To eat 5000 calories a day

[Evalineaa]

My eating is completely out of control.
I'm really lonely living where I am and I know I use food for comfort.

In one day I eat four slices of bread,beans,hotdogs,cheese
fruit salad.
Carrot cake muffin
Spaghetti bolognese for lunch
Whole packet of chocolate chip cookies (large chewy kind you find at supermarket bakery section)

Then I will come home and have a cooked dinner. Today it was a fish and chips with mushy peas.

Then I settl down for the evening with an entire tub of Ben and jerrys, packet of Jaffa cakes and a family sized bag of doritos with dip.

I don't eat after 8pm as i like to feel hungry before bed. I go to bed at midnight.

What I eat in a day changes but I reckon I eat 5000 calories a day and have done since my son was born four years ago.

I have tried almost everything but without food I'm so bored. I love my son but he's not much company.

I know it's wrong but I'd be so unhappy without food.

I've finally got a call to say I've got a job nearer family and I'm so pleased. I will be so much happier with a support network around me. When I visit family I eat normally and with friends food is the furthest thing from my mind.

Is there anyone else whose eating is out of control? If so how much do you eat?

Is it okay for me to eat like this while waiting to return back to my hometown in a few weeks?

I can't wait to go back! I've wasted so many years in what has practically been solitary confinement.

High quantity low calorie food substitutions would be a good start.

I'm amazed you are not much bigger than that to be honest. I have the occasional binge day (like once every six weeks or so) but even then I probably wouldn't eat as much as you've just described.

As a general rule I eat a fraction of what you do, I don't touch things like crisps, ice cream, cake and biscuits for weeks on end, I eat very little bread, maybe once a week (love it but I don't allow myself it because I can't be trusted to not eat too much of it) and I only eat two proper meals a day. I am 5' 3" and weigh 12 stone and really struggle to keep to 12 stone.

I can't comprehend eating like you do all the time for 4 years and given your height you are no fatter than I am really.

OP, have you thought about taking up something like counted cross stitch? It doesn't have to cost a fortune - you can buy kits with the pattern and all yarns etc for £20-£30. You can't eat while you're doing something like that, because you need both hands and you'd get the fabric dirty. It's something you can do in the house solo, and while you're concentrating on getting the pattern right, it would take your mind off eating.

FrenchLavender

Me too. I can relate. I rarely binge, eat low carb, and I'm a lot fatter than the OP. She is very lucky.

It takes 3500 excess calories to put on a pound. So assuming all her walking means she is quite active I would assume she might stay the same weight ( 12 stone whatever (I forgot quotes in my post above - I was reposting the original poster's weight and height, not mine. I try to keep under 10 stone). So if she eats 2500 more a day than that then let us estimate that is likely to put on about a pound every couple of days as probably the calories are under 5000. So may be 3 pounds a week? I suspect the 5000 calories a day in in bad weeks not all weeks.

I'm sure I could stop if I wanted to.

But I've enjoyed eating like this for 4 years now and I don't think I would even know what to do
With my hands if I stopped.

There's something about eating delicious food (not salads,fruit,low calories options) that is very stimulating and comforting.

I've never had the same appeal from any low calorie foods. I just don't like the taste of them.

I eat fruit and veg too but with a meal. I couldn't be someone who never ate any fruit or veg.

I would say I rarely eat less than 4000 calories. Most days it is around 5000.

For me I just eat constantly until 8pm and I feel hungry after eating.'I know
I'm not hungry but I get a craving for something to eat because of boredom/loneliness.

Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences.
Glad to know I'm not alone. :-)

10 mile walk would burn 900 kcal at most. How do you hold down a job? How are you not 800 lbs? It doesn't make any sense.

crochet!!learn to crochet -th as ts what keeps my hands busy and my anxiety at bay. i can't eat crap if im concentrating on making something beautiful. Look at the wooly hugs threads on here.

Honestly im not mad!! it works

I walk a lot in my line of work. I have to go on visits a lot and walk as I don't drive.

I've no idea how I'm not obese. I am two stone overweight though so I'm not slim.

I wonder how old the OP is. If she's quite young, then perhaps the excess calories don't yet pile on weight the way they will do later.

My pedometer reckons I have walked 19km today, and burned off just over 1100 kcal in the process.

OP I am in a similar situation as a LP with no family or friends locally.

I've also been through phases of overeating (and overdrinking)

I have a great support network over the phone. Probably two nights a week I have a phone call with a friend or family member. Sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for up to 4 hours! We plan it ahead of time like we would if we were meeting for a night out.

It really helps me to feel less isolated and have that social interaction.

Good luck with your move and new job.

I'm impressed you are only a stone overweight. Maybe some days you are consuming less calories than you think.

You need to cut down on portion sizes. And all the treats. Don't deny yourself altogether, because you are bound to fail, and then binge on loads, but just cut down. One day done cookies but no Ben and Jerry's.

What do you eat in a typical day, Evalineaa, give us the food diary.

I think you should take on board the point about diabetes. You don't have to be massively overweight before you are diagnosed with Type 2. Many people are diagnosed carrying 'just a bit extra' around the middle, and that diet would do it for many more even if they didn't gain any way. I've seen uncontrolled Type 2 up close, and believe me you don't want it.

Incidentally, OP, I'm in a similar situation - I've moved to the other end of the country for a 2 year lectureship I couldn't turn down, I'm in a rural town on the sea, I don't drive, and I'm lonely. I have about 3 months before I can go back to my family and friends. I know its hard. I don't have a small child, just 2 cats whom I adore but I can't exactly have a conversation with them. Like someone above I do a weekly Skype appointment with one my best friends, we chat and watch TV together by the power of the internet. Could you do something like this? I also have a chronic pain condition caused by severe joint hypermobility. The way I see it is this - no-one else is going to take care of us in this situation, so we have to take care of ourselves. That means eating properly. Its hard, but it can be quite empowering. There comes a time in live when most of us have to learn to live with our own company.

I need only 1700 calries a day to stay the same weight due to age and lack of moving but all the movement of the poster will explain some of the difference.

She might be a bit more than a stone over weight. My daughter is about 9 stone and 5 foot 7 (same height) so at least 3 stone lighter. I am not saying you have to be 9 stone and 5 foot 7 of course by any means. That is also a healthy weight for that height.