compulive eating disorder

I can relate - I can be "good" and super strict, stick to my 1500-1700 calories a day, hit the gym daily etc for 2-3 weeks.. then have a day like today where I eat one biscuit.. and then it turns into some sort of frenzied eating whereby I sit and eat about 20+ biscuits and a slice of cake and want to just get as much junk food into my mouth as possible ha! I only caved today as I took biscuits into work (with the intent to share, oops!).. the way I try to avoid bingeing is by not buying ANY junk food and having lots of healthier alternatives in the house!

Have to agree with what both of you guys hve said - plan my day around food, diets not successful, eat when not hungry, think constantly about food etc, eesh! Trying to "retrain" my brain and not need to eat constantly!! xx

I am currently conquering my BED (binge eating disorder) and COE (compulsive overeating). I have been a compulsive over-eater for about ten years, but I only started gaining weight after my pregnancy with my twins. The lbs piles on and on. I literally would binge at LEAST once a day. I started starving myself during the day to try to avoid gaining on my nightly binges. I went from 111-220 during my pregnancy, dropped to 175 after having them, and gained back up to 220. Over the last month, I really started charting everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) that I ate. The mass and volume was embarrassing. It was an obscene amount of food, sometimes reaching up to 6000 calories or more a day...

My normal binge pattern usually began around two pm. So, I started my trying to be out of my house around two pm. I would take my kids out to play, go for a walk, drive, anything to be out of my house and away from food.

It helped!

Breaking your normal routine can really be helpful. I also stocked upon lower calorie foods such as celery, carrots, plain popcorn that I could air pop, and things like that. Whenever I wanted to binge, I would eat ONLY these things, and eat however much I wanted.

Honestly I think the biggest assistance for me was chewing. I am a FAST eater. I scarf everything. I started chewing every bite 40 times. Sounds silly, but it worked, A LOT. Slowing down really helped me to be able to feel fuller with less food, and my jaws and teeth would just get tired, so the binges ended earlier and earlier. I still fall sometimes. I still make mistakes, but they are fewer and farther in between. Plus my stomach has shrunk, so the volume of food I could have eaten, I just can't consume now. Good luck, if you really have BED or COE they can be embarrassing, hard to deal with and scary... But they are treatable and beatable.

Wow, felisha, get out of my head! That sounds much like me. I lost 36 lbs in my first year on MFP but the last several months of irl chaos have really set off a slide into the abyss.

Getting back to food logging is helping a lot, so is finding things to do. Like you, around 2p.m. something goes off in my head & I binge. I've been putting of my housework till later in the day now so I'm busy with that around the time I feel the urge to eat myself sick.

I plan my day around food in a way too but its about shopping, washing/cutting veggies, prep so I can finish soon after T gets home, etc. I only obsess about food when I'm in that zone where I am eating nonstop and thinking about what I can eat next. I eat when I'm not hungry.

I do eat too fast for sure. I know its from a cpl of decades of nursing and having to find a second or two at a time to try eat on a 10 hour shift. I'm currently workibg on s l o w i n g down. Old habits and all that.

Two things:

1. The vast majority of people use food as a coping tool sometimes
2. If you spend enough time reading about medical conditions on the internet, you will convince yourself that you have some sort of rare disease or psychological disorder.

If you think you may have a problem, then seek out a professional opinion. Don't rely on Dr. Internet.

This. If you don't have this disorder, then you are flooding your body with tons of unnecessary stress that will probably cause their own mental problems as a result. If you DO have this disorder, then sitting on the internet will only stave off treatment, which WILL make it worse.

glad this isnt just me, I lost over a stone before christmas last year...and have almost gained it all back.

I guess you need to remember you are responsible for what goes in your own body...easier said than done though....

A huge victory!!! I was hungry and bored and decided to eat something. I had ONE protein bar, some yogurt and veggies as a snack. I STOPPED right there - no binging!!! A major victory!!! I logged the food and removed something from dinner (I don't think I will be as hungry)!!! Over 100 cal for day but........ a victory!!

If I have anything in the house.....like cookies, Turtles chocolate or brownies I will just eat, put it back, get it out and eat again - repeat until it's gone. Sugar is sooo addictive and it's really hard to get off it, but when you do you feel free! I now buy treats for my kids that I do not like so I won't eat it. I don't order in much, but maybe you could add up what you spend on average each month on take out and try to save half that amount this month and order half the number of times this month. That way you can wean yourself and save up for some special.