Severe Binge Eating Problem.. Help?

brookekato

Help! Since November I've been on and off binge eating tons of junk food and I went from my lowest weight, being 115, to being 135! 20 pounds of weight gain in those four months! (Although it fluctuates up and down 5-8 pounds.) Has anyone had success in stopping binge eating and losing weight afterwards? I can't seem to get the weight off! And then I get sad and eat more. It's an endless vicious cycle. Can anyone share some hopeful stories/advice with me to get me motivated?

cruciia

Hmm, in terms of stopping the binge eating, what helped me was breaking the cycle. It took three days of motivation and will power to help me, and after those three days I no longer craved whatever I am binging on at the time.

What motivated me was having to get another size up in my uniform for work and even that being a little tight. I think you need to find your own trigger, like an old photo, or a dress you loved, that makes you stop and think - why am I doing this?! Three days can work wonders.

kindrabbit

I wish I had a solution. As brittawatson says, the trigger s going to be different for every person.
For me, what made me change my life and start to get healthy, was a photo. I was looking for a dress for a wedding and I tried 2 on and my husband took photos of both. He was telling how gorgeous and sexy I look and I was so happy, I then saw the picture and I looked huge. I cried for hours. Something clicked. That was 4 stone ago. I now regularly run 5 k (and sometimes even 10!) I train with weights and do several classes and at 42 I can keep up with the best of them, (well, maybe the second best!)

I still binge. I have a 'Friday night bottle of wine and resulting loss of control' problem. I am trying to get a grip of that at the moment. I look back on how far I've come and I'm proud, but I'm still not at the end of the journey. There's always going to be demons to fight. Choose your battles and fight on!

onelonelysocknoble

It's a confectionary hug, self medication with food.

Where to start.... I'm a recovered bulimic, my first step was to stop purging so I shot up three stone. Over the last six months or so I've lost the best part of a stone, but it's never easy.
I did emotionally binge on Wednesday (+6000 cal at least) , but made sure I recovered properly yesterday. For me this means accepting the situation happened, not judging myself for it and spending the day not counting calories but eating as a 'normal' person would.
I've tried many many ways on my path to recovery and what works for me might not be for you.
You are going to have to dig hard at this one and make sure you truly know yourself.
Instead of binging / purging three times a day, I no longer purge and only binge occasionally. Oh, and purging really doesn't work, you still get fatter.

Personally, (and I'm no expert) :
I had to properly set down a goal and ensure it was one I really intended to get to. Not a weight goal, but a health goal. I.e. no more binging etc.

I kept track of what triggered me, (i.e. tiredness) then worked out how to avoid it causing a binge in future, (Making sure I am already full and not really able to eat more, resetting my sleep schedule and sticking to it.

I had to change my twisted thoughts:
I.e. I'm hideous and fat. Well no, I googled celebrities of my height and weight, and by check I was smaller than some rather good looking plus size models.
I.e. Fat people are undesirable. I ended up googling sexy larger ladies and hey, I learned that was wrong.
Etc etc

I had to accept I was going to fail, so I banned all trigger foods from the house and replaced them with other healthier foods that gave me a similar emotional high. I learned to make sure I put food out when I was in a good place in the morning, so I wouldn't need to open the dreaded cupboards with all the temptations in.

I learned to change daily patterns. I avoid going to a food shop after ten am.

I went out at a 'good' moment to discover alternative binge foods! Frozen greek yoghurt or frozen ice lollies rather than ice cream. Pistachios rather than toffees. Prosciutto and olives rather than cookies. Kallo does a fabulous blueberry and vanilla rice cake which hits my sweet tooth perfectly.

I had to learn to forgive myself. Just because I've started a binge, doesn't mean I have to finish it. That's why on Wednesday I actually had binge leftovers!

I have done a lot of work on my personal happiness and self esteem.

I know from experience that just because I'm doing fantastically and haven't binged for a month, it doesn't yet mean I can get trigger foods in again yet.

I have had to accept that it's going to take a long time to get where I want to be. Ironically since I accepted that, my weight loss has steamed ahead.

Anyway, waffle waffle.

Just remember to enjoy the journey. X

Leana088

If its emotional/stress eating, find something else to replace the habit with. Yoga, meditating, a hot bath, a cup of tea, a walk ect.

If it's mindless eating, eating 3 square meals a day has helped me with that. There's no option for snacking, so I only eat my scheduled meals. And seconds are not allowed.

LKArgh

brookekato wrote: »

Help! Since November I've been on and off binge eating tons of junk food and I went from my lowest weight, being 115, to being 135! 20 pounds of weight gain in those four months! (Although it fluctuates up and down 5-8 pounds.) Has anyone had success in stopping binge eating and losing weight afterwards? I can't seem to get the weight off! And then I get sad and eat more. It's an endless vicious cycle. Can anyone share some hopeful stories/advice with me to get me motivated?

Has something changed in your life? Stress related to homework, tests, new job? If you cannot figure out what is causing it, are you in school or univeristy? Is there a counselor you could talk to? You are way too young and too thin still to panic about weight, and since all this sounds like a new behaviour, try figuring out what is causing it before it becomes a pattern.

jessypug

I found that making sure I eat enough at meal times really helped to stop me binging, or feeling the need to. When I aimed for 1200 cals a day I was always hungry, felt tired and crappy and therefore ended up binging. I've upped my calories to a minimum of 1400, more if I'm working out, it doesn't sound like much but it's helped me loads. I also focus more on eating whole foods as opposed to processed and I look at what micro nutrients I eat too. It's deffo a really hard cycle to break though, especially when you're emotionally eating. Just keep trying, you'll get there

BoxerBrawler

I read something several month ago that seemed silly at the time but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. I am going out on a limb here but what the hell... It's a simple thought... Give yourself permission to binge.

A couple things about binging; it has very little to do with hunger. Being full is nice but has nothing to do with cravings or the urge to binge. Emotional triggers are certainly a factor but you have to get to the root cause of those factors. Making a major life change myself I am familiar with that. My change was to remove the toxic and negative people from my life, it wasn't easy to do that but I now only surround myself with people who are on the same mission as me and it feels damn good. Another thing, you can't "just have one". If you're prone to binging it's wicked easy to rationalize with yourself and think you deserve a taste or you can have just one and stop. It never works out that way, does it?

So about giving yourself permission to binge... by doing that you are removing the taboo and dread associated with an up-coming binge. Next time you feel it coming on simply tell yourself that "It's okay, I am going to binge when I want too but I'll wait a few minutes and then I'll do it". By giving yourself permission you're taking control and you're taking power over that binge. The more you do that the better it feels. At some point you'll be saying "Sure I can binge on that if I want too... but I don't need to right now". Suddenly you have the power, the ball is in your court and that's empowering. Empowerment feels better than a binge. You're creating a new habit and sooner or later that new habit wills stick. Tell yourself "I can have it but I'll wait 10 minutes". Ten minutes later say it again, "Sure I'll have that binge but I'll wait 5 minutes". And so on... in the meantime be proud of yourself, be proud that you're strong enough to wait out those few minutes. When the urge comes back remember how proud and strong you felt and keep doing that over and over until you kick the habit. It sounds simple I know, but it might work

I hope this helps.

Marianne802

I purposefully don't have anything worth binging in the house. Many a time I have wandered over to the cupboard only to find the cupboard was bare (except for boring healthy stuff, never seem to want to binge on apples etc..).

Curlychip

Maybe consider 5:2 method. It allows for higher calories most days (TDEE) so you can 'binge' within that, then just eat 500 calories on 2 'non-binge' days. Built in binging!

LKArgh

Curlychip wrote: »

Maybe consider 5:2 method. It allows for higher calories most days (TDEE) so you can 'binge' within that, then just eat 500 calories on 2 'non-binge' days. Built in binging!

She is not even out of her teens yet and does not appear to be even overweight, I doubt any sort of interminent fasting is safe for her.

tpartee3

Hi I've been there and let me encourage you, there is help! I did 3 things that totally freed me and now I've started a group on Facebook called the truth about food. Check it out! Anyway what I did.
1. Google searched scriptures on the mind. I started to see how God had already helped me by empowering me through His word. I just had to speak it louder than the voice telling me to binge!
2. Read the book Brain over Binge. This book is phenomenal! It will change the way you see the brain and how it responds to food and any addiction for that matter.
3. Drank detox tea and started all natural vitamins.

Hope this helps!

SwankyTomato

I am guessing that you have no control over the pantry since you are 18 and probably living at home.

Do you log your food here? As hard as it is, you have to log all your food, even the junk food you binge on.

The first step is too see how many calories you are consuming daily.

Do you drink hot tea, coffee, or something else? How about popcorn? Those are 2 things that I eat when I feel the desire for binging.