Hiding Eating?

Therapy (which I started for other issues, but it's all connected for me!) has helped me learn why I did this. I'm working on those underlying issues now and my eating is much more "normal and healthy." I still struggle with the same stuff you mentioned, but I'm making progress and am confident that the progress will continue. Good luck.

I've seen on a lot of these message boards people saying bump....what does that mean?

I agree with lil_pulp... You might need to see a therapist. Learn how to overcome that feeling. Learn ways to maybe cope and learn how to just feel comfortable in the moment without the need to binge.

Hey there. I have been a compulsive eater most of my life so I understand those feelings. When I was in my teens and early 20's I could eat myself nearly sick. I would cook a meal sized for a family and eat the whole thing. I would sneak and hide food, hide eating. I was so excited to have a job and a car (as sad as it is) so I could eat everything I wanted and no one would know.

I still have the compulsive tendencies, and some things I still can't control myself around (like movie theatre popcorn), but it has gotten better over time with me. Part of that is therapy. I have worked on other issues aside from food but those issues helped me deal better with my food issues. Plus I actively try to talk myself through the eating.

I know that is not all amazing advice, but it is what I have! I hope it helps at least to know other people are going through the same things.

It's not an uncommon thing. I have issues with secret eating. It always increases when I have emotional things going on. I have a friend that has had a lot of success with Overeaters Anonymous in dealing with it. I'm still in denial so I haven't gone that route but She has been doing it for years and I've never seen her happier.

I've done the same thing off and on for a long time. It is so frustrating...and humiliating!! Like, I'm so ashamed of it. I totally have addict behavior (fortunately/unfortunately my only addiction is food.)

I struggle with it, too. I made an appointment with a counselor, but had to cancel because insurance won't pay for it and I can't afford it. I just don't understand. Mostly I do so well, but if I come across something good (like homemade cookies), I inhale them before I even have a chance to think about it. It's not the calories I'm worried about, it's the behavior. I've been at this almost a year, and while the weightloss part has been a success, the thought processes (or LACK of them!) are the same. It's so discouraging. I don't know what to do.

I've done the exact same thing. The worst part about it is the guilt I feel as soon as I've finished that bag of Cheetos which usually leads to more binge eating!

In order to break myself of the pattern I've started doing the following:

Whenever I feel the urge to binge or feel a craving for something I know I probably shouldn't be eating, I set the timer on my phone for 20 min. Usually within that 20 minutes one of three things happens: 1) Something else distracts me and I forget about the desire to binge in the first place. 2) I can talk myself out of the binge and into a healthier option 3) If I get to the end of the 20 minutes and STILL have the urge to eat whatever it is that I probably shouldn't, I will let myself have a small serving of it. The 20 minutes at least allows me to cool my head enough to realize that if I'm going to eat junk I shouldn't ruin all the other good I did and eat an entire bag of Cheetos or stop by the local McDonalds on my way home.

Another thing that has helped me is refusing to eat in my car! By eating my meals at a table at planned times (in front of others 90% of the time) it makes me think about what I'm putting in my mouth. I also keep a lot of healthy snacks that I happen to really like on hand (veggies, nuts, etc.) so if I get a case of the munchies, I don't feel the desire to run down to the break room vending machine.

Agree with asaw00.

I've read that 10 minutes is the time it takes for your mind to switch gears to something else. So set the timer for 10 minutes and do something else, walk, read, do laundry, whatever, just to occupy your mind from eating. And put a piece of gum in. Or brush your teeth. Or drink an entire glass of water. It sounds like it's a habit that you have formed when you are bored, so now you have to change that habit. Good luck!

This thread is so helpful to read.

Been there. Done that. There is a book called The End of Overeating by David Kessler that actually explains what is going on to cause that. The book is excellent, though fairly clinical as it discusses various tests in laboratories that have been done to help with the understanding of Binge Eating Disorder (which, I read the other day, has now been identified as a true eating disorder). Reading the book really helped me put a stop to many bad eating habits. Won't say the cravings have completely gone away, but will say that I have it under control. Good Luck to you.

When you say you ate a whole bag of Cheetos, do you mean the size of bag that has two or three servings in it? If that's the case, eating that and a few handfuls of popcorn doesn't sound like compulsive overeating, it sounds like you were just hungry. Cutting calories makes you hungry, and being hungry makes it hard to resist eating.