Help with binge eating disorder.

Lestrange__

I have binge eating disorder. I see a psychologist for this and I'm doing pretty well with recovery, however I'm still finding it impossible to stop myself from having a large binge once a week. That is a huge improvement on what I used to be like, but I really need to stop.

I'm working with my psychologist still, but I was wondering if anyone on here has any tips or helpful strategies to reduce and stop binge eating. Also no, it's not as simple as 'just stop'. Binge eating disorder is much more complex than that. Just thought I'd add that before anyone said it as that's what most people seem to say to me.

Syleyna

Are you binging foods that you crave, or is it more mindless eating whatever you can get your hands on?

Edit: I only asked because I crave, then I binge. 2 family blocks of chocolate, a large packet of crisps, any box of pastries I can cook in the oven. It gets pretty out of hand.
I recently started (in the last 3 weeks), eating a Low Carb High Fat diet. My cravings are gone, so the precursor to my binge-ing is gone. Feel free to message me if you want more info on it if you think it may help! It certainly helped me, but I never had a disorder. Everyone is different!

radishpatch

I used to have a problem with binging, not a disorder or anything, but sometimes I'd eat until I was sick and then eat more. More often than not what triggered it was eating way below what I should have been so that when I came to eat I was madly hungry. Certain foods would trigger it more than others. Finding the cause of the binge is probably the best way to stop them. Also removing potential trigger foods (normally the high fat/carb foods) may help.
It sounds that by reducing the binges down to 1 a week you're already taking steps in the right direction. Keep going! You can do it!

bkscott5

I have problems with binge eating & just saying no to myself does not work. I don't have any tips but But when I was a teacher's aide one trading day they were telling us to teach the lesson & then have students teach it to someone else cuz they believed in teaching someone they learn it better & retain it longer. So if u would like to teach me what u know I would love the help. Good luck with getting the help u need.

JoKessho

Get your hands on a book called "Brain over binge" by Kathryn Hansen. It's helped lots of people and I'm currently recovering with the help of that book.
Feel free to friend me if you need more help and support from someone who is on the road to recovery

Lestrange__

Binge eating disorder isn't really a craving or just mindlessly eating whatever is around, it's a compulsion to eat everything. It happens for many different reasons. I can't just not have the food in the house, because if I'm feeling the urge to binge I can't stop myself from going to the shops and buying the whole candy aisle. Hence why it's really hard to overcome.

Lestrange__

JoKessho wrote: »

Get your hands on a book called "Brain over binge" by Kathryn Hansen. It's helped lots of people and I'm currently recovering with the help of that book.
Feel free to friend me if you need more help and support from someone who is on the road to recovery

I've sent you friend request. Also I'll definitely get my hands on a copy of that book.

bkscott5

Binge eating disorder isn't really a craving or just mindlessly eating whatever is around, it's a compulsion to eat everything. It happens for many different reasons. I can't just not have the food in the house, because if I'm feeling the urge to binge I can't stop myself from going to the shops and buying the whole candy aisle. Hence why it's really hard to overcome.
July 22, 2015 3:03AM Flag Quote ·
My shrink calls it self medicating. I use to have the same problem & have actually gotten up in the middle of the night to go get some candy. But I can't drive anymore or walk more than 4 houses away so I make sure there r some small amounts of things I usually crave cuz if there wasn't anything in the house I would have a serious problem. That is how I have gotten around it a little bit.

Colorful12

Hi there. I'm a binge eater and was pleased when it was finally recognized as an eating disorder by the American Psychological Association. I've been doing this behavior for decades and decided to go to a clinic for partial hospitalization this October. I've been in therapy for years but an hour in an office hasn't done it. I have lots of tools but there is a final puzzle piece I need help with.

At the moment I'm finding regular mindfulness meditation helps a lot. It puts more space between the craving and the doing. I also discovered that I had a bit of OCD that needed treating with meds. I thought everyone was like me and got an image of a food in their heads that wouldn't go away until I ate it. I feel VERY much more in control with out pictures of ice cream cones dancing in my head!

There's a therapy called DBT that is supposed to be very helpful for this and other disorders so maybe look into that.

Here's to hopeful recovery and finding people who get it..

Ruth

kimw91

I'm pretty much where you are: seeing a psychologist and have reduced the frequency of my binges to about once every week.

I find I am most likely to binge if I have been eating irregularly and so/or am very hungry. So I really try to eat every 2-3 hours. I also binge when I am stressed or when I don't know what I want to eat, so I try to plan ahead to avoid that. Another trigger for me is loneliness and it's the one I find hardest to beat, because it's not always within my own control.

I guess, but you probably know this already, it's about finding your triggers and learning how to cope with them. I luckily never got to the point where I would actually leave the house to go buy food for a binge, so not keeping anything in the house helps me already.

Tips I can think of are going to see a friend of family member when you feel a binge coming up or even phoning them. I sometimes leave the house and take myself to go see a movie or even grab lunch at a cafe if I should be eating something normal anyway. I won't be able to keep eating as there won't be any more on my plate and I'd be too embarrassed to order copious amounts anyway.

Good luck with your recovery, I hope you will find a way to beat this soon!

NDCarothers

You need to work on your emotional self, that's the only way. Be honest with yourself about what is really wrong.

fishcat123

I'm glad to hear you're seeing a psychologist - they're trained to help and hopefully are doing a good job with that, and helping your general mental health and any underlying issues as well.

Maybe stop keeping less healthy food in your house, but stock up and fruit and vegetables, and when you get the urge to binge eat them instead? The calories still count of course, but much better than candy.

Also, although obviously this won't solve the problem, make sure to care of yourself in other ways (sleep, stress reduction, exercise, eating regularly and sensibly outside of binging), which should help (or at least avoiding them may harm) you overall.

gmallan

It probably depends on what your triggers are. One of mine is boredom so if I can stay busy it helps. Things like feeling socially connected also seem to help me. Catching up and doing fun things with friends. Talking to or spending quality time with my family etc.

I'm also starting to work on mindfulness with a 8 week course in mindfulness integrated cognitive behavioural therapy. Hoping that will help knock it on its head

quintoespada

i feel you on this. dread and fear and then making up excuses knowing there's a binge coming, consuming EVERYTHING in sight, piling up thousands and thousands of calories... water weight, depression, it's bad. but we can do it! i promise.

valerie_jane

I agree - read brain over binge!
It wasn't the whole solution for me but it taught me a bit about why it was happening and that I was completely able to overcome it.
For me it's recognising if a binge is coming and putting proactive preventative steps. As cliche as it sounds if I get out of the house and go for a walk etc it almost always takes me out of the binge mindset.
The biggest factor leading to my recovery though was picking up exercise - for me, Crossfit - because it gave me a reason to need a healthy body, and the urge to nourish myself became stronger than the urge to binge.
Also don't ever restrict yourself. Just don't.

FoodFitnessTravel

Dear, try to work out more, especially if you know you're going to be triggered to binge that day (eg. weekend when you're at home, have nothing to do, etc).
If I work out I almost never binge because you feel like you don't wanna "undo" all the hard work

dopeysmelly

Do you know what your triggers are? Are you able to try and analyze what you are thinking/feeling before, during and after the episode? Do you write down why you think your brain/body drove you to binge each time? Have you thought of ways of trying to achieve the same feeling without bingeing?

I don't have a serious bingeing problem, but I do have periods when I binge. What has helped a HUGE amount is understanding that this just biochemistry - my brain is telling me to do something to fulfill a specific need. It's like your brain telling your body to yawn when you're tired, because getting that extra oxygen into your lungs should help you stay awake. I try to stop and ask myself why I'm driven to eat something when I'm not hungry. Is it boredom? Loneliness? Stress? Exhaustion? Procrastination? Jetlag (business trips are really tough for bingeing for me)? Then I try and swap out the urge to binge with something else.

Procrastination? I try achieving 2 things on my to-do list no matter how small, like taking a shower, or taking the trash out. Exhaustion? No matter if it's 9pm, 8pm, or even 7pm, I go to bed. Stress? I try a really, really intense cardio workout.

And finally, if I do binge, I don't feel guilty. It's biochemistry. And the water weight comes off in a few days.

ldrosophila

this is timely ive been in the negative cycle for quite a long time now, and im having a terrible time breaking it. open to any friends who are going through the same thing

ellarei

I'm replying because I can relate a liittle bit. I don't have a full blown dirorded I think, but I definitely eat compulsively.

I don't even have advice either, just wanted to share something. This is the first time I've felt like I actually could lose weight, I don't know what's different - something about counting, having an exercise habit, finding a community on reddit. I've been counting calories and mostly staying within my intended. The thing I've realized though is that I'll often exercise loads, or eat low cal rice for meals, just so that I can have donuts and what not. I've realized that I can't bear to think that I have to cut these things out of my life forever. They bring me some sort of psychological comfort.

Technically calorie wise I could just keep doing this - I've already lost weight because technically I'm keeping to the calorie goals (through exercise), and I do eat healthily enough otherwise that I'm not worried about nutrition. But I feel like at some point I'm going to have to confront this compulsion, and I don't really know how. Maybe I need to find healthier sources of comfort, and work them into my life slowly before I try and cut the sweets down.