I feel like I can't stop binge eating

purelyfe

Can someone help me?

I just gained back about 20 pounds that I lost already, and I don't want to gain anymore.

I keep binge eating; however, I recently decided to recommit to a healthier lifestyle for good this time.

I've been eating 1,700 calories a day since Sunday. I was doing well up until I binged last night. I tried to forget about it and continue on like normal today, but I feel another binge coming on, and I've already started over eating. I just really don't want to give up this time, and I'm not going to. I'm just struggling with my binges, and I need help.

I feel like they overwhelm me, and when I try to ignore them, they just get worse. I've tried distracting myself, I've read books about the disorder, I've tried speaking to my therapist about it, but nothing seems to be working.

They are mostly triggered by stress, but there are other triggers as well. Last night was triggered by a test I am studying for.

I don't want to keep eating like this, and I don't want to give up.

Any advise is welcome!

Thanks, everyone

Asher_Ethan

Can you open your diary so we can see what you're eating?

JessicaB523

I also have this problem. I know how to eat healthy, but that doesn't stop the stress impulses.

I can't recommend therapy enough.

TimothyFish

Sometimes it can be helpful to keep certain foods out of the house. Anything you tend to binge on, get rid of. It's okay to eat it once in a while, but buy it in small quantities or force yourself to go to a restaurant to eat it.

purelyfe

This is a bit complicated, but I was having issues with this account, so I made a new one under the name "Delareya".

purelyfe

JessicaB523 wrote: »

I also have this problem. I know how to eat healthy, but that doesn't stop the stress impulses.

I can't recommend therapy enough.

Maybe I just need a new therapist. The one I have isn't working. It's distressing.

bclarke1990

TimothyFish wrote: »

Sometimes it can be helpful to keep certain foods out of the house. Anything you tend to binge on, get rid of. It's okay to eat it once in a while, but buy it in small quantities or force yourself to go to a restaurant to eat it.

Can't speak to this enough. I would buy sugary cereal like reese puffs when it was on sale for "a little treat" and then a few days later eat two huge bowls back to back. It doesn't solve the issue, but it can help. Deep down it's just about finding value in yourself and wanting to be happy.

Try to set your goal, picture it, reinforce it day by day. Picture yourself the way you want to look and think about that every time you want to eat mindlessly. Keep some carrots or cauliflower or other veggies in the fridge incase you really can't stop thinking about food. Drink some cold water and try to go outside or do something productive.

GL

Vune

Have you tried meditation for stress reduction? I was on the bus last April, agonizing over something that had happened in the long past, or something ridiculously dramatic that would probably never happen. Either way, my thoughts were racing, as usual, and I couldn't take it anymore. So I breathed in and out, thinking "Breathe" on every single inhale and exhale. Of course the thoughts came back over and over again, but I kept doing it until more pleasant thoughts started coming up.

It sounds so silly, but I haven't binged since April. I've overeaten a few times, but nothing that felt shameful or like I was out of control. It's free, you can do it in public and no one will notice, and it's helped me learn how to take care of myself better.

Also, yes to the new therapist if you don't like your current one. Why isn't it working?

Ashtoretet

I could only do it by getting the things I binged on out of the house, namely sweets. I would let myself buy a candy bar or order one small dessert, but never multiple sweets at once. I could never go more than two days without polishing off a whole box of sweets. Now (about 5 months in to the lifestyle changes) I've had a carton of my absolute favorite ice cream in my fridge for 5 days! I can't believe how much willpower I have now that I broke the spell.

Patttience

Thanks for telling us what the triggers are. Stress is a trigger for me too so when i started my diet in beginning of 2014, i decided i'd get councilling asap and resolve the stress. Resolving the stress got me back on track almost straight away. So avoid stress and if you can't just resolve it asap. Get help. Talking it over with a councillor helps me to start finding solutions and when my mind goes in that direction, my stress goes.

When you do eat, even in a stressful period, you will probably not be able to stop yourself eating more than you should. Accept it and choose better foods and allow yourself to satisfy yourself with good quality food. Even if it means you eat more than your calorie limit.

Studying stress is almost impossible to avoid in my opinion. Just accept it and eat big meals but very healthy ones. And then if you find you do need to eat between meals, again, choose low calorie foods. Don't worry because that just adds mroe stress and it all compounds and gets worse. Also get plenty of sleep.

I think a big part of getting control of our weight is about learning to eat healthy food all the time and minimising unhealthy food. So i avoid sweets because they are the worst thing for me. I only ever eat them in low risk situations - ie when friends offer them to me or i'm with people. I usually don't buy them for myself at all anymore except in certain special circumstances. These strategies have worked so well for me. I used to just about live on icecream and sweets of all kinds. Now i live on fruit and vegies, pasta and wholegrain bread, tofu, eggs etc. I don't have sugar in coffee on my oats or anything at all. Fruit is my only sweetness on a day to day basis.

Today at the supermarket, i'd missed lunch so i bought a packet of savoury crackers and ate the whole lot + a punnet of strawberries but i can do that and not trigger a binge. Its only sweets that are the issue for me so i hardly ever eat them. And when i'm stressed I want to eat sweets so i eat fruit instead and more bread than i would normally but still try to eat my vegies. This really does help.

Sorry too many words. ..

Jensenwellington

I have the same problem.

I have discovered that having fruit (for sweet cravings) works pretty good. But not apples and such - I make sure I prioritize e.g. melon, grapes or strawberries even though that type of fruit is more expensive. However, on the days where fruit does not work, I buy a chocolate bar... ONE bar (again more expensive but then I make other food stuff cheap, e.g. beans). For me it really works to either have fruit OR buy individual sweets. Then if a binge is approaching I wont have anything to eat.

If I did have 8 individually wrapped sweets I would eat them in one serving

Perhaps you can use some of that :-D