Correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounds to me like you are prone to (albeit small and not terrible) binges. I, too, have a very bad problem with binge eating, and mine also always occur at one of two times of the day (it used to be 5 o’clock when I would get off of work, but it looks like I will be switching to working evenings), or after dinner.
When I binge at night, it tends to be on a day that I have either been very “good.” To me, this means all healthy foods, correctly spaced, etc. On these days, my dinner puts me at exactly 1200 calories, and I tell myself I will be fine if I do not eat another bite. Invariably, I do eat another bite, and to block out the guilt, I frantically start eating. This is what happened yesterday (as I detailed on my blog). It’s really hard and I need to take my own advice, but perhaps your problem is you need to feel less restricted? I’m just guessing and I know how annoying it is when people give advice when they don’t know the correct story so if I’m completely off just ignore me.
When I binge in the afternoon, it is usually because I am starving cause I worked through lunch, or I feel guilty because I had some kind of “bad” food.
My friend is getting her Ph. D. to be a therapist, so I talked to her about this. In her opinion, the best thing to do is to distract yourself. I started doing this by instead of binging, going for a run. If I have already exercised, I paint my nails. If my nails are painted, I take a shower. This all works for me because it keeps my hands busy, and, since I am away from food/otherwise unable to eat, I have a chance to clear my mind and advert a binge.

I know this is kind of unsolicited advice, so if I am being annoying then I’m sorry, but if not I hope this might help.

Pheebs

Keep up the fabulous blogging. I will be following…

xo

Mandy

that rant is my life. seriously.
if you get a handle on this i
would love some advice from
you. i go to bed with a tummy
ache most every night. its has
gotten to the point that i can
hardly sleep unless ive eaten
a massive amount of food RIGHT
before i lay down. ugh ugh ugh.

e!

wanting to make a change, and feeling better about doing it knowing im not alone.

thanks for sharing with us! i have a very similar issue—no matter how full or satisfied (or unsatisfied!) i am
after dinner, I always need to eat something later.

we just came back from the best sushi dinner, and i wasn’t even hungry, but I just ate a big mug of oatbran with cocoa and peanut butter…. grrrr.

after dinner I always think about food. I get upset sometimes about snacking after dinner, but for me, more troublesome than the actual food i’m intaking is that I am constantly thinking about it! I’m trying to tackle this one, and i’ll let you know if I find some miraculous solution. But i think you’re doing wonderfully. You at least know what happens, and you are aware of it. Awareness is the first step to real change. looks like i needed a rant too.

have a great weekend, and thanks for being brave enough to post about it!

Something I like to do is eat reasonably healthy for breakfast/lunch, and then if I’m really craving something like popcorn (or even cheesecake!) in the evening, I’ll have that for dinner. It’s not exactly the healthiest way to do it, but at least that way I’m not overeating and having food I don’t really want. PLUS, doing that on occasion helps me stay on track for the rest of the time, so that I don’t feel as though I’m missing out if I have a healthy dinner and choose to skip the snack. If I tell myself that I can have popcorn for dinner tomorrow night, then I find that salad and other healthy fare for dinner tonight is very satisfying.

~Justine