Losing weight and binging!

Heey,

What do you lot do when you’re craving something like chocolate, sweets and biscuits?

I end up eating a whole packet or more of something when its in the house 😭. Once I start binging I can’t stop!

People tell me to allow myself a small amount but that can make it worse!

Any tips would be amazing!

Thank youu ☺️
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Replies

  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,088 Member
    psychod787 wrote: »
    Yeah, for me there are just some foods I cannot eat "one." So I don't have them very often. I've spent 13 years trying to overcome that tendency and haven't been able to learn moderation. Some people can.

    I just don't buy the stuff unless I accept at that moment that one package is one serving. Log it and move on.

    I agree. Single serving is the carton of Halotop for me! I suggest you keep it out of the house, as someone else suggested, If it isn't there, you have to "work" to get it. We have to look at optimal forging. theory.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimal_foraging_theory If someone has to get up, get dressed, walk/drive to the store to get a single serving of something, they are far less likely to do it. If you just have to have this single serving of food, I suggest filling up on some lower energy dense foods and some lean protein. You might be less inclined to overeat it if you are already full... JMHO

    @cmriverside , have you considered starting your own online coaching business. You don't have to have a degree to offer nutritional and lifestyle "advice" for a fee. Just a thought my unicorn! ;)

    But I can waste all my time and not get paid for it here!! It's a good idea. You'll be my marketing rep, then? I'll also need a social media person.

    ((eHug))

    I doubt I would be a very good social media rep, as evidenced by post here on mfp! lol
    Marketing? Maybe? ;)

    Hugs back!
  • 4Phoenix
    4Phoenix Posts: 236 Member
    edited October 2020
    @psychod787 Dr. Michael Greger has discussed optimal foraging theory when dressing our challenges. Yes, just keep your weaknesses out of reach. The "just one bite" doesn't work for most of us, even with best of intentions.
  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
    I would fail miserably if I didn’t let myself have my sweets. BUT I can control how much I eat. If you can’t control yourself, as others said, you need to remove them entirely. I would try to learn self control though so you don’t have to deprive yourself of the things you enjoy.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
    you really kind of have to learn what works for you. I can have a cabinet full of chips and a freezer full of ice cream, and generally... i dont even think about it. But if there is any kind of chocolate in the house ... in ANY quantity.... game over. Cookies are rather tha same. So .... I try not to keep them in the house at all
  • AshHeartsJesus
    AshHeartsJesus Posts: 460 Member
    Buy a single serving portion or make a healthy alternative whatever you do calculate it in 😎
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,883 Member
    edited October 2020
    lgfrie wrote: »
    Binger here. Strongly agree with the above comments to keep trigger foods out of the house entirely.

    A strategy that's worked pretty well for me is to keep substitute foods around that kind of fulfill the craving but aren't quite as good. Things that will give me some (50 % ?) of the satisfaction but without triggering the "eat the entire bag" behavior. For instance:

    Milk chocolate with the good stuff in the middle like caramel, nuts, etc. -> simple, plain dark chocolate bar.

    Ice cream -> skim milk based lower calorie ice milk bars

    Ritz crackers (truly my kryptonite) -> healthier but still tasty crackers such as oat crackers, or possibly Triscuits, but those are still pretty close to the binging line for me

    Doritos and corn chips -> chips from the healthy section of the store - veggie crisps, etc.

    Etc.

    Some snack foods can never be in my house, including in any substitute form. These include all forms of cookies with chunky stuff, like chocolate chip cookies or macademia nut cookies, and all possible forms of wafer bars, such as Nutty Buddy bars, vanilla wafer cookies, etc. That kind of stuff, I simply have to 100 % avoid.

    So I would start with identifying what the worst trigger foods are and looking for slightly healthier, less bingey versions, but recognizing that some binge foods may have to be kept out of the house entirely, and also that some substitutes that don't look binge-inducing can in fact cause binges, so it may end up being a work in progress to find the right substitutes.

    Along these lines, the Ben & Jerry's single serve cups do not come in my favorite flavors, and I am able to moderate these, as opposed to a pint of S'Mores, which lasts two days at the most, and with great effort.
  • briscogun
    briscogun Posts: 1,135 Member
    You can always take your favorite treats and break them down ahead of time into single servings that will fit into your goals. So instead of having a whole package of cookies, for example, you could use ziploc bags and sort them into single-serving sized bags, say 3 cookies each or whatever the package says is a "serving". You could do that with almost anything (ice cream, potato chips, etc). For example if I have crackers I know that a serving is 10 so I will just grab 10 and then I'm out. But if control were an issue I'd probably package them out so if I wanted another helping I'd be literally opening another package, you know?
  • This is why I spend the money to buy my chips in boxes of individual serving bags. I have found that even when I want more chips the fact that I have to stand up and go into the pantry and open another bag....nah, I'm good.

    I am fine with incorporating frozen mini KitKats (gods, they're tasty!) and Rice Krispies treats into my diet. I cannot have my homemade sweet bread or cookies or cake in the house while I'm doing this. I just can't. The notion of having a couple cookies after lunch as a sensible dessert will have to wait until I'm at maintenance.
  • JintheSouth
    JintheSouth Posts: 44 Member
    Orange slices candy call my name. All day every day. I had it bad. CVS has sales on them 3/$4. I would reason, hey, they’re on sale, can’t pass that up :p

    I’ve started buying the candy in smaller portions and staying away from CVS. For instance, the bag sold at CVS has more servings than the one sold at the grocery. Still shouldn’t be eating it but consuming 630 is better than 990. 7-11 used to have mini bags with maybe 6 pieces in them but they don’t sell them anymore. I’ve gotten better as I only buy one bag of candy on the weekend.

    Sugar free gum has really helped with the sugar cravings.

    For chocolate, I keep a bag of chocolate chips in my fridge. I grab a handful and let them melt on my tongue. That helps too.
  • FossilFusion
    FossilFusion Posts: 39 Member
    Hugs to the OP.

    I am guilty of this binging as well. I find what helps me is using 10-20% of my daily calories towards 'junk' or treats.

    Also another one I use to curb Sugar cravings in the evenings especially is I brought some Zero Calorie/Sugar flavour drops from Myprotein. I pour this in my Oatmeal which I have like an hour before bed and it seems to curb it.

    I hope this helps 🙂
  • durhammfp
    durhammfp Posts: 493 Member
    Cookies are definitely my trigger. Not cake, not candy. Cookies. Though I do go through periods where I'm jonesing for sugar, generally.

    What helps me is about 20-30 grams of protein. Not sure why, but it helps keep the sugar demons aways.