binge eating

Lisamjs1

A year ago I was about 5lb away from goal. Since then I have put on a stone. I have major issues with binge eating. Ive just had lunch and just binged after by eating half a pack of biscuits chocolate jaffa cakes 2 slices of cake plus some fudge which I imagine is about 700 calories plus. Now I'll end up eating junk for the rest of the day as ive already blown it so fed up with this mindset. How do I break this cycle. I have 6 months till holiday so I have enough time to get to goal but cant seem to sort myself out. Any advice would be great. I dont work and have 2 kids so do have snacks in the house. Thanks for reading.

SKINNYsupermodel

I have the same problem! I was 5lbs away from my goal earlier this month, and due to my binge eating I am now 10lbs away from my goal. I have 2 months to get down to my goal weight, but I just can't seem to beat the binge! I don't know what to do anymore.

cebreisch

There's a saying: It's not what you're eating, it's what's eating you. If you don't identify what's stressing you out, then you'll probably continue to binge, and feel helpless, and binge again - self perpetuating cycle.

Last time I met with my therapist (about 2 weeks ago), he asked me what all was stressing me out...after I put it all out there and played through what the "worst that could happen" was, it really didn't seem like much of a much.

I remember once he asked me if things tended to really tick me off now more than they did before. Yes, they do. Immensely. It's because I'm not dealing with things by "eating" my way past it. Yes, I stumble. I also fall down - a lot. It's taken a long time for me to be able to push past it. I remember seeing a phrase on facebook (I think that was where I saw it...).....when that sort of thing happens, yell "PLOT TWIST" and move on.

Don't focus on what happened yesterday or even this morning. Focus on what's happening now so that tomorrow is better.

PS: By the way - last year at this time, I had lost 115 pounds. I've since gained a bit of that back since I'm now sitting at 90 pounds lost. So, I'm not immune to it either. PLOT TWIST!!!

dclark566

Switch the snacks in the house to healthy options! Kids don't need to eat that!

SheaBdoll

BINGE EATING. Ugh. I feel your pain. I'm fine during the day. I stay on track and make good choices. About an hour after dinner I wander back into my kitchen and go nuts. I promise myself that I will just have a little snack. We keep NO junk food in the house. Since there are not ready made sugary snacks I eat what I can find. 2 bananas here, handful of raisins there, peanut butter from the jar - I've even gone so far to eat straight brown sugar!! This is NIGHTLY. Some nights are worse than others.

I do have a mantra that sometimes helps me: Do I need it? NO I don't. Will I eat it? NO I won't.

Maybe write it down by your trigger spots. And just eliminate all the stuff that is tempting. I never buy Nutella because I will eat the whole thing. Same goes for Oreos!

csmccord

I've been there before. 1.5 years ago, I was a compulsive eater. I would binge eat in secret, hiding it from my wife. I'd wait until she went to bed, then I'd go nuts. Or I'd take a day off of work without telling her, then go to the grocery store, but lots of junk, and make sure I eat it all before she got home. Why I did this, I don't know. She would never had said anything of me eating all of it, I just chose to hide it.

Regardless, I hit rock bottom once I got put on hypertension medication and a CPAP in the same week. I started a doctor supervised weight management program. One think that I found, is that I always went back to the processed carbs. Stuff with white flour, white sugar, etc.

They recommended that I cut all of that out. I cut it completely out of my diet for 6 months. After the first few weeks, I found that my craving were reduced or non-existent, and I made better choices. I switched to a high protein, high fat diet. I eat on average about 150 gm of protein and about 70 gm of fat a day, with only 150 gm carbs, which the majority of that is from non-grain sources. During the process, they showed me research showing how processed carbs are digested quickly, thus spiking blood sugar. That causes insulin to be released quickly, which then dumps the excess sugar to fat. Due to the rapid pace, this then means an over production of insulin, which drops blood sugar. The drop in blood sugar then causes the brain to signal the hunger feeling.

I've found that eating lots of protein/healthy fats along with higher fiber meals helps to curb the cravings by keeping me fuller longer. I've been able to integrated some processed carbs back in over time but still able to keep my cravings in check.

So, this is my experience. I found myself addicted to this stuff and essentially rehab was my way out. Was it extreme, yes. Did it work for me? Yes, so far. This is my experience though and you may not need or want to do the same thing. Your mileage will vary. I will however re-iterate what other posters have said. Many times this is a cause of some kind of stress induced by other sources. Many of us turn to food for comfort because it makes us feel good, and it's easily available. Over time that can be very dangerous and leave us in very poor health.

CallMePat

I still have a problem with this. It was mostly due to drinking and partaking of some Mary Jane on the weekends. These days I've come to accept that it's more to due with justification to yourself than anything else. Saying things like: I already broke my diet might as well eat what I want, I'll be bad today and be really good tomorrow and I'll just work out today extra hard.

Honestly, I wouldn't even consider 700cals binge eating. I would drink some mix drinks, get feeling warm and eat like half a pizza (but i'm a big 6'3" with around 1800cal a day on MFP). I would get so mad and not even track my food for a couple days.

Anyways, allow yourself some treats. Almost everybody loves sweets, last week was my birthday and I got a cake, 5 Cupcakes and a pastry ring from panera bread. Talk about trying my will power.