I have to keep telling myself, there will be food tomorrow! Whenever I want to binge, I just remember that the next day I can eat again. I hate obsessing over food, but this seems to be the only thought that can keep me in check and keep me from overeating.

I don't know why I have such a desperate need to eat so much...I've always had a good amount of food available throughout my life, so I'm not really sure where this food urgency comes from.

After you have consumed your calorie limit for the day, does keeping in mind that you can eat again tomorrow help anyone else?

I did 23&Me, and one of the results said, "Tendency to overeat". I LOL-ed because that IS SO me!! Some of it is "bred in the bone", literally! I don't want to use DNA as an excuse, but there is an urge not mental at all, but physical, to do this!

That said, I love thinking about all the great food I'll eat (in moderation) tomorrow. Food has become a lover that, rather than meeting in secret, I'm having planned dates with. That helps.

Yep, it generally helps to remind myself that a certain food I'm craving isn't an endangered species- I can have it again soon. (Unless it genuinely is rare- I ate lots of Viennese pastries in Austria because I knew I wasn't going to find anything that good back in my hometown! No regrets.)

My PMS is giving me cravings something fierce at the moment and last night I actually stopped mid-reach to grab a third cookie (lots of baking this weekend for a church luncheon). I reminded myself out loud that the cookies will still be there in the morning and I can have another one later. It works as long as I'm just feeling snacky and not genuinely hungry.

truehappiness, what was food like for you growing up? I was never deprived either, but a lot of the "goodies" like soda and chips were off-limits except for special occasions so I have always tended to overindulge when they are available. On the one hand, it was a blessing because I didn't growing up thinking most junk food was an everyday item to have around the house, but on the other hand it made it forbidden fruit in a way and I have to be extra mindful around it.

For me growing up, we had always had some type of treat in the house. However, I couldn't just take something without asking. I am staying with my parents for the moment, and I still have to ask if I can have something sweet. My mom is like the sweets gatekeeper.. I think it's a form of power she always used over me. Like she would enjoy knowing how much I wanted the sweets, and she even hides them from me in special places so she has to get them out or she literally keeps them next to her by her desk in the house, so that I have to ask her about them. She has known I wanted to lose weight for a long time, yet she would sometimes "surprise me" (not a good surprise, really) with a whole box of snack cakes, etc. But, then she has made fun of me on numerous occasions about my love for junk food, how I'm fat, how she has never been as fat as me as an adult--yes, she actually said that to me. Also, every time I went on a diet in like high school, she would go on one too. I would weigh myself and of course she would have to step on the scale right after me and brag about how she weighed the same/less (even though she is like 6 inches shorter than me)...that's not right to compete against your child in any sense. In a way, it's like she likes to see me looking chubby/fat so that she can feel superior in some way, but then she also likes to taunt me about it, because she knows it's something that's hard for me.

I only intended to write like a bit, but I guess there are a lot more issues. I have thought about them before, but don't really know what to do with them. And yes, if anyone is wondering, I have called her out on these things before in a mature way, and she always gets rude/immature. My mom is a very emotionally immature person. :/

Yes, I hear ya. I've been struggling with this as well. I'm calorie counting and using My Fitness Pal. Logging all of my food and seeing the calories available to me go to zero has helped. I hit the "complete entry" button and tell myself that at that point the kitchen is closed. There will be food tomorrow. When I can't get my mind off of eating, I start planning my breakfast for the next day and logging it in the diary to remind myself that there will be food tomorrow. So far, it's working, but it's a struggle. I definitely have a tendency to binge eat at times.

I am mad at myself today. I didn't eat enough earlier and got the shakes and just now ate to much. I wish I was better at this.

This is something I've been trying to tell myself a lot lately. It does help usually.

My mom also was like the sweets gatekeeper. Really the snacks gatekeeper actually. She would lock pretty much all of our snacks in her room which had a padlock on it. On the rare occasion she went out when I was a preteen / teenager and she left it unlocked my sister and I would sneak in and take things and either binge on the spot or hoard for later. My family also has the motto of "eat what you can as fast as you can because it won't be there later" at any sort of gathering. I think it contributed to my unhealthy food habits. :\

When I go shopping now I'll get home and suddenly feel compelled to eat some of everything right away, like it's going to not be there tomorrow. It secretly really bothers me when other family members eat "my" food when I buy it even though I know I only need to go to the store to get more if I want it.

I tell myself a lot that the food will be there later....especially if i'm craving something....but I struggle at dinnertime when I know the food will be gone before I can get seconds....I don't know why I have this mentality where I need to get as much food as possible NOW

we grew up pretty isolated and remote but I don't remember ever "going without" and we always drove to town 60 miles away once a week and grocery shopped...even at my poorest time in my life, right after college when I was pregnant, I still had food even if it was cheap crappy food and I don't remember ever being hungry or going without

but yes, I tell myself a lot that "that binge food will be there tomorrow" or whatever...the only times I don't are with literally once a year holiday recipes like the ones that I make that were passed down from great-grandmother

Good for you for calling your mom out on that behavior, that sounds so hurtful. See, I wonder if at least part of the feeling that we have to "get it now while it's here" comes from those sorts of experiences. I know people whose parents went to really extreme measures to lock up sweets and forbid the kids from having any, which lead to a lot of sneaking, but not all of them have this issue as adults. I'm sure the reasons for this behavior are complicated.

I hope you find yourself in a better position in life soon to get away from your mother's behaviors. That sounds really stressful to live with.

Same here! Although, I'm embarrassed to admit I tend to get a bit openly cranky with my husband when he starts dipping into my low cal treats. No idea why, I work within a 2 minute walk of a grocery store so it's not like I don't have constant access to buy more. My husband says I just don't like to share.

To be honest, I have shifted my obsession with eating food to eating just those foods that are good for me. I only eat superfoods right now, and a lot of them. I exercise quite hard too. And, so far, it's working out.

To lose weight, a food obsession can actually help. I have certainly developed one. Focusing on everything that goes into your mouth does that to a person.

Er, yeah. I have a separate fridge in the basement now. Daddy's fridge. All for me.

I'm always thinking about the next meal, it's ridiculous. I feel good & then, almost panicked when I close my diary for the day on MFP.

I'm trying to focus on what I CAN eat instead of what I can't & allowing myself a small treat at the end of the day if I've worked out & can allot it in my calorie allowance.

For me it was the whole, "clean your plate, there are starving kids in <blank>." My parents expected me to eat whatever was put in front of me, whether I wanted it or not. So I really panic at the idea of wasting food and will eat food I hate, eat food I don't want, and binge like crazy, just so I don't have to throw anything away. Seriously, I don't really like Doritos but my husband does. He will leave an open bag on the counter for weeks. Eventually I will get paranoid that they are going stale and I will eat them all so I don't have to toss them. Even though I really don't like them!

My slender sisters didn't get the same message, they were younger and my parents got tired of fighting about food. So they ate what they wanted, and only what they wanted. They grew up picky and don't seem to have the same qualms about throwing food away.

For a long time I thought that it was a mistake to let my sisters do what they wanted, but now I see that forcing me to eat when I wasn't hungry set me up for future weight problems. I really can't tell when I am full ... I eat until my plate is empty, no matter how much is on it.

this is a good one "there will be food tomorrow". It was so hard for me initially to understand that. Don't get me wrong I still have a problem but TMI moment real quick I was raised really poor, we were homeless at times and so when you had food you would eat like crazy, eat until your full, sometimes until it hurts. Not knowing when the next time you would have that opportunity or regret not eating it when you had it. My mom also raised me with the mentality that your supposed to go to sleep with a full stomach. When we finally got on our feet I guess I never got out of that survivalist mentality. I was not taught the difference between stuffed(when i binge, unacceptable), full (acceptable but not necessary), satisfied and hungry. No matter what you were feeling you ate. Im grown now and have a career and I know food will be there tomorrow but idk I still sometimes only think about the today of it all. The satisfaction of right now, my immediate wants vs my long term needs. Its hard.