[chunkiechick]

My biggest obstacle right now is night binge eating. I am capable of eating healthy throughout the day but once the evening rolls around...about 2 hours after dinner - I have this compulsion to consume as much fatty/sugary carbs as possible and it completely ruins all the hard work I put in during the day. I wake up the net morning feeling completely bummed and bloated and spend the first half of the day beating myself up about it...ugh, vicious cycle.

This is by far my most shameful behavior to date and I haven't shared this with anyone in my life because I am beyond mortified. If anyone has any suggestions or thoughts, I am more than open to trying anything to get this under control.

Thanks!

CC

[BecomingMaggie]

That is my worst time of the day too. It was always the time of day that hubby and I would would have our treat. That treat was normally many hundreds of calories (or a thousand) of chocolate or cookies or ice cream.

Since I have been watching what I eat, he still has treats (less extravagant ones but treats none the less). I have tried to leave enough calories in my day that I can have something. Occasionally I will have a serving of whatever he is having but my favorite is those Jello 60 calories sugar free pudding things in the refrigerator section. The key is that I freeze them so they last longer. Two of those can take me a half hour to eat and the texture is yummy.

[KawaiiCandie]

yeah. i haven't done it in a while, but when i binge, it's exactly at that time, after supper, after you've done most of what needs doing. the fact that i'm just alone with nothing to do doesn't help.

what i do is i try and drink tea. it feels me up. if i can't get around it, i know "binge" on healthy foods. like carrots. i'll just chomp on a carrot. first of all, it's hard to chew! and then it makes you full really fast so you wont really want to eat anything else. and when all else fails, i go to bed ridiculously early. if i'm sleeping i'm not eating!!

hope this helps...

of course, ridding your house of crap that's easy to binge on goes without saying

[fatmac]

I've been struggling a lot with this, too. Best advice I've gotten (and yet, still have trouble putting into practice), is to get out of the house and take a walk when the binge-monster strikes, and also to brush your teeth after dinner. And rinse with mouthwash every hour to keep that minty-fresh-food-tastes-gross feeling!

[Ali87]

I've been the same. As I live with my parents atm and they love to make big meals there is always left overs around after the meal. I have to make sure all of it is put away otherwise i'll find myself picking at the left-overs. Or I get a sweet hankering.
For me, I will make sure I eat early, 6pm normally and then go for a walk or read a book...something distracting. Around 9pm I then have a low cal hot chocolate. It's something to look forward to after the meal so I don't binge.

[Northern Belle]

This has been a huge problem for me, too! It's the one habit that, in the past, has derailed attempts to lose weight because afterwards I just feel like I might as well give up. Luckily, I've learned to just move on and tell myself that the next day is a brand new day.

The way I stop myself from binging is just by telling myself that the five minutes I spend eating that sugary bowl of cereal (I love eating cereal at night, for some reason...especially Coco Puffs!), or whatever it may be, is not worth all the damage it'll do to my progress. I think about the fact that what I want to eat in that moment is really just another obstacle that will prevent me from getting the body I want and being able to wear the clothes I've always wanted to wear, which is far more important to me than a bowl of Coco Puffs. I also remember that the food is satisfying for those few minutes, but after I've eaten it I never feel satisfied or as if it was worth it.

If haven't gone over my caloric limit for the day, I sometimes just have a healthy/relatively healthy snack that takes the edge off the craving. For example, if I'm craving something sweet, I might have some yogurt or a small bowl of maple syrup-flavored oatmeal. If I'm craving something salty or savory, I might have a few (two or three) crackers with tuna and a bit of Miracle Whip spread on them, or even just some tuna or pink salmon alone right out of the can!

[stephandra]

Thanks everyone for all the great ideas. I've also struggled with nighttime binging all my life. I am slowly getting better though, last night I didn't even think about heading to the fridge! And when it happens again this time I will be more prepared

[KenzideRhae]

Maybe you could try eating dinner a little later? I know that if I eat dinner at 4-5 PM, I'm ravenous later in the evening, but if I push it back until 6-7 PM, I'm much more satisfied for the rest of the night.