[StarGazer]

Hi. I am a 31 y/o female vegatarian and I am eating A LOT of peanut butter right before I go to bed. I eat it by the spoonful straight out of the jar. Each night I tell myself that I won't eat like that again tomorrow night, but when tomorrow night comes, I find myself doing the same thing.

During the day I watch what I eat very strictly, and I walk 45 minutes daily and exericse lightly in the evening and feel good, but night time eating is my weakness. I don't know how to stop and I was hoping that I could get some support here and to help me change my night time peanut butter binge. Granted, it is the natural peanut butter without the transfat and additives, but when I stop and think about how many calories I am actually consuming, it is well over 1200.

What would be a good night time snack that would fill me up and not make me put on the pounds? Also, I weigh 123lbs and to me that is a 5lb weight gain that I don't like. I've been borderline anorexic in the past, but now I struggle with exercise bulimia. I have never binged and purged by making myself throw up or using laxatives, I just feel the need to exercise off whatever I eat. Ugh, if anyone could help me out I'd be very grateful.

Thanks.

 

[kasandra]

Hi StarGazer

Are you sure you eat enough during the day? what do you consume for dinner? If you exercise like that you must make sure you are getting in enough calories otherwise your body is going to complain.

Instead of just eating peanut butter why not try rice cakes with a bit of peanutbutter on it.

What is your BMI and height?

Just trying to get a bigger picture of your situation.

I will try to help you cause you dont want to be stuck in the hamster wheel of obsessing about food and exercise every day.

Moderation is the key word of everything.

Remember is more about eating right then exercise to maintain your weight. Exercise is for feeling good and health reasons.

 

[clarita osita]

Stargazer, my first instinct would be to say don't keep peanut butter in the house. However, not having any experience with eating disorders, I wonder if that would be a bad idea? Declaring a food to be "bad" and "off-limits" for non-ethical reasons (by which I mean if you're veg*n saying meat is off-limits is different).

Beyond that I can't be of much help; but I just want to let you know that if you need some support from people who have had eating disorders, we have a thread in this same forum called "eat to live." You can get a lot of ED-specific support in that thread.

I'm sorry I'm not so helpful on this issue.

 

[sequoia]

Eat fibrous foods. They'll fill you up. I like having a small salad or a bowl of cereal before bed. Carrots work too

And I feel your peanut butter filled pain, I used to spread it on oreos and eat that before bed...yeah.

 

[Identity_thief]

To be honest, I don't think the issue is you needing to fill up. You've had an eating disorder in the past and are struggling with one now, which implies your eating problems are tied to emotion. Whilst it does help to eat healthy, filling food throughout the day, to help prevent 'binges' which can be triggered by feeling hungry by limiting your food - I sense there is more to it than that. Are you getting professional help for your eating disorder? If so, have you spoke to them about it? If not I'd urge you to, as no amount of online-support can fill in for the help of a professional.

I hope things work out well for you, in the mean time, you could use delay tactics - tell yourself you can eat some peanut butter on toast or something IF you wait for 10 miniutes, and then in 10 mins time say, I'll wait another 10 miniutes. This can help you gain control, little by little, and realise you can say 'no'. Try to eat regularlly throughout the day, and keep yourself busy in the evenings to keep your mind away from food - maybe go out for walks, or just do something you enjoy to break the routine you've got into.

 

[JoBravo]

As other suggested, go with fiber! Some days, when I've eaten a lot of fiber, I have to force myself to eat more or I'd be far too below my required caloric intake for the day.

Barring that, you might also want to increase the amount of water you drink. A lot of times, people go for food when what they really are is thirsty. Try drinking 2-4 glasses of water before the time you normally start to feel hungry and see if that helps.

 

[papayamon]

this ought to be easy to fix. don't buy peanut butter. if you need to eat, stuff yourself with foods that won't hurt you.

 

[StarGazer]

My BMI is 19.3 and my height is 5'7. Dinner is usually rice and a veggie or a salad with quinoa. I tend to eat the same thing every day and I am under a lot of stress currently. I admit that I stress eat at night and just before I signed in here I just had my peanut butter binge. I am planning on returning my extra unopened jar of peanut butter and trying to eat some cereal and juice before bed.

After thinking about it, I realized that I consume less calories during the course of my day than I do in a one time sitting right before bed. I really do think it is an emotional issue more than a physical one, although I think my body is craving protein, too.

I will try drinking more water and eating more fibrous foods during the day. Cereal sounds like a good idea for a bedtime snack. As far as not having peanut butter in the house at all, that may be a difficult one for me.....I have eaten peanut butter for years and it is just recently that I have gained some weight due to my night time eating habit. When I was at my lowest weight about 5 years ago, I weighed 106lbs.

Thank you all for your advice on this. It is so nice to see that there are caring people on here who will listen to me ramble on about eating peanut butter at night. I feel like a peanut butter addict.

 

[kasandra]

Hi There

You are probably not going to want to hear what I am going to say now but I am going to say it anyway, cause I care. If you calculated your BMI out correctly it is borderline on being to low besides that is the fact that you are still worried about calories and stuff if your BMI is already so low.

Can just see the red lights flashing.

I am extremely worried about your state of mind and the strive for perfection here.

You say you eat the same everyday I have been there, your body is craving high fat and protein cause you dont eat a variaty of foods and you probably not getting in all your nutrients and minerals.

What are you doing to get your stress under control.

I would like for you to post for us what you eat in a day.

I see lots of red lights red lights.

You can have that peanut butter at night with a BMI of 19 and should not be worried about gaining weight at all. In fact I think you can do with gaining a bit but thats not the point.

Please just see this post as someone caring and trying to reach out to you.

Been where you are now, like a hamster in a wheel the circle goes.

 

[kasandra]

you eat every day the same cause you know exactly how much calories that is and that is how you control not gaining weight. when you eat something else you totally freak out cause its not on the list for the day and now you stress about the extra calories and so it goes on and on.

which create a lot of stress.