How do I stop being a binge eating whale?

Working night shifts are hard on the diet. I used to binge at work and then when I got home. You need to find an activity that you enjoy that keep your hands busy...like crocheting, painting, etc. Try to just take a walk around the block and take is slowly and enjoy the fall colors and brisk fresh air. Start slowly and take one day at a time. Keep healthy food choices in your house to eat. Get rid of all the unhealthy foods. That will really help. Remember to to make changes slowly. Drink plenty of water, too. Avoid processed foods and the white foods ( sugar, white flour, rice, bread) Try to replace them with higher fiber foods and that will help fill you up with less calories. You really can do this. Feel free to add me.

Start with being kind to yourself. Calling yourself a whale isn't helpful. (This is one of the biggest things I've been working on, changing my attitude about me). Also, from all the loses you mentioned and the destructive eating behaviour, perhaps therapy to get to the root of the problem would be useful.

Good luck. You CAN do this.

I suggest you plan all your meals carefully. i binge almost every week ( i don't throw up) but i been trying to keep clean this week.
I know is hard, but believe me is worth it. plan all your meals accordingly and remember your working for something bigger and better. if you need any moral support don't hesitate to add me.

seek help to find the root of your comfort/binge eating, see a dietitian, get a clear plan and make a change. because in the end its your choice. stop eating more than you burn.

seek help to find the root of your comfort/binge eating, see a dietitian, get a clear plan and make a change. because in the end its your choice. stop eating more than you burn.

brilliant suggestion just make sure the dietitian specialises in eating disorders and is well aware of your history or it could do more harm than good

I don't think this has anything to do with your eating and all to do with how unhappy you sound. Regardless of what you do around food and exercise you have to find something about you that you like and concentrate on that for a while. When we are in a cycle of self loathing we do anything to make that manifest itself. So you will eat more and you will exercise less and you will have a rubbish job - because all of those things help you justify to yourself that you are not worth more. Find something that makes you feel even a tiny bit better about yourself and think about that for a while. Do not fixate about it - otherwise it might be another excuse for failure. Life is relatively so short - don't spend any more of it not liking yourself. Fat is only some extra cells surrounding what I am sure is a pretty fab core! If you don't want those cells any more get rid of them - Much easier said than done - I am a work in progress after 30 years of struggling. But please don't say you "suck" or that you are a "whale" - they are labels that are not helping you get better. You have been and continue to be ill - eating disorders are an illness, which we cope with on our own. If we had some other life threatening disease we would be in treatment. Please, please seek the help you need, rather than berating yourself over your setbacks. Do something you like and you might find you like yourself a bit more.

there's a couple of good books available, one is called 'overcoming binge eating' and the other is called getting better bit(e) by bit(e). These help you work through some of the mental triggers/reasons behind binge eating and gives you some tools for tackling it.

Sadly dealing with binge eating isn't as easy as 'stop eating and do more exercise' in reality and it will take time to eliminate those behaviours. All you can do is take it one day at a time and take your victories where you can find them.

Also, if you have a PT, then surely you are already undertaking some form of exercise with him each week? Congratulate yourself on taking that step, rather than being down because you didn't go to the gym. Having a training session once a week is way better than doing nothing all week every week.

Celebrate your positives and try to minimise your negatives, it requires a shift in thinking and it won't happen over night. Take each day as it comes. You came on here and you posted. that makes you awesome!

I've had problems with overeating since I hit puberty. I have binged until I puked, not because I tried to puke, but because my body physically couldn't keep down everything I crammed into it. The best things I ever did to address the issue were to go to a workshop here called "Craving Change", and especially to start seeing an ED counsellor. If you have never been to one, I think you are a prime candidate, having run the gamut of disordered eating habits. Yours sounds like something of an addictive personality, and I really think that seeing such a professional is the way you should go. A personal trainer can help you with the exercise side of things, but really can't do much to address your subconscious eating behaviours. That training is going to go to waste, if you don't properly tackle your relationship with food, as well.

Unfortunately, the Craving Change program was developed up here in Canada, and I don't think it goes beyond our borders, here. I'll give you the link, to at least give you an idea of what it's about: http://www.cravingchange.ca/ . Given that you're a nurse, though, maybe you have heard of a similar program (it was a group workshop that met once a week, for a few weeks, that dealt with behavioural patterns, recognizing genuine hunger, non-food rewards and non-food coping skills, etc). I would ask a dietician in your area for more resources, and for a referral to a good ED counsellor.

Start with being kind to yourself. Calling yourself a whale isn't helpful. (This is one of the biggest things I've been working on, changing my attitude about me). Also, from all the loses you mentioned and the destructive eating behaviour, perhaps therapy to get to the root of the problem would be useful.

Good luck. You CAN do this.

^This.

Binge-eating is a behaviour, it doesn't define who you are as a person. It's obviously a coping strategy that you've learned from a very young age, and to some extent it has worked for you; it's helped you get by. It sounds like you had a really rough time recently and you used food to cope. None of what happened to you are excuses, but it's just a simple fact that they way you cope with things is with food. Other people would have starved themselves, or used alcohol or drugs, or gambled or overspent money they didn't had. Some people would have taken it out on those around them. And, obviously, other people are lucky enough to have never had to develop unhealthy coping strategies in the first place (or over time have learned healthier ones). You can't change the past, and it just so happens that your past includes developing the habit of binge eating.

To me, the most important thing is to stop with the guilt, stop calling yourself names. In my own experience, I could never lose weight while I was hating myself, and while I was really low and depressed. It's only when I started being kind to myself, accepting that I'm not perfect (and don't have to be) and improving my self esteem and confidence that I suddenly realised that not only did I really want to lose weight and be healthy, it was actually possible. Mentally beating yourself up for "failures" is just going to keep you in a never-ending cycle. Really, really try to remove guilt and shame from how you think about food and eating.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter what bad things have happened to you (although I'm very sorry they have!) It's not about what happens to us, but how we deal with that stuff. Working nights is not the reason you're overweight (as was helpfully pointed out by someone else) Losing people you love is not the reason you're overweight, but they're big stressors, and for you, food has helped you cope. You can do this, you can start working out again, you can get your eating under control, but you're really going to have to deal with the emotional reasons you binge, and find other coping strategies.

Stop feeling guilty. Stop being so hard on yourself. Binge eating does not make you a bad person, it's just a challenge that you have to deal with in your life. There are lots of good books out there on binge eating and emotional eating; they would be a good place to start. I also agree that you should look at getting professional help. There's absolutely no shame in it, and it might just give you the support and insight that you need to do this.

Just had to read the heading to think "well quit with the negative self talk for one", it's hard to do good things for yourself when you don't even like/respect yourself, so first of all, perhaps working on those feelings, and finding out what you like about you.

Now I see that others have said the same, so I'll leave it at that, there are good things about you and the sooner you find those out for yourself and come to respect and love yourself, the sooner you'll be happier and ready to embark on a new eating plan. Everything else can come about then.

Hi :flowerforyou: (I hope you like flowers - a special flower for a special you)

There are some gr8 pieces of advice given already AND you've only just posted your comments - it just goes to show how much others care. We all think you are a pretty amazing person and you're definitely worth us all taking the time to stop a while and talk.. And if you look carefully you will see where there are a great number of us who have been there or similar, and if you look again you can see where it is possible to work through this and come out the other side. No, it isn't easy, but IT IS POSSIBLE.

I think the most important thing you can do is to do this for you. It's taken me 20 odd years to finally work this out! I've been encouraged over the years to lose weight for my health - oh yes I lost the weight but I piled it all back on PLUS!! So high blood pressure, high blood sugar levels and arthritis in my knee haven't been enough to spur me on to a slimmer me. Then for some strange reason in April of this year I decided to lose weight and to go all the way down, no messing about and the reason this time - yup, this one is for me!!!!! And I'm nearly half way there. AND I'm not even finding it that hard this time. I go for walks when I can, at the very most 3x per week. I can't afford to go to a gym and I can't get on the floor to do exercises as I wouldn't be able to get up!!!! LOL BUT I am still losing weight. And to make things easier at home I eat what the family eats but in smaller portions. I have the world's worst sweet tooth, so I have one or two pieces of cake or lollies or something sweet per day. I sometimes cut the cake in two to keep the calories down.

One thing you may notice is that if something sweet and nice comes into the house or you go out and there is heaps of nice food, you may eat and eat and eat. I used to do this - I call it pigging out (yes, not a very helpful phrase really). I've realised this time around that I don't have to eat all of it right then and there. I can have one today, one tomorrow and so on and so forth. We put baking in the freezer and out it comes one piece for me and hubby and about 4 for our adult son LOL. But it works. Why I used to have to eat it all then and there I don't know, but if you can get your head around the fact that the nice stuff isn't going to disappear and it will be there tomorrow, you'll be okay..

I think you will be fine. You made the second move - you yelled for help, the first one was joining up in the first place. I would be inclined to take over your own food diary and that way the one person you will be lying to will be yourself not your wonderful trainer. And what's the point in lying when it's you that will be suffering.

By the way, you have a gorgeous face - look into those beautiful eyes of yours a bit more often and see the real you. You are amazing.

I wish I had some really useful advice for you, but I'm afraid I don't (if I did, I would be following it myself too!!). But I can certainly relate to a lot of what you're saying, and I do sympathise (very much).

We have a few things in common, although you have had a worse time than me (infact, it sounds like you've had a lot of tough things to cope with). Like you, I always felt big at school, and started dieting young, with some success, but I've been struggling more in recent years.

I also work nights, and find that really hard at times - I am only part-time (work 3 nights out of every 14) so I never get into much of a routine with sleeping/eating - it's all over the place!

I am also a comfort eater - my daughter became really ill at the age of 10, with a horrible virus, which then lead to M.E/CFS - and she is just beginning to get her life back at almost 15 yrs old. To begin with she was housebound, and I was so upset, I just ate & ate.

I do find now that I can be reasonably "good" most days. But if something throws me, I am still capable of over-eating, big style!

I think it helps to stay busy, and to find some kind of diversion when the desire to overeat begins to surface. I agree with what someone else said too about eating fairly frequently - don't leave it too long between meals/snacks, or let yourself get too hungry.

But there is no magic cure - worse luck! :frown: Have you been on MFP very long? I do sometimes find that on days when I feel I can't be bothered, if I log in and look at everyone's posts, it encourages me to try harder.

Feel free to add me as friend if you like

You seem like a sweet person, maybe try being a little kinder to yourself to start with.

I agree with the above, and you have a very pretty face - give yourself a break and try to become your own ally.

gina,

You are an amazing individual who needs to give her self some credit. and to cut yourself some slack. Insulting your self will not help you get to where you want to be. I am here for you, First thing first. Please stop insulting yourself, it wont help. and keep trying we willget you through this