Binge eater needs help! Please help! At wits end!

vgnfarmer wrote: »

Just keep at it! You'll get there! I've started endless times and have never been at a average weight but I will do it!
Eating higher fat has helped me get a handle on food and appetite. I don't buy or make "trigger foods regularly. I don't cut them out completly but I plan for them and have them when i'm feeling relaxed and aware rather than tired and stressed. I agree with the other posters about not resticting too much. That is a sure fire way to a binge for me.
Any day at maintence or below i'm happy with. I look for majority of "reducing" and "maintaining" days/weeks vs "gaining". I have a tendency to say "oh well I already blew it" and then continue the binge. I now work on giving myself credit any time i'm able to stop the binge mid-way or get right back on track the next day.
I don't attend regularly but calling in to phone OA meetings has helped me too. Good luck! Oxo

SueInAz wrote: »

Perhaps you have your weight loss goal set too aggressively? Your goal is to lose 21 more pounds so, really, you shouldn't be trying to lose weight faster than 1/2 pound per week. Change your goal and MFP will give you more calories. Losing slowly is better than not losing at all because you keep sabotaging yourself. The end goal should be you losing the weight you want and then maintaining that weight loss. There shouldn't be a big hurry to get to goal because not much should be changing when you get there except you'll have a few more calories to eat each day.

As far as the binging... Some people do okay with moderating themselves to just one or two cookies, a slice of cake or a one half cup serving of ice cream. Is that something you could do without overworking your willpower? If yes, then build a treat or two into your meal plan for the day. Many people find that not depriving themselves helps to fend off the eventual binges.

If you can't control yourself with those types of foods, have you given any thought to just not buying it at all? Or at least not buying big amounts? If it's not in the house, you can't eat it. Instead of buying cookies, cake and ice cream buy more whole fruit, raw veggies and frozen fruit bars (my go-to at about 70 calories each instead of ice cream).

scotvalkyrie wrote: »

Everyone here has said some really good things. Sometimes I feel like, "what's the point?" in particular if I've overindulged on something high-calorie -- like I meant to only eat 1/2 cup of the gelato and then ate the whole darn container, so I figure, "well, heck, I just blew my calories out of the water, let's attack the cookies too." So believe me, I do understand. However, I once heard something that gave me pause:

"If you drop one egg on the floor, do you automatically throw the rest of the dozen on the floor too?"

We're all going to drop an egg from time to time. But we don't HAVE to throw the rest of the eggs down too! It's okay to drop an egg; it's how we deal with the fact we dropped an egg that makes a difference. So it's okay to slip up -- we are human after all -- but the point is to take a breath, log in the goody we just ate, and keep the rest of the eggs on the counter.

Good luck!

bethweathersbee wrote: »

fairy2b wrote: »

I found that starting out on my weight loss journey, having self control around trigger binge eating foods was non existent, so I had to remove the temptations. If you can't eat the cake and chips in moderation (I couldn't, moderation was never my forte!) then don't buy it to begin with. You will eat what you have in your house. Make a list when you go grocery shopping based on what meals you'll be making during the week and don't even go by the aisles that have that tasty junk. Stick to your list, no exceptions! If you have people in your household who bring those things in, you need to have a conversation that they can't be leaving it in communal kitchen areas. Eat it elsewhere. I also had to become somewhat of a hermit and stopped dining out for the first 6 weeks until I got a better understanding of nutrition and what I was doing. Otherwise, it was too tempting to just say F * @ K IT! and just order the foods I liked to binge on. There are so many aspects to binge eating and I feel your struggle, I know this is only part of it. I have been there and I know how hard it is. Best of luck, we are cheering you on!

jgnatca wrote: »

I wish you all success. If you change your thinking about control, I believe the habits will follow. There's an internal tug-of-war, leading you to try to control ever tighter, leading to breakouts of behavior. You are interpreting every breakout as a loss of control and try and rein it in even tighter. You have to loosen the reins a bit and give your body the lead. Trust it. When your inner self is convinced that you will never allow yourself to be deprived, I suspect you will loosen up and be able to maintain control around trigger foods.

In the meantime, control your environment. Have a small amount of treat in controlled portions and lower calorie available when you really need it. Maybe store it in the freezer and take out one a day.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/jgnatca/view/riding-the-elephant-736034