Cannot stop binge eating at night
reo7875
Posts: 17 Member
Hey everyone! I have a serious issue and am looking for any and all advice on how to stop it. I eat well all day and am sure to eat until I am full. I try to choose healthy options that are filling such as lean meats, veggies, etc. However, sometime around 6-8pm every single night, I ALWAYS start binge eating. I will have half of a bag to an entire bag of chips, full bags of candy, pasta, veggies, and leftovers from dinner all within a couple of hours. Sometimes I am even scolding myself and feeling awful as I'm eating the food, but I can't seem to make myself stop. I am great about working out and always eat very well and healthfully until the evening, but this binge eating at night has always been a problem for me. Does anyone have any practical, bite-sized (no pun intended) tips for breaking the cycle?
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Replies
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Are you under your calories at that time? I would get the munchies at night as well and would generally be under cals but the last 4-500 were crap like graham crackers and popcorn which are easy to eat and moreish. I started making my lunch 100 cals or so bigger and then making sure my dinner is 6-700 cals instead of the 4-500 I was doing and I am fuller much later into the night.4
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Have you talked to a professional about this? Binge disorders are sometimes difficult to self-treat.
Other than that, are you sure you're eating enough during the day? When I try to eat too little, it's harder to control my eating. If your idea of healthy eating is lean meats and vegetables, are you sure you're getting enough fat throughout the day?4 -
I have this issue too and i totally can relate. I find when I eat dinner later around 7pm , and include healthy carbs (brown rice or quinoa or potatos) that it keeps me fuller much longer and I don't binge. I leave room for a snack after dinner . Also, going to the gym helps me stay on track. Not sure if you go in the morning or night, but for me, going after work around 5-6, helps because I get home later and have to eat dinner later...etc...you get the point. Hope that helps. I think it's an emotional thing too. Maybe finding other outlets for feeling bored or lonely or whatever would help too....I'm still working on that myself. Therapy can also help or writing in a journal when you start to get cravings.1
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Don't have it in the house. I love to eat chips and I have them when I visit friends or go to Mexican food. I don't keep them in the house or I would eat them all the time.
I do suggest getting an air popper for popcorn. I got one recently from Target ($16.99) and can make a bucket like 7.5 cups of popcorn for 120 calories. I can eat all I want and not care about it.9 -
If you're eating the proper amount of calories during the day and you aren't physically hungry, then this is just a habit. Habits can be changed and replaced. If this is the case then you need to change your nighttime routine or your environment in order to break the pattern. Replace mindless eating at night with another (or several) activities.4
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Here are some things that help me:
- Skip breakfast and have a fairly light lunch so I have plenty of calories for dinner.
- Don't keep easy-to-binge foods in the house! No chips, cookies, crackers, cereal, etc. They are my kryptonite.
- Drink a big glass of water before and after dinner.
- After I've eaten my allotted calories for the evening, I immediately brush my teeth, floss and mouthwash.
- Doing something active immediately after eating your dinner can help switch your focus. Cleaning the house, going for a walk, having a hot shower.5 -
The struggle is real!!! I have my partner keep chips locked in a room downstairs (he takes them for lunches). I also try to drink a LOT of water. Like 80+oz / day. It’s still super hard but I think it helps a little. When I just can’t resist I reach for something lower in carbs.1
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You are either:
(A) on a very restricted "diet" and/or been dieting for a long time
(B) under eating
(C) dehydrated (a lot of so called "hunger" comes from lack of hydration). Drink a glass of water and see if you're still hungry in 30 min.
(D) All of the above
So ask yourself which applies to you? Also you may want to start eating later in the day and save calories for that times when you tend to binge.2 -
stop scolding yourself. That's your first mistake. Research has proven that when we beat ourselves up for "slipping up" we are actually likely to repeat the same behavior. Start by forgiving yourself when you slip.
Say "Oops I slipped once. But it doesn't mean I have to do it again"
Then when you crave the food or whatever it is stop. Count to 5 and say to yourself
"This craving is the normal part of weight loss. My body is going through a change. This is a normal biologic response to change."
If the craving is still there Then tell yourself :
I know my body thinks it wants this [food] but it doesn't need it."
If the craving is STILL there. Stop, observe what is going on and what you were doing that might have triggered the craving. Go do something else. (Like 10 jumping jacks, take a shower,) anything other than what you were doing at the time of your craving.2 -
Hey everyone! I have a serious issue and am looking for any and all advice on how to stop it. I eat well all day and am sure to eat until I am full. I try to choose healthy options that are filling such as lean meats, veggies, etc. However, sometime around 6-8pm every single night, I ALWAYS start binge eating. I will have half of a bag to an entire bag of chips, full bags of candy, pasta, veggies, and leftovers from dinner all within a couple of hours. Sometimes I am even scolding myself and feeling awful as I'm eating the food, but I can't seem to make myself stop. I am great about working out and always eat very well and healthfully until the evening, but this binge eating at night has always been a problem for me. Does anyone have any practical, bite-sized (no pun intended) tips for breaking the cycle?
How low are your daily calories? You say you are full at the time of your meals, but how many total calories is that? "Full" - there are ways to be full during a meal, but the overall calories might not be enough.
What do your macros look like? This goes to satiating foods. Are you meeting protein and fat goals? Protein, fiber and fat are satiating components.
Are you eliminating favorite foods instead of trying to manage portions. Elimination diets always backfire on me. I can only eliminate so long, and then maintenance is a bust too.
I save some of my calories for an evening snack. Single portion packs help me manage better than full size bags. Buy a 6 pack of "lunch size" potato chips, then savor every bite. Ghiradelli make individually wrapped squares of chocolate. One or two of those do the trick for me.3 -
Weird question but what are you doing at night? Are you bored? Do you watch TV at night?
While there's absolutely nothing wrong with watching TV (so I'm not making a dig at it) there has been some thought that watching TV has a relatively strong relationship with mindless, endless eating. If this is the case, I'd suggest finding something else to do for most nights: go to the gym at night instead, read a book, join a club, etc, etc.
Further, I have dealt with binge eating for about 6 years. I was in a very toxic and abusive relationship, which is actually when I started with the eating. If you really have a binge eating disorder (as opposed to just over eating) you need to consult a professional. Mine hasn't gone away, but it has gotten significantly better since working with a counsellor. Binge eaters can - and do - binge at any time . . . we are often not restricted to a certain time (unless that's a trigger). Over eating at night may likely just be boredom eating. As a binge eater, I didn't binge every day but when I did it was 4,000 (or more) calories in one sitting. I am not saying you don't have BED, but as someone who has dealt with it for a long time, snacking at night is not one of the symptoms I dealt with. They were binges of huge proportions, not every day and were normally triggered by something.
Just some food for thought.1 -
Habitual night eating/binge eating is a huge issue of mine too. Honestly I've just made peace with the fact that I'm a night eater. I don't usually eat breakfast (just coffee) and I use breakfast calories for before bed. I've gravitated towards splitting my food into 4 meals: Lunch (noonish), 3pm, Dinner (530ish) and 8pm. I will plug in my lunch and dinner in the morning to plan that out and I will have my 3pm and 8pm "meals" a little more "on the fly." lately at 3pm I have a cut up orange, a cheese stick, a granola bar, etc. I save some calories for my nighttime meal and sometimes will even put a mini workout after dinner if there's something I really want that I don't have enough for. As time has gone on I am finding that eating 4 meals between noon and about 9pm puts me at eating calorically a full meal every 2 hours or so. That has really cut down on any binge eating and feeling out of control, and it's also helping me to avoid feeling like I am restricted during this process. Last night I realized that even after having a small "healthy" snack at night...I had enough calories for 2 servings of tortilla chips and salsa...so I did and it was delicious. Another night I might eat some chocolate from christmas that I portioned out.2
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Pay attention to portions. I ate chips & candy while still losing weight. You just have to remember that a portion of chips is 10 -12 chips. Count them out on a plate. Put the bag away. Never eat from the bag.
Eat them very slowly. I had to play games with myself some times: have a chip taking very small bites, wait one full minute, have another, etc. I tried to get it so I could make 12 chips last at least 15-20 minutes.1 -
Have you tried taking an appetite suppressant? I've had issues with binge eating for years. I've read books, tried eating healthy, etc. and appetite suppressants are the only thing that have worked thus far. Right now I'm taking appetite attack by Her Diet.6
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Have you tried taking an appetite suppressant? I've had issues with binge eating for years. I've read books, tried eating healthy, etc. and appetite suppressants are the only thing that have worked thus far. Right now I'm taking appetite attack by Her Diet.
Judging by the ingredients, those look like expensive caffeine tablets.
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You sound an awful lot like me. BED's suck. And honestly, the only thing I find that's keeping me from doing it these days like I used to, is the fact that I started intermittent fasting in spring of 2017. That has been a Godsend. I fast from about 8 pm or so, sometimes a little later, until 2 pm or so the following day. Then I can eat (within reason) while still satisfying that urge to binge. I try very hard to stay within my macros and calories, which I increased last quarter of 2017 as I'm very active too, and that has made all the difference for me. I have always had a very unhealthy, albeit abusive relationship with food, and IF changed my life. Need support? Let's be friends!2
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First off, hugs and congrats for asking for help/being brave enough to talk about what, for so many, can be a shame-riddled topic.
Many, many of us struggle on some level with eating past fullness/satiety, eating ‘more’ than we planned or something different than we feel we ‘should’ - the spectrum runs from ‘damn, why can’t I stop eating these cookies at work’ to the ‘spend hundreds of dollars on food, cook-eat (maybe puke) all day’ type of insanity.
It’s all sucky and it’s all real and in the course of working with others and figuring out my own relationship with food, I find that what we THINK about the behavior is as powerful as the behavior itself.
Justifying and rationalizing can come in for some of us, especially those that train hard: we tell ourselves that tonight we’ll just eat, we can ‘work it off’ tomorrow. This, quite frankly, doesn’t work.
It puts us in a position to regard movement/exercise as a punitive measure, something that ‘makes up for’ or corrects another behavior, as opposed to something that is good on it’s own merits.
(Conversely, I do find that telling ourselves that an unplanned and perhaps not-biologically-needed evening snack will ‘make me feel well-fueled and super strong’ tomorrow can be helpful to prevent all-out sliding into a binge, the dangerous ‘fk it, today is ruined so I’ll start again tomorrow’ thinking.)
I workout in the morning, super early. At night, as I evaluate my fullness signals versus my ‘desire’ to eat, I try to pause and ask myself how I want to FEEL tomorrow. Do I want to be bloated, sluggish, weighed down by digesting all of that excess food? Or do I want to feel lean, powerful, fueled but not food-hungover?
Another thing that I find useful is to not create drama around an ‘over-feed’, should it happen.
I try to treat it as data: did I under-eat, either that day or over the course of a few days? In that case, binging can be a biological survival skill gone a bit awry- these are ‘compensatory’ binges.
I don’t tell myself I’ve ‘failed’ - typically binging, or the aftermath anyway, already feels crappy.
I don’t need to layer shame on top of that.
Maybe I did something that wasn’t in my best interest- that doesn’t mean I, as a person, am a failure.
Another technique I employ and encourage my clients to do: if you are able to recognize the ‘urge’ to eat (when you know you are not stomach-hungry/don’t have a planned meal) it IS possible to just sit with it.
(‘Yes, I’m having thoughts around binging. My brain is telling me that it will help with X. These are just thoughts. I don’t have to listen to them.’)
Even when it FEELS out of control, we have a choice.
We don’t necessarily have control of the pre-disposition/urges/brain chemistry - but we CAN control the actions that follow the thoughts.
It’s huge, to reach out for help when you recognize that you are repeatedly engaging in behavior that is out of line with acting in your own best self interest or doesn’t further your goals. Sometimes, professional help can be important if it’s an option.
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Do or do not, drink some whey isolate with your supper, then... when you find yourself thinking “ hey I have fud I can eat...” go for a walk before bedtime...you will burn some calories, and be away from the fud...0
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Thank you all for your suggestions and kind words!
I don't think that this is rooted so much in what/when I'm eating as opposed to environmental factors/habits, as some of you mentioned. I'm not necessarily on a restrictive diet. I eat when I'm hungry and eat enough to satisfy while trying to choose healthier and more filling options. I have noticed that whether I am using MFP or not, exercising or not, cutting out my favorite foods or not, this has been a pretty large issue in my life for the past year or two.
I've been trying to drink more water throughout the day, so hopefully that will help a bit. I like the suggestions to reallocate my calories to leave a little more wiggle room in the evening for when the cravings hit as well as to keep the junk food out of the house. Also will try brushing my teeth when I want to be done eating for the night and trying to be more mindful and ask myself whether or not I am actually hungry and why I have this huge urge to eat.
I believe it's more of a mental hurdle than a physical one. I can not be hungry whatsoever and plow through 1000+ calories before I even realize what I'm doing. I really like the suggestion to change my nightly habits and perhaps exercise or do something else to keep busy at night and keep me out of the kitchen. Perhaps speaking to a professional will be the next step.
Thank you all for your suggestions and kind words. We all have our own battles when it comes to living healthfully, and I really appreciate you all taking the time to help me out.
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try working out around the time you would start eating. i used to snack a lot at night until i started doing that. i'd workout around 7:00pm and for one, while you are working out you can't eat! and two after you work out you will feel great and the last thing you will want to do is eat a bunch of junk after. if you must eat something have something light like an apple or a couple sourdough pretzels or something. now i am hardly hungry at night even when i don't work out.0
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For all of us who struggle with bingeing, I highly recommend the book Bright Line Eating. It helped me understand what is going on in my brain when I feel divided against myself (eat it, no make the better choice, EAT IT, noooo!) and gives real help overcoming our obstacles from someone who has been where we are.0
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Try the plain oatmeal from Quaker, the one with 100 cal/pouch and 0 sugar; eat it with water only. It'll basically take away all your appetite but actually very nutritious to the body.1
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Have you tried taking an appetite suppressant? I've had issues with binge eating for years. I've read books, tried eating healthy, etc. and appetite suppressants are the only thing that have worked thus far. Right now I'm taking appetite attack by Her Diet.
Judging by the ingredients, those look like expensive caffeine tablets.
I take caffeine pills for energy, these work better for appetite. 1 -
Assuming you are eating a sensible diet during the day, you are hydrated and working out moderately, this sounds like a slight binge eating disorder. I have been exactly where you are and I have overcome this. Now I am still overweight (for other reasons, but getting a hold of that now:). So if you are eating healthy in the day and go awol at night here are some tips that helped me:
Just go to bed early - Nothing wrong with getting extra sleep and you are more apt to eat carbs and sugar when tired.
Limit TV and Computer Time - Just sitting there browsing or watching shows can make you mindless eat. If you must watch TV, perhaps pick up adult colouring, knitting etc. Keep those hands busy. If you must be on a PC, pick up some gaming lol. Keep busy.
Keep Mints near by: Most foods with mint taste gross and it kills the craving.
Obvious - Don't buy the garbage foods, I know easier said than done. But this one really helped me....although I could get pretty creative in that :"binge" state. I remember eating quick pudding with graham crackers because thats all I had.
Most Importantly! You need to find a way to cope with the anxiety around food / dieting. I only became a "binge eater" when I started to calorie count. Now I believe in eating a healthy diet in moderation and not restricting calories excessively, but my OCD would kick in and I would count every calorie, basically obsessively. Eat healthy all day, exercise, to only binge for 3-4 hours in the evening. At least the exercise helped me not gain I guess? I am sure I will get yelled at for this, but maybe take a little break from strictly counting calories, focus on whole healthy foods, still exercise and find different ways to cope with Stress in the evening. Because thats what binging is, a coping mechanism for anxiety/ stress and or depression. Find hobbies that make you happy to do in the evening that are not necessarily "exercise or diet" related.
If its becoming more serious, please speak to someone. It is a hard cycle to break like I said, ususally goes hand in hand with stress/anxiety/depression etc.
What helped me greatly (which is not everyone's thing) is hypnotism. Finding a hypnotism for losing weight and or anxiety brought me out of that binge eating cycle. Not only it is relaxing to listen to, but it took the anxiety I had about food and dieting away. I did Paul Mckenna's I Can Make You Thin. Or there are tons of Apps now. Even hypnotism for relaxation would probably help also. Now its NOT a quick fix to lose weight, but it helped me relax around food.
If you have questions message me It will be all good. Its really hard to talk about Binge Eating, because unless you have been there, you have no idea really how it makes you feel inside and how frustrating it is. Take care and good luck.
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Thank you for posting! I've been battling this for decades. Take a look at Dr Kushners Personality Diet book. He talks about this in detail. As a matter of fact I'm going to pull it off the shelf right now.0
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I was a serious binge eater. I first had to pinpoint why this was. I discovered it was a three prong problem. 1. I was bored and when I am bored, I eat, and not just eat I binge. I binge Netflix and binge on chips, cookies, ice-cream, etc. while I’m doing that. 2. I am tired so my body is craving carb heavy foods that will spike energy. 3. I love hand to mouth foods when I watch TV.
I knew I needed to do something, so I decided to tackle all three of these issues. 1. Create less “bored” time in my nighttime routine. 2. No longer stay up til 11:00, 12:00 at night. My bedtime is strictly 10:00 pm now (which also helps with #1). And 3. Accept that I am a hand to mouth eater so allow myself to do that with healthy options instead of those mentioned above. (Meal prep my binge hand to mouth foods).
Before I made my change, my nightly routine looked like this. Pick up fast food on my way to my son’s pre-school. Have him picked up by 6:30 and we were eating burgers and fries by 6:45. By 7:00, I would turn on the TV and have a bag of chips on my lap (WHY, I couldn’t possibly be hungry after killing a cheeseburger and fries!), 7:30 bath and bedtime prep, 8:00 my son was in bed. Time for TV binge and food binge until 11:00 or 12:00 pm. So 4 hours of binge eating after a fast-food burger and fries…. And I was surprised when I stepped on the scale that I would cry.
New routine. Pickup my son at 6:15, start cooking dinner at home at 6:30 (Allowing him to help cook makes it easier for him to be excited about healthy foods instead of the burgers and fries he was used to). Done cooking and eating by 7:15. Now I play a game with him (board game or work on his numbers/letters, or have dance party with him.) Still 7:30-8:00 is bath, book, and bed routine. Now this is normally when I start my TV/Food binge, but I want to delay that. So I go for a walk/jog from 8:15-8:45 and shower from 8:45 to 9:00, and since my bedtime is strictly 10:00, I shorten my “bored” time from 4 hours to 1 hour! #1 tackled. #2, I know that my body is tired and craves starchy foods, so with my strict bedtime of 10:00 pm (which melatonin helped at first to establish), I’m less tired. I also introduce either a coffee or herbal tea during my 1 hour of “bored” which the caffeine helps 1. Curve appetite and 2. Gives my body that little push of energy it craves no I crave less starchy foods. So tackling #3 (which is the hardest). I am a hand to mouth/TV watcher. I know this and accept this about myself and have STOPPED beating myself up about. So I now meal prep my binge hand to mouth foods because I AM going to do it, but I need to be smarter about it. So I prepackage snacks. My fav right now is a biiiig handful of raw mushrooms and a small side of Kraft zesty Italian dressing to dip. Gives me the hand to mouth option that I can snack on during my fav TV show and my downtime, but it’s like a total of 90 calories and 5 carbs. I also cut up bell pepper straws, or chop zucchini into slices (sprinkle olive oil salt and pepper and bake them in the oven) for the chip effect. All of these options are 1. Healthy, 2. Low calorie and carb, and 3 give me that underlining need to hand to mouth my way through my downtime/TV time.
Binge eating is a huge downfall of mine and I completely understand where you’re coming from! Good luck in finding what works best for you!
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