Serious Binge Eating Disorder advice and support?

I binge ate to a point 90 lbs above where I am right now (and I still need to lose quite a few). It is a serious problem - and I completely understand when people say they feel out of control. Here are my suggestions (an incomplete list, I'm sure):

Find Help
Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is a real thing, as legitimate as any other eating disorder. Professional counselors who deal with eating disorders might be able to help with the psychological aspect of BED and what is happening in your emotional life to trigger it. A registered dietician may also help (to a point), with the emotional triggers and can help you reign in your habit in the future. They might also be able to work with you to find a plan that allows you to cater to your needs in a way that doesn't result in deprivation (which can lead to further binging.)

Remove Yourself from Temptation
Moving out of an environment that facilitated binging really, really helped. It was my parents' place and they would buy every sugary treat on the shelves if they thought it would make me happy. I'm now in a shared place with my boyfriend and if I want to binge, I'm limited to fuit, some old cheddar cheese, or some low-cal fudge bars. We just don't keep anything "snacky" in the house. Everything goes towards meals.

Don't Starve Yourself
Every night I binged would lead into a day when I tried to go without food so I could "make-up" my diet. This is the biggest fallacy I've ever held about eating healthy. The best thing to do when on a calorie restriction after a binge: log it, accept that you failed, and move on - NOW. Don't wait to "eat better tomorrow" or "starting Monday." As soon as you're able to reign yourself in, do and don't write off the day, the weekend, or the week due to one binge.

This also involves eating to contentment on a regular bases. Don't drop to 1200 if you're not petite. Find out your Total Daily Enegery Expenditure (TDEE), then subtract 300-500 calories. Eat back 1/2 of what you burn in exercise. Don't push this limit down until you've been living with it for a while and know that this is an attainable, sustainable plan for you to work with.

The Dreaded "Will Power"
I used to hate when people shoved the term "will power" in my face. Because it is hard to control yourself during a binge, it seems like it's impossible to just say no to more food. The thing is, I've learned will power is like a muscle. If you try to lift too much in the beginning, sure - it's going to fail and you're going to feel bad. But if you try to work it out just a little more and more, it'll get stronger. This is still an area of improvement for me, don't get me wrong, but after a lot of practice using it over the last three years of my weight loss journey, I feel a lot stronger. I still have certain "triggers" (a certain ice cream shop where I always order a size larger than I intend to), but at least I can say no to most situations now, whereas I felt absolutely out of control at first.

Sorry for being lazy and just using cut and past but here is something:

If you're struggling with an eating disorder, call the National Eating Disorder Association hotline at 1-800-931-2237.

Why do you eat?

I used to do that sort of thing and I finally realised that no matter how much food I stuffed down my throat, it was never going to fill the void I was feeling because that void was about something much deeper and more complicated than real hunger.

I ate because I was sad and alone and depressed. I ate because I was fat and was sure that I would always be. I didn't care if I died. I didn't want to live. Some days I still don't but those days are fewer and more easily overcome. I ate because it was the only pleasure I could find in my life. I ate because I didn't believe that I was worth saving. I ate, and stayed fat, in order to keep men from being "interested" in me. (it didn't work).

The start of my healing was to start to really get to know who I am on the inside. Acknowledge that person and allow myself to be me on the outside. It has been quite a journey, which included almost entirely changing my social life, my living environment and my career. It meant getting rid of all of the things in my world that were holding me down it meant getting some help with coping with severe depression, it meant facing up to and acknowledging and accepting all of my imperfections. It meant I no longer lived to please other people or tried to be what those people wanted me to be. It meant becoming the real and authentic me with all of my flaws and also recognising all of my assets and good points. It meant working hard to be a better version of me every day and being proud of my small accomplishments. It meant stepping out of my comfort zone and stepping into a dojo and being a beginner as an obese 39 year old. Imagine how it feels to be more than 100 pounds overweight and have to dress in an all white cotton outfit and try to roll around on the ground with a bunch of fit and athletic 20-somethings.

It has been a 7 year journey for me and I am only just now getting to where I can focus on my relatonship with food. I had to fix all of that other stuff first.

So... the first thing you have to figure out is...

Why do you eat?

Until you figure that out you will not be able to truly get a handle on how to solve the problem.

I am currently working through my disorder, and I have made a lot of progress lately (I gained 20lbs back from binge eating). Please read "Brain Over Binge". Totally worth it. Best book purchase I have ever made.

You are not alone. Every morning I say to myself "Today, I want to eat less than yesterday." However, something inside me is telling me to finish all the oreos! I have learned that sadly some food were created to make us addicted to them. We have to be stronger.
My brother who is a internal physician told me that I am addicted to food as some other people are addicted to alcohol, substance abuse etc. He also told me that food addiction is more common that what we think. There are treatments out there, ask your endocrinologist, they can help. One thing that inspires me to control my eating is to visualize my new me, my healthier me, my happier me. I figured out all the things I like to do and I make them my priority. All the best.

CatSkull wrote: »

I have a serious binge eating problem. I see a lot of topics on here about people who binge occasionally and feel bad about it, or binge once while on a fad diet and then cry about it. But when I say binge eating disorder, I mean like out of control, there is rarely a night where I don't binge l, gained 40 lbs in 3 months kind of binging.

I guess I'm looking to see of there is anyone else who struggles or has struggled with this to the same degree? How do you deal with it? How have you overcome it? I'm starting to feel like I'll never be able to stop.

My husband gained 30 in 6....

1.) What food do you binge on? I haven't yet met a person who binges on carrots. Is it possible NOT to have those things in the house?

2.) You binge at the same time every night. You need to break the pattern. So do not allow yourself to be in the house at that time of night for now. Go on a walk. Go to the gym. Get out.

3.) Later, start doing something else during the first part of your normal binge time. Clean the house for :30 minutes. Fold laundry. Get everything spic-and-span. Chances are, your domestic situation is out of control at least somewhat. Many bingers binge because they use that to deal with feelings of helplessness.

4.) Pre-pack your evening foods and eat just that.

5.) You NEVER get a reset on a day. EVERY day counts. Screwed up 5 min ago? Fine. The next 10min still matter. "Tomorrow" will never come.

6.) Try to meet your food goal EVERY day. Don't try to make up for screwing up or to save up for a planned binge. You can become more flexible with time, but flexibility will work against you right now because you'll set the bar too high to "make up" for a screw up.

FYI: http://www.bingeeatingdisorder.com/?mid=B000030&utm_medium=display&utm_source=747758&utm_campaign=8445449&utm_content=61728806&utm_term=119273829

amy_lynn007 wrote: »

I am currently working through my disorder, and I have made a lot of progress lately (I gained 20lbs back from binge eating). Please read "Brain Over Binge". Totally worth it. Best book purchase I have ever made.

I am really not into those "self-help" books, but I have to say that this one was incredibly helpful. You can buy it from Amazon (download). One thing that I loved about what the author said, is that regardless of the psychological underlying issues that may be the deep root cause of binges, you do not HAVE to solve those issues to stop bingeing - or at least, limit the occurrences (frequency and intensity) significantly.

For me it was better than counseling BUT by all means, seek professional help if you cannot do it alone.

Because the worst part of overeating disorder is not the weight gain.

Good luck. It's actually great that you "take it" early, it might be easier than you think to take control back.

Take care!