How to stop binge eating?

BingefreeNoella

I'm a regular on MFP but I made a new account because I was too ashamed to post this on my other one. My friends on my other account are so dedicated to their weight loss and so am I but I struggle with BED aka binge eating disorder.

I eat at 1400 calories a day. I'm 5'9 and I currently weigh 151 pounds. I always hit my macros, I eat tons of veggies and fruits. I get my fiber and protein. And usually every day, I feel pretty content. I'm not really hungry at all. I don't feel like I ever deprive myself to be honest. If I want chocolate, I eat chocolate if it fits my calories. If I want some chips, I eat some chips. So it's not like I deprive myself all week of the foods I want. But then there comes a day where food takes over me.

At first, I just considered it a cheat day. I thought the rush of food was something I was addicted to hence the reason I got fat in the first place. But when I get started on a binge I can't stop. As I'm eating, I'm aware I'm binging, I'm aware of the amount I'm eating, I weigh and log everything I'm eating but I can't stop. As I eat, I feel the adrenaline pumps through my veins, my temples pound as I gorge through meal after meal. It's a process that I literally feel that I have no control over. Now, I'm not the type to purge. I never purge. I just binge. I can't say I binge because of emotions because when I have these binge episodes, it's never because of emotions. I'm never in a particular state when I binge. I'm not stressed nor am I bored. These binges happen randomly.

I can sense when I'm about to have one because I tend to feel extremely weak and dizzy. So I'd eat some fruits or a salad to perk me up. Maybe drink some coffee. That usually helps the hunger and makes me feel full. Sometimes, I run out of my house and start walking. I'd walk for an hour but the entire time, I think about the binge. I tried watching movies to distract myself but I'd still think about the binge. I tried "riding the wave" of binge thoughts, letting it go through but nope, didn't work. I even went as far as taking an hour long bus ride into the city. Walking around the city for an hour, then taking the hour long ride back just to rid myself of the binge thoughts. Didn't work. When I do school work, I can't concentrate because I think about the binge when the urge hits. But then these binge thoughts come into my head and then it takes over me. Hunger becomes irrelevant. It's just about eating, putting the food into my mouth, swallowing, then repeating until I can't breathe.

Today, I ate 3,186 calories over my 1400 daily calorie intake which means my total for today is 4,586 calories.

That's 1.1 pounds I ate today. All my hard work of a deficit. Gone. In an hour. 3,186 calories in one hour.

I'm so tired of these binges. I don't know why I get them. I'm not emotionally scarred. I'm not overly stressed. I'm not bored. I'm not sedentary. I'm not depriving myself of foods that I want. I don't get it. I try to hard not to binge. If I suppress a binge, the feeling becomes bigger and bigger until I end up just giving in. I tried talking to a therapist but he was such a quack. He kept saying It was emotionally based. It's not emotionally based. I don't binge because I'm sad, angry, happy, or whatever. He refused to even listen to anything I was saying.

What's going on? Please help me.

1ZenGirl

There is some reason you are self medicating with food. It is soothing something in you. You just have to figure out what that is. I've struggled with binge eating disorder and it's never about the food. So there is something that you have to deal with and only you can figure it out.

I tried distracting myself, punishing myself. Whatever. I personally had to get therapy to deal with my food issues and I learned a lot about this disease and myself along the way.

I'm going to give you a link to a post that was created yesterday. Do you find yourself in what he wrote and the responses? Feel free to friend me on your "real" list. I'll be right there with you. Put a message in your invite though cuz I'm one of those that will decline with no message. If you let me know it's you I can be there as a support via messaging if you want.

Best to you.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1173907-some-of-my-thoughts-on-emotional-eating

TheRealParisLove

Do you live in a cold climate? This time of the year, the body tries to compensate for a lack of serotonin from sun exposure with carbs. Also, cold weather makes our bodies work harder to stay warm. If you spend much time outdoors, it could be that you are simply burning more calories.

Is the scale actually drifting upward? If you aren't actually gaining any weight, I wouldn't worry too much about it. You are probably just burning a lot more calories than you have accounted for.

Skarlet13

Eating releases chemicals in the brain that make us feel good. Maybe you should up your daily calories a bit. Not sure what else to offer. Good luck.

MyFoodGod

You have an eating disorder. Listen to some podcasts for Overeaters Anonymous. Go to some meetings. You will find others with the same problem as you have described it.

Get the help you need.

grantpant

Awesome response from 1ZenGirl. I love to see people helping people. Skarlet13 was starting to talk about something that might be pretty relevant here: eating food that tastes awesome can trigger a rather intense response from the brain's reward centers. What this means is that it is possible (and from the sounds of it, maybe even likely) that your brain delivers quit a rewarding pleasure response from binge eating. Everybody's brain works fundamentally the same, but we can vary remarkably in the degrees to which certain brain functions work. In this case, some people's brain's respond moderately to food intake, while some experience intense pleasure from eating. You might fall in the latter category. Maybe the emotion this therapist was referring to was pleasure? If this is the case, you have a hard fight ahead of you that you will likely have to fight throughout your life. But with a good game face, it can be done. What you have to do is put yourself in the best situation to achieve success. Obviously, relying solely on will power will fail you when you don't want it to. So you've got to find "detours" to success--tricks. The first one that comes to mind is if you struggle with BED, you'd better not be stocking your kitchen with foods that you want to binge on. That would be a great way to set your self up for failure. I may or may not be right about this one: You HAVE to give yourself a cheat night. For me, (I can relate to you to, albeit to a lesser degree) having a cheat night gets it out of my system and helps stave off cravings. After a cheat night I can't wait to get back on track. It has to be planned and you have to be strict about when you are and are not going to do it (it can't ever accidentally be cheat night- you know what i'm sayin?). Another good trick is to make all of your meals have definite and finite quantity. Each part of your meal, you will weight out according to what macros you want from them, and you will eat that amount and not a bite more. You have to 100% strict about that, not even 1 almond more. If you give yourself an inch, you'll take a mile. You have to be so super cautious with yourself. Most, if not all of what I'm telling you is personal experience. If i'm not careful I'll eat the whole damn jar of peanuts. These are things I do to make sure I don't. I have to be paying attention. If I let my guard down, that hand to face action don't stop easy. Just a few days ago I started religiously logging my stuff here on MFP. It has forced me to pay close attention to what's going in my mouth. And started doing my cheat nights every other weekend instead of every weekend. I've lost so much body fat in the past 2 weeks, it's krazy. My abs are poppin out all over the place and my friend asked me if I was roidin' (which I took as a compliment, cuz I'm not). And it's from being aware of how much I'm eating. I was struggling with periodic binges throughout the week, but since I started logging I'm much more inclined to pass on the snack attack since I don't want to sabotage my daily total. I can see, tangibly, how good I've been and I don't want to mess it up.

Anyway, I hope some of that helped. Accountability is another great tool to use when self-discipline is not enough. There's no shame in it. Being human implies that you struggle with that in one way or another. So if you want, I can be another person you share your totals with. Maybe knowing that me and 1ZenGirl will know will help stimulate your willpower. Put your game face on, girl. You got a battle to fight. Summon your strength and courage, and come back here for support/help/insight. Also, I'm typically not a big proponent of these types of solutions, but you might look into naturally-occurring appetite suppressants. Those couple be a helpful weapon when you're getting attacked by the enemy. Lemme know how it goes. Good luck! You can beat it!

BingefreeNoella

I've been trying to figure out what causes my binges. The only thing that I feel like could be the cause is my relationship with my parents. They've always been obsessed with my weight. Everything was made into a comment about my weight. I guess whenever I see them, I just feel the need to binge. And I live with them but I usually hide in my bedroom. I don't know, it's just a thought.

Oh I thought i'd point out that my binges are never with bad food. They're healthy food such as kashi cereal, fruits, almond milk, etc. They're all relatively low in calories so when I binge, I eat large amounts. I can eat up to 5,000 calories of kashi cereal alone and that's like two whole big family sized boxes. I don't know why I can't stop. After the first bowl, it tastes bad to me. But it's just that process of filling myself up still it comes back up. It makes no sense. I don't enjoy the food. I just consume and consume.

namelesshere

It sounds like you hit a reason with the relationship with the parents. If you are an adult, have you considered moving? If not, have you considered talking to them and letting them know you need to have them accept you for who you are and not worry about your weight? Binges are hard to control, as you said, it is not about the food. Have you tried an incompatible hobby that you could "binge" on instead? Just a couple of thoughts. I know I could easily down a lot of food in a binge and try to control it by A. not having my trigger foods in the house, B. doing my needle work.

MyFoodGod

I've been trying to figure out what causes my binges. The only thing that I feel like could be the cause is my relationship with my parents. They've always been obsessed with my weight. Everything was made into a comment about my weight. I guess whenever I see them, I just feel the need to binge. And I live with them but I usually hide in my bedroom. I don't know, it's just a thought.

Oh I thought i'd point out that my binges are never with bad food. They're healthy food such as kashi cereal, fruits, almond milk, etc. They're all relatively low in calories so when I binge, I eat large amounts. I can eat up to 5,000 calories of kashi cereal alone and that's like two whole big family sized boxes. I don't know why I can't stop. After the first bowl, it tastes bad to me. But it's just that process of filling myself up still it comes back up. It makes no sense. I don't enjoy the food. I just consume and consume.

It doesn't matter what you are binging on / healthy food or not. It's still a binge. There's help out there if you want it. So many good Overeaters Anonymous podcasts available for free. Why don't you listen to at least one a day for a week and see if any one says anything you can relate to.

There are people who have been where you are who will share their experiences so you can deal with your problem.

Check it out for your health and mental well being.