I might have a problem

M

mFiveNine

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New member, first post.

I'm a high school upper-classman (man) who feels he needs to lose a bit of weight. I have just enough of a pectoral exvacatum to make my "pecs" look like man breasts, even though they aren't even all that bad.

Regardless, everyday after school/practice I go home and mow on as much food as possible before anyone else gets home. I hate myself for it afterwards and it leaves me with some pretty nasty bowel activity as a spiteful souvenir for the next schoolday.

I try to eat four or five meals a day @ ~ 200-300 calories per meal and get plenty of exercise, ~40-80 min per day.

Any tips on how to keep my feet off of the kitchen floor?
 
I have the same problem so I don't really have any advice to give. My trouble time is at night, though. I live in a dorm and those darned vending machines are always waiting to take my money. Like I said, I don't have any good advice to give (sorry) but I definetly know what you're dealing with.
 
Unfortunately this problem has no easy fix. You're going to have to develop some will power love!

The best thing you can do is purge your house of any junk, particularly if it's something you have a particular weakness for (mine is chips for example!). Throw out anything you already have and don't let yourself buy any more at the store, but instead fill your house with healthy snacks. If you go to the fridge and can't find anything to snack on but veggies, you'll either not snack or eat something healthy right?

If you're living with your parents still, sit them down and come clean. They've probably noticed food going missing anyway, so tell them that you're having a problem controlling your snacking urges and get them to help!

By taking away the temptation, you can start to work on seeing result and once you start seeing your body changing, you probably will find that you'll gain a better control over your will power because you're getting the results you want.

That's the best advice I can give on this type of problem. You might want to also look into WHY you're binge eating like that. I used to do it in high school and it was part of my depression at the time. There might be something psycological or emotional contributing to this that you need to get checked out. A healthy body requires a healthy mind after all :)

Best of luck to you!
 
Thanks again

That is a good idea, purging my house of junk food, but I don't live alone - also, I seem to be the only person in family that has this problem. It seems unfair to try to throw out all the food that they enjoy and can control just because I cannot.
 
When do you exercise? Changing your exercise time to directly after school might help... For me, exercising suppresses my appetite for a few hours (and THEN I get hungry). So, if you exercise right after school, then shower, maybe by the time you are finished the rest of the fam will be home and you won't be left alone in the kitchen.

Or, arrange your meals to have a 500 calorie meal as soon as you walk through the door after school. Something healthy, filling, and something you ENJOY and can look forward to. Then, when it is finished, stop eating, and do something else. If your brain is telling you that you want more, just remind yourself you get to have it again in only 24 hours. This also helps me with night eating. My favourite meal of the day is breakfast--and I like to be hungry for it when I wake up. So, when I am wanting to eat at night, I just remind myself of what I get to have for breakfast...and think about how much better I will feel and it will taste if I wait!

Also, get an accountability buddy. Someone to check in with so you don't raid the fridge after school. OR someone to hang out with who is dieting or eats healthy--you are more likely to watch your own intake with someone like that around! Good luck!
 
Exercise

I do exercise directly after school (tennis practices/matches) and also have a pretty good plan in the morning for what I should eat that day - it's the sticking to it part that gets me.

Something in my head just yells "aw, fuck it" whenever I get home and wander into the kitchen, and half an hour to an hour later my stomach is beyond full - and waiting for dinner. I've tried telling my parents, but they tell me it's weird (no doubt, it is) and stop right about there.

A dieting buddy?
Sounds like a good idea ideally, but here in upstate NY it would seem kinda fey.

Regardless, thank you for the tips.
 
It doesn't necessarily have to be a dieting buddy...just someone you hang out with after school, to give you something to do instead of eating. Regardless of if it's running errands, going to the mall, playing video games, whatever to keep you from binging in the kitchen.

Or maybe try to add some extra exercise, after tennis, like going for a run or going to the gym, and not get home until you know your parents are already home from work. If they are home, then you will be least likely to binge.

Just a couple thoughts...
 
Again I suggest looking into what emotionally or psychologically could be causing you to do this. You might feel fine but there could be something on a subconscious level that's causing you to sabotage your hard work by binge eating.

Talk to your parents about this! It's healthier for everyone if you purge junk frood from the house, even if they don't need to lose weight. If having it there is enabling you to binge eat, then it really needs to go and if you explain it that way to your parents, I'm sure they will want to help you. Then, if they really want a junk snack or something, they can go out and get it, but not bring it into the house, you know?

The others that have posted have good ideas also, like finding ways to occupy yourself until others are home so you can't binge eat, but I really think there's got to be something behind why you're doing this mentally. Hiding from it isn't going to solve the problem, but it's a way to sidestep the issue for now. I really really encourage you to sit down and figure out what is causing you to think like this. Start by thinking back to when you first started to do it and what was going on then. See if anything jumps out at you as being a cause. Next, every time you go for the fridge, I want you stop and think about what was going through your head right before you thought of food. That is usually a trigger thought!

When I was going through this as a kid, I would go to the fridge every time I thought of this one particular girl who always ridiculed me for my weight problem. As soon as I thought of her, it was like a plunge into depression and I sought comfort in food. It took me a while to realize what I was doing and that thinking of her was causing that need to go to the fridge, and it took me a while to work over that issue but when I did the binge eating stopped.
 
good news

I had a late tennis match today, which kept me away from home for a while. I got home, had a small dinner and felt fine. Thanks for the tips, lets see if I can keep it up!
 
well, stay away from the kitchen, do activities that will make you busy. feeling like hungry is only in our mind... our stomach does not really need plenty of food...change your appetite, from massive to diminutive. instead eating foods that are fatty, replace it with a healthy one,.
 
I think that period of time where you're home alone is difficult for a lot of people. I agree with what other people said about surrounding yourself with other people where you're less apt to overeat. If you don't want to do that, I would suggest going somewhere that doesn't have food around for that span of time- go to a library and get some work done, go for a walk and listen to some music...etc. Anything that keeps you out of the house and away from the fridge.
 
Fail

again with it-

I told myself that I wouldn't do it, but I did: practice was rained out, and I thought I might go straight home to get a head start on writing an essay.

No Beans.

I wound up putting the thing off for a good two hours by faking to exercise and stuffing myself full of crap.

Alors, I think the problem lies therein; my inability to accept responsibility for looming assignments and necessary courses of action. In hindsight, this has been a bit of a problem throughout my life, and this quasi-"eating disorder" I've subconsciously adopted is just another manifestation thereof.

IOW, I basically just need to kick myself in the ass and get myself to work after school rather than "play."

Thanks for all the support - its continuation would be greatly appreciated - but I know this is now all on me. I'll get to work on this and tell you how tomorrow goes.
 
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