Fear of scarcity/eating past fullness
 

I'm in no way in danger of experiencing food scarcity at the moment - I am very lucky to be able to access a wide variety of foods that I can enjoy and also fit within my morals.

For a couple of weeks, due to some very poor decision making and a poorly cat, money was a bit tighter than I'm comfortable with, so I did a lot of batch cooking and was eating similar basic meals (mostly chilli/curry) every day. I never went without and still had access to 'treats' but it was like a switch flipped in my head and I started eating past comfortable fullness every day. I'm still doing it though the money situation is currently OK, and I have plenty of food in the house. It's not a conscious thing either, it took me quite a long time to figure out why it was happening - even now I'm not entirely sure.

I'm not angry at myself or judging myself but it is uncomfortable physically and very irritating when I've bought a pack of something that would normally last a week and it's gone in a day or two. I know logically the answer is to just feed myself and let my body and brain know consistently that we're not going hungry and ride it out. I'm also really anxious that it's not going to stop and I'm going to want to eat forever because that's a really unpleasant feeling.

I just. I've never experienced this before and it's a side effect of my eating disorder and recovery that never even occurred to me. I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this and had any ideas to make this a less difficult experience?

i definitely have experienced the same. and i still do when i try or get a new food i am not used to. i find like you, just riding it out is all i can really do. and making sure i am still eating consistently. then reminding myself that it WILL stop because it has every time.

Thanks Camden :)

It's reassuring to hear that it will pass, sometimes I need someone to tell me!

I don't know if anyone will ever read this/find it helpful, but I think yesterday was the peak of that particular phenomenon. I feel much better and more in tune with my body today, and prepared for if/when it happens again.

It's passing. :)

Also, it's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm so grateful to be in a place where I can talk about this kind of thing with curiosity rather than shame.

Very glad it passed for you. Hopefully removing some of the shame surrounding it will also help!

Sorry to bump, didn't want to make a new thread while this one was still so close to the top, and it's kind of relevant!

I've realised that another thing that causes me to eat past fullness is eating while incredibly distracted. I want to try eating more mindfully but it's actually torturous. A combination of physical akathisia symptoms, the ADHD and the lurking ED thoughts mean I literally need to be doing about seventeen other things in order to eat (when I'm on my own this is) and then I sometimes eat a lot of food very fast. Not a binge, just mindlessness.

I was wondering if anyone who's done it had any tips?

I'm not sure as I usually eat when doing something else and eat quickly. It doesn't bother me and isn't something I personally feel I need to change.

The main thing I can think of would be pre-portioning meals out in advance. Whether that's before the meal or when you're preparing it, you could experiment with what works best for you.

Thanks :)

I think the issue is I'm still eating past fullness and then being uncomfortable because I legitimately didn't notice, but I do tend to only cook enough for that meal - I guess the issue is I either still cook a little more than I want and don't notice I'm full until I've eaten it or I don't cook enough and end up snacking.

I managed to eat while only watching a film and had my phone out of reach this evening so it's a start!

Would it help to break your meal up into two smaller meals? Like eat half of what you made, then come back to it in another half hour or so after you can tell how full you are and then eat according to that? I don't know how feasible that is with your schedule. But I know I typically don't eat one large meal for dinner, I eat one smallish meal, then a couple of hours later have something else depending on how full I am so I have had something closer to bedtime.

That's actually genius!

I'll give it a go.

Thanks Camden :)

Hopefully it helps!