Binge-eating every night so far this October

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funkyspunky872
funkyspunky872 Posts: 866 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Does anyone have any words of advice? I can't seem to stop bingeing. Pretty much every night this month, I have binged terribly. I've always binged through my recovery for bulimia, but they've usually gotten smaller as the days went by. I went from bingeing on an entire pizza and an entire pan of brownies to bingeing on a handful of chips. Now I'm back to huge binges... which are harder to stop than you think.

I'm not restricting, although I think about it all the time. Every day I wake up determined to eat 1600 calories. I do fine with lunch and a couple of midday snacks, but everything turns to *kitten* when the sun sets. As soon as I start feeling empty, I turn to food to 'fill' me up. I often find myself standing in the kitchen with the fridge open for no reason. I have enough time to think if I /really/ want to do this or not, and I /still/ do it. Sometimes I purge and sometimes I take laxatives... Sometimes I just sit around and wallow in my fatness.

I have gained 15 pounds, but that's not surprising since I've been losing and gaining the same 20 over and over again for the past year and half. My willpower is nonexistent. I don't know what to do. A year ago I went 100 days with only a small binge here or there. Now I can't get through a single day.

I am stressed out to the max. Please tell me I'm not alone. :(

Replies

  • sarah44254
    sarah44254 Posts: 3,078 Member
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    Sometimes I just try to go to bed earlier (as early as 7pm on some difficult nights) to avoid eating.

    You mentioned your willpower is nonexistent. I suggest, more-so than finding a 'fix' for the binges, to find a way to really work on how you view yourself and the things you are capable of. Willpower is something that can be strengthened, just like a muscle. Use it, in the right way, every chance you get and you will see it improve.

    Maybe tell yourself things like 'wow, how great this is I am trying to be healthy!' 'cool, look at that, i only ate 2 servings of dinner'
    Please be sure that when practicing this you do NOT focus on negative aspects, like 'i am trying to be healthy (good aspect!!) but i am failing (noooo dont say that to yourself)'

    it takes effort, so much effort. but the result is SO WORTH IT. learning to love myself is one of the hardest things i have ever done, but wow is life so much better now, i wish i had words to express to you the way i feel.
  • stephv38
    stephv38 Posts: 203 Member
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    You are not... even the incredible Nia Shanks talks about disordered eating habits. Here is a link to an article on it she has many more great things to say if you surf around her site. http://www.niashanks.com/2013/09/20-tips-binge-eating/
  • WhisperingCloud
    WhisperingCloud Posts: 28 Member
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    I have been experiencing some of the same problems. I do really well all day, and then at night, my mind just starts running with cravings. So far, I've been able to psyche myself out by saying, "Ok, if you're really that hungry, you can go eat all the lettuce you want, since it only has 35 calories/cup." And of course, that doesn't sound appetizing at all, which makes me realize that I'm actually not hungry, just wanting to eat to fill the void. If you're not too sensitive to caffeine, a cup of coffee will do wonders for giving you a "full" feeling.
  • gigglesinthesun
    gigglesinthesun Posts: 860 Member
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    I binge eat if I don't eat enough throughout the day. For example I am not hungry at breakfast so I'll have a piece of fruit and then I make myself a salad for lunch and the salad is large (300-400 calories with the oil). I can guarantee you that by the time dinner comes around I can't stop eating (cheese is my current favourite). In order to stop binging I actually need to eat at least some yoghurt with the fruit and a lunch with some carbs and protein with the salad.

    Perhaps you could see what triggers you.
  • MyJourney1960
    MyJourney1960 Posts: 1,133 Member
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    You're not alone, for sure.

    I don't know how to deal with eating disorders, but I will tell you how I dealt with * my* uncontrolled eating-at-night.

    I used to be fine during the day (especially a work day) then come home and eat supper. And then another piece of chicken, the a few whole wheat crackers with an egg, then some fruit and so on. I rarely ate garbage, but even eating six slices of the healthiest whole wheat bread on top of dinner is going to pack on the pounds.

    I decided to tackle this habit first.

    I eat my dinner and that's it. I prelog one extra fruit which I have beforebed. If I find myself getting upo to look for food- I stop doing what led to the boredom ( usually watching TV), and do something else ( take a walk, clean the kitchen). It's an ego trip for me to get through another day and anoither and before I know it three weeks have gone, I haven't binged, and I'm losing weight.

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