Eating way too much bread

So every day I eat roughly 1600 calories (including fruits, veggies, bread/oats, and meat)...until nighttime hits. Then all of a sudden I consume like 7 slices of bread...how do I stop these daily cravings?

By the way, my stats are 5'3", now a 5-lb gain to 113 lbs, and I set my activity at sedentary and run a mile or two every day to every other day.

eat more than 1600 cals.

Well sometimes I do.  I'm just making a rough estimate.  But my sedentary is set at 1550, so I figure 1600 is a good number to go by.

im betting youre not eating enough and thats why youre eating a lot, of anything.

take care

I'm not sure if this is a protein or chocolate deprivation? I think I'm eating about 30g protein a day (from meat alone), and about 60g with bread and stuff before the nightly overeating...is that too little?

And on another note, today I tried eating 2000 calories, and I still ended up eating bread at night. So I'm not so sure it's a deficit of calories?

I would think you should eat a little more protein from meat...  That helps me with the hunger/cravings.  The only other thing I could think of is plain ol' will power.  I loved bread SO much before...I cut it almost completely out of my diet for a while and lost those cravings (at least they became more infrequent hehe). 

And now...I bought my first loaf of bread in over 3 months!  The one or two slices I might eat satisfies me :)

And as far as eating more calories, I think 1600 is a pretty good amount for the level of activity you stated.  Maybe eat a little more animal protein on the days you work out :)

I used to control myself so well! I don't know, maybe it is with the added stress of this year and the hormones that I am on to get my period back, but lately I've been so easily giving in and eating those extra parts of the loaf, even though I've had loaves in the fridge before and never overate them at all =[

You ask how to control those daily cravings....

By eating enough and making sure you have a balanced diet including all the food groups.  You are overeating bread at night because you did not receive adequate nutrition during the day.  You are overeating because you are very, very hungry.  That's your body telling you that you need more nourishment.

Since you are at the low end of the healthy BMI range at 113 pounds, you don't need to lose weight.  If you were 5 pounds less at 108, your BMI would be 19.1, and you would be classed as just barely underweight.

Based upon your current Body Mass Index (BMI) of 20, you are currently classed as at a healthy weight.

A healthy BMI for your gender and age is between 20 and 24

Maybe you should rethink what you're doing to yourself.

Maybe you shouldn't keep much bread around the house...

I can't be trusted with Cheez-its or candy so I just don't buy it. If I'm craving it, I'll get a mini size at the store or I'll replace it with something else...like, I'll go to the wine bar to get a glass of wine and a piece of cheese cake if I want something decadent and sweet.

You are thin at 113 and 5'3" so i'm not sure why you think you need to lose any more weight, you are fine... but.. i do think these bread cravings come about because you are hungry! Try to incorporate more foods into your day, and whole grains with lots of fiber to fill you up.

You might be eating too few calories.  Log your activities and see how many calories you burn a day.  Try to aim for 500 calories less then that number. 

You are probably also gaining mucsle which weighs more then fat.  Try measuring yourself as well as weighing yourself once a week.

I've had to switch over to maintaining my current weight because I'm trying to get pregnant (doctors orders) but when I was losing weight I always ate less during the day and binged at night while staying within my total calorie limit which was 1600 calories.  I lost about 1-2 pounds per week doing this (of course I worked out as well).  Try eating less during the day so you can still eat the bread you crave at night. 

I went through the same thing like 2 months ago!! My solution: stop buying bread! If you want some bread, go to the store, and get a sandwich. That way, you also get some protein in with those carbs and satisfy your craving.

I'm not trying to lose weight! But I am trying not to gain weight either! My only objective is to tone, since I consider myself skinny-fat. And since I tend to underestimate my calories often, I would think aiming for 1600 daily is a fair number. But I don't think I am gaining muscle after 5 lbs of gaining weight since my clothes are a lot tighter.

And I'm not sure about the hunger factor - because I'm not really "hungry" at night at all - it's just that once 9:00 hits, I feel like eating something, and then it just spirals until I finish off like half the loaf XD

Maybe I"ll take the suggestion of not having bread around the house - it makes me sad, though, since I never used to have problems with bread cravings, and I feel like I failed if I have to resort to not buying it at all.  Oh well.  And I think I posted this in the wrong forum XD

Well.. I mean, it's not like you have to stop buying bread forever, just take a break from it for a while. It's also wise not to keep it anywhere visible. (It also helps when you go back to buying it to get like that nature's own bread that's only about 50 calories per slice as opposed as the usual 70-100...) You shouldn't think of it as failure, if anything, it's a success because you can recognize that something needs to change.

Haha, okay, I *might* try that.  Usually I don't like the 50 cal bread slices because they have funky ingredients in them, and I like my oroweat 100% that uses pretty much all-natural ingredients.

Also, I did fail to mention that when I was able to control my urges, I was eating at 1300-1400 a day at the time when I was dieting (all the way from 130 to 110)...so that is why I was doubting the fact that I was eating enough because I am eating more than what I used to, but now craving the bread.

Ahhh, the good ol' stress cravings!  That's probably it, relax, mellow, treat yourself well :)

oroweat makes a 40 cal/slice whole wheat bread without anything funky in it (i think)... you could see if its available to you.

otherwise, find something to distract yourself from the bread. you can't just let yourself eat it because you want it - you don't NEED those 7 slices of bread every night. read a book, watch a movie, surf the web, clean, paint your fingernails.... do something productive that doesn't involve eating.

Okay, thanks a lot for the kind words of advisement!

Maybe try buying whole wheat tortillas/wraps instead of bread.  You can get ones for 80 calories, 170 calories, 220 calories, etc.  That way you can still make sandwiches, but they visually don't really compel one to eat them plain.  Not sure how to explain but like.. bread tastes and looks appetizing plain.  Wraps however are too thin/circular for me to want to just eat them plain.  Maybe its a mental thing.

Anyhow good luck.

Original Post by manda182:

Maybe try buying whole wheat tortillas/wraps instead of bread. You can get ones for 80 calories, 170 calories, 220 calories, etc. That way you can still make sandwiches, but they visually don't really compel one to eat them plain. Not sure how to explain but like.. bread tastes and looks appetizing plain. Wraps however are too thin/circular for me to want to just eat them plain. Maybe its a mental thing.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but I dont really like whole wheat tortillas haha.  I guess I'll stick with the no-bread thing until I really start to want to buy it haha

I echo the suggestion to eat more during the day.  The "problem" with the bread eating is that you experience a sense of loss of control.  Usually, this is linked to restriction (either caloric or restricting the TYPES of foods you eat during the day).  If you're eating a lot of low cal, diet foods try replacing them with real food.  That is, don't try the diet bread.  The concern here isn't the calories (since you probably need them), but the EXPERIENCE of eating.  To reduce your ability to eat large amounts of bread during one sitting, try keep the bread in the freezer.  When you want to make a sandwich, you can either plan in advance by taking two slices out of the freezer and keeping them in the fridge, or you can just pop them in the toaster.