Hi... I need help!

tweet41

Hi, I'm a diabetic that lost 80 pounds 4 years ago when I found out. Since then I lost all the symptoms of my diabeties and at my last doctor visit my doctor told me that I only had to come in once a year now. Well.... she never should of told me that. I've gained back 40 pounds. I'm scared my diabeties is on the fast track back. So far my blood sugar readings are ok... but I see the numbers getting higher and higher. I've decided that I need to take back control of my eating habits. I am an emotional binge eater and I have problems especially when I'm alone. I hope I can get back in control and I could use some encouragement.

soze

Welp, Not sure I'm going to be much help. What someone told me was that you binge eat because you skipped meals. They explained it to me but to be honest I forgot the reasoning. I think it has something to do with blood sugar. Doesn't that sound ironic.

Don't skip meals, plan healthy snacks, grapes, apples, oranges, bananas etc. Don't be afraid to eat between meals but keep in light. Food is truly your friend when done properly. This keeps your blood sugar constant and your hunger down. Its a beautiful thing.

Good luck to you!

tweet41

I know there are certain times of the month that I will eat until I'm very uncomfortable and then eat some more.

akela4860

HI,,, you are already on the right track,, you know you need to do something. I also had a problem with binge eating so now I try to keep healthy snacks readily available. Cucumber, carrots sticks, celery, frozen yogurt, or plain almonds, something of each texture depending on what i crave. My problem is if I see someone eating something, even on TV then I want it too!

And you are correct in thinking you need to change your eating habits. It is a way of life,, eat right and exercise ,, doesn't get much simpler than that, yet at times it seems impossible.

I find it helps to talk to my friends, most of which are in the same boat so now we have something in common. But one day a week i have a "cheat" night. So if I eat right for 6 days, one day having something special is ok.

As for being alone,, do you have any hobbies? I am knitting a blanket for my soon to be grandchild,, if I am knitting,, i am not eating. I also search for success stories online. That ususally gives me that extra motivation I sometimes lack.

Good luch Tweet41 and if you ever want to chat feel free to message me!

take care
Akela

mmatteson

Good luck with your journey and add me as a friend if you like. I am an emotional eater myself and find it is a struggle to not over indulge, especially when I'm alone or bored. The trick for me was to figure out what emotion I was experiencing that was causing me to want to ever eat. Once I identified the emotion, I could reflect on it and find a better way of dealing with it that stuffing food in my mouth. I also put a sticky note in the snack cabinet labeled "perserverance". When I open that cabinet and see the note, I walk away. The last thing I noticed is that the more I excercise, the less I want to eat. Start your program slowly and work your way up. I started with 30 min each day on the treadmill and slowly increased my speed and incline of the treadmill, but still remaining at the 30 min.

Good luck and you didn't before, you can do it again.!!!!

ccannon70

First, let me introduce myself. I'm about to turn 40, and I'm determined to lose the last few pounds of baby weight. The baby is almost a year old, so I have to stop blaming him very soon. My weight yo-yoed all through high school and college. My highest weight was about 40 pounds heavier than I am now. Right before I graduated from college, I decided that I was going to take control. Before that, I had set some very unrealistic weight goals for myself. Finally, I figured out that having healthy habits was far more important than achieving a certain number on a scale. As a result, I got more disciplined about exercising and started thinking before I put food in my mouth.

As for blood sugar, mine tends to drop if I don't eat often enough. My best friend's mom is a retired nurse who is also diabetic, and she has taught me a LOT about how to keep my blood sugar stable to keep it from becoming a real problem in the future. It's true that blood sugar fluctuations and binge eating (for any reason), can be tied together. In most cases, though, it's the binge eating that causes blood sugar to fluctuate. Your poor pancreas doesn't know what to do.

Skipping meals can also lead to binging because you are so hungry that you wolf your food down, and your stomach gets filled up before the signal reaches your brain, so you just keep eating. Most dieticians recommend that you break a "normal" daily diet down into four to six smaller meals. If you do that, you'll probably find that you are less hungry throughout the day because your stomach is never completely empty. This strategy also helps keep your metabolism up. When you skip meals, your metabolism slows down. When you're trying to lose weight, that's the last thing you want. The good news here is that a well chosen snack might actually HELP you lose weight.

I've got some insight on emotional eating. I used to eat whenever I got depressed or bored. Now I've learned some better ways to cope with the emotional stuff, but boredom is still my enemy. My first suggestion would be to figure out the emotional stuff that leads to the binging. if you don't deal with that, it's always going to be a stumbling block. For me, that meant spending some time with a family therapist to get my dirty laundry out in a safe environment. He also helped me find some good long term coping mechanisms, and that was absolutely invaluable. I'm not someone would be willing to go to a therapist long term, but it worked for me short term.

Even though I've pretty much gotten the emotional eating under control, boredom remains a constant enemy. Recognizing that has been critical. I try to keep a book or pen and paper handy. That way, no matter where I am I can either read or work on my grocery list, etc. I no longer have much of a problem with boredom when I'm home because I have two small kids and entirely too much to do, but at work, every slow patch has the vending machine calling my name.

Exercise has been key because it really does help me burn off both energy and stress, which keeps me from eating because I'm either bored or depressed. I also sleep better when I exercise regularly, and that helps me deal with stress.

Finally, I rarely buy junk food. I'm not a health food fanatic by any means, but I try to limit the temptation of the pantry.

I hope this helps. God bless you!

tweet41

Thank you to everyone for the great advice!