Once I start I cannot stop!!

I am having huge probelms stopping eating when i start. i am fine until i start, from then i just cannot stop. its uncontrollable and i hate myself after. this is breakfast lunch and dinner. used to be mostly dinner/pudding time like in the evenings but now im craving everything all the time. every possible meal you could have for breakfast i crave, same with lunch an ddinner. its like something takes over me. please help me with some tips to control these terribke habits! its ruining my life.

Are you eating just the three meals a day? If so, eating six smaller meals really helps me. It keeps me feeling satisified throughout the whole day and then when it is time for dinner I'm not starving. I really do feel like I am pretty much contantly eating...and losing weight, which is just awesome. The more protein and fibre you can include in each of the six mini meals the better.

Thank you very much for reply :)

Well last week i would start eating breakfast and then not be able to stop, so id say to myself id have no lunch or a light lunch to make up for it but then as soon as i started eating again this would repeat and id end up leaving myself about 100 calories for tea and id just give up and go crazy with loads of food for the day. Then today for instance i eat a healthy breakfast (250 calories) then snack 2 hours later (50), then lunch came and i went mad again, left nothing for dinner, just gave up and binged like hell. I really thought today would be the day it was going to change. I end up thinking to myself 'oh another 100 calories wont hurt, ill just knock it off dinner' or ' oh i might as well have a maintanence day today and start dietting tomorrow'. Its just happened too many times now and ive gained 10 pounds very quickly. I dont know whats come over me but this has to stop and tommorow really really has to be the start of a change!! I will plan my meals and really try to stop when i am meant to :S its just soo hard.....

Hmm....I don't know your stats but I having a feeling you really might not be eating enough in your "meals"to begin with. 250 cals for breakfast really isn't all that much, I know if I only had 300 cals before lunch I would be famished too. Personally I eat about 350 for breakfast, than another 200 ish for a snack at about 10:00am. What are you eating in those 250 cals?

by stats is that weight and height? 10 stone 10 pounds (at least) and 5 foot 7, was 10 stone when i lost weight, now put it back on. yes well thats what i thought last week too so i starting eating bigger breakfasts, like 500 calories but i found that triggered off a binge and i ended up sometimes eating all my cals before lunch :S ermm well in that low cal breakfast i had 25grams porridge (100 cals) with water and a banana and an apple. Then my snack was another apple. And then because of the binge i eanded up eating 5 apples today haha i no its crazy :O im just worried that if i have too much for breakfast it will make me more likely to go over calorie limit later on, which id like to be 1300 - 1400.

thats really tricky- it sounds as if you need to have more food, but which is lower calorie. a bowl of lettuce and a jumbo amount of tomatoes, cucumber.  melon is great. one cherry tomato is only 4 cals, so eat a tub ful- thats fine. grapes, they're sweet and low calorie. maybe think about what you can add to your diet, rather than what you can take away?? how can you eat more veggies?? eat continental- have a salad before your main meal.

i don't mean instead of all those foods you love- but in addition to. maybe after eating your way thorough all this low calorie goodness- you may just eat less of the higher calorie stuff??

and give yourself rules- e.g. a glass of water before each meal and each snack- a starter of veg or fruit before every meal - one of my favourites is running on the spot in the tv adverts. its suprising how those 3 minutes add up during the evening!! ordinarily, i think borrowing calories from other meals is fine- but in respect to your issue- i would say once you've had the calories from the original meal you had planned- restrict your 'extra' unplanned eating to no fat yoghurts and fruit and veggies. i say this as it sounds as if your overeating is a mental need rahter than a hunger need. if i am wrong (which happens a lot!) then look more closelu at the nutrional content, and up the fillinng food. wholewheats, pastas, fibre etc.

go shopping more often, and buy less. if there are less options in the fridge, then there is less to fancy, and less to over eat on. i know this can be difficult, but if you can walk to your local store, then thats some walking exercise every other night :o)

i also read that it takes 3/4 weeks to cahnge your craving habits. what i mean is, is that everytime you crave chocolate- you ate an apple, eventually you'd end up craving the apple. basically you are rewireing your brains synapses. worth a try??

and lastly- it is hard- but this is a lifestyle choice to keep of weight forever- so what is 10lbs between friends? don't worry, you've got it off before and you will again. think positive, and keep at it.  i myself have just put on half a stone i worked hard at losing, but we can do this, we control our bodies and what fuel they get, not the other way around.

good luck, for the both of us!! X

Oh wow this support and motivation is great!! I really really appreciate the replies :) Thank you so much!

You have really helpful tips and i think your right about the mental need, i never seem to feel hungry, i just eat becasue its there. we have no choclate or crisps in house and its most likely toast, cereal or biscuits i am binging on, just a hell of alot of it! :P I will take your advice and try out some of the ideas. Also thats really interstoing about the brain synpases, i think that may be why i dont crave choclate and crisps much anymore, because in my last diet i would substitute it with fruit etc. Im going to up the excercise, one becasue of tthe calories and two, to take my mind off food and prevent myself from being in a position where i can binge. Thanks again and good luck to you too!! WE CAN DO IT!!! xxx

I agree with the "drink a glass of water before each meal, thing.  I read that most of the time when people think they are hungry, they are actually thirsty and just misinterpret what their body is telling them. I increased my water from 1 or 2 16.9 oz bottles a day to 5-6 and I feel full much longer, and don't exceed my calories as much. It had the added benefit of making my skin look great.

Definitely replace some of the cereal and bread with dense vegetables and fruit. It'll keep you full a lot longer. Cereal especially is a poor return on its calories.

It is definitely NORMAL to feel hungry after eating 250 calories for breakfast.

I rarely feel hunger, but even I feel hungry if I eat 250 for breakfast…..

It is easy to not be aware of how many calories you actually need!

You obviously did not see that your 250 calories for breakfast was genuinely making you very hungry!   It was a natural and normal response from your body;   it ran out of calories, because 250 calories did not satisfy you until lunch.

Brandy,

I just finished a big cut cycle, and as much as I never like to admit it - when I diet down I go into crazy attack binge mode. I ended up gaining 17lbs in about 2-3 weeks. Pretty bad. :( Makes me sick in every form of the sense.

But I have realized that like monkfish has said, it's a process to stop binging. It takes me about 1 month to get back to normal... so far the past three weeks I am gradually getting better. First 1 perfect day, then 2 last week, then 3 this week... last night would have been four but I had to make cupcakes for 50 kids and well... whoops. :/ At least I didn't eat too much.

Anyhow, just take a deep breath and concentrate on that moment rather than the day as a whole. I also eat 250 cals per meal (at 6-7 meals per day though)

G'luck