Want to stop overeating but how?

[longbay]

I know that I overeat and that I eat a lot of rubbish food. Not all the time but enough to make me very overweight. I am pretty sure it is mainly psychological. Does anyone know how I can get help with this. I desperately want to stop but can't. I am trying to conceive a 2nd child and it's not happening. I'm sure my weight has something to do with it.

You sound like u punish yourself when u binge then get hungry again and binge again. Allow yourself treats and eat well - you will then stop binging so much. Keep a food and feeling diary- when I eat write down what and how u feel. U will
Then find your triggers and be able to tackle these

Agree that it's about finding triggers and then figuring out coping mechanisms. Is overeating mainly a response to anger, boredom, sadness or stress (or all of them)? For me it's definitely boredom but everyone's different. The key thing is to find a way of breaking the link between the emotion and the behaviour (overeating)- it's just like breaking a bad habit.

What I started doing was that if I fancied a snack but I knew it was just because I was bored, I went and played a few games of Angry Birds on my ipad. For some reason this worked where books/Tv don't. After a few weeks I found I'd had broken the link between boredom and snacking (good job as I was by then the Angry Birds Jedi Master .) Find out what works for you.

Also

• Have a cuppa. Before you have a snack, have a cup of tea and a nice sit down. Might well be that that's enough.

• I dont have any junky snack foods in the house, so the craziest I can go is some wholemeal toast with philadephia or a few carrot batons with humous.

-I have found that cutting refined sugar out of my diet has almost entirely eliminated my junk food cravings. The first week is hell. After that, it's a breeze. I do have the odd biscuit/cake but it's once every few days rather than once/twice a day. I dont like to demonise any food, but I do think that all this refined sugar is bad for us, screws up our blood sugar levels and makes us crave crap

I think you're both right. It's definitely triggered by emotions. The problem is I'm quite a sensitive person and am also a worrier. I can cry at anything and worry about everything. I seriously need to chill out! I guess I use food to do this but I need to find something else.

have you ever read 'fat is a feminist issue" by susie orbach? it's a guide to breaking away from dieting and hurting yourself with food so that you can settle at a weight which is a happy one for you. she has also written a much shorter book called 'on eating' which covers the same tools to help you sort yourself out.

paul mckenna uses exactly the same tools, but with a totally different method in 'i can make you thin' (have never liked the title of that!) essentially:

• eat when you're hungry
• focus on the sensations of eating so that you enjoy it
• stop eating when you're full (susie has an excellent section on how very hard you might find it to do this and how to deal with it)
• don't eat unless you're hungry (again, very VERY difficult for some people)

and finally, susie encourages you to think about the reasons why you eat too much.

i can thoroughly recommend susie's books. if you have a significant emotional eating issue, paul mckenna might help, but susie will get to the heart of the matter.

hope this is helpful :)

Thanks Gracelesslady, i'll check out Susie Orbach's book

Reducing sugar has helped for me too. Sweet foods were the main thing I over-ate on, usually what a binge would start with (though it might move onto other things), I really think all the sugar was the main thing behind the 'out of control' feelings around food.

I do have a pudding after dinner on a weekend (everything in moderation!), but not during the week, and most importantly no sugary snacks between meals. No biscuits, chocolate etc in the house. I have oat cakes and similar in case I need a snack, but they're less 'addictive' so I don't tend to eat them unless I'm actually properly hungry, and don't get the urge to overeat them.

This is not to downplay the emotional issues, they were a big part of it for me too. You need to address that side of it too. But cutting out the excess sugar, for me, made it easier overall, it's setting yourself up to win.

I make it sound like this is all in the past for me - not really so, but I'm getting there! Exercise is also good as well, not just because it helps you lose weight in the 'burning calories' sense, but because it's good for your mood, and might reduce the emotional overeating.

Also relaxation techniques and meditation (mindfulness) can be helpful.

What about something like Slimming World that allows you some treats, is very flexible, but is also healthy?

longbay I struggle with overeating and I think getting at the reasons you eat is very helpful. It is a long route and I am still on it!

Snack food is also very addictive so it is designed to make you crave it!

I do agree with others that a more healthy diet is better for getting some of the refined food out of the way.

Also, do you do any light exercise? I am sure that helps but I struggle with that too.

I really hope you get some answers for yourself and find a way to change how you eat and how you feel.

All the best.

You need the No-S diet www.nosdiet.com

There are just three rules and one exception:

No Snacks
No Sweets
No Seconds
Except on days that start with "S"

I think you would probably find Geneen Roth very helpful. Try 'Women, Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything.' I also like Marc David's 'Nourishing Wisdom: A Mind-Body Approach to Nutrition and Well-Being.' These two books made everything click for me after unsuccessfully trying a number of diets/approaches.

I am so hungry all the time. I feel like I eat nothing but biscuits all the time. I am bored and tired and hungry. so busy thinking about the kids eating properly I don't have the energy to fight temptation. I know its wrong and stupid. all those comments are so helpful, thankyou, I am just not strong enough today to try them out yet.

You might overeat because you're a carb addict.

Processed carbs and high fat foods are addictive so it feels comforting eating them.

You have to learn to stop relying on them and relearn how to eat properly for good health.

I read this book a while back when it was recommended on this forum somewhere. I found it really helpful when I was going through a stage where I couldn't stop eating crap.

www.amazon.co.uk/Eating-Less-Say-Goodbye-Overeating/dp/0091902479/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326537112&sr=8-1

OP, I could have written your post. I'm afraid not even Paul McKenna and his common sense can sort me out.

I am now trying WW again, but instead of restricting myself to the miserly 26 points a day, I'm going to spread some of the weekly 'extras' across the week to make it a bit more manageable, but still leave a few over for slip-ups. We'll see!

i suddenly cut out the crap. reading all this stuff here really helped. it's been only 2 days and i feel so much better. i was ashamed of writing this whinging message here. i sound so pathetic. i really feel better already . thanks to everyone for all t he ideas.

thanks again to hathall for taking the time to reply. It made a huge difference. i feel strong enough to fight temptation now. i don't know where i got the strength from. from inside me somewhere.

I know this sounds like a ridiculously simple approach, but a big breakthrough for me was when I realised 'you can have some of this tomorrow' - i.e. I used to deprive myself and therefore eat loads standing at the kitchen counter thinking 'I'll let myself have this now because tomorrow I'll start being good again', but one day I remember, very clearly, realising that, I could have a bit now, put it back in the fridge, and have a bit more tomorrow. I managed to lose weight without banishing treats and It gradually led me to a much less tortured relationship with food.

Search for Paul Mckenna, I Can Make You Thin on Youtube, part one and part two - (two videos). If you have a Youtube co9mpatible phone, listen to him in bed on earphones before sleep. It works for me and I self loathe less. I deserve to eat less and physically, emotionally etc feel stronger.

Join the Paul McKenna thread. We're on thread 7 at the moment.

Not Vic does anyone WANT to be Vic Beckam? She is just as unhealthily obsessed with food as any overeater. IMO you can be unhealthy and thin I'm amazed she can have DCs actually.

Yes I 2nd Solo I have lost 3 stone on Paul Mckenna and although when I'm tired I CAN pick I'm usually in control. IMO it's not deep seated emotional upsets (altho of course it CAN be) that make you overeat it's addiction to sugar and salt and wheat AND tiredness. (BTW wheat can cause tiredness and exhaustion) too!