Why am I eating so much?!

The past few days I have had a healthy, balanced amount of food to eat during the day. . .and have then COMPLETELY binged at night!

Last night I had a bowl of cereal with milk, a can of soup, a piece of bread baked in the oven with pasta sauce and cheese, baked french fries, and a cookie! Basically I added another 900 calories to my healthy day! I have never done this in the past and have NO clue why I am having the urge to eat at night like this.

I'm 22, I weigh about 130 (I have been calorie counting for the past few months. . started at 141), I'm 5'7" and am fairly active. Normally I consume about 1,200-1,700 calories a day. I'm fairly certain I've been going over maintenance and it needs to stop!

I just started my master's course this week and am thinking that it may be stress related? I'm honestly not even hungry. . .I will just be sitting in my room and feel this PULL towards the kitchen. I have read about people having trouble with eating too much at night in the past but have never experienced this myself. Any tricks or suggestions? I think maybe if I can figure out WHY I'm doing this I will be able to stop.

stress eating can definitely be a trigger, as well as eating out of pure boredom. I heard a tall glass of water is really helpful. I know exactly how you feel though, there's been so many times where I just keep going back to the kitchen and eating everything in sight haha. I love to have something to munch on at night, but I try to stick with something light and healthy. light yoplait yogurt is my new obsession :)

I have been having the same problem!!! Its terrible. I will plan out my day and then I get home and go crazy at night. I get so full but just keep eating! If I keep this up I will surely be gaining weight! It has been these past few days too..hmm something is up haha.

Well all I can say is one night I felt it coming on and I forced myself upstairs and rinsed my mouth out with listerine. I stayed upstairs for the rest of the night and just watched tv. But sometimes this doesnt work...GOOD LUCK! Hopefully it doesnt happen tonight! Btw I am 23, 5'6'', and around 130.

Perhaps you are just plain hungry and need to eat.  Sometimes increasing your calories a little can jump start a weight loss, not that you really need to lose any more.

Original Post by alexandramr:

I'm 22, I weigh about 130 (I have been calorie counting for the past few months. . started at 141), I'm 5'7" and am fairly active. Normally I consume about 1,200-1,700 calories a day.

You're a healthy weight and you're not eating enough.... that's the problem. What you ate wasn't a 'binge' it was a 'top-up' for the shortfall.  You were hungry.   At 22 you're only just out of your teenage years and if you're 'fairly active' you're probably burning a fair amount of energy.  130lbs gives you a BMI just over 20 which puts you at the lowest end of the normal healthy weight-range.  1200-1700 is just not enough energy.

Try going for 'maintenance' now.... Increase your intake to something like 2300-2400 a day, regular meals, nourishing foods and stabilise your weight on more calories.  

Im doing the same, except im STARVING. ALL THE TIME TODAY.

Thanks for the advice :)

Last night I brushed my teeth right after dinner and put on some white strips when I got hungry & then drank a TON of water. I still wanted to eat but my appetite was curbed enough that I made it into bed without eating a ton.

Today I aimed for 2,000 calories. . . which feels like I'm eating a ton but I guess it's really not too much more than a day that I'm used to. So we shall see what happens this evening in terms of cravings!