Last night was no success. I am in the middle of a problem time: I can’t focus on what I need to do to control my eating. This failure is contributing to my anxiety and it’s generating a self fulfilling prophecy. I really need to calm down.
It’s been four weeks since I was able to control my food intake consistently. At first I just tried to wait it out, it would resolve itself in a week or two. But now it has been four weeks.
It is always the same: I am hopeful during the day and control my eating well. But then at night I stay up late, break down and eat 1500-2000 calories. I don’t even write it all down, that’s an estimate. So I am in a bad way. How to get myself back under control again? Read on.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – skipped (00)
- 0 calories
Lunch – sandwiches with toasted bread (240); ham (200); salami (170); cheese (140);
- 750 calories
Dinner – 5oz rice (160); beef, pepper and broccoli stir-fry (315)
- 475 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80); cookies (170)
- 250 calories
Total for the day: 1475 calories (limit 1700 + 500 bonus from swimming, total 2300)
Skipping
Last night I stayed up till past 1AM and lost control: I ate nearly 2000 calories, and it’s been happening on and off for two weeks. Now I am having trouble getting up in the morning, which makes it all seem worse. It’s a bad situation. So what is my way out?
I’m going to focus on getting to bed on time and not staying up late. That’s not doing me any good. As soon as I finish my post tonight I will brush and floss, then have a quiet read before getting in bed at 10PM. I don’t have any trouble getting to sleep once in bed, it’s getting in bed that has always been the problem.
This approach will take advantage of my weakness of staying up too late. Everything is flowing from that: I eat too much when I stay up late, I am tired in the morning, and my food cycle is all messed up. I’m not hungry in the mornings because I am eating hugely at night. Then it all starts again. So tonight I will reset my clock. Bedtime is bedtime. Once in bed I won’t get out again, won’t eat late, and will get plenty of sleep so I can wake up early.
I am hopeful a few nights of this will help me get back in order. Wish me luck! I’m not eager to gain back all the weight I lost over the last two years, nearly.
-The Doctor
Two observations: (1) You have been very calorie light for the past month and (2) You do not appear to be eating your calories consistently through the day. For your size, and exercise level (15,000 steps a day, how many active zone minutes per week?) you should be eating 2000-2250 calories a day and still losing weight consistently. If you create too much of a deficit … well things get out of whack and your body starts demanding (cravings) more food. Second, I have found not having breakfast is a harbinger of a bad eating day. But, too large of a breakfast (for me) does not change my ability to overeat easily in the evening. A good breakfast (400-600 calories), followed by a balanced lunch (300-400 calories) and a 150 calorie snack (yogurt, whole fruit… something substantial) around 3-4pm seems to do the trick of satisfying my hunger and stopping the evening munchies. If I skip breakfast and cheat lunch… the snack becomes 2000 calories or more and I have dinner. Food for thought!