I was sitting here writing down recipes from the group site here and while I did it, I just couldn't stop eating! I had cereal for breakfast, which was ok. I had a toasted cheese sandwich for lunch cuz I didn't have anything else at the time and that wasn't great but it was ok, but TONIGHT... I ate a turkey and cheese sandwich, a piece of the cheesecake I was sent for Mother's Day, a bowl of cereal, AND cheese and crackers.

I just can't stop! I don't need to eat, but I either have to eat or smoke. Since I can't smoke inside (and don't want to b/c of my son), I eat. I am so frustrated. I knew I was full after the sandwich and cheesecake, but I still ate the cereal. And I knew as I was getting the cheese and crackers that I still wasn't hungry and I got them anyway!

How in the world do you get this stuff under control?

Hi -- I know exactly what you mean by not being able to stop eating... my suggestion would be to try, for a few days, to just avoid sugar... which means, no sugar, desserts, rice, bread, etc. of any kind and substitute it with low-impact fruits like berries, full-fat Greek yogurt, lettuce, avocado, cheese, etc. I recently read a wonderful book "The truth About Beauty" by Kat James and she speaks a lot about bloodsugar swings and the formation of biochemical food addictions bc of too much sugar intake.

I cut out sugar over the last six weeks and the difference between then and now is like night and day. Aside from having effortlessly lost weight, my desire to eat eat eat eat has diminished to near non-existance and I realy think she was completely right about the sugar addiction; it leads to uncontrollable cravings. Obviously you're not eating many dessert foods, but try cutting out bread and rice and very sugary fruits for at least a few days, until you feel yourself come under control.

I've been having full-fat plain Greek yogurt with strawberries in the morning (or an egg and tofu sausage or flax seed meal, egg and cream cheese), a big spinach salad with stuff like avocado, Romano cheese, roasted red peppers, tomato and oil and vinegar for lunch and tofu/veggie stir-fries or somesuch for dinner.

Good luck!

I find sugar free chewing gum always helps because mindless eating is something you either do from habit or just because you need something to much on. Gum isnt exactly good for you, but give it a go!

That's some great advice! Thanks for telling me that. I will have to try to check out that book as well.

It sounds like you're making terrific progress... I think a big part for me is to kind of reeducate myself about eating better and that's why I am here. I don't think I need a "diet" (because those are short term solutions to a long term problem) but what I call Life Style Makeovers.

At any rate, I keep telling myself that being bad and slipping isn't an excuse to give up. To jump right back on the horse and try not to deviate again. I always thought... "Oh I messed up today, I guess my whole 'diet' has gone to heck..." and I give up. I keep trying to tell myself that giving up isn't a way to remedy a bad spell.

I hope you continue to have success with your plan. Don't beat yourself up for a few bad days. Good luck! I commend you for working hard enough to lose what you have!

Maybe I can pick up a little of that discipline.

Chewing gum can't be worse than what I'm doing, right?

Hmmm, this sounds like quite the set up. I've been there - we rationalize our behavior so we can do what we want. Within the premise above, you HAVE to eat - it's either that or harm your son with second hand smoke! So to be a good mom, you've got to grab that cheesecake and a fork. Breaking this mindset has to come first.

I know it's hard, but you don't always have to be eating or smoking. I use to smoke and when I quit one of the strategies I used was to hold the phone or magazine or whatever in my smoking hand. It felt weird at first but it helped to train me out of smoking while drinking coffee, talking on the phone, reading, well heck, everything!

Meanwhile, try to start snacking on fruits and veggies instead of carbs and fat. It doesn't look like you had any that day! Think about it - 15 crackers and 2 oz. of cheese can add up to around 500 calories easy. That's about two medium size BAGS of baby carrots, or 5 apples, or a bunch of grapes. Those'll keep you busy much longer and they're better for you too.

You can do this!

I was not a smoker but some people that have stopped smoking used baby carrots for the hand to mouth thing. I am from the depression boards...LOL. someone had told someone else that was binging and purging to come over to this section so I thought I would look over here. I have problems with just eating for no reason. I was on lexapro and i gained weight and so the dr allowed me to switch to wellbutrin which helps smokers stop smoking. The major difference on that was that I no longer ate for no reason. I love fudge rounds. As part of my original diet at the beginning of the year was to cut junk food out completely and have friday nights be junk foor (because of my 4 young kids and husband!!) Well I would eat a whole box of fudge rounds in one night. About 2.5 weeks on the meds i said to my husband there is still a box of fudge rounds in the closet. During junk food night i didnt even want junk food. I hav a bag of carrots in the fridge if i go to the kitchen bored and looking.....u know what I mean...LOL...so I grab a handful of them and I am good. I hope you can find something that helps because I know the awful feeling of just not being able to stop eating for no reason. So now that I have done that I can start excercising. I always felt before whats the point of excercising when I am eating all this junk...and I would try to start eating healthy and come night time i would just eat whatever I could find and then forget about the diet and start the next day and that cycle would go on and on and i felt like poop!!! ok good luck!!

You're welcome! That book is really great -- she talks about a lot of things besides weight and dietissues, and really embraces a wholistic, nature-based approach to food, cosmetics, skin care, hygiene, etc. It was a real eye-opener for me.

How do you feel today, by the way?