I'm hoping I post this in the right section. I overeat on what seems like a daily basis. Every morning I say "Today I will do good". But then I eat a meal and it's like if I don't get overly full I keep eating till I get there. And then I stop, but once that completely full feeling goes away, I eat more. And it makes me feel miserable, but I do it anyway. I want to lose weight. But I think I need to concentrate on getting this under control before anything else will help. Yeah I can just eat healthy food, but I will still overeat and feel miserable.
So I've come up with an idea of limiting myself to just 3 meals a day. I would do snacks as well, but I think that would lead me down the road to overeating. So atleast for now I'm going to start out with eating just 3 meals a day. I'm kinda hoping this will get my stomach to shrink in how much it'll hold. And mentally slap me to be like "If you could do that whole 3 meal thing then you have control over this."
So opinions? Has anyone else tried doing something like this?
I am doing that. I don't feel that it helps with binging, in fact it encourages me to eat more when I do sit down to a meal, but it has helped me break the habit of constant eating. Literally I used to snack all morning at work. Anytime I was bored or wanted to procrastinate, I'd eat. I have not stopped binging but I am happy that I have stopped the constant compulsive eating.
i have a really hard time with this too. i just eat a big breakfast, a reasonable lunch and a small dinner. i wont allow myself to eat after 7:30, (i know a lot of people say that this is unnecessary, but it keeps me in control) i snack, but its usually a small smoothie, or some baby carrots or something healthy.
to feel full without eating as much i put a pillow behind my lower back and sit with good posture ( for some reason this is supposed to make you feel full sooner, works for me!) i also take a drink of water or crystal light after each bite, chew my food slowly, and i often eat a light salad before my meals (someone here suggested that to me) and it makes me feel full with hardly any calories
If you eat smaller portioned meals several times a day it could really help you. That way when you feel hungry you will have a small meal(incorporate a good amount of protein if you get hungry fast) and then in a few hours you know you will have another meal coming.
I think you should do what ever is best for you. Make sure you know the difference between physical hunger and emotional hunger..physical:you are actually hungry..emotional:you are upset, bored, etc. That makes a huge difference to!
JUST A THOUGHT:: IF YOU HAVE TO EAT MORE AT THE END OF YOUR MEAL THEN TRY DOING IT WITH SOMETHING LIKE LETTUCE..sometimes it takes awhile to get satisfied with lettuce and it is mostly water..very good for you.
I couldn't do the 6 small meals a day thing because I'd never feel SATISFIED. I have a small brunch around 12-2 PM and a big-ish dinner (often inc. dessert) most days, and I am successfully maintaining my weight between 130-132 lbs. Some people call it IF (intermittent fasting), where you eat all your food for the day in a certain "window" of time or split between 2-3 meals.
I think for people who eat compulsively/binge eat (like me), setting up a schedule is a great idea. It helps to train your body to send you signals when you are TRULY hungry, like stomach grumbling hungry.
I try to do this every day. I'm an early lunch eater (11am). On days that I can't eat at 11, without fail my tummy is beginning to rumble.
My days generally stay the same format because I follow my hunger patterns, but the actual food changes daily.
It's like money - if I spend a lot in the am, I spend less in the PM. I balance my calorie "check book."
I used to have to really plan out like this, but now (5 years later) it's not as pressing and while I still eat the same way, I usually have little idea what my dinner will be when I eat it because I have an arsenal of homemade freezer meals and quick cooking meals that I know are in the same calorie range and fit my nutritional needs.
i have a really hard time with this too. i just eat a big breakfast, a reasonable lunch and a small dinner. i wont allow myself to eat after 7:30, (i know a lot of people say that this is unnecessary, but it keeps me in control) i snack, but its usually a small smoothie, or some baby carrots or something healthy.
to feel full without eating as much i put a pillow behind my lower back and sit with good posture ( for some reason this is supposed to make you feel full sooner, works for me!) i also take a drink of water or crystal light after each bite, chew my food slowly, and i often eat a light salad before my meals (someone here suggested that to me) and it makes me feel full with hardly any calories
I have never heard this before, I'm going to give it a try!
ive been putting the pillow behind my back for 9 days now, and doing exactly what i say im gonna do, and im happy to say that on day 10 i still havent overate or cheated once! i may be overthinking my meals, but maybe thats a good thing
I've taken to eating twice a day and it's working really well for me (I am a binger)
Around lunch I'll have a salad with chicken/protein, and then a huge meal in the evening...I can still stay under my calorie range as long as I'm conscious of what I'm eating.
It's a good idea to set up a meal plan and schedule for yourself, but still, I think you should figure out what's causing you to overeat. You say you keep eating even when you know you are full. This behavior could have other issues behind it, stress perhaps, feeling like you lack control? I may be way off track here, but still, once you've established the cause, it may be easier to adjust your eating behavior.
I think that if you are a compulsive eater this plan can help you. It actually has a name in OA. It is called the 301 plan. Three meals a day, zero snacks in between, one day at a time.
If I start with the snacks sometimes I end up grazing instead. This is why the plan is helpful...for some people it is better to just never start with the snacking. It didn't work out perfectly for me when I tried it. But, I did stick to what I called a 401 plan for a while. I would eat a smaller breakfast and one evening/late evening mini-meal type snack nothing else in between.
So I've come up with an idea of limiting myself to just 3 meals a day.
That's what the French do. In France, snacking is only considered acceptable in very young children. Everyone else sits down to eat three times a day, period. There's something to be said for that approach, judging from the lower rates of obesity in France...
What always seemed to be my downfall in the past was the idea of "being good" instead of putting a plan in place....
My days generally stay the same format because I follow my hunger patterns, but the actual food changes daily.
It's like money - if I spend a lot in the am, I spend less in the PM. I balance my calorie "check book."...
I do the same. I plan my meals out for several days in advance, and then check them off as I go. When I'm done for the day, I'm done, and there is no arguing with myself about whether or not I need to eat more or what to eat.
I think that putting an end to snacking helped me a lot to stop bingeing. I have a light breakfast --here in Latin America we don't eat big breakfast but just coffee and toast-- and then have lunch and a very late dinner. It is working well, especially because cravings gradually disappeared as I learned to do that. Good luck with your plan!
Limiting How Many Times I Eat A Day
