Binge Eating / Emotional Eating

I emotional binge eat as well. Today I found out they are moving my husband's office to Phoenix next year so I've been a wreck all morning. After I weighed and ate my second serving of my kids gold fish I could see what the rest of the day was about to be like so I picked up my toddler and we went outside and played with chalk. It was a great distraction and helped me get a better handle on my emotions.

yep. but not on healthy food. on sweets mostly.

All the time. Most of the time I don;t realize that's why I'm eating but I am starting to get more tuned into it. If I can identify that's why I'm eating I have a better chance of stopping it

Your protein and fat goals are pretty low. That would make me starved!!!

Try to get those macros up to 0.6-0.7g/ lb of body weight for protein and around 60g/day for fat (especially important for nutrient uptake and hormonal function in women).

Yes!!! I struggle with this everyday...

I'm a bored/emotional eater. My bf works nights, so I'm home alone a lot. I do fine with my eating at work, but when I'm home and I don't have anyone to talk to, I eat. When I have a rough day, it's worse. It's a hard thing to deal with, but using this app has really helped me. People on here are truly supportive and helpful.

janejellyroll wrote: »

When you say you binge on "healthy food," it makes me wonder if you're getting enough of what you need day-to-day. I tend to struggle with the compulsion to binge when I eat too low fat. Are you getting enough fat?

For me not getting enough protein can lead to uncontrolled eating.

@Fay84Vegan you only had 11% protein yesterday. What about adding some vegan protein powder to your juice drinks and legumes to your other meals?

And like @janejellyroll said, add some fat. You were only 11% for that yesterday as well. I add walnut oil and such to smoothies to boost the fat content of that.

Just looked at your last week or so in your diary. Maybe you aren't varying your diet enough? Maybe some of the binge eating is because your body is wanting something different?? I saw that when your hungry you eat and when you feel a binge coming on that your not necessarily hungry, but its definitely something. As far as your diary, your fat is fairly low and when vegan, protein is about where you are at. But that might be an area to look at. But most of all, I would try to quiet your body and really reflect on what could be possible triggers since you aren't actually hungry. And honestly, I think most binge sessions aren't when people are actually hungry. To me, that seems to be a common thread.

Fay84Vegan wrote: »

Does anyone that suffers from Binge Eating KNOW what THEIR Triggers actually are...??

Definitely.
Stress, Anger, Loneliness, Overwhelming emotions.

I use overeating/binge eating/emotional eating to soothe myself when there's nothing going right.
What helps me is realizing that maybe I really don't want to eat that full pizza, I just really want to get a handle on whatever it is that's bugging me.
Then I move onto, can I control this situation I'm in or not? Thinking it through helps me realize I'm not hungry/craving it, just trying to soothe my emotions.

I also binge on junk food/comfort foods up to 6,000 calories in one sitting. I'm not proud of it, but I have reduced the instances.

I usually get triggered by a high stress day at work. What I do to help combat it is I agree to let myself have a cup of chocolate frozen yogurt during lunch. It equates to about 200 calories, but usually it's enough to keep me from going nuts and making really bad decisions when I get off work (and can say, drive to a McDonald's or something similar and binge on burgers and fries).

If you frequently have these high stress/emotional days, it may be useful for you to find out what triggers it and if there are other things you can do that will make you happy. Maybe take a hot bath with scented candles or fancy bath oils? Watch your favorite movie? If you've lost weight successful and keep track of it (I keep a daily weight log), look it over and praise yourself for your success?

You can also try doing what I do and develop methods to combat binge eating too much. Like I said, having that cup of frozen yogurt in the middle of a stressful day usually keeps me from going over the edge. If you can find a way to eat a small/reasonable portion of your favorite junk food, then this may help keep you from going overboard in general.

It also helps for me that the frozen yogurt is the ONLY junk food that we keep in the house. I don't shop too far in advanced, so there is normally very little food lying around that isn't accounted for (ie: for making that day's/week's breakfasts, lunches, dinners, or are leftovers from a previous dinner.) As a result, there isn't much for me to binge on in the first place (I know for some people/families, this isn't realistic).

Hope this helps.

I am an emotional eater too. This group is very helpful!!
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1012-emotional-eating

Fay84Vegan wrote: »

Does anyone that suffers from Binge Eating KNOW what THEIR Triggers actually are...??

You have to figure that out in order to stop it. It may not be one particular thing but a cumulation of events or interactions. In my opinion you can get control through strategies before you have it all figured out. Don't wait for a big enlightening moment to start the process of stopping. In my case it's happening gradually. A key for me is to always be aware of what I am eating and why for every calorie I consume whether binging or just eating normally.

I am very committed to acknowledging when I have an episode. I log every single calorie so I am aware of exactly how I am sabotaging myself. Doing that has helped me especially when I log what's going on along with what I have eaten. If you do that long enough, you'll see patterns. The part that I am not good at is not beating myself up for the episode. The negative self talk doesn't help me.

I would echoe many of the triggers above. I had a binge last night actually, triggered by a high stress day at work (it didn't help that I was so incredibly busy/stressed that I barely ate all day). By the time I got home, I was hungry and exhausted. The idea of making chicken breast & veggies was just not going to make me feel better. And yes, sometimes I still use food to make me feel better when I shouldn't.

Personally, I feel I'm making progress because last night's binge ended last night. I woke up feeling gross, but I still weighed myself, logged it, and moved on. I also logged everything I ate last night, as accurately as possible. Taking ownership of what I did, and actually looking at those calories in my food diary helps me. I got back to my usual eating patterns & calories today. I realize now that one out of control night of eating won't undo all the good days, as long as I get back on track.

Eventually hoping to stop the binges completely....baby steps.

If it's triggered by anxiety, then vitamin B might help.

I am having some pretty bad anxiety right now, so I am taking vitamin b every morning. I take it with 3 almonds in case it is a fat soluble vitamin. It seems to be helping.

I am also going to bed earlier and that helps.

Last night I couldn't get back to sleep around 3 am, so I moved to a space that the cat could sleep on me and he helped me regulate and go back to sleep.