Help - I'm binging late at nite when Everyone is asleep in my house and I am by myself.
Only do this when husband is out at nite ( which is often) and I am alone to binge on everything
I can find. During the day I am very good, in fact since joining in Feb. I am down 42 pounds.
I tend to sabotage myself by doing this and can't seem to stop which is why I am only losing
about a half pound per wk now instead of 1 or 2. A few times I binged and purged but that was
several months ago and I haven't brought myself to throw up the last few times I binged.
Last night I was very good and had my JC snack and went upstairs for the nite. But the other nite
I was desperate for something chocolatey and good so I actually got out a tub of Betty Crocker
chocolate frosting and ate some of it with a spoon along with some spoonfuls of peanut butter.
This was after I ate two of the kids' single serving bags of Cheetos. I felt disgusted with myself
afterwards and I do not want to behave this way........I can only compare it to a heroin addict when
the desire to "use" is so strong that I cannot seem to stop myself although intellectually I
know I am in control of what I put in my mouth . Does anyone else go through this vicious cycle
and if so how can I stop the madness!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thank you to all.

Try and find something to do that you cant eat while doing, i.e. craft projects (imagine the mess if you tried eating cheetos while doing embroidery or sewing), take a shower, go for a nice evening walk with the kids, brush your teeth (nothing tastes good after minty toothpaste), call a friend, read a book. Sign up for an evening class and learn something new. The hubby can watch the kids one night a week, cant he?

You also need to make your house binge proof. Do your kids *really* need cheetos? Will they think you are a bad mommy if there is no chocolate frosting in the house? The junk food is not doing your family any favors unless they are extremely underweight, if even then. And if you dont buy it, you cant possibly eat it!

If your family simply MUST have junk food, then it goes somewhere out of your sight. Lock it up if you have to! Just leaving stuff lying around is an invitation to eat it up. And if they really must have it, then make them go out and buy it for themselves.

Best of luck to you,
Angela

This has happened to me too in the past & still happens occasionally. I take a medication for sleep and am eating after the medication starts working . My husband is a firefighter and is gone for 24hour shifts. You have to remember , we are all on Jenny because we have an addiction to food. It is our crutch. It is the hardest addiction around ,because food can not be avoided. It sounds like you are having anxiety about your hubby not being there ,so face that head on. When you start to binge ask yourself , " is eating this food going to change the situation?" What I do is pound it into my head , that I going to feel terrible after I do this, & the situation is going to be the same. What has really changed my prospective on this whole journey I am on , is that I have accomplished everything I have wanted to do in life, with exception of losing the weight! That I would never treat my husband, kids family or friends the way I am treating myself. I tell myself this everytime I start to" stress eat". I have made it a challenge and it works if you tell your self enough! Take the power away from the food! Good Luck!!!

Hi Mamalite!
I’m rather new to JC, but not to dieting. Your problem really hit home with me because I have the same one going on! Except, in reverse. I’ve been married a lot longer than you, most likely as I am probably a lot older than you (you’re on the 30s forum, correct?) Well, for me it’s when my husband comes home! I never realized it before, but when he comes home I IMMEDIATELY reach for the sweet snacks. Like you, I just could not stop myself. See, we have had a lot of problems in our marriage (trust me…it’s the age group we’re in!) I never know what kind of a mood he’s going to be in when he gets home, so I get anxious – very anxious. That’s when I realized that I am addicted to sugar! Yep..It’s an addiction. Sugar is a ‘feel good’ substance. It gives us a high, and just plain tastes good. It’s like we are trying to ‘be good’ to ourselves, to comfort ourselves. In reality, we are doing just the opposite. We are undermining all of our hard work to lose weight and then wind up very angry with ourselves. Guess what?? The anxiety level goes up, so we reach for more sweet treats. And, the cycle continues.

Now that I am acting, and not reacting, I have myself under a lot more control What I do is to keep a plastic container full of sliced up peppers, whole green beans, broccoli pieces, etc., veggies that I like in my fridge. Then, when I absolutely must binge, I go ahead and eat a handful or two. These are free foods, thank goodness, and they really do the trick for me! Best of all, I have broken my dependency on sugar. My brain now no longer looks for it; it is learning to accept healthful foods in its place.

Hope this tip works for you!

Rie

Well thank you all for your suggestions. I was a little better this week and am trying
hard to not undo all my success by binging with snack foods. I will try to replace them
with veggies but it is still a struggle all the time. I have a horrendous marriage and am
very unhappy and thats probably a big part of the problem. I am 38 years old and my
small children are my saving grace. I know I am worth it to take better care of my body.
To be continued......

I have the same trouble but have been trying to train myself to volumize instead of eating junk. Number one, I stopped keeping junk in my house which is better for the whole family. I have been on JC since March and I am down 44lbs at this point. I seem to get really munchy when I'm having PMS and I know I am not even really hungry, I just need to chew on something. My latest trick is to eat a big bowl of Jenny soup. The one with the eggplant and zucchini in it. I will fill myself up on it to the point where I know I cannot possibly eat another bite. I also have my Jenny snacks in the evening instead of in the afternoon. That way when I crave something sweet to eat at night, I still have my Jenny snack left to go. It has seemed to help, you just have to be really careful not to have any junk around the house. UGH!
The best thing you can do for yourself and your small children is to take care of you and if your weight issue stems from an unhappy marriage, maybe its time to be nice to you and fix it or get out! Its always easier to solve everyone else's problems, Isn't it!

It IS easy to solve other peoples problems!! According to my thoughts on this topic, I have it all figured out for mamalite. However, w/my life, I'm still working out the kinks!! Good luck Mamalite, I agree w/all. So no real advice to give, just know there are fellow bingers out there that try to eat their problems away and it doesn't work for us either!! Just keep coming back and "talking" it really does help!
Stephanie

I have not been on this site for a while and I thank you all for your thoughts. I have my weigh in in 30 minutes
and I know I have gone up 2 pounds during the last few weeks. I have been stress eating at nite and
I am trying my best to control it...every day is a new day.... the best advice I got was that the eating and
binging does not make the problems go away, they only add more problems to your problems you already
have. I will try to do something constructive when the urges start at night like clean my closet or get online!

oh my god!!!!! this is me to a t. I read this to my husband and he actually thought i wrote this. I have never had such a negative response to food. I used to be in control, I used to look good but more important i used to feel good and now i have done a complete negative 360.
I binge late at night and that has started to become during the day as well. I think this might be my only saviour - coming on here and trying to figure it all out. Journaling. I don't have anything figured out but i do know that i have a strong will and a strong mind and i am not going to let this beat me down. By the way, this is worse than heroin. Heroin is not as easy to come by as food - you can find food everywhere and with 24 stores around everywhere it's harder to resist.
Best of Luck with you b/c that is exactly what I need!

OMG I used to do this and then some. My husband works 2 jobs, 1 overnight. I would eat dinner, then wait for him to leave, then eat dinner again along with deserts. Eating was all I could think about. I've actually eaten so much at once that I threw up just to feel better (indigestion). I was so fed up with myself last Thursday that I went to Jenny Craig in tears. I went today for weigh in and ect... Lost 3.8 pounds in 3 days! I feel great! I keep telling myself, that the cake, candy, another meal, is just not worth it. It's so hard to change bad habits and you shouldn't punish yourself for falling down. Just start again. You can do it!

I'm not even sure if people are still reading this thread. But i just came on and found it. I am also a late night eater. SOmetimes i tell my husband to "police" me. I'll tell him that he should only see me eating my jenny craig snack and some fruit that i have saved throughout the day for the evening. However, sometimes he goes to watch tv in another room or is busy doing something. And this is when my stomache takes over. When no one is around i'll start munching on anything i can get my hands on. He and i even joke that sometimes it seems like i'm going to eat the cabinets right off the walls. I am really good throughout the day but i seem to lose 90% of my self control at night. I know it must be extra hard for you mamalite because of the stress from your marriage. I know that for me when i am stressed i over medicate my self with food. Last year i found out my dad had cancer and as soon as i got off the phone hearing the bad news i went directly to the freezer and made a huge bowl of ice cream. Everyone here has offered great advice. I can only say to keep coming back to the site to feel some positive support. I'm thankful to the people here who can say they have been there and they are here to support those of us who are struggling. It is definetly inpiring to read many of these posts. I came here looking for support after gaining weight after the holidays. Hang in there mama, you can do this. Just keep coming back here when you are feeling weak. I will do the same.

Take care,
Kel

I'll just repeat what a lot have already said on here but sometimes we just have to hear it a lot

One big thing that could help with the late night eating is to try to rid the cabinets of the 'yucky' stuff and have the fridge full of fruits and veggies. That way if you need a late night snack atleast you'll be chomping on carrots instead of potato chips. Sometimes this is really hard with others in the house but I've found that by giving my sister her own section of the kitched to put her snacks in they are nowhere that I get my food from so its like the out of sight out of mind technique.

Eating after a certain time isn't the greatest but atleast if you have to/need to eat the free foods (fruits and veggies) OR over volumize your dinner so that you eat part of it at dinner and part as a snack later. I accidentally did this last night. It was my first real attempt at volumizing my meal and ooooh boy did I go overboard. It took me three different sittings to finally get through the meal but I had to finish it all because I mixed the JC dinner in with it and I had to make sure I ate all that. Luckly all the 'volumizing' I did was free food. But I was still full this morning haha.

Always worth a try! Keep up the good work!
Beth