I can't stop eating !

[chrissysant]

Can someone help me out... I need to lose my pregnancy weight, desperately. I am disgusting.

I just can't stop eating. It's like I am constantly hungry and grazing like a cow. I also get so starved / greedy that whilst stuff is heating up or whatever, I get so impatient, I need to stuff my face with something else.

It's really strange. I've never been this extreme. I've managed a couple of months of dieting very very strictly and hardly lost any weight. It was so depressing, as I was trying so so hard. I mean counting everything, measuring etc. so exhausting. Then I fell off the wagon and now I just can't stop eating.

Caveat to say that in the last 3 weeks or so, I've somehow had D and V twice and both times ( once I felt better ) I felt the urge to stuff my face massively ( more than normal ).

Please help me get a handle on this !

I've got a blood test coming up, as I've got some other stuff going on ( extremely heavy periods, extreme fatigue and lots of bruises ). Maybe I'm missing something ? Or have I just become a grazing fat cow ?

I think it could also be psychological. Like eating is my only pleasure. Feeling very down about it !

Are you breastfeeding as it does make you hungrier but usually not to that extreme. It does make you very thirsty though so could you remember to drink lots as you might be interpreting thirst as hunger. Also do you feel you might be depressed as in maybe post natal depression as you could be using food to push down the feelings. So actually depressed first leading to eating rather than the other way round. Extreme tiredness..which always comes with a new baby can also lead to overeating so if there is any support available from your family take it in order to get rest.. lots of it. Hopefully you are having a GP visit along with blood test so be very open so they get the full picture.

I agree that part of it is caused by breastfeeding. Have you tried filling up with protein? Maybe a boiled egg, or an omelette with a bit of cheese, or scrambled eggs with smoked salmon mixed in which will keep you full for longer.
Try to limit the carbs too and definitely avoid sweet biscuits. And drink lots of water.

Awww OP, hope the medical.issues get sorted.

Assuming the hunger is not related to the medical issues (if it is, I guess that solves the problem!) then I can relate! I permanently have to have something in my mouth and as a result last year I got up to the highest weight I've ever been. My youngest is 8 now, but far from shifting baby weight, I've just got bigger and bigger.

So .. recently I started a diet and it is one that is finally working. I use the 'lose it" app to track my calories every day. I drink a lot of water and diet coke (so this isn't going to be the healthiest diet!!! Just one designed to drop the weight!!). I also chew a LOT of gum! In particular (and this is v unhealthy), nicotine gum because it suppresses my appetite (a bit!) and makes.me feel a bit nauseous and not hungry.

I have 3 daily limits for my calories - the one on the app (1200) which I've never been over since starting the diet, my mental limit which I have told myself I won't go over (but forgive myself if I do) (1000), and my daily target (800). I average around 800 Cal's a day, so on target.

I have lost two stone on this diet already!! 1 stone in the last 4 weeks.

I know it's not healthy, but nothing else worked for me. Losing the weight slow at a pound or less a week was way too disheartening!

On this diet I always have something in my mouth (gum, cola). I also tend to eat a protein bar (max 150cals).for breakfast most days and try and avoid milk in hot drinks (though I haven't managed that this morning yet!)

Good luck x

Assuming it's not medical-related.

What is life like now? What do you enjoy doing? What is fun? What do you look forward to?

When I couldn't stop eating, my answer to all of them somehow involved food. When I actually started enjoying life again outside of food, it became much easier to lose weight.

Massively increasing protein has also helped to feel fuller for longer, which has reduced the "need" to shovel things in my job (not saying that's what you're doing, but it is what I did!).

First though, you need to confirm it's not medical. There's little point dieting if something is biologically acting against that. However, if you're not enjoying life as much as you could/used to, there's always a reason to try and up that a bit with the bonus of it helping towards a diet if you later need to.

Thanks for the suggestions all.

No I don't really enjoy my life much at the moment.

I have two very small children, a husband who's unhappy and fed up with me and endless stuff to do every day.

I think food is all I've got. I need to turn that around because it's making me miserable.

I find it helps to force myself to eat vegetables e.g. a raw carrot or stick of celery before having a snack. I don’t like eating the veg and know it won’t actually fill me up but know they are healthy and I should be eating them. This does work in the sense that I don’t then eat snacks quite as uncontrollably after that. Worth a try? It can’t do any harm.