Snacking binge - feeling discouraged

[EmZoe]

It's day 8 of my whole 30, and I woke up feeling energized and ready to take on the day. I made it through breakfast and lunch at work without feeling the need to engage in my usual between-meal Snacking, but about a half hour after lunch it was like a switch flipped in my head, and I suddenly wanted to stuff everything in sight into my mouth while sitting at my desk at work. Which I did. And now am feeling awfully bad about it.

I didn't technically break any of the rules, all of my snacks were plantains or kale chips or dried, unsweetened fruit, but the reason I started this program was to get a handle on my cravings and binge-and-purge cycle, and that doesn't seem to be working out well very far. I'm trying so hard to control my urges around food, but I can't seem to help getting hungry every couple hours. Am I not getting enough starchy vegetables? I dance professionally - is it possible I just need more food than what the whole30 recommends for the average person? Could it just be out of boredom? Any insight would be much appreciated.

[ShannonM816]

Could you post what you have eaten for meals, including approximate portion sizes? It's pretty common for people to underestimate how much food they need, especially starting out.

 

I'm assuming if you're dancing professionally, you're spending quite a bit of time most days being active -- in that case, you could easily need more food than the average person. If you look at the meal template, you'll see that it lists a range of portion sizes -- 1-2 palm-sized portions of protein, 1-2 portions of fat -- definitely aim to eat at the upper end of the meal template, meaning aim for two palm-sized portions of protein, two portions of fat. And be sure you fill your plate with lots of vegetables, a mix of starchy and non-starchy ones. If you think you'll feel better with starchy vegetables at every meal, that's fine -- active people sometimes need that much.

 

Don't forget that pre- and post-workout snacks are in addition to your three meals a day.

 

If you are hungry between meals, have a mini-meal of protein, fat, and vegetables, or at least two of the three. Instead of keeping chips of any kind or dried fruit around, keep packs of tuna, hard boiled eggs, leftovers, olives, and cut up vegetables around. That way if you are hungry, you have food to eat, but if you're not really hungry, those are foods you're less likely to overeat due to boredom or emotion or whatever your particular triggers are that cause you to binge.

 

You can do this, don't be discouraged. Sometimes it takes a while to get it right, but every time you choose to have a good, healthy meal is a step in the right direction.