usually crave buttery toast, nutella, chocolate, crumpets, cake, biscuits etc.! All the bad carbs.
I have to have something so I do try to save calories throughout the day for it. Otherwise I tell myself if I go and burn X amount of calories at the gym then a certain couple of snacks is allowed as my reward (as long as I'm within my calorie allowance of course).
I find having a sweet tasting drink (e.g. coffee with sweetener, diet soda etc.) helps squash sweet cravings and I like to doodle, paint or colour - adult colouring books with a new pencil case of lovely pens/pencils keeps my mind and hands occupied a treat!
Treating yourself helps too - e.g. I like to go and have a nice bubble bath or hot shower, wash my hair, use nice products, body creams and a nice spritz of perfume and some new clean pyjamas. This way I'm conscious of my body and I feel like I'm looking after myself in other ways so it motivates me to look after myself diet wise too.
Wow this is such great advice...definetly going to try!!!0 -
EvgeniZyntx wrote: »There is a lot of bad advice here.
1 ) Don't bother chewing and spitting out food - not only is this a sign of an ED but doing this releases metabolic signals that food is coming, when it is absent, you'll create further hunger signals that will reinforce the tendency to binge eat.
2 ) Do ignore any advice about timing of eating - if eating later helps, do it. Timing doesn't really matter with respect to metabolism.
3 ) Be careful with overly-restrictive clean eating. One of the reasons you might be binging is your clean-eating habit. Too strict in the day, results in giving in at night. You can eat a lot of different things and stay lean. A small piece of dark chocolate (if that is your thing) will not make you fat, will not destroy your goals. Learning when to relax allows greater focus on the right rigours.
4 ) Make sure your calorie deficit is not too large. You are only trying to lose a few pounds, too much calorie restriction, especially when highly active, can lead to further pressure for binging.
5 ) Macros - rather than focus on the "cleanliness" of your diet look to meet your fat and protein needs. Set them, track them and try to hit them consistently for a few weeks. See if meeting fats and protein reduces binging tendencies.
6 ) Take a supplement for vitamins - while not necessarily the most useful - some vitamin supplementation can reduce binging tendencies. Especially while dieting.
7 ) If you've been at this a long time. Take diet breaks. This doesn't mean eat everything in sight, but allow yourself a day or a week of balance - eat at maintenance and relax. Then refocus.
8 ) Feel free to try all the mind game stuff - nails, brushed teeth, etc... some of these can help to break a mold. But dietary habits are long term, focus on long term fixes.
Like riding a horse you gotta hold on but not too tightly.
Haha wow great analogy (im an equestrian!) and great advice! thanks so much for taking so much time and stuff answering! It really is super nice of you (and everyone!)0 -
I am going to try some of this advice tomorrow! Will let you know how i do!0
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I mix 1/2 c 1% cottage cheese & 1/2 c frozen berries, a dash of vanilla & stevia in a blender. It's like protein packed berry soft serve! If I'm really hungry, I also crisp up a Mission Low Carb Wheat Tortilla (6 net carbs so it won't kill me to eat it at night). To toast, spray w coconut cooking spray (any will work), sprinkle with cinnamon & stevia & bake on 400° for 7 minutes... then I slice it into about 20 little "chips" for scooping up the cottage/berry whip0
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If I want something salty instead of sweet, I melt 1 Light Swiss Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge (1.5 g fat) in a few spoonfuls of natural salsa & I toast the wrap (as listed in my last reply) but instead of cinnamon & stevia , I use sea salt or garlic.0
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I just slap on my night cream and go to sleep..0
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I go through periods like this too. Other times I just need something a little sweet at the end of the day. A banana dipped in 1/2 tbsp peanut butter and 1 tbsp chocolate sauce or rice cracker and peanut butter are satisfying to me. It's definitely hard and others have given great advise on how to get to the bottom of the issue. I agree with pre logging and leaving 200-300 calories at the end of the day for snacks.0
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iluv2jump221 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »@iluv2jump221 How many net calories do you consume through dinnertime?
It says 245! Im pretty sure i usually have over 300 most days though. Like im definetly not starving or hungry after dinner
I'm not sure you understood me. I'm wondering how many calories you eat before dinner, minus calories you earn from exercise.
If only 245-300 before dinner, no wonder you want to keep eating after dinner.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »iluv2jump221 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »@iluv2jump221 How many net calories do you consume through dinnertime?
It says 245! Im pretty sure i usually have over 300 most days though. Like im definetly not starving or hungry after dinner
I'm not sure you understood me. I'm wondering how many calories you eat before dinner, minus calories you earn from exercise.
If only 245-300 before dinner, no wonder you want to keep eating after dinner.
Oh yeah sorry! Kinda new to this stuff. Usually around 800 before dinner, on a good day. Since i made this post i have been concentrating on eating well during the day.0 -
julie_zepeda wrote: »This was a great post. I have the same issue and will try this recommendation as well as read the website provided earlier.
This has, more or less, been my struggle. I'm just begun to get a handle on it over the last 6 months, and some things that have helped for me.
1) Paying attention to hunger - What I mean by this is it's very easy, especially when you're used to binging on all kinds of sugar and fat, to start getting cravings. Often these cravings feel ALOT like you're hungry. What's worked for me to distinguish between the two is ask myself "Would I be totally cool with going down and eating a plateful of brocolli". If the answer is no, then I start to realize I'm not hungry, just craving.
If the answer is yes, I say okay and go grab a glass of water and make myself a small, maybe 200kcal plate of good food and then wait 30 mins. Usually I don't have a problem after that, if I'm still crazy hungry I might eat another round
2)Decoupling Food from Pleasure - I think a large portion of people that struggle with weight loss, especially binging, do so because they are emotional/boredom eaters. Quite possibly without knowing it. I've come to realize over the past year this really describes me, and I was pretty oblivious to it for a long time. Often at times where I didn't really have anything better to do, I'd find myself staring into the refrigerator holding the door looking for something to catch my eye. That's boredom eating, not hunger. Brocolli test works good there, and then I've made it my goal to try and replace that boredom eating with 15 minutes of being productive in some way.
The other danger is emotional eating. Which ranges from eating extra junk food because you slayed a hard workout that day, to craving food as a result of a stressful day, to wanting to treat yourself because you accomplished something meaningful. For me personally this is a very dangerous mindset. Food = Reward/Comfort just doesn't mesh well with weight loss, and makes it really easy to find excuses to eat more.
3)Chew, but don't swallow - I don't know if I'd call this a recommendation, but it worked for me. I would chew the junk food I wanted to eat to get the taste, then spit it out. Did it for about 2 cookies, then thought about it for a second and was thoroughly grossed out and all I could wonder is what, exactly, was I *kitten* doing? Helped me realize that I had a pretty bad mindset about food if I was willing to do that just to satisfy some cravings.
+1. Good post, L_Master0 -
I have the same problem- when I get into this mode of eating I just first notice that it's happening just as you have- and then I make sure to conserve some of my calories to eat late at night. Sometimes I will do an entire perfect day...but just want to eat at midnight! Not hungry... not emotional, perhaps just habit. So; now I save calories and plan for it! Soon you will be eating those earlier and earlier and not have this issue as frequently!0
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I love chocolate and can easily eat an entire bar in one sitting. I've found that buying the most expensive chocolate I can afford helps me keep it down to one square per evening, or even one square every couple of days. It feels very luxurious to eat the fancy chocolate, so I feel like I'm treating myself, while if I were to eat the whole thing in one go I'd feel like I'm "wasting" it, plus I wouldn't be able to afford to buy more, haha. Over time, it's also changed how I taste chocolate and it's impossible for me to eat all the sugar-filled cheap ones I used to love.
Maybe try keeping your snacks separate from everyone else's - whether you buy yourself something super luxurious and really savor a little bit every evening, or buy yourself something healthier so when the urge strikes you know you have a go-to snack.
If ice cream is your weakness, try buying sorbet (but check the label - some have more sugar and calories than ice cream!) Or even make your own... Making your own is awesome because you can keep an eye on what goes in, as well as making it taste exactly how you want0 -
Thanka for the advice guys! I had a really good day yesterday...just had one cup of ice cream and a serving of my all natural homemade protein cookie dough. Which was good. And then i just didnt eat after that! Woohoo! Im gking to try again tonight and just have the cookie dough and then brush my teeth.0
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I have night binge issues too. I saved calories for a bit, but then I tried to stop that and use that was a tactic to stop my binge knowing I didn't have anything allocated for it. I also got to the point where I put my bike lock on my fridge doors so I had to pause for a bit and enter my combo to even access fridge. Have put obstructions to get into kitchen too. I always try to remind myself that giving into the binge feeds into the HABIT which we wanna break. Breaking it can take a week or two, but once it's broken it's much easier to deal with.0
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I have night binge issues too. I saved calories for a bit, but then I tried to stop that and use that was a tactic to stop my binge knowing I didn't have anything allocated for it. I also got to the point where I put my bike lock on my fridge doors so I had to pause for a bit and enter my combo to even access fridge. Have put obstructions to get into kitchen too. I always try to remind myself that giving into the binge feeds into the HABIT which we wanna break. Breaking it can take a week or two, but once it's broken it's much easier to deal with.
Thanks!0
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