Two books that really shed light upon this for me were "Brain over Binge" by Kathryn Hansen and "Ditching Diets" by Gillian Riley.

For me, the binging began as a matter of survival from extremely restrictive eating and then became habitual / addictive. These two books have taught me that I need to recognize the "Binge-Beast's" voice & urging, and to use my "higher brain" aka "Prefrontal cortex" to weaken the "Binge-Beast", leaving its urgings unfulfilled and unsatisfied.

I would strongly recommend reading these 2 books.

I could have written this! I feel exactly the same way, which is why I joined this group. I am SO TIRED of saying, "This time it's going to be different!" I am committed to being binge free for the rest of the year (my last binge was on Wednesday; I was too ashamed to log it). I'm writing those words down here to remind myself and hold myself accountable.

I am here for you and I will help in any way that I can! This is a beast of a journey, trust me; we all need friends and help.

I had been staying below daily calories for a week, then added walking every day the next week. Tuesdays are my weigh-in day at TOPS and I was doing great with an early morning weight check showing a two pound loss. Then I ate or drank something in the morning that caused me to swell up 4 pounds. I knew I had to weigh in at TOPS and I started taking allergy pills to stop whatever it was and managed to get down to the previous weeks official weight. I was so disappointed that I ate an entire 14" pizza that night. Late night is normally when I do my binging. It's as if I can't watch TV without putting something in my mouth.

This time on the yo-yo I'm trying to retrain my mind to think like "Skinny Girl" and know that its okay to not clean my plate, and that "tasting" food instead of eating it all is usually all I need.

Take a look at the Me vs The Binge challenge for September. It really helps with motivation because you always want to make sure your number is higher than the binge. And honestly, it helps put things into perspective. I often think that I binge every single day, when I'm at my worst. Those numbers tell me that my perception is a little off, and I can rejoice in the fact that I at least have some days when things work out in my favor.

There's nothing worth doing that isn't going to be hard at least once. And most of us are on our millionth try as far as we're concerned. But honestly, as frustrating as that can be, it's at least good to know that you're not alone in it. It's hard and it sometimes seems impossible, but it's certainly something we can overcome. It won't be easy, of course, and yes we may continue to fail for a while until we finally figure it out, but the end game is the reason we're doing this. So that we can have a normal relationship with food and really appreciate ourselves.

Just keep at it. If you slip up, keep your chin up and carry on, because being down on yourself never solves anything. Try adding a bunch of a us, because the newsfeed updates help keep you in the loop with how everyone's doing, and everyone loves to be cheered on when they do an awesome job!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Food-Feelings-Workbook-Emotional/dp/0936077204 -- And because Dennis mentioned a couple of books, I think this one is important as well. It provides reading but coaches you through exercises meant to get to the bottom of why you binge the way you do and help you embrace the emotions that you have rather than suppressing them with food. It's a fresh approach and honestly quite empowering.

Don't feel ashamed to admit that The Binge got a point yesterday! We're all in the same struggle. Today is your opportunity to get a tie going and then the next day, you can surpass that number. It's one day at a time, and this just helps keep the perspective.

I'm glad that you got a cup of tea instead! That's great. Coping skills are useful. I like to do distraction with either a game or an activity that takes brain power. I also do a lot of self-nurture, as I found that while I was binging, everything else I did was anhedonic because I felt that I didn't deserve positivity. So now, when I want to binge, I instead pamper myself like crazy. Manicures, pedicures, new hair styles, make up, long bubble baths, relaxing days laying in the park while reading a good book, etc. There are so many things that make you feel amazing, so it doesn't just have to be about food.

I think you should just bite the bullet and add a bunch of people who are active, or just look through my friends list and see any names that match up with the people here. Everyone is incredibly nice and supportive, and while they may not see your post for friend requests, they'll still have the opportunity to make a new buddy. It's so much easier to do this when you don't feel alone.