Advice for Binge Eating

CarmenSRT

Sylean12, I do wish I had some sage advice for you. Those who aren't binge eaters really do not "get" what the disorder consists of. I suspect you get some variation of this:

1) The build up. You can feel the tension building. You play the distraction game. You make deals with yourself to put it off, trying to do so long enough to hopefully have the urge die off.
2) The release. You tell yourself that you'll have "X, amount Y" and then get back on track.
3) The binge. You eat X, in amount Y. Then you eat more of X. Then you finish X. Then it's on. You grab the jar of peanut butter and a spoon, or cereal by the handsful out of the box. You traverse the kitchen, opening cupboards and the fridge repeatedly, eating this and that, frantically looking for the elusive food that will make the feeling disappear. Depending on your personality this can go on for hours, in spurts, or happen in one long desperate eatathon.
4) The aftermath. The tension is gone now. You're probably not sure exactly when it died off, but it is now gone. Now there's regret and shame. You start to enumerate what passed your lips, and may give up because the amounts and calorie numbers are too vast. At this point all you can do is get back on the horse.

The only time I've had complete freedom from this was when I was taking a drug called Topamax as an adjunct for a bout of clinical depression. It made me dumb as a stump and made carbonated beverages taste like radishes, but the binge urge was silent for the entire two years I took the stuff. I'd suggest finding a doc to work with. You've worked way too hard to let BED take away your progress.

Sid1988

I can relate, I have suffered from bulima for the past ten years. sometimes i can go weeks without purging, some weeks i will purge every day.

Yesterday i had been out for lunch and was full up but still continued to demolish a whole packet of cookies, 2 yum yums and a mcdonalds... why i did this, i don't know, i feel like i have no control over my urges to eat and eat and eat. my will power can sometimes be amazing but sometimes it doesn't exist.

i have suffered from anxiety and mild depression and i think that might have some sort of play in this, nothing to do with lack of food previously, it's all in the mind and the mind is a very powerful thing.

skjsbp

Your diary is private, so I cannot confirm, but I would bet that you are not eating enough on a normal basis.

The usual reason for binging is that you are consuming too few calories per day and/or you are following and absurd low fat/carb diet, causing your body to want to overcompensate.

I agree with this. Every Winter I can't seem to eat right. I alternate between not eating enough (for several days) and then eating everything in sight, especially bread and pastries, for several more days - usually for more days than I ate too little. I'll eat until I have a stomach ache because I guess my willpower just flies out the window. So maybe you are trying to restrict yourself too much in one way or another, and end up binge eating to (over)compensate for that?

Robin_Anne

I empathize with your frustration with not knowing why. I've suffered with it since I was 16. yeah, nothing is worse than doing well eating within your limits, exercising, etc. And then have a couple of days where the binge eating takes me back to zero. It's like two struggling, opposing forces.

I'm working on engaging in distress tolerance techniques taught by a nutritionist who specialized in eating disorders.