New here, 22 year old female ,114 pounds overweight.

Hey, Candice! Feel free to add me. I still have another 122 lbs to lose, so the more supportive friends the better. Best of luck on your weight-loss journey!

Hello Candice

Well while not having had a diagnosis of binge eating disorder, i probably would fit the bill. But anyway i've kicked the binging, although the threat is ever present.

When you are prone to binging you do have to be very strict about the foods you go near, let alone put in your mouth.

but at the same time you need to take serious action with regards to your emotional health because its often emotional issues which trigger binges.

and you may know that binging can become a habit so that even if you are in emotional good shape, just the habit can be triggered easily.

So here's what i have done and what i recommend:

Forget exercise for now. Its not important at this stage. And just adds stress and other difficulties. But if you do want to do some at all, then get a pedometer and just increase your activity - a few more steps around the joint than usual and if you don't feel like it for some reason, don't worry and don't stress.

Next any time you are feeling stressed, overwhelmed or dejected or in a low mood, seek counselling support. You may have family or friends who you can share with and this will be enough to relieve you of your negative feelings. But if its not, then organise yourself a regular councillor so that you have a trusted competent listener to go to whenever you need. Consider also that you may need ongoing therapy for a while if you have ongoing emotional issues. You need to learn some skills to handle your emotional stuff and get stronger.

Third: sugar, sweet stuff. Give it up! Its not so hard. Do not replace your sweet foods with artificial sweetener. Learn to live with out sweets. This is not to say you can't ever have them but if you understand how sweet foods trigger your desire for more and how it can be uncontrollable you will realise the wisdom of strictly limiting them.

Replace all the sweet things with fruit and a wide variety of interesting and healthy food. You may have to take up cooking. In fact i would strongly suggest you do.

I love my fruit and eat fruit several times a day. Nearly always fresh but now also frozen berries which i defrost and stew a little in the microwave and eat with unsweetened full fat yoghurt and topped with some mixed seeds. I also stew up large batches of apples, pears, rhubarb - you have to add a little sugar to the latter because otherwise its sour. Never buy any canned fruits with added sugar.

There are occasions when i can have sweets. These are low risk situations and i would recommend you figure out some low risk situations for yourself as well. You still need to be strong and pep talk yourself so that you don't want to eat more when leave the low risk situation. My low risk situations are when i am someone else's place and its offered to me. This enables me to have it about once a month. But if it was a bit more often that would be ok too. The key is to not have more than one serve, even if its a very small serve. If someone gives me a box of chocolates, i have one and give the box away asap!

You have to stay right away from temptation. Especially in the beginning when you are vulnerable. AS time goes on you get stronger.

For a while i experimented with sugar free sweets - using rich dried fruits and butter and nuts. But while sometimes i was able to control myself on one situation i realised that i couldn't - ate the whole batch and so decided i couldn't make these sorts of things any more either.

The thing is i do not miss this sort of food. Yes its delicious but its poison to me. And the rest of my food is sufficiently interesting and varied to keep me happy.

If you are prone to eating tons of deep fried foods and other take away junk food, you will have to take similar action with all those things as well. I generally find them less of a problem as i don't choose to eat them very much anyway. though mostly while i was trying to lose weight, it only makes sense to avoid those foods because they are so high in calories.

Here's what you should think about filling your life with in terms of food: vegetables, vegetables and more vegetables. Learn to cook them in interesting ways and love them. I know people get tired from work and don't want to cook when they get home. So have a big cook up when you are not tired and always have healthy food in the fridge ready to just be heated up or put on a plate with minimal preparation. In my fridge right now i've got carrot soup, cooked asparagus, lentils rice and onion mixture, potato and leek gratin, cauliflower and broccoli polenta, as well as a few things in the freezer that need minimal prep. Then of course i've got an array of fresh fruit and veg, cheeses, nuts and seeds, yoghurt, milk, eggs, butter. In the freezer, i've got fish, seafood, pre-soaked and cooked beans/lentils, pastry sheets, some bread. In my cupboards i've got a variety of dried lentils beans and chickpeas, canned coconut cream, diced tomatoes and tomato paste, not too much other canned stuff or packet stuff but its there for emergency, canned sardines (King oscar), pasta, rice, oats, and all over the fridge and freezer a whole variety of condiment items that make cooking up anything almost always possible at notice. I don't eat much meat.

To help get past your crazy appetite, pay attention to keep your carbs lower and choosing mostly good carbs. These are the ones with high fibre content. Count your fibre in your macros. Don't count sugar. Its too confusing. Net carbs are what count i.e. carbs minus fibre.

Good luck. Message me if you have questions.

I'm 22 add me!