Nope.
Just what we need, a cannibal with an eating disorder.
Bags of Spice Drops use their tractor beam to drag my car into the parking lot and then threaten to get me and my little dog, too, if I don’t buy them and consume them all before I reach my driveway, which is all of two miles from the store. I dutifully comply. It’s the least I can do for my furkid.:rolleyes:
Turn off the TV.
I had one of those until I trained myself to answer, “Nothing tastes as good as thin feels.” (*Certainly not some dry pasta and sauce from a jar.) I still hear it nearly every day but having lost 90lb (and kept it off) for nearly 12 years, it’s become the norm not to listen.
There is a ton of information about why the food you crave is not satisfying you, regardless of quantity. Mostly it has to do with quality and what’s in it (highly processed sugars, flavourings, additives, etc.) Also it’s to do with the lack of variety in people’s diet, mostly lacking in vegetables, healthy grains, nuts, seeds, etc.
But we’ve had a million of these discussions here before. I know that intellectually you know this, Frylock.
What it comes down to really is bad food habits and how difficult it is to break them when the voices are screaming more pasta(!) and more sugar(!), when what your body is really hungry for is something else entirely.
This happens a lot to me when it comes to bags of snacks. And oh god, Pringles, fuck Pringles, you delicious sexy tube of salt and onions.
I’m guilty of the above, down to the last grain of processed sugar. I KNOW what I need to do, it’s just the doing part. I’ve put on about 15 pounds on the last year. I know a lot of it has to do with using food as a comfort, and also a little bit of a crutch. I tend to eat, and overeat, when I’m bored. A really bad habit.
Had a wedding to attend this last weekend. Have not worn a suit in about 9 months. I was just barely able to get into it. Anyone who looked at me with a really critical eye would have thought to themselves “getting a little too pudgy for that suit”.
Time for a change.
*Nothing tastes as good as thin feels. *
Good luck. 
Echoing some of the other responses: Frylock, I am the same way, and I have a diagnosed binge eating disorder. If you eat or fantasize about eating like this more often than “rarely,” it would probably be a good idea for you to talk to a doctor, therapist, or dietician about it.
The next time you are eating something and feel that first impulse of “MUST KEEP EATING,” stop and pay close attention to what your taste buds are telling you. Is the food really that good? Are you truly enjoying the flavor of the food, or rather are you getting most of the pleasure from the act of eating, itself?
For me, it’s usually the latter – eating relieves me of boredom. Not just mental boredom, but almost an existential boredom – it gives my thoughts, emotions, attention span, and body something pleasant to focus on, but only for as long as that food is in my mouth. That’s why I would rather eat a lot of mediocre chocolate than one small piece of excellent chocolate, because I prefer prolonging the eating experience to tasting a better flavor.
From that revelation, I learned to find engaging activities to satisfy this boredom instead-- creative hobbies that I need to use my hands for (it’s hard to sketch, crochet, or play a musical instrument while eating, especially if you don’t want to get food smudges all over things :)), exercising at the gym or going for a walk, socializing with friends, etc. (The last one can be tricky for some people because so much of socializing involves eating, but personally, my urge to binge is inhibited around other people, probably out of shame. 
)
Also, learn to identify your trigger foods and then avoid them completely or only bring them into your house in single portions. For example, I freaking love brownies, but I know better than to bake them for myself because I will eat the whole pan. OR, if a pan is sitting there, I will start by eating something instead of a brownie…and then when that doesn’t satisfy me, I’ll eat something else…then something else…and THEN cave in and eat the whole pan. It saves me a lot of calories (and guilt and blood-sugar spikes) if I just go out to a bakery and buy one small brownie to eat that night, properly on a plate with my full attention.
I have an ex whose dad was a Holocaust survivor. He was in a camp, where his mother bribed a guard to let her kids run away. He did, after shooting her in the head in front of them first.
The boy survived the rest of the war hiding in a barn in rural Ukraine, eating rats and whatever else he could lay his hands on.
Boy, did that family have some hardcore food issues.
I don’t know your backstory, but I’d say, that eating a pound of anything is probably not a good idea, if you were carboloading for a marathon, perhaps.
I believe ones body tries to signal deficiency in a substance by causing a craving. For example, I often crave salt when my anemia is acting up…so I get my b 12 shot earlier and go heavier on the iron rich foods, but everyone is different
G-d, I do this so much much my husband has a phrase for it: “I want to eat all that, but I don’t want to *have eaten *all of that”. I deal with it by packing up the leftovers as quickly as possible and putting my dishes in the dishwasher. I find I hesitate before dirtying another round of dishes, and that (sometimes!) gives me the moment to catch myself before I start eating again.
O yeah, baby! I have not bought a can of Pringles since October of 2011, because every can is a single serving. They sing their siren song every time I see them on the shelf.
A book I’ve recommended before: Wansink’s Mindless Eating. You can probably find a copy at the library.
For me, it’s a pound of rotini, a stick of butter and 3/4 of a 12 oz can of grated parmesan. Only 3/4, I mean I can restrain myself! :smack: Or two boxes of orange mac and cheese and a package of hot dogs.
I just don’t keep that stuff in the house; I have Nutrisystem I am supposed to be eating. I have to leave credit cards and cash at home or I will buy takeout and that is not small.
I feel your pain.
I’ve come to a fairly simple conclusion in the last few years. Although there are many many complex interactions that occur in the hunger/food/eating process, one thing sticks out to me.
Many of the people that struggle with weight gain and weight loss REALLY like food, and many of the people who are “effortlessly thin” are more ambivalent about it.
I, for example, can’t imagine eating a pound of spaghetti because spaghetti is just not that great that I want to eat that much of it. Regular meal food just doesn’t taste awesome enough to make up for that gross overfull feeling and get fat.
It’s not that I have really awesome willpower. It’s that regular food doesn’t taste like cookies to me. Only things with chocolate in them taste REALLY good to me, and that is easier to avoid than every single food in every single meal.
One thing that I’ve found that helps when I want to eat and eat until there ain’t no more is to brush my teeth. Or chew a piece of gum. Or have a mint. I’ve discovered that as long as the taste of whatever I’ve eaten is still in my mouth, the craving will keep up its demands. Anything minty (without a lot of sugar) will erase that taste and eliminate the craving right away. It’s almost magic, I tells ya.
I’ve started to realize this too. “She can eat whatever she wants and not gain a pound” means “whatever she wants” isn’t nearly whatever I would want. (Obviously there’s exercise and other factors too.) I don’t say it to be whiny or “it’s not fair!”, I’ve just realized logically that - shocker! - people are different! Eating is how I feel excited and alive and it’s not the worst high I could be chasing.
There are also times when I can’t imgaine overeating and I am somehow – and I really don’t know how – able to follow a food plan. Then it changes and I have to overeat. Sometimes it’s an obvious connection but most of the time it just seems random.
I can easily scarf down a pound of pasta, so I just eat the small microwave cups of pasta for portion control, and only go to Olive Garden about once a year.
Oh, the food and wine I’ve binged on. Major, major problem in my past.
What worked for me: I decided that for one year I was going to:
Eat only when I was hungry.
Eat whatever I wanted.
Walk outside at least an hour every day.
I’ll admit the first three months were hell. I realized the only thing I knew about food was calorie count. I’d ask myself “Do I want to eat this?” and the little voice would say “It’s 550 calories.” Do I like this? It’s 550 calories. I literally did not know if I liked a certain food or not. It’s was all about calories.
Eventually I got to realize I like certain foods, I don’t have to think about food every waking minute, I can eat anything and stop any time, and if I overeat, I don’t have to eat again until I’m hungry.
People often ask me how I can eat like I do and weigh what I do.
Does the voice ever tell you ‘good things’ to do, like don’t have that quart of ice cream? If it does both encourage the good side and thank it if you listen to it.
- Taking the last piece of bacon.
Nothing else justifies hitting a kid.