Smaller portions not working?

So every morning I have a breakfast of about 300 calories (I have a small stomach then), and then for lunch I try to pack a bento of about 500-600 calories.  I'm trying to shrink my stomach from all the overeating I've been doing in the past.  Problem is, by the time dinner rolls around (after an afternoon snack of about 100-200 calories), I do another bento of about 500-600 calories, but then keep going back to the fridge (or cabinet) to get more food/snacks afterward because I keep feeling hungry like my stomach isn't full (I think my stomach is full, but it isn't registering, or I'm just not satiated?).  Is there anything I can do to offset this nighttime eating while still shrinking my stomach?  I am a 5'3" 20-yr-old, 120 pounds, trying to slowly lose a few pounds/maintain, and am doing weights 3/4 days/week for 45 min. as my only exercise.

Edit: This is a sample of what I will have in a day (I found out that black rice does not expand as much as regular rice does when cooked):

Breakfast: 1/4 cup steel-cut oatmeal, 3/4 cup 2% milk, 1 egg

Lunch: 1/3 cup black rice, 1 cup stir fried cucumber and tomatoes, 1/3 cup stir fried mustard greens, 3/4 cup squid with vinegar, estimated 1-2 ounces of Chinese barbecue pork, 1 cup 2% milk

Snack: Handful of cherries

Dinner: 1 cup pork soup with seaweed and snails, 1/3 cup black rice (I usually try not to have grains at night), 1 cup squid with vinegar, 1 oz cooked fish, 1 cup stir fried cucumber and tomatoes, 1/3 cup stir fried mustard greens, 1/2 cup 2% milk

After dinner.......6-8 oz Chinese barbecue pork, 2 cups stir fried cucumber and tomatoes, 2 cups cherries, 1/2 apple, grazed on several nuts and bits of fish, then just felt too hungry and ate about 400 calories in banana chips...I STILL feel a bit hungry.  What gives? =[

How many grams of protein, fat, and fiber are you getting each day?

I edited my post to incorporate what a sample of my meal plan looks like.  Because I used to be so obsessed with calorie counting, I think my best bet is portion control, so I try not to go crazy over the counting, but try to judge sensibly what is the right amount to eat.  I am probably not going to try to plug that into the calorie count website because I don't want it to trigger any more urges to calorie count again.

Oh yeah, I should mention that I used to have sort of a night-binging problem, where I would just eat a lot of stuff in my house from afternoon til 11 at night, when I would go to sleep at 12.

The answer is probably larger portions of the lowest calorie foods--that is VEGGIES (non-starch veggies, to be more precise).

And I don't recommend dried fruits for just general consumption.  You get a LOT more calories for the volume (in otherwords, FULLNESS) compared to fresh fruits.  Dried fruits are great for when you need to reduce volume and have limited or no refridgeration -- ie, a hike.  A road trip.  But generally, fresh fruit will be more effective for comfortable weight management.

hi! i am also 20, 5'2, and now about 110-112 lbs, down from the 118 i was last year at this time and i am a binger too (trying to stop of course). i've tried several different approaches, i tried doing what you do but i end up having pretty much the same problem you have, except i also (you may too i don't know) would constantly think about food while trying to have reasonable portions for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks each day. mind you i am not used to eating like this whatsoever. i'm usually one of those people that eats 2-3 times a day, b/c i think i figured out in the past that if i eat more i just cannot stop eating. so i was trying to eat all of these meals and snacks and such and i found that while i wasn't having huge binges like i was before b/c i no longer was restricting too much, i was eating over what i wanted alot more often.

here's what i did. now before i say this, i am going to say that i in no way advocate starving yourself, this is just what got me back on track. after a day of overeating again, the following day i woke up, had a coffee and lots of water, ran 6 miles, and ate a nectarine, and ate a small dinner later in the day and a little salad as a late night snack when i got home from work. yes it was under my calories for one day. but it definitely helped to get my stomach back to normal. i was full eating a little for dinner that day, and also satisfied with my salad snack. the following day i found that i was actually content after eating breakfast. its been several days now and i am feeling much better. i haven't overeaten, and food thoughts are no longer taking over my life b/c i don't feel constantly hungry. so if you think you can do this and not binge at night, maybe you should give it a try. i think it is important to remember that everyone is different and needs something different.

I think that small meals work for some and not others.  Maybe your body & satiety just does better with smaller meals.  I know people will disagree with this, saying that you need small meals thoughout the day to keep blood sugar even, blah blah blah, but everyone is different & what works for some doesn't work for others. 

During the week I'm fine with small meals and don't get hungry, but on weekends I usually eat a really bug breakfast (like 1000 calories) and a regular dinner.  I might have a snack in between, but its usually not because I'm hungry. I usually just eat the snack because I feel weird going so long between meals.  I don't know why I'm like this on weekends only.  I've tried doing small meals on weekends and always end up overeating around 7 pm.

Original Post by rikaj:

after a day of overeating again, the following day i woke up, had a coffee and lots of water, ran 6 miles, and ate a nectarine, and ate a small dinner later in the day and a little salad as a late night snack when i got home from work. yes it was under my calories for one day. but it definitely helped to get my stomach back to normal. i was full eating a little for dinner that day, and also satisfied with my salad snack. the following day i found that i was actually content after eating breakfast. its been several days now and i am feeling much better. i

 If i tried that (which I did many times when I was first recovering from my ED I would binge BIG TIME the next day because my body was scared that I was going to start regularly starving it again.  And I mean binge in the most literal sinse, i.e. I COULD NOT stop myself, my heart would race, I'd get a hogh from the binge & I'd eat until I was so full that I was in tears from the pain of my stomach being SOOOO full. So I really, really, really hope you don't try this.  I think more often than not what happened to me is a common outcome.

I've tried having mini-meals in the past, and I found that they didn't work out for me - mostly because I ended up just eating all the time, and I'm trying to get away from that habit to 3 square meals a day (maybe a snack somewhere).  I don't really want to starve myself, although I do think I am the type to need some sort of cleanse or whatever to kick start.  But I do not think it is healthy, so I won't try it. ;)

White -

I like you tried to get into the smaller portions. I will tell you that it has taken me a month to get into smaller portions but now I am fully satisfied with smaller portions.

Here are a few things that helped me:

1. drink a glass (or 2) of water about 10 minutes before you eat

2. eat a LOT of fiber

3. instead of putting yourself around the snacking scenario, try and do an activity where there is no way that you can have access to snacks

1 helped me the most, 2 helped me a little (more or less helped me feel full) and 3, well it helps make your "weakness" visable.

Best of luck!

Mini-meals works for me.  I figure I can plan to eat all the time and stay within my calorie allowance or plan three meals, feel like I'm starving and snack all day anyway.

Could you possibly be trying to force your body into an eating habit it doesn't like?  Does it really matter if you eat all day if it helps stop binging and this out-of-control eating you do at night?

Just some things to think about.  Oh, and please don't do a cleanse.  They don't work. 

Could you possibly be trying to force your body into an eating habit it doesn't like?  Does it really matter if you eat all day if it helps stop binging and this out-of-control eating you do at night?

the OP is trying to eat meals throughout the day and is binging at night, how would continuing to do this help? not to be rude. she said she tried it and it doesn't work for her.

it just agitates me a little that people are so stuck in the mindset that eating 6 small meals is such a wonderful idea. for some people, yes it is perfect. but it isn't for everyone. my dad lost 30+ lbs eating nothing but a piece of fruit all day, a big dinner, and snacking at night b/c he doesn't like to go to bed on an empty stomach (do i think this is a good idea for everyone, of course not i hate eating before bed). he was so used to eating at night that he had to incorporate it into his weight loss plan, and he could easily not eat during the day, so that is what he did. he's been maintaining this loss for at least 10 years now with no problem, he usually eats a little more during the day now, but still eats at night alot.

like i said, his isn't probably the best idea, but he found what works for him. my mother is a grazer. she eats breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner sometimes more snacks and that works for her. its all in what you prefer.

i am still trying to find what is best for me to stop binging and stay within my calorie range. i think it just takes some experimenting. good luck!

Thank you for everyone's input.

I drink about 10 cups of water every day to help, but I don't think it's working still (just makes me want to eat things like dried fruit more over the fresh kind).  It's hard for me to eat more fiber since my mom cooks vegetables with so much oil, and I don't want to end up consuming too much!  Plus, I haven't been eating fiber for so long that I bloat if I eat any at all. =\  I've already tried eating healthy fats from nuts, but it hasn't really worked.  Will protein do it?

Original Post by rikaj:

the OP is trying to eat meals throughout the day and is binging at night, how would continuing to do this help? not to be rude. she said she tried it and it doesn't work for her.

it just agitates me a little that people are so stuck in the mindset that eating 6 small meals is such a wonderful idea....

 She didn't say why small meals didn't work.  Was it just an inconvenience?  Did she just not like it?  She said that she WANTS to eat three meals but she's binging at night.   Maybe her body NEEDS fuel several times throughout the day. 

I'm not stuck in any mindset.  I don't think there is only one way to eat.  I just wanted her to reconsider.  I'm a binger and spreading my calories out so that I'm practically eating all day keeps me from emptying the kitchen at night.

Oh and when people say "not to be rude" I always think they're actually trying to be rude. 

Ummm, well I meant that eating many small meals throughout the day just caused me to want to eat every single moment that I wasn't terribly busy...plus the binging at night while I was sitting in front of the computer with nothing but some cereal by my side, or something like that.

Original Post by white_sakura:

Thank you for everyone's input.

I drink about 10 cups of water every day to help, but I don't think it's working still (just makes me want to eat things like dried fruit more over the fresh kind).  It's hard for me to eat more fiber since my mom cooks vegetables with so much oil, and I don't want to end up consuming too much!  Plus, I haven't been eating fiber for so long that I bloat if I eat any at all. =\  I've already tried eating healthy fats from nuts, but it hasn't really worked.  Will protein do it?

I've actually found that the bloating from increased fiber has helped me to stop snacking.  My eating schedule during the week is 300c for breakfast, 300c for morning snacks, 700-900c for lunch, then 100-200c for dinner.  I'm typically starving all morning, so that's why the a.m. snacks, but lunch is usually chock full of veggies so I'm basically full for the rest of the day.

Fiber is our friend, for lots of reasons!  Don't skip it.

I guess I just don't want to feel really full or bloated because the point of eating smaller portions is to shrink my stomach.  That month of doing getting used to the hunger pangs before the stomach finally shrinks kind of scares me, but I guess it's my own fault for stretching it out so much, lol.  Thank you for everybody's input. =]

Short of bariatric surgery there is nothing you can do to shrink your stomach. Seriously, google the words myth shrinking stomach and see what you find. What you want to do is shrink your appetite. Eating lots of low calorie, slow-to-digest foods is a good way to do that. Raw and lightly cooked vegetables and fresh fruit are the easiest way to accomplish that. For grains, choose the ones with the lowest glycemic index--brown, red, or black rice instead of white is a good start. Cutting out bread and pasta and replacing those foods with large helpings of vegetables has help me stave off the hunger while eating far fewer calories than I used to.

I also enforce portion control on myself by plating up meals in the kitchen where I can weigh or measure everything, and the second (and third) helpings aren't sitting in front of me at the table.

Original Post by mollytrolley:

Short of bariatric surgery there is nothing you can do to shrink your stomach. Seriously, google the words myth shrinking stomach and see what you find. What you want to do is shrink your appetite. Eating lots of low calorie, slow-to-digest foods is a good way to do that. Raw and lightly cooked vegetables and fresh fruit are the easiest way to accomplish that. For grains, choose the ones with the lowest glycemic index--brown, red, or black rice instead of white is a good start. Cutting out bread and pasta and replacing those foods with large helpings of vegetables has help me stave off the hunger while eating far fewer calories than I used to.

I also enforce portion control on myself by plating up meals in the kitchen where I can weigh or measure everything, and the second (and third) helpings aren't sitting in front of me at the table.

Thanks for shedding that light, mollytrolley.  I guess I will just have to deal with the bloat until my system gets used to it.