[sosurreptitious]

Good morning!

Over the past few weeks, I have found myself slowly gaining weight. I gained 4 pounds in probably the past month. It's something completely controllable. However, I can't seem to get myself back on track. It's as if one "bad" decision leads to another. I don't find myself with the attitude of "well, I went over my points I'm going to continue to do it" but I do find myself mindlessly eating at night. This started before finals week (freshman year in college) and I can't seem to get myself out of the stress eating habit.

I say habit because at this point, it seems to have become a habit rather than something emotional. I am relatively stress-free since finals are over.

Has anyone found themselves in this position? How did you overcome it?

[movielover]

I can't say I do this...but in the past, when I have screwed up I just keep eating poorly!!!!

Best

[Buffinlovin]

One thing I did was actually throw out all the junk food (oh the fiance was not very happy with me that day...). I tend to eat out of boredom, so snacks and things were volatile to my diet plan. After I had emptied my shelves, I replaced it with things I knew I could eat (yogurt, fresh fruit, fiberOne bars, weight watcher ice cream, etc. Things that had around 0-4 points total, but are still tasty).

Later at night, when I could start to feel the need to go digging through my cupboards, I would drink a glass of water. I found that it would hold off any fake hunger I had (because that is really what drove me to look in the cupboards in the first place), and only when I would start to feel actual hunger pangs would I take one of my snacks.

I'm also very strict about writing everything I eat down (and I write down any drink that is not water), so I know exactly how many points I have left at night for these little snacks. Through my day I try to conserve at least 3-6 points, just so I don't go over for the day (I try not to use my activity or weeklies unless I am going out to dinner). If I find that I am at my points total for the day, I'll usually try to eat something that is 0 pts, like a banana, or carrots. My journal is my accountability...if I lie when I write in it, I'm only hurting myself.

One quote I read in another post on these forums (I'm not sure which post, but it really left an impact on me) is "if you stumble while climbing up a mountain, are you just going to throw yourself off? No. You're going to adjust yourself and keep climbing." or something close to that. I write that on the inside front cover of my journal to remind myself to keep pushing forward.

You CAN stop this binging habit =) I know you can! I hope the suggestion about cleaning out the food and drinking more water helps!

[GordonGirl16]

I was in exactly the same place a few weeks ago. I also just finished my freshman year of college, and I had like 7 finals with papers, exams, oral presentations...yikes! Needless to say I stress ate a lot and gained 3 or 4 pounds in just a couple of weeks. But now that I am home it is a lot easier for me. Just telling my mom that I am doing WW has helped to keep me on track so far. I am a bit of a perfectionist, so telling her really makes me want to stick to it. If I don't stay on track it's almost like I've failed my mom in some way, even though I know I haven't.

First I started to track how many points I was eating throughout the day. I didn't change my eating habits at all, but realizing how many points I had been eating led me to want to change it. I was way over every day, eve those days I thought were "good" days. That might be a good first motivating step I also have been drinking a lot of water whenever I feel like binging.

Good luck! You can do this!

[JenMusic]

We've just been having the "overeating habit" on the Maintainers' board! Yes, in my opinion, overeating (or mindless eating, or pattern eating . . . however you think of it) can definitely become a habit. And habits are hard to break, but not impossible.

When was starting to lose weight, the principles and exercises in Dr. Judith Beck's book really helped me become aware of those patterns, so that I could work on changing them. Whenever I fall into overeating episodes, I realize that I'm probably reacting to some stimuli that has become a pattern of overeating. And yes, I still battle that, but the good news is that I do believe we can overcome these things, when we work at it.