Hi,
To start, I feel like I should give some background info on myself. I am a college student, and during this past academic year I was not nearly as active as I should have been due to a challenging course load. However, this summer I am trying to get back into shape, and change my eating habits. I am cooking all of my meals and incorporating lean protein, carbs and healthy fats into my foods, however I can't control my binge eating!
Typically I workout in the mornings, have a breakfast that clocks in around 350 cals (e.g. fiber one cereal with skim milk and a banana, or a fruit smoothie with soy protein powder and a piece of toast with peanut butter), and then lunch around 500 cals, and dinner around 600, which should total to 1450 a day, which while not a terrific deficit, is decent in my eyes. However, I usually eat dinner around 6 or 7, and by 9:30 or so, I get hungry and go on a terrible binge! Take tonight for instance, I stopped counting after I hit the 2700 cal mark for the day... just threw in the towel. How do I control this?!?
Thanks in advance for the advice!
I split my dinner into two meals, because I have the same problem of getting hungry later in the evening.
i do that EXACT same thing. I kicked this habit for a while by eating dinner a little later (around 8:30). Try having a small snack around 5, like a few cheese and crackers or a biscuit and tea to hold you over till a later hour. Also, i found watching online episodes of my favorite shows helped pass the time until my later dinner. I wouldn't be eating and I would be enjoying myself and relaxing and then also enjoy my dinner at 8:30 or 9. There is nothing an afternoon tea can't fix!
I know all about late-night cravings. I can't resist them and have had some binges so large that it shouldn't even be humanly possible.
Unfortunately there's not one single solution to this problem. If there were, none of us would be binge eaters anymore. :P You just have to find out what works for you (eating dinner later, saving more of your calories for the evening meal, eating veggies until you burst, etc..) If you're lucky, you'll find a good trick to curb your urges.
If you find a good solution, let me know, because I've been trying to find my personal solution for the better part of the last decade. :(
Well, first and foremost, keep binge foods out of the house. Beyond that, try different foods and see which ones that you really like, find tolerable, and simply dislike. If you find yourself unable to control yourself around those foods that you really like, then avoid them. Instead, choose foods which you merely find tolerable. If this still does not work, then try incorporating some foods which you do not like so much. Thus, if you are on the verge of a binge, you can tell yourself that you can only continue eating if it happens to be that particular food of disfavor. Hope that helps somewhat.
Ok, i used to be a very healthy eater. Cleanest eater ever. I was 5'4, 115 pounds...very happy. Anyway, I move back home and i go crazy with junk food. I cant even explain it. I didn't want it yet i craved it. It was all i could think about. Id find any excuse to get out of the house to buy it. So i gain around 40 pounds. And i blame it on the fact that for 2 years i deprived myself so much that i just went food crazy. Im finally getting over it but having to lose this weight all over again is a terrible burden and just frustrating. Anyway, my first piece of advice to write down your goals and keep them in sight. I also have a little mantra i repeat like...I want to be skinny, or Make the sacrifices to reap the rewards. And when i see a note that says 5/6 jeans it makes me want to fit into them even more. I have also started to write when i want to binge. Just yesterday I wrote a whole paragraph of the foods i wanted to eat and then below it I wrote a paragraph of the goals i want to accomplish. I want to be healthy, proud of my body and be comfortable throwing whatever on and going out the door. And its then that things come back into perspective and I dont want the food anymore. Also set a rule of no food after dinner and stick to it!!!Its sad to let food control your life. And its totally not worth it. We have the brains, not the food. So why does it always win? Well dont let it anymore. Just be strong
Perhaps if you tried eating a bit more for breakfast you wouldn`t be as likely to feel starved in the evening? Or maybe you reduced too much too suddenly and the body hasn`t had time to adapt yet, meaning that it still expects to be fed the same amount of food as before?
One more thing, if you are underestimating your burn and have been eating too little for too long, it`s likely that this is the reason it`s happening.
i have the same problem, except sometimes i binge when i first get up because i'm a weirdo and can hold off at night for some reason haha. anyway, i've cut my binges down to less than 2000 cals, and sometimes if they are close to that i'm not hungry and don't eat for the rest of the night, but i still just hate when i do it i feel so gross and bloated. and the annoying thing for me is my mother is like "just stop doing it" does she really think i haven't tried that? its not like a switch, but i'm starting to think maybe it is, maybe i am making it harder in my mind. maybe i can just stop. who knows. but i try to make each binge smaller than the last which helps to shrink your stomach back. also, maybe if you could throw a little exercise in later in your day, like before or after dinner, it might help since exercise is supposed to suppress your appetite. if you figure it out, let me know haha. im also a college student, and it gets your eating times so messed up and everything. my goal for the summer is to stop bingeing for good.
I'd say first check and make sure you are just 500 calories below what you're using every day for exercise and basic metabolism. It could be you are experiencing the healthy and natural response of your body to too few calories.
When I get a craving to start binging, I tell myself "not until after you do xxxxxx". It can be: take a walk, finish a chapter, take a shower, whatever. My need to binge is strong, but short lived. If I can figure out a way to wait 15 minutes, the need to binge is almost always gone or manageable.
If it doesn't go away, I have plan B - a can of low sodium vegetable juice. It fills me up eneough and supplies eneough calories so I can get past the thoughts. I'm not suggesting you drink V8; I'm just saying you can have a plan for how you are going to eat when you do start eating.
Thanks for all of the advice everyone. I've tried the mini meals before... splitting up my calories and whatnot, but I just get even more hungry sooner. And I'm pretty sure I'm getting what I need to be getting... I stick with the 50/30/20 split of carbs, protein and fats usually, especially since this summer I am cooking all of my meals. And the binges aren't usually junk food, since I don't buy any. The only thing is I usually cook a large meal on Sunday, planning to freeze portions and have food for the rest of the week, but I end up finishing the food by Tuesday or Wednesday. And trust me this is a lot of food! And I don't have time to cook every night, so it's getting frustrating, especially because after a binge I feel like I need to restrict myself (which usually works, since all the glucose from the binge has just been temporarily stored), but I feel like that may just lead to more binging...
Ah. this is hard.
The first step is to identify the trigger of your false hunger. Are you anxious or feeling deprived at a time of the day when your resistance is at its lowest? What is it that you binge on?
Short term fix is to drink..no, not that kind! I echo wheredego's suggestion of vegetable juice. Even a litre of tomato juice is only 190 calories, and a litre of fat-free milk is 333 calories. Cut a hundred calories off each of your other meals to make allowance for your binge until you can get to the bottom of whats triggering you.
Good luck!
Original Post by fooledbyfaith:
Ok, i used to be a very healthy eater. Cleanest eater ever. I was 5'4, 115 pounds...very happy. Anyway, I move back home and i go crazy with junk food. I cant even explain it. I didn't want it yet i craved it. It was all i could think about. Id find any excuse to get out of the house to buy it. So i gain around 40 pounds. And i blame it on the fact that for 2 years i deprived myself so much that i just went food crazy. Im finally getting over it but having to lose this weight all over again is a terrible burden and just frustrating. Anyway, my first piece of advice to write down your goals and keep them in sight. I also have a little mantra i repeat like...I want to be skinny, or Make the sacrifices to reap the rewards. And when i see a note that says 5/6 jeans it makes me want to fit into them even more. I have also started to write when i want to binge. Just yesterday I wrote a whole paragraph of the foods i wanted to eat and then below it I wrote a paragraph of the goals i want to accomplish. I want to be healthy, proud of my body and be comfortable throwing whatever on and going out the door. And its then that things come back into perspective and I dont want the food anymore. Also set a rule of no food after dinner and stick to it!!!Its sad to let food control your life. And its totally not worth it. We have the brains, not the food. So why does it always win? Well dont let it anymore. Just be strong
Thank you so much for writing this.
I'm 10 pounds over my ideal weight, and I just needed a kick to get me going.
I know this is kind've strange, but your reply helped me get into focus :))
Here's what I do - maybe you can use some of these tips, although I suspect you're already doing some of these things!
I take my vitamin supplements every day so that I'm not craving certain foods due to a nutritional deficiency.
I absolutely DO NOT eat anything that I don't like - I generally go for foods that provide me with the FLAVOR/TASTE I crave! :-)
I always eat something for breakfast - usually egg whites. My big meal is at lunch and so I'm left with less calories to work with in the evening.
If I'm starting to feel a little hungry before I leave for work, I eat a 100 calorie pack of almonds - healthy and very satisfying.
Anyhow, when I get home, I'm not nearly as hungry. I go for foods that satisfy - example - two cups of strawberries with Splenda and some fat free Reddi Whip - very yummy! 94% Fat Free Popcorn - 3 or 4 cups - and finally some Yoplait Light Yogurt - get protein and calcium and they have some new, really delicious flavors out there. If you're feeling full because of the foods you're eating, you're less likely to binge.
There are times when I want something sweet that's not exactly healthy and I don't deprive myself, BUT I will serve myself a reasonable portion (~150 calorie serving or so) and budget it in. I figure a little taste of something won't hurt - and it keeps us from feeling that we're deprived.
After I get my food, I go to my room - if the kitchen is in sight, I'm thinking about what's in there! ;-)
