Someone to walk the path with me

bigsamsoon

Hello! I am a binge eater and have tried so many different strategies to beat this. One thing I have not done yet is sign up for Food Addicts Anonymous. I attended a couple meeting but can't bring myself to commit yet because my deepest heart's desire is to be able to eat like a normal person. I long to be able to eat a normal portion of chips and not have a monster awaken inside of me that urges me to eat the whole bag. Anyone who has this knows that when I tell my friends I ate too much they have no idea how much that really is. I am astonished how much my stomach can hold when I am in that mode. My friends try to help but they don't understand. I need someone to walk with me towards the path of normalcy. More often than not it is two steps forward and one and half back.

Mersie1

Sending you big hugs! Bingeing is horrendous. I've been slowly slaying that monster. Not easy but it is possible. Add me if you like. It's something I've struggled w for a significant part of my life

fanbrits

ugh i have this problem. whenever smth happens i start eating a lot

soypup

Hi. I understand. I don't binge eat as much as I use to but my emotional eating is still an ongoing challenge. It's like I'll be eating and think, "You don't need this" but I keep going. I just ate three servings of chips that I had no intention of eating because I'm at my parents place and they drive me nuts. I feel like I am going to pop.

At least I was able to resist the cake that my diabetic mom made...

SSB09040

Binge eating can be devastating.

At the time you are enjoying feasting (albeit most times guiltily) on your favourite foods but then a few hours later, post binge remorse sets in and you're berating yourself badly.

My worst times occur around 8-9 pm in the evenings, not even when I'm particularly hungry as I eat healthy, filling meals, but I start craving cheese, chips, chocolates and carbs in general.
I try not to keep too many junky snacks in the house but then I start on the toast, cheese and cereals if nothing else tempting is available.

These episodes happen about every 3-5 evenings and then the next day I hate myself and feel depressed most of the day.

One thing that does make me feel a little better about myself though is exercising and I try to console myself that at least I am working off some of the damage from the night before.

mtpizzo

I shared this with someone else on another thread in this group and feel you may benefit from it.
I myself struggle with binges... it's difficult to get back in the swing after feeling like a failure. But you're not a failure if you get back up and keep trying. If you do that then it's sorta like you just indulged in a cheat day. A lot of my healthy looking friends do a once a week cheat day. If you do that, maybe you'll be less inclined to feel guilty over an accidental binge and you can just substitute your accidental binge for your cheat day. But if you don't binge that week, treat yourself to a normal portion of something you enjoy one day that weekend during a social event or something to that nature. It might make you think twice about binging too if you know you have dinner plans to look forward to. If that doesn't work, you can try what I do and get some chocolate flavored whey protein powder and add a scoop to a healthy morning breakfast smoothie. I like to make mine with the protein powder, silk milk, spinach, and frozen berries... it satiates my chocolate craving AND it's healthy. Also I find making my main meals with lower calorie foods such as vegetables in higher volume keeps me fuller longer and less likely to binge or snack on the wrong stuff. I have a midmorning and mid-afternoon snack to curb my junk food yen and avoid overeating during my main meals. I also fill up on water.

Also I am slowly realizing this...When you allow yourself to get ravenous, you tend to have less control than if you properly ate at your normal meal times. So try to make it a habit to eat at the same times every day for a week or two and see if it affects your binges at all. Maybe make a binge diary and record when you binged, how you felt before the binge and why you reached for food, and how you felt after the binge. Sometimes if we record things down we can come to grips with why we do things in the first place. For me, if I don't eat breakfast, I end up having a big old bingefest of a lunch that could've fed Two people. So a lot of it with binges may just come down to preparing your meals ahead of time and making them accessible for you and your schedule.

Hope these ideas help!

FitLaughLove

I have the same exact problem.

PhrasingBoom

Currently struggling with that same issue. Feel free to add me! Maybe we can all keep each other accountable