UGH. I just overate.... at 5AM!!! :( :(

I was really hungry when I woke up, so I had my last can of Slim Fast Optima (190 cals), but was still a tiny bit hungry, so I ended up eating THREE slices of whole wheat bread.. and each of those slices are pretty dense in calories, then a huge apple. So about 680 calories... just for breakfast!! I am thankful that at least this is in the morning, so I will have time to burn it off, and it's not like I went over my caloric intake, but the ED side of my brain keeps beating myself up and I feel like my day is ruined. All I can think about right now is heading over to the gym to burn this off and thinking that I shouldn't eat anything for lunch and just eat dinner. I know this isn't smart, and I never eat this much for breakfast. And last night, I had a very filling dinner too. sighh...

The first thing you need to recognize is that it is your ED that is causing you to think irrationally - 3 pieces of bread and an apple and the shake thing does not mean you need to not eat lunch and dinner - you need to eat 3500 XTRA calories to gain just 1 pound, so you KNOW that you will not gain from this one little early morning breakfast if you just eat normally from your next meal

The best thing you can do when you eat an extra slice of toast or two, is to simply do it, and then wait until you are hungry again, and eat! To get rid of the ED, you need to CHALLENGE it by NOT thinking about the rest of your day JUST BECAUSE of this one early breakfast. THAT is what you need to do to move forward.

2 slices of toast is a typical amount so an extra slice is not going to make the least bit of difference to your weight!!!!!!!! In fact, 2 slices of toast, an apple, and the other thing IS a NORMAL breakfast, not too big at all!

Come on now, you KNOW that ONE extra piece of toast is NOT the 3500 calories you need to gain weight!

You will be fine, relax, and tell your ED to shut up and stop planning your daily meals based on weather you think you have eaten too much - eat when your HUNGRY, and if you cannot trust your body at this point, as ED’S can mess up your signals, then just eat normal lunches and dinners until your body starts giving your normal hunger signals again and etc

yeah~ i definitely cannot trust my body for the natural hunger cues yet. Sometimes, I feel that I concentrate so much on whether or not I'm hungry or not that I swear I feel like I actually trick myself into thinking that I'm hungry when I shouldn't be (I wonder if anyone else feels this way)!!! Do you suggest that I plan out my meals ahead of time? Maybe this will help me from obsessing what I should or shouldn't eat for the rest of the day? And then, like you said, my body will get used to the routine and naturally give me hunger cues.

Thanks so much for the reply. I am trying, literally every single day, to fight and win over my ED. I eat and exercise pretty normally, but the thoughts in my mind are farrrr from normal. It's only because I fight with my inner demons that I manage to eat pretty normally, because my thoughts range back and forth from anorexia to BED. I must say this is a vast improvement from the beginning of 2008, where the thoughts were manifested physically (went from 130lbs to 100 lbs then back up to 140lbs, now at a healthy 116lbs at 5'4" but the ED in me keeps telling me that I can still lose 10 lbs). Yes, they aren't manifested physically, but the battle in my mind preoccupies wayyy too much of my time and causes way too much self-loating. . .

It sounds like you are doing really well, well done!

Stock your pantry with all the healthy foods that you can easily prepare fast, like canned beans, soups, cereal, cook some brown rice or your choice of carbohydrate that you can eat cold with salad

What helped me, was making sure that at lunch time, I could go and grab some lunch without having to prepare much. The less time you spend around food the better!

It is normal to not be able to trust your body, so you have to use common sense and eat regular balanced meals. The better your metabolism is working, the better. Resistance training for your muscles, 30 - 60 minutes of physical activity each day, and not going more then 3 - 4 hours between meals or snacks is the best way to get your metabolism working

Try not to think about everything so much, your body will give out normal signals in time, until then just eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner with snacks in between

Even though you cannot fully register when your are hungry or full, make sure you eat enough at your meals so that you feel satisfied, so you feel like your body is constantly running on some gas.

Instead of physical hungry signals you may feel irritable and easily irritated by people when your body needs food, that’s how it is for me!

I never get hungry signals as such because I eat very regularly, but psychologically in my head, I need to NOT feel deprived because this leads to rebelling against punishing your body

Try to look at it this way - 680 cals for your morning calorie intake isn't so bad.

A lot of experts (I use this term loosely, as opinion varies by a lot where nutrition is concerned although some facts remain universal) say that it is best to eat the most in the morning. Some even advocate eating in reverse, that is a typical dinner meal for breakfast, and a breakfast meal for dinner.

Logically, you need most of your energy (and calorie intake) early in the day, as opposed to the evening when your body begins to wind down.

Do you work out at all in the mornings? Typically, I mean, and not in response to what you eat. Because 600-700 cals is usually what I consume pre and post-morning workout.

Example:

1. Banana pre-workout: 100 cal

2. Whey protein shake post-workout: 250 cals

3. Oatmeal with fat-free yoghurt, honey, blueberries/strawberries: 300 cal

And that's all before noon :) You need energy throughout the day!

Sometimes your body just needs those extra calories. This may be beneficial for you because this may help you lose weight! Don't beat yourself up over it because all you can do is look ahead and stay on track. :)

Good luck!

Original Post by happinesswhereartthou:

yeah~ i definitely cannot trust my body for the natural hunger cues yet. Sometimes, I feel that I concentrate so much on whether or not I'm hungry or not that I swear I feel like I actually trick myself into thinking that I'm hungry when I shouldn't be (I wonder if anyone else feels this way)!!! Do you suggest that I plan out my meals ahead of time? Maybe this will help me from obsessing what I should or shouldn't eat for the rest of the day? And then, like you said, my body will get used to the routine and naturally give me hunger cues.

I also 'trick' myself into feeling hungry if I think about it too much.  And I've also found a trick of my own.

It's easy to over do if you're cooking, as the smells and 'tasting opportunities' tend to stimulate the appetite. So, once a week, a prepare healthy foods in larger quantities. Then I package some into single-serving portions, the freezable ones get froze, or such.

Then I can easily mix and match small portions for individual meals, without all the mess and temptations.