Oh-Em-Gee - What's with the binging?!

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This is starting to freak me out. Every night I overeat by like - 600-1000 calories. It's not that I'm hungry. I just want to eat. Anything and everything (which are all LC luckily - there's nothing else in the house, and my dad's high carb food does not seem to tempt me.) This has been going on the whole week.
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  • ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken
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    Could PMS be to blame?
  • Shadowmf023
    Shadowmf023 Posts: 812 Member
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    Could PMS be to blame?

    Maybe. But I can't say definitely. I've had one while on keto previously, and it wasn't nearly as bad.
  • Shadowmf023
    Shadowmf023 Posts: 812 Member
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    Did you binge pre-Keto? Or is this new behaviour for you?

    I'm a binge eater and I still struggle with it while in ketosis, but it's nothing like it was when I ate carbs. For me, it generally happens now when I'm just utterly frustrated with life, whereas before, every feeling and emotion under the sun could trigger a binge.

    Maybe try and understand the motivation behind your eating to help remedy the situation as you seem surprised by it. I know boredom is something that drives me to eat, so I go to the gym or go for a walk in the evening when I'm most likely to get bored and want to eat.

    You may just need to change your food up and make sure you're eating meals that are really satisfying you. A lot of people will probably say to eat more fat, but I find that food satisfaction for me comes from eating very specific foods when I start feeling bingey. Just dobbing an extra lump of butter on the plate doesn't cut it, it has to be specific foods that I really enjoy for me to quell that urge to eat everything in sight.

    Hope you find some food peace soon! :smile:

    It was also a pre-keto behaviour yes. But keto has lessened it significantly. I went from once or twice a week (binging on sweet stuff) to once or twice a month currently. I'll see how it goes when the hormones even out. It's just really stressful right now.
  • Phrick
    Phrick Posts: 2,765 Member
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    I know you recently stopped tracking; are you SURE you're getting enough fats at your meals? Even when I could swear up and down that I'm getting enough, bingey evenings are a sure sign that I'm actually not. Especially at dinner. Breakfast and lunch I seem to do OK but dinners are harder for me to get in a truly high amount of fat.
  • Shadowmf023
    Shadowmf023 Posts: 812 Member
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    Phrick wrote: »
    I know you recently stopped tracking; are you SURE you're getting enough fats at your meals? Even when I could swear up and down that I'm getting enough, bingey evenings are a sure sign that I'm actually not. Especially at dinner. Breakfast and lunch I seem to do OK but dinners are harder for me to get in a truly high amount of fat.

    These binges typically involve high fat foods. And I do make sure to add fat to my meals as well. So I can't really see how I could not be getting enough. Because of this, protein may be a concern again. But I'm not too worried about it now. I don't think I needed as much as I was eating.
  • Phrick
    Phrick Posts: 2,765 Member
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    well if you're binges are on high fat foods then I just wonder if that's the signal that you need more earlier in the day. I mean if the evening is your brain yelling "EAT ALL THE FAT..." I don't know, just speculating of course :)
  • Shadowmf023
    Shadowmf023 Posts: 812 Member
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    Phrick wrote: »
    well if you're binges are on high fat foods then I just wonder if that's the signal that you need more earlier in the day. I mean if the evening is your brain yelling "EAT ALL THE FAT..." I don't know, just speculating of course :)

    Mmm. I haven't thought about that. Could be. I try adding more fats earlier tomorrow.
  • Shadowmf023
    Shadowmf023 Posts: 812 Member
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    Roseygirl1 wrote: »
    Anxiety is a binge trigger for me more than anything. I did it in a mini way last night, having a second bowl of Fiber One cereal and almond milk. It wasn't that the amount was so big---1 cup each but that I had only planned for a half cup of cereal with milk, something I budget for in my daily net carbs. And of course, that I didn't need the food.

    I didn't even struggle with myself too much, it's like I knew I needed nerve "medicine" and I went and got it. I was clearly trying to numb myself in order to sleep----I was watching mindless TV, I was a wreck, anxious and angry. Had spent the evening with my aging parents talking about difficult subjects, one of which was final wishes and one of which was my son with bipolar disorder. They turned on the worry button for me big time.

    In future, I will set a timer, meditate 5 minutes, then write in my journal, then eat if I still need to. I would like, at age 61, to evolve beyond this coping mechanism, and I am seeing it actually as a spiritual journey. What else can Rosey do when anxious, angry, upset besides eat?

    I hope you find a good response to your triggers, whether they be physical or emotional. And maybe we can share what works!

    Susie

    Thanks so much! I actually have no idea what my triggers are. I'm such a mindless person. I forget everything. Maybe that's even part of the problem. The fact that I find it hard to pay attention outside of studying time. I just go about life without really thinking anything through.

    I suppose the only odd bit then is the fact that I actually realize that I've overeaten once it's done, and not during. What makes the "after" more attention-worthy than the "during" in my mind is a mystery to me.
  • KarlaYP
    KarlaYP Posts: 4,439 Member
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    After supper eating was hard to break, for me! The habit was the hardest part! I had/have a mantra that I use. It's simple, but it's worked! I tell myself,"I'm making the choice for me!", and it's worked! I repeat it whenever I feel I need it!

    Good luck with breaking your habit!
  • Persephone7676
    Persephone7676 Posts: 91 Member
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    Shadow I really feel you on this one. Geez it is so hard sometimes. Like a lot of you I'm still having a hard time 'realizing' when I'm not hungry? Sometimes I wonder if this is just a defective mechanism in some of us bingers. God forbid anyone TELL me to quit b/c then I'm gonna eat no matter what. I dunno why, but that is how my brain chemistry works. So annoying. I feel like I'm going over my calorie goal a lot but I keep it keto friendly so I've been trying not to worry about it. I do think it gets worse when my cycles 'would have' happened (hysterectomy but still have overies). It's only been a year since my hysterectomy so I feel kinda disconnected with what 'used to' work.
  • Shadowmf023
    Shadowmf023 Posts: 812 Member
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    Shadow I really feel you on this one. Geez it is so hard sometimes. Like a lot of you I'm still having a hard time 'realizing' when I'm not hungry? Sometimes I wonder if this is just a defective mechanism in some of us bingers. God forbid anyone TELL me to quit b/c then I'm gonna eat no matter what. I dunno why, but that is how my brain chemistry works. So annoying. I feel like I'm going over my calorie goal a lot but I keep it keto friendly so I've been trying not to worry about it. I do think it gets worse when my cycles 'would have' happened (hysterectomy but still have overies). It's only been a year since my hysterectomy so I feel kinda disconnected with what 'used to' work.

    I do know that HCLF doesn't work for me anymore. I haven't lost weight on it for like, 3 years. At least my binges are a lot less frequent on keto. And a lot smaller. Well, sort of.
  • toadqueen
    toadqueen Posts: 592 Member
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    I too had a pattern of binge eating pre and post keto. For me, the only thing that worked was to just not give in to it. It was difficult. I stopped trying to figure out why I was bingeing and just forced myself not to eat. I usually went to bed. I have not binged in quite a while. I wish you well with this. I know how awful it is.
  • ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken
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    Something that may help here. A cup of some sort of tea. I find that has helped me a bit. It makes me feel like I'm getting something.
  • Shadowmf023
    Shadowmf023 Posts: 812 Member
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    Something that may help here. A cup of some sort of tea. I find that has helped me a bit. It makes me feel like I'm getting something.

    Lol yes, I drink a lot of tea and coffee these days to try and control it. There's only one problem.. I can't stomach them without milk or cream. I add milk to every cup, because I can't do that with cream. But the carbs still add up.
  • kpk54
    kpk54 Posts: 4,474 Member
    edited September 2016
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    Something that seems to be helping me is "something cold". I had a serious ice cream binge habit. I began substituting full fat Greek yogurt and mounds of frozen nuts and frozen shredded coconut which helped keep it more keto friendly but definitely did not help regarding calories. I then substituted sugar free jello. While I question my use of aspertame, the COLD jello has kept me away from high calorie alternatives when that binge behavior surface. Might help if you're willing to sub. and use artificial sweeteners.
  • Shadowmf023
    Shadowmf023 Posts: 812 Member
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    kpk54 wrote: »
    Something that seems to be helping me is "something cold". I had a serious ice cream binge habit. I began substituting full fat Greek yogurt and mounds of frozen nuts and frozen shredded coconut which helped keep it more keto friendly but definitely did not help regarding calories. I then substituted sugar free jello. While I question my use of aspertame, the COLD jello has kept me away from high calorie alternatives when that binge behavior surface. Might help if you're willing to sub. and use artificial sweeteners.

    Mm. I've got some low carb flavoured drink powder (sweetened with Erythritol), perhaps I could mix that with gelatine and some stevia-erythritol blend and make my own jello?

    I've noticed some sugar free jello brands here, I use some of it in my keto 'oatmeal'. I don't know what they're sweetened with, but I'm pretty sure it's not aspartame. (Not that I'm scared of it, just I heard artificial sweeteners can cause cravings, supposedly stevia and 'natural' sweeteners don't cause them as bad)
  • ladipoet
    ladipoet Posts: 4,180 Member
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    @Shadowmf023 All commercially available gellatins that are available to purchase at grocery stores are sweetened with aspartame. The ONLY kind I've found which is not is this kind and you can only order it directly from the company (specifically their sugar-free gelatin):

    http://www.gagefoods.com/Products.aspx?hierarchyKey=67
  • BaconSan2
    BaconSan2 Posts: 260 Member
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    Sometimes binge eating is just you like to combine two pleasures at once. It is to elevate the semi boring thing up to next level. Netflix is great but hey night after night? So I would watch a movie AND eat popcorn 2 favourite but common things have now become a pretty good thing. Was I even the least bit hungry absolutely not - often it was a struggle to eat the stuff. So why do it? Habit - I tried to not eat during movies but I spent all my time thinking about "No I am not going to eat that" and an activity which was only semi entertaining at best now is a misery. So on WOE of eating I am trying to save some of my carbs for movie watching and get a small picky thing like sunflower seeds or pumpkins seeds so it seems like I am eating for a long time. Boredom or semi boredom is a BIG cause of binge eating. "Get a new life" you say. Hey, I am trying.