If it’s in the house, I’ll eat it.

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jlgmfp
jlgmfp Posts: 33 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey, 23 yr old female here. Since my teens (~16) I’ve had an issue with restraining my eating when food is freely accessible.

For example, if I buy a sharing or multipack of anything I’ll end up eating it in one go. That even goes for boxes of cereal.

The way I’ve managed this so far is just generally avoiding buying in packs of stuff, and buying individual portions instead. Even if I pre-prepare dinners for a week, I’ll end up eating them all in a couple of days. I feel like I have no restraint. If it’s there it’ll be on my mind constantly until I eat it.

Has anyone else struggled with binging in a similar way to this? And if so how have you managed it? I feel like avoiding buying food in any substantial amount isn’t a particularly sustainable fix.
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Replies

  • BMcC9
    BMcC9 Posts: 4,398 Member
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    Here is the link to the February, 2019 UAC group https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/130876-ultimate-accountability-challenge-february-2019

    New members are accepted up till the 7th of the month - then the group becomes private until ~ a week before the start of the next month. It is a very welcoming and supportive group.

    It is a great place to develop self-awareness / accountably habits and shift yourself towards a new sustainable lifestyle. Works no matter what your food plan, exercise strategy, or where you are on your journey (everyone from just starting to nearing goal weight to maintaining for years now)

    We have a raft of brand new members also starting this month, a crew that are only on their second month with us, and more than enough olde-timers who can guide you through your transition period.

    Hope to see you there.
  • csplatt
    csplatt Posts: 1,028 Member
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    When I was like that, which I was (especially with chips and dip--and those chunky chips a hoy cookies), I just wasn't ready to make a change. Once I found the self control, I was ready, and the payoff motivated me to continue to only weigh out appropriate portions. Just my experience!
  • StargazerB
    StargazerB Posts: 425 Member
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    I can relate to this. It's not with all food but some foods. I can't bake cookies for my kids because I have absolutely no restraint and will eat 10 or more in less than an hour.
  • 39flavours
    39flavours Posts: 1,494 Member
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    Are you an emotional eater perhaps? My daughter is 15 and she eats like this too. She is under so much pressure with school and social anxiety that when she gets home she's so tired and stressed that she comfort eats sugary and greasy food all evening for relief and energy. In her case I think it's a form of self harm as well. Maybe if any of this rings true with you then you may benefit from addressing your lifestyle and emotional health x
  • Cahgetsfit
    Cahgetsfit Posts: 1,912 Member
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    I do this. For me it's an emotional thing. Sometimes I don't even notice that i'm being emotional about something but will be eating like all the food in the world is going to disappear tomorrow.

    What I do is pre-log as much as possible and only leave dinner to play with. I also don't buy trigger foods - for me one of them is granola. if I buy a pack of granola, i will eat whole pack of granola, not just 45 grams.

    Sometimes I make peace with the fact that I'm going to eat it all, and when I do that I end up NOT eating the whole packet - and maybe it lasts 4 goes instead. So it's a bit of a mind thing.

    I can't buy crisps either. Or any of those chocolatey things like any chocolate in general or pods or maltesers.

    It's good that you are recognising it, next step is to try to address it somehow. Sorry I wish I had an answer but I don't. I do this a lot less now though so something is auto-regulating within me.
  • ChrysalisCove
    ChrysalisCove Posts: 975 Member
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    I struggled with this as a teen. I was a restrictive bulimic and my body was desperately craving high-fat foods. To this day (more than a decade later) I cannot have more than a single portion of the food I most commonly binged on during that period.

    If the foods causing this behavior all have something in common (salty, fatty, etc) you may want to your macros to see if there is an imbalance in your current diet.

    If not, and you can’t seem to find a solution, consider making appointments with your doctor and a therapist.
  • nooshi713
    nooshi713 Posts: 4,877 Member
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    Chips and dip, Haagen Daaz ice cream. They cant be in the house.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    edited February 2019
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    Some good advice here. I'll emphasize just how incredibly helpful it is, especially for people with a binge eating habit, to make the effort to determine the appropriate number of calories in the first place. Make the time to recheck that.

    Personal example, I can manage on 1200 cal/day for a few days if I'm hitting my protein-fat-fiber minimums, but I'm a binge waiting to happen. It's just a matter of time. Bottom line - that deficit is too steep for me. 1500 cal/day is manageable for me for much longer, (Even then, I'm ready for a deficit break after 10 weeks.) It may seem like a small calorie difference, but it has a big impact on me (TDEE ~1750).

    Behaviors are hard to change, but you can do it! If you batch cook meals that are an appropriate size and you still have an urge to eat several portions, take small steps. It may not be sustainable in the long run to buy/prepare food daily, but maybe it is sustainable for the period of time you need to break the habit. Joyce Beck has a book about changing eating behaviors and dealing with urges based on Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT).

    ETA: https://www.amazon.com/Beck-Diet-Solution-Train-Person/dp/0848732758
  • Crafty_camper123
    Crafty_camper123 Posts: 1,440 Member
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    Maybe you could keep a journal during this process? When you are getting the urge to eat all of the food you bought, open your journal and just mind dump. Write down every single thing you are thinking and feeling. It might help you identify what state of mind causes your binges, and maybe a way to prevent them in the future. If anything, getting all those thoughts out on paper could be a big help to deterring the behavior.


    Is this a thing that occurs all the time? Or does this only occur when you decide to restrict your eating or calories?

    If it is related to calorie restriction it may be helpful to set your calorie goal to maintenance, instead of to lose weight. For me, as soon as I tell myself I'm going to be cutting back my calories I go into "hungry" mode. I want to eat everything, and I know it's purely physcological hunger. I have my calories set to maintenance now. And while it's purely a mental thing for me, knowing I have that extra wiggle room causes that mental hunger to die down. Like I can now restrict my calories, but I know I have extras if I need them.
  • yayamom3
    yayamom3 Posts: 939 Member
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    I've struggled with binge eating since I was a child, so close to 40 years. Yikes! In the past year, I've gotten a much better handle on it. I probably binge 1-2 times/month now, as opposed to daily. Two key factors that have made all the difference are:

    1. Resisting the urge to over-restrict. I've slowed my weight loss down to 1/2 lb per week. It's hard to be this patient, but it's getting easier. And it also makes me confident that this will be the last time. No more yo-yo dieting.

    2. Paying close attention to my macros. I've found, through trial-and-error and through reading lots of good advice on this site, that if I really make an effort to reach my protein, fiber and healthy fat goals, my cravings for junk just magically disappear.
  • lthames0810
    lthames0810 Posts: 722 Member
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    I also can"t keep some foods in my house and I don't usually. But because I cook mostly "from scratch" I have a lot of ingredients that can be repurposed for snack making if I want to go to that much trouble. I have been known to actually go to that much trouble and to make a trip to the store just to get something snacky. These binges are the sole reason I don't lose weight like I should based on my non binge way of eating. I get frustrated that I should be losing 1 lb a week, but instead over the last few years I've been losing ten lbs a year(!!!) on average. Frustrating self sabotage.

    Over the past few months I have been avoiding these setbacks because, I don't know, I have a different way of thinking about this I guess. For one thing, when I feel like a binge, I remind myself that this is why I don't lose weight right. I remind myself of all the health and comfort and appearance benefits of being smaller and lighter that I could enjoy in a few months if only I would not eat this ridiculous thing.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    Since prepping and portioning your foods ahead doesn't help, I think maybe what I would look at is what you are doing at the time. It takes time to eat that much food - get up and leave. If you and the food can't be in the house without you eating all the food, YOU leave the house. Instead of eating the second meal you prepared, take a walk around the block. Don't give yourself idle time, find something to do which prevents you from eating.
  • jlgmfp
    jlgmfp Posts: 33 Member
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    Crafty_camper123 wrote: »
    Maybe you could keep a journal during this process? When you are getting the urge to eat all of the food you bought, open your journal and just mind dump. Write down every single thing you are thinking and feeling. It might help you identify what state of mind causes your binges, and maybe a way to prevent them in the future. If anything, getting all those thoughts out on paper could be a big help to deterring the behavior.


    Is this a thing that occurs all the time? Or does this only occur when you decide to restrict your eating or calories?

    If it is related to calorie restriction it may be helpful to set your calorie goal to maintenance, instead of to lose weight. For me, as soon as I tell myself I'm going to be cutting back my calories I go into "hungry" mode. I want to eat everything, and I know it's purely physcological hunger. I have my calories set to maintenance now. And while it's purely a mental thing for me, knowing I have that extra wiggle room causes that mental hunger to die down. Like I can now restrict my calories, but I know I have extras if I need them.

    Thanks for the reply! Very insightful. I feel like my binging isn’t necessarily linked to emotions. Sometimes it is, but not always. I always have the urge to binge if the food is there. It’s just at the forefront of my mind until I do. I can’t remember a time in the past five years when this hasn’t been the case. I think calorie restriction exacerbates the urges, but they’re always there, even when I’m not restricting. Tbh I’ve had a tendency to want to eat to excess since I was kid. The only different then was that I wasn’t allowed to. It was out of my control.

    But maybe there is more emotional motivation behind it - I think that keeping a journal and just writing about how I’m thinking/feeling when I do have the urge could be really helpful. Thanks so much!
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
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    I don't buy cereal because I will Eat. The. Whole. Box.
  • LoPotion
    LoPotion Posts: 25 Member
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    When you say it's on your mind constantly until you eat it, I understand completely. Feels weird to put it like this, but it's kind of like building up a resistance to those binge urges. The longer I kept myself in check, the easier it was to put the bag of chips or box of cookies away.

    Pre-logging was a game changer for me. I log a day's worth of meals in the morning or day before. I make sure each meal and/or snack is enjoyable. And I stagger the goodies! When dinner is over, I'm not done eating for the day; I'm not obsessing over those cookies in the pantry because I've still got a slice of cheesecake, a cup of coffee, and a beer to look forward to.

    When cravings take over my thoughts, but I'm not actually hungry, I do my best to distract myself. I'll brew some coffee and put on a show, or go run an errand. By the time I'm done/back, the craving has passed. Exercise is a great distraction and time sink, too (and beneficial for other obvious reasons, of course).
  • garystrickland357
    garystrickland357 Posts: 598 Member
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    I always thought a jar of PB and a box of vanilla wafers was a single serving...
  • missvida58
    missvida58 Posts: 10 Member
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    Cheez-its. I absolutely cannot control myself.
  • born_of_fire74
    born_of_fire74 Posts: 776 Member
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    I have a whole bunch of things I just don't bring home anymore because I will eat it all in one sitting if I do. It's mainly baked goods for me: cookies, pie, cake, brownies, cinnamon buns, strudel etc. none of which leave a hole in my nutrition if I do not partake of them. Unless it's staple foods that you can't replace in a nutritional sense, why not simply stop buying the things you can't control yourself around?

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