Night Time Binge Eating

I constantly wake up during the night and just eat eat eat...  And rarely is it ever on low calorie foods.  Usually I'm spooning countless tablespoons of peanut butter on to bread or just straight into my gullet.

Like, last night I went through over 7 tablespoons of peanut butter, 1 hot cross bun, 1 flatbread sandwich with a small slice of lentil loaf on top, 2 sugar cookies, and a handful of crackers with more PB on them.  After logging everything I came in at 700 calories above my maintenance level and it's happening way too often for me to be comfortable with.

I'm not hungry when I do it, but it seems like I just go into this eating trance and can not seem to stop.

 

Does anybody else have any advice on how to overcome this thing?  I'm coming close to tying myself to my bed so I can't walk to the kitchen at night LOL

Eat more during the day.

I had this problem. Most of the time I'd be consuming 600 to 1200 during my night time binge. The solution that I found is eating a BIG dinner between 6 to 7 pm. 4 to 6 hours after, I'm still not hungry/craving (I go to bed at midnight) so it's been working for me so far.

I do this, and I have found I tend to do it more when I am stressed but that is just me. Sometimes I know I am eating and sometimes I don't but wake up to see the evidence. There are certain foods I eat in the middle of the night like cheese so I try not to buy it. Only block cheese...I won't eat the shredded or sliced. My husband went to get some one day and there were teeth marks in it..I had just eaten it like that!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lately it's been peanut butter. My mom and grandma also do it. Not sure how to fix it sorry but glad I am not alone lol.

This used to happen to me all the time, but I started upping the amount of water I drank, and ate more foods to keep me full. Usually I'd start because I was a little bit hungry and just kept going. Oh, and just keep yourself distracted I guess. 

I've been doing this four the past four years or so. I first developed it when I had an undiagnosed (but now I can look back and definitely say it was one) eating disorder. I was eating under 1000 calories per day and working out (twice) everyday. I figured that once I became healthy again I'd stop night eating, but I haven't been able to completly. It's become such a habit. I hate it! 

 

@Linz:  I have a feeling that my own nightly binges stem from the same problem (anorexia).  I've recovered to a healthy weight and no longer obsess about food, yet the almost sleep-eating has yet to subside.  I wonder if we do it now just because it is a habit?  :(

@Davis:  I know stress definitely seems to trigger it.  I've done that too, waking up to find evidence of food I've eaten but don't even recall doing it... it freaked me out the first few tines since at the time I lived alone and I would wake up to wrappers on my counter top... soo gross lol.

I feel so much better that you can relate!! I think it is a habit...our mind is subconsciously worried we'll starve ourselves again and is working to defend against that. Maybe just becoming aware of this fact will help us change our ways. I'd love to stay in touch and see if you have any success trying to control the night eating. I've taped the fridge shut on occasion, cause that slows me down and makes me think about what I'm doing. I also have my roommate keep her carby-deliciousness in her room so I don't eat that.

"food trance" EXACTLY... I've been struggling as well. It's like you can't stop and become this slave/zombie. And then you feel awful afterwards. I've been saying to myself before the trance starts to get in my head... Do you want to feel nauseous, do you want to take 3 steps back again on your weight loss... It seems to be helping :) I've also stopped buying trigger foods pb, crackers, pretzels etc

I haven't ever really had this issue, but if I binge, it tends to be at night.

For your midnight snacking, obviously there's an underlying issue of why you do it, which you've gotta address. But if you're gonna snack, try just allowing yourself veggies! You def can't overdo veggies.

Maybe you could pop a Benadryl that would make you unconscious until morning.

I have the same problem. Have you tried taking melatonin? I know it doesn't work for me but it might for you.  we should start a group or something for people who are experiencing the same problems. Or if you want to support one another that would be cool too because I need someone to hold me accountable. My roommate doesn't really care as long as I replace whatever I eat of his. If only he ate healthy stuff.

I've tried all sort of different sleep aids after this whole nightly eating thing started..  OtC sleep aids only make me eat unconsciously even more than I did before, Melatonin and Valerian don't seem to help either..  It's a real drag.

It happened again last night too... I did so well for 2 days (only had small snacks instead of pb sandwiches) but last night I went nuts with a jar of peanut butter and a spoon.
I wish I could just toss all the crap here but I am living with my dad after college and he has stockpiled junk food like it is nobodies business.  I'm just glad I don't care for chips/crisps because there are over 20 bags here.. blech.

 

@HuntedHorror:  Great idea! I just made up a group for anybody who is interested, we could do like a day-by-day (or night-by-night in our case) update for our progress on how long we've binge-free or something like that, along with the whole general motivation stuff and tips/advice.

 

For anyone interested, it can be found here:
http://caloriecount.about.com/stopping-midnig ht-binging-g4868

i used to do this too. have a big dinner AND do not keep the stuff u binge on in ur kitchen. stop buying peanut butter completely and u'll feel much better :)

I don't go out to buy the junk food, however I also don't get a choice on whether or not it is bought.  If my dad notices we are low on something he will run out and grab one to replace it (or more if it is on sale), and as much as I would like to keep this place junk free (not just for myself but for everyone's over all health) I don't have the right to preach and tell them not to get the foods that they enjoy just because I can't control myself around some of them.