Calling all emotional binge eaters

Hi, I'm an emotional eater particularly during pms. Feel free to add me, my diary is open.

I am too...since I was a child really and I am 59 now! have struggled with it my whole life.its like a default button that your 'self' gets back to when anything (lonely, bored, stressed, angry, scared...) is going on. Its like an addiction really - like any other kind of addiction - plus you cant go cold turkey of course because you have to eat to survive, and food is all around all the time, its cheap to get by and its legal. Interestingly when things are fully bad (like major crisis) the need to eat doesnt come up. Its more the every humdrum misery that brings it on. I guess its the cost of surviving and not really living. But how to get from here to there at will? I mean it has happened, often even, that life would just step in and take me there - fully alive and no desire to eat. But how to self-propel as it were? This might be a question i take to my grave, as it has been a whole lifetime already and I have not cracked it!:huh:

I'm eating even as type this...so yeah. I'm right there with you and fighting it everyday. Love to have you in my corner to cheer each other on.

i did the same thing for 2 years - it's what got me to the point i am now. i went from 120lbs - 200lbs. i've lost 30 so far, but i know what you mean - i would eat the sugariest, fattiest things i could find and never be satisfied even when i knew in my mind that i was full, or at least should have been. in my case, i basically switched from being addicted to drugs/alcohol to being addicted to food. it definitely is a lifelong battle, but it's not hopeless by any means. you've made a huge step just by identifying that what you're doing is a problem and reaching out for help. i'm totally here to help

Yes, I struggle with this greatly. I am a former anorexic and struggle with emotionally based binge eating, and occasionally, bulimic tendencies. Some of it comes down to the fact I tend to swing between extremes of being very controlling in all areas of my life, to needing to just release all that, and it tends to be released on my food intake. When I binge, it is a case of eating large amounts in a short space of time, to a point of being totally bloated and swollen, and upset, but with me, it is not an out of control, cram everything in quickly sort of affair, but rather I eat at a fairly normal pace but past a point of even enjoying the food. When I binge, I eat foods that are sweet and dense in both calories and fat (think ice cream, chocolate, cake, cookies, doughnuts).

It is always a result of some form of avoidance of some situation or emotion, or as a result of depression, loneliness, boredom. I have not yet found an alternative means to distract and comfort myself, and wish I could as these episodes set me right back in terms of my fitness and health.

Please do add me if you struggle with the same thing, as long as your eating healthy and sustainable amounts the rest of the time (I find diaries of 1300 net or less quite triggering).

Same here. Been binge eating since I was a kid, got quite bad in the last six months or so since I've been living on my own (used to live with my partner).

The past few weeks have been surprisingly good for me though, even though I've had quite a lot of stress and a tough time at work. A few things that have helped me to avoid night binges:
- Sounds obvious but not having binge food in the house really helps. I don't even mean junk food, just anything that can be "abused" as binge food, whether that's sweet, salty, or crunchy. For me, that means no more nuts, dried fruit, peanut butter, granola.... It's never fun, but I've thrown away jars of peanut butter, bread, half finished boxes of cereal, a half finished jar of nutella, etc. in the past few weeks whenever I felt that I was starting to eat too much.
- Cutting calories in the daytime and being hungry in the evening triggers binges for me, even if I have a decent dinner, I still crave more. It doesn't necessarily help me lose weight, but I eat a big lunch now to the point where I'm quite full, which makes me less interested in food when I come home.
- Exercising in the evening helps as well. This can go either way (some people are super hungry after they've worked out...), but for me going for a late run and then drinking loads of water and a protein shake when I get back fills me up so much that I don't even think of food.
- This might be a little more difficult, but spending the evening/night with someone means no alone time for binges (AND possibly some "exercise"...) :laugh:

Hope that helps a little.