support for Binge Eating Disorder

I'm so happy to have found a group of people here talking about this issue and supporting one another!!

I was diagnosed with non-purging bulimia (bingeing and then restrictive dieting/excessive exercise/laxative use to "make up for it") about six years ago. Although I have improved some, I still have a long way to go. Due to the NPB, I've been on a weight rollercoaster for almost ten years, and I am now determined to STOP the madness and take control. I have been on MFP for about 6 weeks now and today had my first true binge since joining. I was feeling really worthless and empty emotionally and I guess I was trying to stuff that emptiness full of ice cream. But it only made me feel all the more empty in the end.

I need some support and I hope I can help support all of you in your journeys to overcome this beast too.

I feel like it would be good for me to set some little "baby-step" goals for myself to shoot towards, so here's my first:

GOAL: NO MORE "punishing" by restricting! If I have a bad day and binge, I will come to this board or sit down with a notebook, get all of those ugly feelings out, FORGIVE myself and MOVE ON! Trying to make up for my binge by starving myself the next day or two is only pushing the rollercoaster uphill for the next crash.

I'd like to hear what everyone else's current goals are as well so maybe we can help one another acheive them!

Finally, I love, love, LOVE this! "It's what I do" is such a confident way to assure myself that I AM, indeed changing my behaviors for good, and that I WILL conquer this beast! Thanks so much for this!

Develop the mantra; "It's What I Do"
When you don't feel like exercising remind yourself: "It's What I Do"... then do it!
When you don't want to pass up dessert, remind yourself: "It's What I Do"... then pass it up!
When you feel too tired to write in your food and exercise journals, remind yourself: "It's What I Do"... then do it!

On that note, I agree. I am doing that same thing myself. After departing from the trainer/coach I have been having a difficult time holding myself accountable for every little thing. So I needed to take it WAY BACK! For the past 3-4 weeks I have been so frustrated with myself and over this past weekend I made the decision to just cut my focus back and make my goals more attainable for myself right now. For example, I'm having a hard time keeping to the same "formula" the nutrition coach advised. Like my sugars have been out of control and then I don't even want to log and then not logging allows me to lose sight of the big picture which is calories. So now my focus is just calories (for now) to bring me back in the game and to keep me from saying "screw it all" and I know that's not what I want anyhow. Same with exercise, I'm getting mad at myself for not continuing with the strength training on my own and I need to at least do something everyday even if it is just a quick walk. I need to get myself out of the all or nothing mentality with these things right now.

You will get their Diane. This is called trainer withdrawal. I had it when I had a trainer for 6 months. I hope you come out of your funk sooner than I did. Start with baby steps and do the best you can.

Molly, this was really helpful this morning to know that what I'm experiencing is something someone else experienced too, so thank you very much for sharing that.

Hey!

No binging today! What I'm doing is not counting fruits and vegs on my cals count untill I can get a better grip on my food. I find if I put to much ristrictions on my food I will binge so I eat as much of fruits and vegs for know then I will work on the other things. Like you guys were saying on step at a time. Tks again for all the surport.

Melissa

Great idea!

Hey!

So day 2 of no binging started pretty good. But I had a mini binge this afternoon but not beating myself up. And I was able to stop myself before it got out of hand. So I'm happy with myself for stopping when I did because I was rdy for way more food. One little problem not a big deal forgive and move on. Yay for me!

Melissa

The rest of the day will be great!

I'm so happy to have found a group of people here talking about this issue and supporting one another!!

I was diagnosed with non-purging bulimia (bingeing and then restrictive dieting/excessive exercise/laxative use to "make up for it") about six years ago. Although I have improved some, I still have a long way to go. Due to the NPB, I've been on a weight rollercoaster for almost ten years, and I am now determined to STOP the madness and take control. I have been on MFP for about 6 weeks now and today had my first true binge since joining. I was feeling really worthless and empty emotionally and I guess I was trying to stuff that emptiness full of ice cream. But it only made me feel all the more empty in the end.

I need some support and I hope I can help support all of you in your journeys to overcome this beast too.

I feel like it would be good for me to set some little "baby-step" goals for myself to shoot towards, so here's my first:

GOAL: NO MORE "punishing" by restricting! If I have a bad day and binge, I will come to this board or sit down with a notebook, get all of those ugly feelings out, FORGIVE myself and MOVE ON! Trying to make up for my binge by starving myself the next day or two is only pushing the rollercoaster uphill for the next crash.

I'd like to hear what everyone else's current goals are as well so maybe we can help one another acheive them!

Finally, I love, love, LOVE this! "It's what I do" is such a confident way to assure myself that I AM, indeed changing my behaviors for good, and that I WILL conquer this beast! Thanks so much for this!

Develop the mantra; "It's What I Do"
When you don't feel like exercising remind yourself: "It's What I Do"... then do it!
When you don't want to pass up dessert, remind yourself: "It's What I Do"... then pass it up!
When you feel too tired to write in your food and exercise journals, remind yourself: "It's What I Do"... then do it!

Welcome Malpal!! What a great idea!! and I love the It's What I do mantra too. So much better than Just do it.....:-) My current goal regarding eating is no fried foods or fast foods one in the same for me for the rest of the month. It was suppose to be the whole month but I failed the 1st 2 days but not giving up or in because of 2 mistakes. It is hump day and I passed on Popeyes' chicken special yesterday! So I am doing good so far, no fast (FAT) foods for me since Sunday. My nick name for fast foods is FAT foods. It helps me remember fast foods make us FAT. Ok maybe not 100 percent true for most but it is for me!

Thanks for sharing and posting! Again wonderful idea!

Happy to report I met my goal. 8 cups of water, 2 cups of G2 (Gatorade).

Nicely done yourself Melissa! :flowerforyou:

Congrats Mollie on no FAT. LOL. Yeah, I really like your word for it. Helps me think about it like that too.

Congratulations to everyone on your successes!

I had a great day yesterday, then a little slip up today. Nothing monumental, I was able to stop myself before the feeling of total disgust, but I ate mindlessly after work, about double of what the meal should have been. TOM is here and it always gets me!

Hey!

So I had a mini binge today. What I learned is when I want one thing I should just have a little instead of eating other foods to mask it. Lesson learned the rest of the day will be great. Also was albe to stop myself before it got out of control. Good luck to everyone else.

Melissa

Just checking in, had a better week this week. I read somewhere on here that before someone eats a food they fancy, they enter it into their food diary to see how many calories it takes them over, they find this helps so I gave this a go!! Had KFC tonight which definately took me over, then the head started saying mmmmm something sweet now. Managed to enter KFC into diary and its taken me over 700 cals thoughts of exercising them off in the morning has stopped me going to the cupboard for something sweet.

Oh Mel I totally get that too. Like I want item X, but that is really high in fat/cals/sugar/sodium, etc...

So I eat item Y because it is a "healthier" choice.......
Not Satisfied
So I eat item Z because it is a "healthier" choice.......
Still Not Satisfied

and
on
and
on
we
go.......

Until I've reached 1000+ calories trying to satisfy a craving that would have only been 300 or 400 to begin with. It's a hard thing to figure out because once a while I can get away with substituting. And then there's the times where I really should have just eaten item X to begin with.

Another stratgy to consider when you have cravings is having a small portion of what you really want or working a nice portion into your daily plan with the healthier choices. I had been craving item X for weeks and I know my Mom was making one of my favorites for me last weekend. So all week I made sure not to skip any workouts and then on Saturday I worked out 2 hours at the gym to make sure I could have a good portion and do so guilt free. It worked too! Just my 2 cents. Because I have felt bad when I eat all this other stuff and I am still not satisfied and still feel deprived. Deprivation is not good for us. And what I use to do is eat all the healtly stuff trying to replace what I really wanted and then having item X too! Double wammy.

You are right many times trying to substitute does work. But if you try one thing to substitute and see it did not do it for you, stop and plan for when you can fit in your it X. Hope that made sense. I am up too early because I could not sleep......:-)


I am still doing good on my no FAT foods!! 7 days for me now! I almost slipped yesterday but I bounced out of it and ordered something else. It was not the healthiest choice but it was not fried and not fast foods......:-)

Congrats Melissa on staying positive!

Congrats Gil on putting the brakes on!

One day at a time ladies and you all keep up the good work! Have a good week!! We can do this!

Not a great weekend food, water, or exercise wise, but not horrible either.

Woke up with a positive attitude today and it's going to be a good week! I want to see a loss on that scale!

Really great food day no binging, I'm trying to do 5 meals a day. I did have cake and pie for breakfast not a really good idea but I did workout. I'm just so glad I did not binge tomorrow will be the big test because I will be by myself as hubby goes back to work and kids are in school. But I'm planning on going to the gym so very happy for that it has been to long.

Yay, be pat on my back for that.

You will do it. Believe it. I know where you are coming from. If I get mad at my husband I head straight to the refrigerator. My binging has emotional triggers. I have learned to find my triggers and it has taken me a loooooooong time to get a grip. I still have days. And some days to be honest, I have days I tell myself I don't even care, but then I immediately go throught the guilt of having stuffed my face. Hang in there girl friend. I don't know what the therapist is doing for you, but pay attention how you feel when this happens, write it down even and see if there is a pattern. Hang in there.

I am the same way! I got mad at my hubby today and the first thing that came into my mind (after fantasizing about punching him in the nose was all of the food I wanted to stuff my face with. I had a long and really busy day, so I still had over 1,000 calories left to eat, so I decided to go get the things I was dreaming about, measure them out and enter them into my food diary until my calories were gone, and then indulge. So far this has avoided a major binge, but it was pure luck that I had that many calories left to indulge with. Once you recognize your triggers, what do you do to stop them from triggering?

Really great food day no binging, I'm trying to do 5 meals a day. I did have cake and pie for breakfast not a really good idea but I did workout. I'm just so glad I did not binge tomorrow will be the big test because I will be by myself as hubby goes back to work and kids are in school. But I'm planning on going to the gym so very happy for that it has been to long.

Yay, be pat on my back for that.

Good for you for getting back to the gym! I have found that working out is my best binge deterrent! If I can get myself to work out when I feel like bingeing, afterwards the urge to binge is usually gone. I can't bring myself to undo all the hard work I just did.