I have been in a depression rut for awhile now and all i do is eat and eat and eat. It makes me sick that i cannot just stick to eating good. I do good...then binge at night! What can i do to help myself get motivated and stay binge free?? Thanks

Hey girl! I know how you feel about binging (especially the part where you do so well all day and then binge at night). The best thing I did for myself was to tell myself that nothing, food-wise, was totally off limits.

The minute I would make something off limits, I would think about what I couldn't have and want it so badly -- even if it was something I didn't like all that much. For example, I'd crave french fries so badly and when I gave in, I'd eat a ton, even though just a few would have satisfied the craving. But I was thinking to myself that it was a slip-up and that the next day I'd be "on the wagon" again, so I had to make the most of my slip up. Which is really dumb when you think it through, but when you're actually going through the motions it was hard to stop myself! lol

So now, I can have whatever I want. But I think about it and ask myself "Do I REALLY want that?" And if it is an honest to goodness craving for something, I'll have a little bit that fits into my caloric intake of the day. Like an order of small fries, just enough to satisfy the craving.
And I remove the pressure of "Ok, I'll give in tonight but tomorrow I'm back on the wagon!" Instead, I think, "Ok, if I REALLY want this tomorrow, I'll just make room in my calories to eat it." Once that pressure and desperation is gone, and once it's no longer a delicious taboo, it becomes Just Another Food Choice. And it kind of deflates the excitement of it and takes the power away from the bad food. The french fries are good, but they're not THAT good... Not worth the gas to go to the restaurant to get them, usually. lol

So that is the biggest way I've helped my food cravings and binging behavior. I don't know if that'll work for you, since everyone has a different relationship with food, but I hope it helps a little!

yup, i know all about the binges, too!! the thing that works for me is to get into a routine... the first day is the hardest part. if you can make it past the FIRST DAY, the next day it will be easier to resist eating too much, since you've already got a day under your belt. it gets easier every day after that. so my advice is, just tell yourself you're going to eat well TODAY, and then take it one day at a time.

also, i've found that if you exercise, it makes it easier to say no to a binge, because you won't want to undo all that hard work and sweat.

one more thing: you may want to allot yourself a "cheat day", where you can eat whatever you want. this way, if you really want some pizza and ice cream on thursday, you can tell yourself "i can have it on saturday (or whenever your cheat day is)". i say you MAY want to do this because it works for some people, but others may take that cheat day and either overdo it or extend it into 2, 3, 4 days, etc. i tend to do that

good luck!

thank you two so much...your advice helps tremendously!!!!!! I'll be using your tips and hopefully i will start to be binge free!!!!!

If your binging is out of boredom in the evenings, I suggest making hot tea. It always helps curb my night-snacking.
I also recommend keeping busy! I tend to want to overeat when I'm watching a movie or TV. But if it doesn't keep me occupied enough to ignore my cravings, then I've decided it isn't worth my time!

I do this too. If I'm still tempted to eat something else say half an hour after I've already had my last meal of the day (a healthy dessert/snack), I will make myself a nice green tea and then I won't even feel like the food anymore 'cause the tea makes me feel satisfied.

Also, I've found that when I crave things like ice cream it's sometimes just due to thirst and if I knock back a glass of water I don't feel like the ice cream anymore. It's better acknowledging this before having the ice cream rather than realising after you've eaten it that you need water, since the ice cream will only make you even thirstier. Plus, for me, water straight after ice cream = bloated feeling.

Thirst is hard to recognize especially if you grew up never drinking water. I think 99% of my cravings are due to thirst more than anything!
Good, steady water throughout the day is key to hunger control.

well...tomorrow i am starting my last 'diet' attempt. Mainly it's to get healthy but it will most certainly come with weight loss. Here is my goals for the first month...

Goal 1; no going out to eat [that means fast food, restaurants, etc]
Goal 2;only water to drink to crave thirst--soda is a BIG no no...even diet
Goal 3;Smoothie for breakfast along with an egg [if extra hungry]...Lunch will be a sandwich of some sort or a salad [along with a piece of fruit]...Dinner will consist of chicken breast or hamburger patty along with some veggies.

How does this sound for a one month start??

if that sounds good to you, that sounds good to me
it's babysteps

props for not going out to eat, and saying no to soda
my tips for going out to eat if its an occasion is to check out the nutrition menu ahead of time, making sure you know what to order when you get there. it worked for me, especially when i knew this place got some good ribs but i chosen a chicken salad over it, save me a ton of calories and money

Yes, know what you want ahead of time!
I don't even look at menus when I go out, otherwise my wandering eyes and carb-craving tummy get the best of me.

YAY! Congrats on your meal plan and happy healthy eating to ya!

Another thing that helps with my late night binging is GUM CHEWING! Whenever I get nawing feeling of shoving junk food in my mouth, I pop in two pieces of gum and just chew away! I have a boredom eating problem too and most times I'm NOT EVEN HUNGREY! I just want to chomp on something lol And the gum helps, plus it puts a strong minty flavor in your mouth which will make other food taste pretty icky lol

Also, you may not want to do this (I know I def didn't in the begining) but try to go to bed earlier! If most of your snacking happens at night when your just watching tv, then maybe you should hit the sack like and hour early, becasue you CANT EAT WHEN YOU'RE ASLEEP....but then again you can dream of eating food too!

My advice is to forget about meal plans, food diaries ect and start thinking about getting into some sort of exercise you like.

I find that if I have put in effort in the gym, on the bike, playing football ect then I dont want to binge...because it would be stupid to ruin the work I have put in earlier in the day......Doesnt mean I always listen to reason....I came back from the gym 2 weeks ago- and ate pretty much a whole cake....but at least I was back in the gym and eating well again the next day...and still showed a weight loss at the end of the week.

I have always suffered from the nasty cycle of binge eating, then getting depressed about that and eating bad the next day too....I had about 15 years of trying to diet, doing ok for a week- then one bad evening and I would pack it in for the next month...putting on all the weight I had lost plus a bit more each time. Its a vicious cycle that I found impossible to get out of with just diet alone - I needed to start training too so I had a reason not to binge....and if I do binge I know I can still stay in control by working even harder at training the next night. You need to do some kind of training to get the control back.....once you see the results starting to show....getting compliments ect then the need to binge will go away.


Also- how strict a diet are you trying to impose on yourself when you say "im doing good through the day"...just a thought but if your like me then you may trying to be to strict on yourself.....I know that I cant resist some food...so I dont...I just have a smaller portion than I used to, have it much less often and work out harder on the day I have it. I am not a person who can count calories, or eat a set meal plan for the day. I just eat within reason wahtever I fancy...but try to make it as healthy as possible. If I tried to stick to some of the diets I see on here I would brake within a couple of days...not saying they are wrong..but we are all different.

This sounds pretty good, but if you really want a lasting change try to look at it more as a lifestyle change than a diet. It's all very well to say you won't go out to eat but if you set yourself strict rules like that you will feel like you've failed and want to give up if you can't commit to it. What happens if a family member or friend wants you to come up for a birthday/celebratory dinner of some sort?

I think you would be better off allowing say one night a week in which you can go out to dinner only if it's a social thing that you don't wanna have to avoid and then when you go, only eat half of what's on the plate (since they usually give at least twice a proper portion size) or order an entree instead, and chose the healthiest dish on the menu. There's more power in making a potentially damaging situation into an acceptable one than there is in avoiding it completely.

The other thing I would suggest is eating small meals every few hours rather than just three square meals a day (or having smallish main meals but snacks in between). It speeds up your metabolism, keeps you fuelled and stops you from getting bloated from being over-hungry and then overeating.

The actual food you are choosing to eat sounds great. Smoothies are awesome. I was having them most mornings when I first started my lifestyle change.

Remember to eat slow and pause in between bites to give your brain time to register when you're full.

Best of luck. You can do it.