Binge eating
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You dont sound pissed off, just concerned, and that is a wonderful trait. Dont sweat it.1
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Obviously speak to a BED specialist if you suspect it may be disordered eating because this advice is just for slip ups most people have whilst dieting, however if you think its just over indulgence for easily accessible food because you're dieting and end up "cracking" maybe sit down and have a proper discussion with your partner to see if you can get the trigger foods out of the house, it may be slightly inconvenient for him but he can still get treats whilst hes out and it'll give you more control, for me it's like trying to quit smoking whilst you've still got a pack of cigarettes in the house, sure you might crack and go to the shops but that at least gives you some time to talk yourself out of it and stay on track instead of just opening a draw and lighting up. x0
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1.) Seek out professional help for your BED
2.) Consider modifying your caloric goals in MFP; it's possible you are over restricting yourself and need to be kinder to your body. I weigh 185 lbs and this calculator says that as a sedentary person, I should eat 1467 Calories per day if I want to lose a pound a week. That number goes up if you're heavier or taller or more active or if you want to lose weight more slowly. Don't force yourself to lose weight quickly. Develop behaviors that you can practice forever and will help you live a long time. MFP is just a tool, don't let it govern your behavior. This website I linked also provides a macronutrient breakdown if you have heard of IIFYM or flexible dieting.
3.) Consider giving yourself a rule: you can eat whatever you want as long as you have 20g protein first. That's two-three hardboiled eggs. Cheese and nuts. A can of tuna. It will help fill you and sure you may binge still, but you're filling up with "good stuff" first.
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Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »This is why this board is so heart breaking for me... I know the people coming here and offering their support and suggestions are just offering what they know.. but these things just dont work.. and often a person trying to do these things with BED feel even more stupid and helpless because they honestly can't understand why its so hard to do something so simple..
I really should go... my inbox is open.. please seek me out.
I totally agree!!!0 -
animatorswearbras wrote: »Obviously speak to a BED specialist if you suspect it may be disordered eating because this advice is just for slip ups most people have whilst dieting, however if you think its just over indulgence for easily accessible food because you're dieting and end up "cracking" maybe sit down and have a proper discussion with your partner to see if you can get the trigger foods out of the house, it may be slightly inconvenient for him but he can still get treats whilst hes out and it'll give you more control, for me it's like trying to quit smoking whilst you've still got a pack of cigarettes in the house, sure you might crack and go to the shops but that at least gives you some time to talk yourself out of it and stay on track instead of just opening a draw and lighting up. x
Agreed. This advice is not for someone with a BED.0 -
Hi, I'm not sure if this will help, but I suffered from binge eating for many years. Since I was 11 years old I had been dieting and then binge eating and I had never been able to stop the cycle of restricting and then binging. I would diet for 3-4 months (often eating <500), then binge and regain the weight lost (plus extras) and then diet again. It's now been over a year since I last binge ate (end of 2015) and the need to binge is no longer there - although I do worry that I'll return to binge eating at some point! I think breaking away from my diet mentality has really helped. I just stick to 1300 calories or so and allow myself nice food that isn't all salads and soups.1
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I'm a binge eater myself, it doesn't matter what food I have in the house when I want to binge I will and usually I order takeaways even if I have healthy food in the house. I would be lucky if I would go a week without binging. I would literally binge and then the next day weigh myself and see I've put on weight and think oh screw it what's the point and then spend the next few days not caring what I eat.
I've also suffered from depression and anxiety in the past and I still do but not as bad. However since new year I've been trying something new, I've been trying meditation and also going completely tech free before bed. what I mean is I will turn all tech off and the lights off and read from my kindle, I've researched that as the light from the kindle isn't blue it doesn't effect sleep. This has helped me to get to sleep a lot easier than before.
I will literally meditate anywhere now even if its just 10 min's on the train on the way to work. I've also been increasing my cardio not for the weight loss effect but more because I've noticed the more I do the better I feel.
Since I've been doing that I literally have only binged once this month even then I didn't binge anywhere near as bad as I used to, that's a record for me I've never done that before ever.2 -
I went to a therapist & she helped with sorting out why I felt shame & unworthy but I didn't stop bingeing. I have had bed since I was a young girl. What is working now is praying for God to take away my desire to eat unhealthy food. Then I stocked my kitchen with healthy things. I only weigh once a month. So I don't use ups & downs as excuses to binge. I don't let my mind think about things I used to binge on. Am about to weigh tomorrow. Focus on making your body healthy not on losing lb.s. If you eat right the weight will come off. Praying for all of you.2
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When I started MFP, I needed to lose about 50 lbs. I had a similar issue to what you are having for the first 2+ years. The only difference is that, in my case, I actually was hungry. My appetite was insatiable. Even eating at maintenance was not enough, so eating at a deficit made me feel like I was starving every single day. I used willpower as long as I could to get through and allowed myself a cheat day when I reached certain weight milestones.
Unfortunately, I was also losing much more slowly than I should have been based on the calories I was eating... so it would be months between cheat days. When a cheat day happened, though, I would eat as much as I wanted of whatever I wanted. I would do it on a weekend where I didn't have to go anywhere or do anything so I could stay home and just cook and eat. I would buy stuff ahead of time and order pizzas (would go out to retrieve pizza since the place doesn't deliver and also fresh donuts in the morning, but that is it). On cheat days, I would start out with breakfast foods - usually a dozen or 2 dozen donuts, 2 or 3 boxes of fruity pebbles (2 boxes) and cocoa pebbles (1 box), and probably a loaf or 2 of banana bread sliced with margarine on top. Then I would cook 4 lbs. of spaghetti along with sausage and sauce. Later, I would get a couple pizzas, eat that with a few bags of potato chips and chip dip plus a half gallon of sherbet and a half gallon of ice cream along with a couple of cakes and some brownies (homemade usually with the cake mixes and frosting).
For those cheat days, which only happened once every several months, I wouldn't feel like I was starving. That kept me going and gave me the willpower to deal with frustratingly slow weight loss while I really wanted to eat more. I'm not sure if that solution will work for you, but it is an idea. I'm sure your cheat days, if done with such irregularity (for example, after every 10 lbs. loss) won't be nearly as devastating as mine; and yet I still was able to make it past. I'm almost at my goal weight now.0 -
I struggled with binge eating disorder for about thirty years. I tried everything I could think of to control it but nothing really worked. I finally went to see a doctor who specializes in bariatrics and I am now taking a medication that treats it (it's NOT a diet pill) and I no longer experience the urge to binge. The compulsion is just gone, as long as I take my medication. This is the ONLY thing that has ever truly helped me and I'm so grateful for it.1
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@fourtherecord I fully get where you are coming from with feeling embarrassed about reaching out for help. I am a male in my mid 30's married with kids, and for over 3 years thought I was loosing my mind on a daily basis. I used to be in decent shape and weigh in around 170 lbs. Then I started to get larger and larger and the things I used to do were not working for me any more, I would try to count calories, go carb free, goto the gym, but then I was self sabotaging. I would do ok in front of my wife, and others, but in secret shame I would binge on everything I could get my hands on. At the time I felt powerless, I would get this urge and the more I fought it the worse it was when it finally took over. I would goto the gym, then stop at the store and eat 6 doughnuts and wash it down with a large sugary coffee drink, or chocolate milk, but large bags of candy and eat the entire thing in the 4 minutes it would take for me to drive home. I hid the evidence and lied to my my family about it. I did this for quite sometime and the more I binged the worse I felt which made me binge more. Only I had no idea what B.E.D was, so I thought I was just weak and powerless and that this is how life was going to be for me from now on.
I was finally at a very low point and my heaviest weight ever, and I had pushed those closest to me away, and I finally reached out and got myself some help. I talked to my doctor, and was going over the depression, and some OCD, and ADHD things I thought I may have had, then I mentioned the weight gain, and started to talk about the hiding food and she pulled out a pamphlet and started to ask me a series of questions, and I answered them, and then she started to tell me about B.E.D. We talked about a few treatments and decided to try a medication and the medication has helped me a lot over the last year in trying to get better control of my binges, it has not fixed everything but it has given me a really good handle on sorting out the causes of my binges, and helped to reduce the desire to binge.
There is a stigma around men and mental health, and things like that. People assume if you admit there is a problem that you are weak, which makes it so much harder for a male to look into getting help. But I have written blog posts, and started a group for people with problems with Binge Eating, because I hate the thought of anyone having to suffer alone like I did. Mental health is a terrible thing that no one should have to face alone.
Here is a link to the group I created, there is a diverse population some are officially diagnosed, others just have some struggles, so feel free to look around read through the posts and hopefully you will find the strength to go and seek out help. I know for me the hardest part was to talk about it, but once I started to talk, I made myself get everything out so that I could get the best possible outcome from my visit.
Good luck to you and please know you are not alone with your struggles.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/112095-binge-eating-disorder
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fourtherecord wrote: »Thank you. I am reluctant to seek professional help, partly because I am embarrassed, and partly because I have seeked help for some diagnosed MH issues (depression and social phobia) and never found it very useful
Finding a good therapist is sometimes like finding a good partner - please don't be discouraged and keep trying.
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fourtherecord wrote: »leejoyce31 wrote: »fourtherecord wrote: »Last week I ate over 2200 in 1h
Do you know how many calories total you ate that day? I only ask because over the holiday, I ate 6,000 calories one day. I didn't see it as a binge though because I didn't have any negative feelings attached to it. I just ate loads of food because I hadn't eaten my mom's cooking in over a year. So, I agree with Look its Kriss. Was it a binge or are you concerned that you have a disorder?
I ate about 3000 total that day because the bung happened about noon, so restricted myself afterwards.
I suppose what I class as a binge rather than just over eating for a reason is how it happens. I wasn't even hungry, but as soon as the idea had came into my head it is very difficult to not do it. My husband and son had went out and I ate anything I could get my hands on that didn't require preparation, so crisps, chocolate, biscuits etc. I only stopped when I felt physically ill. When I've eaten a similar number of calories because I have been out for a meal and had dessert, wine etc, I don't feel the shame and physical pain that I do after a binge
I don't know enough about binge eating disorder to know whether this is normal or whether it is indicative of a disorder.
I thought this may help some, from the DSM-5 and what they look for when diagnosing B.E.D.
The key diagnostic features of BED are:
Recurrent and persistent episodes of binge eating
Binge eating episodes are associated with three (or more) of the following:
Eating much more rapidly than normal
Eating until feeling uncomfortably full
Eating large amounts of food when not feeling physically hungry
Eating alone because of being embarrassed by how much one is eating
Feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or very guilty after overeating
Marked distress regarding binge eating
Absence of regular compensatory behaviors (such as purging).
BED is the most common eating disorder in the United States. In adults it affects 3.5% of women and 2% of men and up to 1.6% of adolescents [1]. In women it is most common in early adulthood but more common in men at midlife. BED seems to affect blacks and whites equally. Comorbid problems are both physical and psychiatric. Although most people with obesity don’t have BED, up to 2/3 of people with BED are obese and can have the medical difficulties associated with this condition. Compared with normal weight or obese control groups, people with BED have higher levels of anxiety and both current and lifetime major depression.1 -
leejoyce31 wrote: »fourtherecord wrote: »Last week I ate over 2200 in 1h
Do you know how many calories total you ate that day? I only ask because over the holiday, I ate 6,000 calories one day. I didn't see it as a binge though because I didn't have any negative feelings attached to it. I just ate loads of food because I hadn't eaten my mom's cooking in over a year. So, I agree with Look its Kriss. Was it a binge or are you concerned that you have a disorder?
With B.E.D, it does not just come down to calories eaten. There are other facets to this, like the feeling of shame, hiding the eating from those around you, eating to the point that it hurts, eating while not hungry but not being able to stop.2 -
I dont think there is much if any disagreement that it would be in the OPs best interest to consult a medical professional regarding her concerns, however, it may be some time before she is able to see either her GP or in turn, a specialist. What can we tell her right now - today - that might help mitigate her concerns, and give her some confidence that she can overcome this situation? If we can offer tips and strategies that can get her through one day at a time, until she is able to meet with someone then I think that would be helpful. She is struggling, and telling her to meet with a doctor isnt helping her right NOW, even though that may be her intention.
So as I have previously suggested, increasing calories to minimize hunger cues, maybe enlisting a trusted friend or family member as a buddy, someone you can call when you feel the binging urges start to build, eliminating as much as possible the trigger foods, finding alternate ways to manage stress, like long walks, meditation, yoga, hot baths, tea - anything that can help the OP feel more in control of her urges.
I know that BED is a complex situation - not everyone responds in the same manner to standardized treatments, and often, the approach needed is a holistic one.2 -
fourtherecord wrote: »leejoyce31 wrote: »fourtherecord wrote: »Last week I ate over 2200 in 1h
Do you know how many calories total you ate that day? I only ask because over the holiday, I ate 6,000 calories one day. I didn't see it as a binge though because I didn't have any negative feelings attached to it. I just ate loads of food because I hadn't eaten my mom's cooking in over a year. So, I agree with Look its Kriss. Was it a binge or are you concerned that you have a disorder?
I ate about 3000 total that day because the bung happened about noon, so restricted myself afterwards.
I suppose what I class as a binge rather than just over eating for a reason is how it happens. I wasn't even hungry, but as soon as the idea had came into my head it is very difficult to not do it. My husband and son had went out and I ate anything I could get my hands on that didn't require preparation, so crisps, chocolate, biscuits etc. I only stopped when I felt physically ill. When I've eaten a similar number of calories because I have been out for a meal and had dessert, wine etc, I don't feel the shame and physical pain that I do after a binge
I don't know enough about binge eating disorder to know whether this is normal or whether it is indicative of a disorder.
I thought this may help some, from the DSM-5 and what they look for when diagnosing B.E.D.
The key diagnostic features of BED are:
Recurrent and persistent episodes of binge eating
Binge eating episodes are associated with three (or more) of the following:
Eating much more rapidly than normal
Eating until feeling uncomfortably full
Eating large amounts of food when not feeling physically hungry
Eating alone because of being embarrassed by how much one is eating
Feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or very guilty after overeating
Marked distress regarding binge eating
Absence of regular compensatory behaviors (such as purging).
BED is the most common eating disorder in the United States. In adults it affects 3.5% of women and 2% of men and up to 1.6% of adolescents [1]. In women it is most common in early adulthood but more common in men at midlife. BED seems to affect blacks and whites equally. Comorbid problems are both physical and psychiatric. Although most people with obesity don’t have BED, up to 2/3 of people with BED are obese and can have the medical difficulties associated with this condition. Compared with normal weight or obese control groups, people with BED have higher levels of anxiety and both current and lifetime major depression.
That describes me completely. I never even thought about this for myself...0 -
Big hugs to you
Look_Its_Kriss - Thank you for medicine info!
For ActionAnnieJ and MWeckler - is the medicine Kriss mentioned the same as yours? Vyvanse (Lisdexamfetamine Dimesylate)? I need to talk to my pharmacist and doctor and see what would be best for me. Thank you!0 -
150poundsofme wrote: »Big hugs to you
Look_Its_Kriss - Thank you for medicine info!
For ActionAnnieJ and MWeckler - is the medicine Kriss mentioned the same as yours? Vyvanse (Lisdexamfetamine Dimesylate)? I need to talk to my pharmacist and doctor and see what would be best for me. Thank you!
I am currently taking Vyvanse 70mg which in the USA is the highest dose you can take. Most Pharmacies do not regularly carry Vyvanse unless someone else is prescribed it. When I first started taking it my Dr had a free 30 day trial I was given, and she wrote the prescription into 3 different doses for me to test out to see which I responded best to.
Also most Doctors will require you to get an EKG before giving out this medication as it is a stimulant medication used to treat ADHD, they then found out it can help with B.E.D as well.0 -
I have great advice for you on your binge eating.i also can't stop once I start eating and the solution I used was to just chew on the foods and then spit them out after chewing them into the plastic bags. It helped me a lot with my weight loss journey
I know that sounds super cliche but believe me it works - you don't swallow the foods but you just chew them, just taste them and then spit them out that way you won't consume calories and still be able to taste and "binge-taste"0 -
I could answer with what I do to avoid overeating, but it won't help you. I make a very clear choice when I decide to go over my calories, it is never a compulsion. I don't think my coping strategies will help you because our issues are very different. For me, it is just a matter of willpower. I want to get healthier more than I want the extra foods. I really do agree that no one here is going to have a magic answer for you. I suspect cognitive therapy and perhaps some medications prescribed by a professional might be more helpful.
The only thing I feel confident to say is that if you do slip up, don't beat yourself up. You are still being mindful and you are making and effort and succeeding so much of the time. Finish the food you binged on, clean the plate you ate it on and then keep moving on. Maybe this week you will binge three times, but next week only twice, or maybe your binges will get smaller and smaller with time and work. I think you should be proud of yourself because you're aware of the problem and you are trying to tackle it. It won't happen overnight, but each day that you are mindful and working towards being healthier, you will be a day closer to not binging at all. Don't be hard on yourself. You are working hard on it. That is more than so many other people ever manage to do. I know it isn't easy, but you're still doing it. That's awesome.2
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