[RookaWins]

Every day I eat a little more and more at dinner. whenever I sit down at the end of the day I feel bored and anxious and eating calms me down.
At least today I had a 6 or 5 hour window where I didn't think about food nonstop. that was refreshing.

someone tell me what to do to stop filling my gut to the point of not being able to sit or lie comfortably.

[hhm6]

I don't know if this helps or not, but when eating our of boredom, I eat things like celery, salad and fill up on it and usually there comes a pt where it kills my appetite.

I also drink A LOT of ice water at night which helps with my hunger pangs. Could you distract yourself by watching tv/ reading a book or something?

[punkrocksong]

I've struggled with this my entire life, but I think just being aware that you're doing it is the biggest challenge. I just try to focus on doing something else. I also fix my plate in the kitchen and eat in the living room and when my plate is empty I don't eat anything else. Every once in awhile I'll eat a bag over light popcorn (only about 100 calories) - because usually by that point in the day I've eaten all of the carrots and celary I can stomach.

[GordonGirl16]

I have been trying to drink a lot of water. Besides helping with the hunger pangs, I've noticed when I drink the recommended amount I really do feel better. It's like I never noticed I didn't feel great before, and now I do! Chewing gun helps me too. For me, the act of chewing something in my mouth helps with the hunger pangs.

[irishsarah]

Binging has been a problem for me too. Sometimes it is because I am upset. Sometimes I am bored and sometimes, it is just because it is THERE and I KNOW it.

The only thing that has helped me (and I just discovered this very recently) is Breath Savers Wintergreen Mints. Totally weird! I don't allow sugar free stuff in my house (I get migraines from NutraSweet, plus I just don't LIKE chemical sugars.) However, I was in line at Target and they didn't have my gum, so I grabbed these. They actually HELPED. I might eat 3 (one after another) but that sure beat the cookies that were SCREAMING my name a few minutes earlier. (With 4 young boys, I can't avoid desserts all together.)

I am out of them now and I've been having issues. I can't allow myself to go back to binging because I know I will be tempted to purge.

I firmly believe there is something out there for everyone that will help calm the urge to binge. A little something that will soothe you enough to step away from the food. For some people it is suckers/lollypops, mints, gum, whole grain snacks or even a new book! The hardest part is finding it.

Hang in there. I think we've all been there. It is something that many of us are going to have to deal with for a long time. It will get better, for all of us.

[luckymommy]

Try to distract yourself with another activity. Maybe you can do something physical, like taking a walk or doing some push-ups, crunches, squats, etc. You can drink some tea or chew gum or paint your nails, call a friend, come to this site, clean a closet, massage your feet with some lotion, take a shower, crochet, paint, draw, write in a journal about your feelings, etc....I think most people have had a similar problem, which is why we're here. The key is to break this habit and take control of the food, instead of the food controlling you.

One thing I should mention is sugar. If I eat sugar, that stimulates my appetite and that's true for a lot of people. That's why many people find it a lot easier to control their appetites by cutting out refined sugar (as hard as that is) and even limiting fruits.

You might also make a rule for yourself such as no snacking after dinner.

I hope you figure it out. You've done very well so you clearly know what it takes.

[rachieready]

For me, it isn't really about taste or even hunger pangs. During my weak moments when I find myself wanting to eat "bad" foods, it's almost like a deep need to feel FULL. I'm not sure how to describe it, but am wondering if anyone else knows what I'm talking about...

When I say "full", it's a different sort of full than water or lots of low calorie healthy foods seem to be able to provide. Like... when in the process of my being in a calorie deficit, I can sense it on some strange level... which almost causes a panicky feeling until and unless I can work through it and adjust mentally and emotionally to it.

Is this making any sense? Does anyone else understand what I'm talking about at all? Lol

[GordonGirl16]

rachieready I know exactly what you mean! There's something about a brownie or ice cream that makes me so much more satisfied than a big salad. I was feeling this way last night, so I decided to give in and have some ice cream. But the weird part was it wasn't really worth it. It was the first time I had felt really bad about eating something (which is part of my problem). It fit within my daily points (I do WW) but for some reason it just didn't satisfy me the way things always have. Hopefully this means I'm finally getting past this idea that only rich things will really satisfy me. We'll see!

[NightowlAnnie]

Originally Posted by punkrocksong

I've struggled with this my entire life, but I think just being aware that you're doing it is the biggest challenge. I just try to focus on doing something else. I also fix my plate in the kitchen and eat in the living room and when my plate is empty I don't eat anything else. Every once in awhile I'll eat a bag over light popcorn (only about 100 calories) - because usually by that point in the day I've eaten all of the carrots and celary I can stomach.

Me too.it is hard..been struggling all my life...

[NightowlAnnie]

Originally Posted by rachieready

For me, it isn't really about taste or even hunger pangs. During my weak moments when I find myself wanting to eat "bad" foods, it's almost like a deep need to feel FULL. I'm not sure how to describe it, but am wondering if anyone else knows what I'm talking about...

When I say "full", it's a different sort of full than water or lots of low calorie healthy foods seem to be able to provide. Like... when in the process of my being in a calorie deficit, I can sense it on some strange level... which almost causes a panicky feeling until and unless I can work through it and adjust mentally and emotionally to it.

Is this making any sense? Does anyone else understand what I'm talking about at all? Lol

yes..I totally, totally understand

[Chronostasis]

I used to be like this pretty often. It may sound strange, but for me the feeling disappeared a while after cutting out gluten/wheat (after finding out that I have a wheat allergy) and also eating generally healthy (refined sugars severely limited, but eating as much fruit as I wanted.) I can't make any guarantees, but perhaps you might have the same experience.

[Hoopty]

I was doing amazing for about a week, no cravings whatsoever! Then, DH and I had our every-once-in-a-while food-fest: movies, diner and then dessert. I had a croissant-sandwich, french fries, a milkshake, coconut chocolate and it all tasted amazing!
The next day I started getting cravings but it wasn't too bad and managed to "only" have a small Milky Way bar. However, once the next day rolled around, boy did I have some huge cravings! And it hasn't stopped since. I don't know if it's just a coincidence that my skin is breaking out and that I've been on edge (no PMS yet!) but it's really weird.
For me, carbs are a total killer. I haven't had pasta or rice in forever and like I said before, I didn't have any cravings. I had noticed this even a couple of months back. Whenever I ate wraps I would get really bad cravings. So, with that being said, I try to cut out those types of carbs completely.
There's nothing that can stop my cravings either. It's either I give in a little and am lucky enough to feel satisfied after something small, or I give in and it turns into a binge, or I don't give in at all but feel super miserable.
I have tried going for walks, taking long showers, painting my nails...it all didn't help. I'd have to force myself to lay down and try to sleep in order for it to go away eventually. Dang, I sound like such a debbie-downer, sorry!

[cbreeze987]

I binge terribly all the time. I do find if I'm so busy I can't breathe, it helps. I also have to fight with it in my head non stop because that is how much I think about food. I will say this, about a week ago, I binged really bad, I had fudgecicles, popcorn, regular food, sweets, and kept doing it for about 4 hours. Later that night, I was feeling really bad. I threw up and had to stay on the toilet for a couple of hours. I was so sick. Believe it or not, I have not eaten like that since and will never binge that bad again. It's like forcing your kid to smoke a whole pack of cigs to make them sick and never want another one when you find out they were smoking. (that's old school, not now). When you get sick from something, you don't want to do it again. Now, if I binge, it's very little because I dont want to go thru that ever again!!! It took me 3 days to feel normal again! I'm not suggesting you do this, I was merely telling you how bad my binge was and what it did to me.

[RookaWins]

these are all great replies. I'm glad everyone understands that this isn't a lifelong thing, and you all seem to have the same mental train of thought as I do. I just LIKE feeling stuffed on crap food, and I crave anything carby. I'm starting to think I have an addiction to sugar and I just don't want to admit it. l associate sugar and carbs with fun. And I need to stop.