I admit I have a problem. I binge.......I eat out of boredom........and though I claim I want to lose weight, and though I have joined WW time and time again only to gain weight or lose very little weight, I am finally admitting I have a problem.

When you know you are in a rut, and you know you need to stop eating, and you know you shouldn't be eating a ton at night, or you should be eating stuff good for you and don't, what do you do?!?! I want to be successful. I know for a fact if I quit eating junk at night and filled that with another activity, I could be o.k. But I don't...and I sit and eat.

Have any of you been through this? What clicked for you?

I know that I've been through this several times in my life. I have several good tactics to avoid this. You just have to try and see which one works for you.

* Don't keep the "bad" foods in your house
* In your pantry door or on the fridge door put up a picture of your ideal image whether from a magazine or a picture of you from your past.
* Just log on and ask someone to talk you through it.
* Find a snack alternative, for a sweet tooth get some sugar free jello or some fresh sweet fruit like strawberries or peaches or even a bottle of water with the Hunger Satisfaction Crystal Light pkg, for a more salty flavor slice some cucumber or tomatoes and sprinkle with seasoning.
* Go brush your teeth -- then you won't want to eat (or maybe that's the hygieinist in me )
* Chew some sugar free gum

Try anything and remember we all go through even in our successful times so don't beat yourself up.

Good luck!

Yeah, that's a tough one, the internal argument you have in going on in your mind the whole time and always, the "evil" side wins. I've had that before, "I shouldn't eat it" while at the same time inhaling as much as I can without my ownself noticing. I like skinnynene's idea of tossing stuff out of the pantry that's too tempting. That one thing for me is HUGE. If the snacks are not readily available and if I actually have to get up off my generously-sized rear-end to go to the store and buy said treats, it's not gonna happen, the whole process of getting ready to go etc. etc. makes you change your mind. It's that instant gratification that's the problem. Also, the snack alternatives are key, I have some sugar-free chocolate and other such items for the big sweet-monster, and they seem to do the trick. Another thing is awareness, take a peek at the nutritional info of the things you love to snack on, just pure awareness of the calorie and fat content of these things sometimes is the deciding factor (sometimes, not always, lol), you can even take it one step further and equate it to an amount of exercise, i.e. 1 bag of chips, is what 1000 calories? That's like two 10 k runs! Anyway, it CAN be done, it takes some determination and breaking down the obstacles that are in your way. Good luck!

woops, I should say two 5 mile runs, I'm in Canada so it's all about kilometers, lol.

To combat this problem I have:
Chewed gum
Not allowed myself to eat after dinner
Drank a lot of water/crystal light
Try really hard to think about how the food won't help me look better

Oh, I definitely eat out of boredom sometimes. Or out of tiredness, happiness, or sadness. I stopped eating a lot of sugar. I went cold turkey for a few weeks. Now, I'm eating a little. It's really helped. While I thought I was eating from emotion or boredom, ended up being actually caused in part by sugar addiction.

Of course there are other things involved than just sugar. Sometimes I really am eating out of boredom. I find that I eat less when I'm working on a project. Like crafts or cleaning out a closet or putting pictures in a photo album. I try to keep myself busy.

I read someone say in another post that willpower is a muscle that gets stronger the more that you use it. I've really kept that in mind lately.

I wonder if when you say you eat our of boredom, it is in fact that you are also tired, maybe a little depressed, or if it is anxiety?

if it was simply boredom, why not just find something to do? I'm trying to see if i can relate to eating out of boredom. It seems to me that if i have nothing to do, yet i do not have the motivation to get up and throw myself into some activity i enjoy, there is alot more going on than simply boredom. ?

I get bored if i'm waiting in line somewhere, or stuck someplace waiting usually that i can't get out of. but these aren't the times i don't think when people generally eat out of boredom, right? since in those situations you would normally be out in public. I'm thinking when people say they eat out of boredom, it is in their time off when they are at home. If it's your free time, and you are not excited about doing whatever it is that brings you joy, what is really going on here?

I just have never thought that i binge out of boredom. if it's my spare time and i 'm eating, it's normally because i've had a stressful workday, I'm too tired and can't find the motivation to do anything else, and eating provides and easy escape and comfort for a short while.

So to me, boredom would be easy to solve. Feeling unmotivated or just too dang tired to do anything fun or productive points more toward mild depression or being overstressed, which would require a different approach to remedy.

So if this is what people mean by boredom, what has been working for me is taking a step back and incorporating in some sort of relaxation and more rest. Along with searching out suppliments that i think would help me relax, and give more energy.

I've also had a lot of success with not eating any candy or sweet type junk food. i don't have the cravings now like i used to, and my over all state of mind feels more stable. I'm wondering if it could be due to the fact that my blood sugar is no longer spikeing and dropping.

sorry if that reply is not very helpful, just trying to find a way to relate my own experiences.

The click is in the mind not the mouth.....once we figure that out everything else falls in to place. I a bordem eater without a doubt, but the bordem comes from different places nothings good is on TV, I have no place to go, know ones home and I feel like talking I can Always come up with a reason to eat. This is what I have learned.

1. NEVER bring anything unhealthy in the house, this forces you to think long and hard before eating it you have to go out and get it.

2. Plannining is everything I have something sweet every night after dinner no matter what, this way my body or my mind never craves it and I don't binge.

3. I too am on WW and I pick one meal a week that is considered "Non Diet" and I have in its regular form not the diet version if I know I can have it I never feel deprived I do always account for it.

4. Write everything down, it is amazing how much we consume without realizing it.

5. After eating something sweet I try to brush my teeth right away for some reason this stops me from wanting more.

I hope this helps

I started with a food journal, and my rule is that I have to write it down before I stick it in my mouth so that I can't say I didn't know what I was doing. I've been at it 2 weeks, and to my most pleasant surprise, discovered that 1700 calories was actually a very satisfying amount of food to eat.

I guess my own mental epiphany occurred somewhere around the time that I was cheering two girlfriends through their own weight losses, and sympathizing with their ups and downs. Out of the blue, I realized that I was being a far better friend to my friends than I was to myself ... and that if I just gave myself the same firm but forgiving support instead of the continual negative self-talk, I could probably do some amazing things. I've tried it ... and it works! Think about how you would treat a friend if you caught her mid-binge ... you'd put your arm around her, and help her through it - including out the door for a walk if need be. Be your own best friend.

I've binged for years though I've never really admitted it to anyone before. I've had ups and downs with it, but just before Christmas I'd got to a point of binging more or less every day, which was making me gain weight and spend money I just didn't have to spare! Finally something in me 'clicked' just before Christmas and I found that I just didn't want this way of life any more. I knew I was moving house anyway, so I took that as a chance to have a new start. Over the holidays I ate and drank exactly what I wanted but didn't binge, and since moving to my new flat in January I totally changed my lifestyle. I haven't dieted or banned myself from eating anything, but have made myself only eat in the dining room/living room and never alone in my bedroom, which makes me think more carefully about what I choose to eat. Gradually I started eating less and less junk food, although I was still eating whatever I felt like...I just felt like eating more healthily! I also joined a gym and have been swimming every day, which has made me feel great and also helped me lose some weight. It was just a total turnaround of attitude and I really thought I'd changed for good, didn't even think about bingeing any more.

But then last weekend I was kinda down and feeling lonely and I ended up bingeing on Saturday. Since then my whole mindset seems to have clicked back to where I used to be, coming home in the evening feeling uneasy unless I know I have something stashed away in my room to eat alone at night. I've tried to control it but seem to have lost the buzz I had before, and binged again today because I was bored and alone. Now I feel full and disgusting, but worse is that I feel like I've totally slipped back. Not with the weight loss, which is almost irrelevant, but with my whole attitude towards food. I think it's going to take weeks to get back to where I was - it's like snakes and ladders, climbing up takes so much more effort than slipping back down!

Anyway good luck to everyone trying to change their eating patterns...hope we can lend each other a hand! x