how do YOU stop yourself from bingeing?

Yesterday I felt a binge coming on, so I had this idea that I would eat as much salad with apple cider vinegar as I wanted, hoping that would stop me from eating a ton of unhealthy food. So, I bought a massive 2 pound bag of salad, thinking I'd have a good amount left over for side dishes for the next few days. Well I ended up eating the ENTIRE 2 POUND bag of salad in about 20 minutes. It was only 150 calories, but I felt like I was going to die afterwards... My stomach is STILL killing me, and this was over 24 hours ago. Not to mention, I look like I swallowed a bowling ball.

Moral of the story: My idea turned out to be a HORRIBLE idea...

I tend to overeat midlessly ALOT in the evenings when im home alone *sob* so have devised a plan which is working for me. eat my dinner and then save 100 - 150 cals for a nighttime snack which is a total treat. Last night i had Dr Pepper Zero over ice with a cup of red grapes and a 95 calorie Cadbury's chocolate bar. By the time i'd drunk my Dr Pepper and had my grapes i didn't feel like eating the chocolate but it was nice to know it was still there.
I found it helps me to know that i am getting a treat and that it fits in my calories. Instead of denying myself i am trying to take control of what i eat and my portions. I also try not to keep ice cream/crisps/sweets/bicsuits in the house! eep!
Hope that helps anyway!

AWESOMENESSS!!! thanks for sharing!!! :smooched:

I have those days - especially around PMS week - but knowing that i document EVERYTHING on MFP - helps me to not go too crazy. Everyone here has such great advice, too - go for a walk - drink a big glass of water, etc,

Keep healthy snacks on hand and get rid of the junk!
On that note, my boyfriend is a chocolate junkie so it is often in the house. He and I will check the calories and break off pieces accordingly.

I also lovelovelove dole/edy's/whole foods frozen fruit bars as a night time snack. They are 80-140 calories depending on the brand and flavor and very satisfying for a sweet tooth.

I'd say my biggest issue is chips, dips and other salty savory things so if I eat them I just weigh and measure out portions based on how many calories I am interested in consuming and put the rest away.

In the evening I'll try and have a cup of herbal tea before snacking so I fill up and also satisfy that need to put something in my mouth.

Hope this helps!

Night binging is my weakness. If I couldn't come up with an effective way of dealing with it I don't know if I could lose weight. Here's my plan:

1. Avoid simple carbs and processed foods.

2. Have high protein foods available. I generally keep skinless chicken breast, tuna salad and/or cooked whitefish in fridge.

3. Reserve calories for post dinner snacking.

4. When hungry drink water first.


5. Substitute decaf coffee or green tea for craved foods. I'll use coffee mate to kill cravings even though not best nutritionally.

6. Have low cal healthy snacks around, i.e. snap peas, celery, carrots, greek yougurt, humus.

7. Get active. If I'm having a bad grazing night, I'll get out and do something to take my mind off food.

8. Exercise to get plenty of calories.

Thanks for this!!! THis will help me. :-) I also try to eat every 3 hours. Something healthy like nuts, or raw veggies and fruit. It try not to totally abstain from snack foods, as this makes me want to eat it more. I just eat them in smaller portions. Like 5 M & M's instead of the whole bag.
ANd above all else. I pray that the Lord will help me with this.
God Bless!!

For me, if I deprive myself of all the yumminess I want, then I will crack, break down, and binge. So I do allow myself some treats in moderation, when I can fit them into my calories for the day. That does not mean I starve myself all day so I can pig out. It means I may choose to have a big salad at lunch time so that after my dinner of chicken breast and veggies I can indulge in something tasty, like a chocolate bar or pastry. However, my rule is if I eat it, I log it. It must fit into my calories.

I also worked at finding better choice alternatives for the foods I felt I would have the hardest time giving up. Example: I substituted my ice cream for fat free chocolate cherry frozen yogurt.

Also, if I eat throughout the day and keep myself feeling fuller then I binge less. The days where I skip breaskfast and luch due to a hectic work day are the days that I want to hit up fast food joints, convenience stores, etc, on my way home.

And this may seem silly....but I am not a fan of eating in bed. So the nights my hubby is out and I'm home alone, if I want to watch a movie or something I will do it in bed. If I sit on that couch I'm going to be making trips to the kitchen. If instead I snuggle up under the covers, the only thing that will be with me is a glass of water. That may not work for everyone, but the point is to find your triggers. When and where and why do you binge? Now change it up! I told my husband the same thing when he stopped smoking. If you always smoke in the car, start doing it before you get in and after you get out instead. Always smoke after a meal? Wait 10 minutes, do a quick activity, then go smoke. That way when you do stop, it won't be quite as tough because some of the habits are broken.

my first impression: your food diary looks erratic - the key to getting control over your binge eating is to 'normalize' your eating routine as much as possible. this contributes to the psychological reasons you binge but also biological cravings throughout the day as well. to do this you really need to plan out every day in advance and have evenly distributed meals x 3 (eg. 400 cal for breakfast, another 400 for lunch and 400 for dinner for example) as well as reasonable snacks x 2-3 times as day (eg. 100 cals each) Basically, you are trying to eat every couple hours without going over your calories for losing weight. DO NOT try to compensate for binging by eating less the next day. this is just part of the binge-starve cycle and will not help you gain control. trust me!!!

add me if you like. i have suffered from eating disorders for 15 years - with the most recent years being bulimia/binge eating - and I have done both inpatient and outpatient treatment so i really get what you are going through when you say you can't control it

another exercise i like to recommend that i did in treatment and have seen in numerous books (i have a psych degree too) is to write down a list of all the foods you typically binge on. then take that list and reorder it by the least triggering to the most triggering. right off, do NOT eat anything on that list at least for a few weeks while you gain more control through normalized eating. then when you are feeling more confident add the least triggering. move down the list as you feel comfortable. if you have a set back with a particular item...go back up the list again to where you feel comfortable. recognize that some triggering foods will never be comfortable again.

set your environment up for success. yes, there are places we have no control over (work, school etc) but where you can. don't buy the trouble foods and don't keep them intentionally around you.

one of the most difficult things for me was not recovery but admitting and being open about my problems. you might not have much of a support network but don't hide. that's exactly what the eating disordered mind wants and enables the dysfunctional behaviour to continue.

best of luck to you!!

1. I write. That empties out the mental part of binge eating. That can oftentimes stop the triggers.
2. I eat a spoon full of peanut butter.

I find that if I indulge I CAN'T stop. What's one more chocolate? What's another bowl of cereal? Because I know personally how my mind and body react. It's always around 9:00 and I start itching to eat something.

I eat approx every 3 hours so I never get hungry enough to even think about binging. For me, that's key because I lose control when I'm super hungry. Although I eat so much now that I don't have a chance to get hungry.

Having a cheat meal once a weak.

When I think about eating at night, I log onto here and enter what I would eat if I just walked into the kitchen first. After seeing the amount of calories it will put me over I rethink it!

I do the same. By the time I've worked it all out I can usually kill the craving.
The other thing that seems to work is to promise myself to "get it in a minute", or at a certain time. Then by that time I can often have rationalissed myself out of my craving.

That said, my son has just sat down beside me with an iced chelsea bun, and I am seriously eyeing it up!! lol
Good luck with your efforts. There is always someone on this site with some helpful ideas, I find.