Binge eating / emotional eating success stories??

mylife_myworld

Hi,
I would love to hear stories of how you or someone you know has gone over binge eating or emotional eating?
Thanks

the_new_mark_2017

Yes, good post and following...

driving_miss_crazy

My husband and I joined a local gym that only has small classes with personal trainers (not too busy and very friendly place) and a nutrition course. I mostly wanted to make exercise a priority to help with stress which I hoped would then solve my bingeing issues. I found that the nutrition part helped more than I thought it would.

The keys to my success have been:

- eating small meals of 40%carb, 30%fat, 30%protein every 3-4 hours (while keeping within calorie goals)

- exercising (emphasis on strength training) twice weekly for an hour each time with my husband (and no kids!)

Eating frequently keeps my moods more stable. In the past I would get so hungry, then moody, to the point where little things made me emotional which would then trigger a binge. The macro arrangement really helps me stay full between meals and the calorie goal for weight loss.

The scheduled exercise has made me make it a priority. It also acts as a "date night" for my husband and I which has done wonders for our marriage. It's amazing how those 2 hours each week can re-energize me for my "job" as a stay at home mom of 2 young kids.

I am not a long term success yet but haven't binged in 6 months since starting all this. I have had occasions where I would feel the familiar feelings of anxiety, stress creep in, but I just reminded myself that I had healthy meal coming up soon and an awesome strength training session already scheduled. I'm happy to say that these urges have become non-existent at this point. Basically I made myself a priority again. And I'm worth it

lenoresdream

driving_miss_crazy wrote: »

My husband and I joined a local gym that only has small classes with personal trainers (not too busy and very friendly place) and a nutrition course. I mostly wanted to make exercise a priority to help with stress which I hoped would then solve my bingeing issues. I found that the nutrition part helped more than I thought it would.

The keys to my success have been:

- eating small meals of 40%carb, 30%fat, 30%protein every 3-4 hours (while keeping within calorie goals)

- exercising (emphasis on strength training) twice weekly for an hour each time with my husband (and no kids!)

Eating frequently keeps my moods more stable. In the past I would get so hungry, then moody, to the point where little things made me emotional which would then trigger a binge. The macro arrangement really helps me stay full between meals and the calorie goal for weight loss.

The scheduled exercise has made me make it a priority. It also acts as a "date night" for my husband and I which has done wonders for our marriage. It's amazing how those 2 hours each week can re-energize me for my "job" as a stay at home mom of 2 young kids.

I am not a long term success yet but haven't binged in 6 months since starting all this. I have had occasions where I would feel the familiar feelings of anxiety, stress creep in, but I just reminded myself that I had healthy meal coming up soon and an awesome strength training session already scheduled. I'm happy to say that these urges have become non-existent at this point. Basically I made myself a priority again. And I'm worth it

Amazing!

Evolvingthinker

driving_miss_crazy wrote: »

My husband and I joined a local gym that only has small classes with personal trainers (not too busy and very friendly place) and a nutrition course. I mostly wanted to make exercise a priority to help with stress which I hoped would then solve my bingeing issues. I found that the nutrition part helped more than I thought it would.

The keys to my success have been:

- eating small meals of 40%carb, 30%fat, 30%protein every 3-4 hours (while keeping within calorie goals)

Great story especially with a key strategy. I will try using it on the weekends. I don't usually binge on weekdays coz I am too busy at work.

CheesyMotivationalUsername

For a long time I would eat "clean" Monday to Thursday, binge on Friday and Saturday, and feel too sick on Sunday to eat much of anything. Rinse and repeat.

Now I am in a place where I just let myself have a smaller treat every day that I have the room in my calories for it. Binges do still happen but they are rare.

The transition was a long process. At first I kept the same schedule of cleaner eating during the week, but placed limits on what I could consume over the weekend. With that I started to lose weight, even though I was still doing what I'd consider to be binging. Once I started losing weight I got more motivated to make more changes and I think it was just a giant positive feedback loop from there.

There was never a dramatic point where I just said "I'm never going to binge again". That works for some people but for me it puts the stress of that expectation on me and the stress makes me want to... you guessed it, binge. I just focused on cutting down the volume of my binges until they were really more of a cheat meal than binge.

I wish I could say that I see myself someday not wanting to use food to cope with stress, anxiety, and other emotions, but I'm not sure that's realistic. For me, it is more about knowing myself and doing my best not to put myself in those stressful situations but also knowing that if I slip up it's not the end of the road and I can pick myself back up again.

And one more thing: exercise is important. It does wonders for your mood, and gives you a few extra calories to play with so that you can have small treats consistently rather than trying to eat completely "clean" and then spontaneously giving up and binging.

dgarblik

Binging is the hardest thing for me. It always messes me up whenever I want to be good and lose. Its only been more recent that I realized I have a binge "disorder" . I realize now is been my issue all these years. I've done every diet out there and binging always won each time. Now that I know the source of my issues, I have to really work on rehabilitation . I'm not going to say I won't bing again but I need to refocus my mindset and learn to eat the right satisfying foods. Thanks for this post. It makes bingers like me feel like I'm not alone!

drewst18

I feel for me I'll never conquer but have to learn to manage. Personally speaking I know that I will always have that urge. I also know that I don't have the discipline to always ignore it. It's something I fight with all the time. I look at it as "I lost the value but not the war."
A day where I eat a full pizza or a family size bag of M&Ms won't kill me but it will if I do it all the time.

The best thing I think you can do is never lose to yourself when you track your food. For me that keeps me honest. Sure if sticks seeing you went 1500 calories over but it helps get you back on track the next day. The artist thing that happened to me was I started to not track some things and before I knew it the 8 months of weight loss was wiped out in a couple months and I got even bigger.

Some do really overcome an eating disorder like binging but it's been something I've done since a child and I just have to be honest with myself and be disciplined to get back on track of I call off the wagon

tonyberwald

mylife_myworld wrote: »

Hi,
I would love to hear stories of how you or someone you know has gone over binge eating or emotional eating?
Thanks

I think you have to identify why you are binge eating - boredom, stress, anxiety, something else?

For me, it's stress. Once I identified the cause, I was able to do things to reduce stress - yoga, exercise, therapy. I also consciously identify when I'm stressed and intentionally make the choice to binge on low calorie things like carrots or salad vs a bag of Doritos or an entire chocolate cake.

One thing that I also had to learn - much easier said than done - is to forgive yourself and move on. My dad is a recovered alcoholic and I've learned from him to take one minute, hour, day etc at a time.

fireytiger

Love these tips! I'm not a long term success either, but so far for me, I found going to a nutritionist/dietitian helped a great deal. I always avoided that because I kept telling myself "I already know *what* to do, I just don't do it, so a dietitian would be a waste of my time". When my doctor told me I have reached the point where i'm considered morbidly obese, and by being so i'm destroying my body and my spine, I realized that I'd tried EVERYTHING else except seeing a dietitian, so I decided to try it. I'm really glad I did. She did not judge or criticize at all. She went over my normal eating habits and helped me make them into healthier options that I really ENJOY, helped me identify my triggers and how to avoid them, and how to recover if I did end up gorging myself for a couple days. Even though I can be a bit of a picky eater and apologized for it, she insisted that it's fine, her job is to work with that and make it work for me. She's also continuously served as a source of encouragement, support, and accountability, which if you're lacking in support from family/friends, is a crucial piece. If I feel like I'm struggling, I know she's only a phone call or email away, and she will ALWAYS get back to me and help get me back on track.

Previously, whenever I would end up binge eating, I'd feel like a total failure and just throw in the towel. The key is to accept that sometimes you will slip up, some days the less healthy choices will win. You have to truly forgive yourself for those times, and move on. Pick up where you left off on the very next meal or the very next day, and don't punish yourself either by eating too little to compensate or by exercising til you drop. I've had probably at least one day every week since my first dietitian visit where I have dropped the ball, but so far it's been easy to pick it back up, and I've still lost 1-3 pounds every week.

Rachel0778

I'm 2 years post-recovery from the binge/purge cycle. (I used to purge through over-exercising/under-eating). For me, I first had to heal my relationship with food before I could focus on sustainable weight loss. For me, trying to restrict calories was a trigger in over-consuming/bingeing later.

I was fortunate that I had a therapist to help me develop coping techniques to do instead of eating my feelings. Adult coloring books, yoga, and getting a dog have all helped as emotional outlets. I also stopped demonizing food and sugar. If a coworker bakes brownies, I have one instead of denying myself, feeling deprived, and bingeing on something sweet later. If I feel like Oreos, I have a serving or two instead of denying myself and eating an entire package later. Every day, I plan for a treat of my choice. If one

I also had to work on accepting my body the way it is and re-building my self-esteem. I still struggle with this, and probably always will. I try to look in the mirror and compliment myself every day.

It's still a struggle sometimes and I still have urges, but I will always be grateful that I went through the process of healing my relationship with food. If you have the resources/access, please look into a therapist/therapy program that specializes in eating disorders or BED. I cannot recommend it enough!

eknapik23

I eat very low-calorie breakfasts and lunches, then eat pretty much what I want for dinner/snacks. I have an egg white omelet in the morning (under 200 calories) and a prepackaged salad for lunch (under 300 calories). That gives me 700-1000 calories to play with for the rest of the day and I can have a nice big dinner.

If I get hungry and want to binge, I tell myself that I'm going to exercise enough that the binge won't put me over my calorie goal for the day. By the time I'm done exercising, I don't want to eat anything.

In the past two months, I've only had one bad day. I went 700 calories over my goal, still fewer calories than I burned that day, and it was my last day of vacation (yesterday, actually). I'm pleased with that result.

wendyg311

Ugh.....Day after day after day....for my whole life (I'm 51) I do the same thing: Wake up determined that "today is the day. The day I knock this crap off. The day I grow up and take personal responsibility over my self control.
That .....sometimes doesn't even last till I get to work, a 10 min drive. So naturally, the rest of the day is shot, but tomorrow.........ah yes, tomorrow will be the day I knock this crap off........
My poison of choice is sugar, candy, ice cream, etc. I'm not a fan of salty snacks or soda or fast food.
I was lucky that up until I was 45, I was very physically active so the weight issue was there, but never more than about a 20 lb overage, which I was able to lose if I had to with more activity, but not less junk.
At 46, I met and married my best friend . It was then that the weight pack on.....fast. He likes to cook and is a good one. So now regular, rich, real life meals, coupled with my out of control, daily bull*%#t had me 70 lbs heavier by our 2nd anniversary.
The guilt I feel that I made a bait and switch move after we got married is grinding at me.
Also, and more importantly, (because I know my husband loves me regardless of the weight gain) is the health repercussions that are rearing their ugly heads after a lifetime of feeding my body daily overdoses of nutritionally empty garbage. I'm even surprised I have all my teeth left in my head. Yet........I'm still running on the hamster wheel.

Thank you to those who have shrared the things that helped them overcome or better handle this issue. I do still have hope that I can get things under control .............

Marycycles

I have been binge and purging since high school and I am now 49. I lost 105lbs 5 years ago and kept it off for 2 years, then when my mother died I got depressed and started to binge eat again, which, of course, made me even more depressed! I gained 60lbs back, but since may first I have dropped 15 of those. It is a lifetime struggle but I feel better when I'm eating healthy and under control.