Advice? Loving food then sudden compulsive overeating

Hi there!
I don't necessarily have any advice, but wanted to share that I have recently become this way (manic). In fact I just hopped back on here to see if I couldn't get myself grounded.
I had a really manic day. Started with coffee and great intentions. I packed an AWESOME lunch of salad and berries and apples and kefir and tea.
Sounds great right? Heck yes!
Did I eat any of it? No.
Instead I had some Easter candy, and a cupcake, and two Top Ramen packages, and some Chex Mix, and a diet coke. Now I feel like crap and wish I'd eaten the good food.
Anywho, just thought I'd share my experience and maybe a in a common experience we can find some relief from the manic feeling.

I don't have any advice, but I can be like this too. I can go for weeks or even months when I'm really focused with food & exercise.I love all foods & love cooking and when I am focused I feel great with a good balanced diet, loads of energy and great motivation to exercise. I always thought I had a good relationship with food. But sometimes I am so focused that it feels a bit obsessive, constantly thinking about what I will cook/eat next.

Then I have times when its like someone has flicked a switch in my head. I no longer want to cook and eat complete and utter junk. This will include binging on chocolates and cake until I feel ill.

As with other things in life, I sometimes think I have 2 extremes. I don't really do anything in moderation.

Unfortunately that kind of eating you talk about is extremely common and started somewhere way back where you started to use food in the wrong way and it became a habit. I know because I did it/still do it but less so. Because food makes us feel good, gives us a sense of wellbeing.....when things aren't going well we subconsciously crave a feeling of wellbeing and food is one way to give us that...we don't even realize it while we are doing it and the reason we feel bad later on when we are full and feeling a bit sick is that the good feelings we were craving actually were not satisfied at all. I am trying to recognise the triggers that make me overeat and they are numerous. I am definitely an emotional eater. I have noticed especially if I am stressed that I will overeat. If I am lonely or sad, I will eat to cheer myself up. Eating does cause chemical reactions in our bodies which make us feel good so we are using food as a drug ie to make us feel good. High fat foods like chips and sweet foods like chocolate and cake especially cause chemical reactions and a temporary euphoric reaction. BUT because food is NOT the Answer to these particular needs (just to feel good, loneliness, affirmation, stress relief, love, intimacy, reward, etc etc you make your own list) we get temporary good feelings (from the chemical reactions within, the pleasure of the taste, the pleasurable sucking action of eating sweet creamy chocolate, the comfort of warm fatty chips etc) but these feelings are very short lived and after a few minutes you are left feeling sick from overeating and now you are starting to feel the effects of the imbalance of food ie too much sugar, carbs and fat and that affects your feelings of wellbeing and your mood. You are also ashamed at your lack of control and feel guilty for abusing your health. You also have not properly dealt with the underlying cause of your overeating (if it is an emotional reason) you have just buried it underneath a pile of fat, carbs and sugar but it is still there festering away. These habits can be there for a very long time so it takes a bit of work to bring them to the surface. So now if I am stressed, I need to have a different plan. Maybe go for a short walk, sit down for 2 mins and reflect and make a realistic plan to tackle stress. For negative feelings and what I call a love deficit.. I need to tell myself that food is not the answer...take a break and maybe do something nice for someone else (instead of eating) and the feeling will go away. Hopefully some of what I said will be helpful and I hope I haven't sounded too preachy. I just know the misery of compulsive overeating...it is a downward spiral. Getting your food intake perfect isn't the answer to emotional eating either because that is just substituting 'control' as the drug and that is even worse so you revert back to binging to get the feelgood factor. The key to emotional eating is to recognise the cue that is causing you to eat and deal with it in a realistic way because food was never meant to be used to soothe or cure emotions. A good book is Press Pause by Dr Linda Mintle available on Amazon. This is a very long post .....sorry!

A question for you: do the binge days follow any sort of pattern? Do they coincide with, or follow, days/events when you are more stressed, or upset/lonely/angry/worried/bored/isolated than usual? I have experienced similar issues in the past and still do battle with it, though to a lesser extent than I did. I generally find that there is a definable trigger - maybe keep track of how you are feeling around these episodes for a bit and see if any pattern emerges.

Definitely this. If you can find your triggers, you can work through them or work around them. I also have specific food cravings to match my hormonal ups and downs.

Another rock to look under - I note that you have very little to lose (according to your profile ticker). Are you sure you're eating enough on your healthy eating days? The name of this game is to eat as much as you can, and still lose weight. If you cut too many calories, you run the risk of uncontrollable bingeing / falling off the wagon. Or are you restricting favourie foodstuffs too much? You mention bread, cereal and hot cross buns - are you not eating them at all normally? If not, you may be able to fit in a couple of slices of bread a day - while it will mean an extra couple of hundred calories, it would stop the overeating and make the weight loss slower, but more consistent.

I'm a carb comfort eater, so suspect it's the first of the two. But the second one is much easier to solve, so it wouldn't hurt to reassess while you work out what (if any) emotional triggers you have.

Good luck!

Posting to follow this thread and gain some insight.....

Hi there, I could have written what you wrote, I struggled with this kind of thing for a long time although I was bulimic at the time. But that whole thing of starting breakfast with good intentions and then suddenly not being able to stop eating really rings a bell.
What helped me? Not one particular thing, I don't think. Making sure I'm not undereating, as chronic under nourishment will lead your body to want to binge as a defence from starvation, so make sure you are eating enough the rest of the time. I avoid sugary food to try to keep my blood sugar levels stable, and this includes things like cereal, which you mentioned. Sugar will make me crave more sugar not just that day but for days afterwards. I also avoid other foods that I know seem to set me off, but not everyone is keen on that approach. It works for me because I am infinitely happier without an ED, which I think is reasonable. It might be worth looking at your food diary to see if there are any patterns with your eating, which can be helpful to help you see what's going on, or if there are certain foods it might be wise to avoid for the time being. There is a book I came across recently called Brain Over Binge which is quite interesting reading and might be worth a look too. I feel for you, it's horrible struggling with this kind of thing.

My husband has a similar response by the sounds of it, he just doesn't comprehend it. He bought an easter egg and I had to throw half of it away as I couldn't have it in the house after 2 days, it was driving me mad! And he laughed at me, but not in a nasty way though. I'm fortunate we don't normally keep any junk in the house - he has genetically high cholesterol so has to be super careful about his diet as an alternative to medicating - and neither of us really wants it to form part of our daily diet anyway.

I was the same way for years. 18 months ago when I started this journey I started a journal. I listed foods that usually got me in trouble. I also listed foods that while not necessarily good food for weight loss were foods I couldn't fathom completely living without. Short list included red wine, dark chocolate and cheesecake. I discovered after writing everything down that I had power over the food instead of the other way around. I enjoy the occasional indulgence but am starting to gain control of a lifetime of eating issues from anorexia in high school to compulsive overeating as adult and compensatory eating to hide issues I didnt want to deal with. I found writing it down helped me deal with the issue instead of bingeing. Good luck on your journey and I hope you find your answers.

omg i relate to this SOOO BAD! i wish i didnt do that as well, i printed this out so i can remind myself ..when i get there.

In my previous post I forgot to tell you how I quit medicating with food. I fell in love.....with me. 100%, unreservedly as a 44 yr old obese woman. I began to see myself as God sees me. A miraculous and beloved creation. I began to take care of myself very tenderly. Previously I was very vicious in my thoughts about myself. God wants me to love as he loves...beginning with myself. How else can I love others if I don't love me? If any stress comes in my life I run to him for guidance. I go to Mass and confession... A lot. I can't believe the guilt I carried for so many years. If it is a rough week I can always hit Mass daily. Unlike food, God is calorie free, keeps your secrets and loves you back:). Food doesn't keep secrets, it drains your bank acct and packs fat on your butt for all to see. Looking back I can see that pleasure from food never lasted more than 5 minutes. The daily pleasure I receive now from life and my participation in it is difficult to enumerate. I completely forgave myself for being the scared little girl running from Life. I realized in order to fully live life you must deal with the crap that comes along with the wonderful. When death and destruction come into my life, I grieve, I cry, I pray, I deal, I don't eat. I embrace the horrible with fortitude and look for the fruits of Grace. Praying for the intercession of St Maximillian Kolbe on your behalf. I have found him an excellent champion when you are dealing with a binge. God bless

No, never went to OA. I was just a lapsed Catholic. I started a journey of self improvement 10 years ago and I could only ever get so far before it would all blow up. Then I had that Aha moment. I realized what was the root of my problem and that I did not have to do this alone. My priest is a former high risk Obstetrician who used to work in the mission field in Afghanistan. When I looked at a man who could do anything but chose to be performing C-sections for Muslim women in battle zones by flashlight I was humbled. I considered myself a good person but I began to notice people around me active in Faith(Jewish, Catholic, etc) living life at a higher level. I began to aspire to that supernatural life. I highly recommend it.

Would it be possible for you to only have small amounts of food on hand? Just enough for a day? I would also consider therapy for compulsive eating. Hypnosis?