binge eating and don't know what to do

I am so sorry you are struggling with this. Binge eating is a terrible, difficult habit to break.

First and foremost, I want to tell you that you CAN stop it, you CAN break the cycle, and you CAN be healthy. It takes a lot of work, without a doubt, but you CAN do it! I would urge you to log the binges. Accountability is the first step. You can't change something you don't acknowledge exists. You've already eaten the food; pretending like you didn't doesn't change anything. There is no shame in a binge; it happened, move on. But don't lie to yourself, you deserve better.

Next I would encourage you to research and find some binge prevention strategies. There are stories all over the internet of people who have conquered binge eating, and they all have something in common. They DID SOMETHING about it. Maybe you need to drink a glass of water and reevaluate whether or not you still want the food afterwards. Maybe go for a walk. Maybe its a specific food? Stop buying it. But whatever you do, don't do NOTHING. You have to prepare for it and deal with it when it happens.

Lastly, you need to be really, really honest with yourself about why it is happening and what you want to do about it. Do you really want to stop? Do you really want to be healthy? Lose weight? If so, then you have to dig down and make it happen. It isn't easy. It takes work. Its hard. But living this way is hard, too. You have to decide which is worth the effort. If you commit to working on yourself and the "why" of your binges, you will giving yourself a gift that can help lead you to your goals.

I wish you the best of luck!

I'm bipolar.. Do binge eating was and still is an issue with me.. I managed to lose 137 lbs and am keeping it off. I've learned to love active life.. Every day I do active things until the afternoon, when I kind of tucker out.. I don't keep unhealthy food in the house. All the food we keep is good, nutritious, energy producing fuel type food.. So I generally focus on creating energy production through eating and every day activity.. Every day I prepare for tomorrow's activities.. So when I have a binge.. If I get ahold of something bad.. Or binge on health food, I truly get a hangover lol, and can't perform the way I want.. So I suffer the consequences, and just move forward.. The day after a binge.. I flush out with water, kind of a sick day.. Then next day... Back on the horse.. So my advice is... Try to binge less.. But if/when you do, make sure you give yourself the next day to recover, then back on the horse.. Until your binges become small enough to not effect you.. At this point, my binges are so small they don't effect me much anymore.. Like 3 Safeway cookies.. That's a binge.. Or 3 cups of 1/2 fat ice cream.. That's a binge.. This is a huge jump from the 5,000 calorie binges I used to have!!!!! Slow and steady!!! And don't forget to stay active!!!

LegalMom0928 wrote: »

I am so sorry you are struggling with this. Binge eating is a terrible, difficult habit to break.

First and foremost, I want to tell you that you CAN stop it, you CAN break the cycle, and you CAN be healthy. It takes a lot of work, without a doubt, but you CAN do it! I would urge you to log the binges. Accountability is the first step. You can't change something you don't acknowledge exists. You've already eaten the food; pretending like you didn't doesn't change anything. There is no shame in a binge; it happened, move on. But don't lie to yourself, you deserve better.

Next I would encourage you to research and find some binge prevention strategies. There are stories all over the internet of people who have conquered binge eating, and they all have something in common. They DID SOMETHING about it. Maybe you need to drink a glass of water and reevaluate whether or not you still want the food afterwards. Maybe go for a walk. Maybe its a specific food? Stop buying it. But whatever you do, don't do NOTHING. You have to prepare for it and deal with it when it happens.

Lastly, you need to be really, really honest with yourself about why it is happening and what you want to do about it. Do you really want to stop? Do you really want to be healthy? Lose weight? If so, then you have to dig down and make it happen. It isn't easy. It takes work. Its hard. But living this way is hard, too. You have to decide which is worth the effort. If you commit to working on yourself and the "why" of your binges, you will giving yourself a gift that can help lead you to your goals.

I wish you the best of luck!

I totally agree!! Log the binges!! That's how I knew I had upwards of 5,000 cals!!! Totally eye opening!

Therapy, cardio, and yoga.

How Yoga Can Help End Binge Eating

One breath at a time, end the suffering of binge-eating

...According to Juliano, yoga gives people the skills to stay with what they are feeling, rather than turning to food to escape. People who are obese or suffering from eating disorders have a tendency to dissociate from their bodies -- to choose not to feel what they are feeling when they are angry, anxious, or sad. Often, they turn to food to numb themselves. "There's this sense that I have to feel better right now, " Juliano says. "There is a complete intolerance of what is happening right now." This need to escape unpleasant feelings triggers a binge.

When you eat to escape what you are feeling, you lose touch with the experience of eating, as well. This is one reason binges can spiral out of control. "You have no understanding that you are full, way past full, into uncomfortable, because you're so out of it," Juliano explains. "You have no connection to what you're eating. You're eating a pint of ice cream and can't even taste it. Or you go to make yourself some toast and before you know it, half the loaf is gone."

Mindful yoga directly challenges the habit of dissociating from your body and your present-moment experience. "The whole point of yoga is to stay connected to your body. You learn it through practice, through breathing, and through breathing through the sensations."

Read more: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-science-willpower/201007/how-yoga-can-help-end-binge-eating

I will always struggle with this... What I do is a bit different. I don't trust myself with binge worthy food, so I don't have anything. My kitchen is filled with things I have to cook to eat, and most of them healthy. I always binge eat at night, so I count on me being lazy. If I don't have it, I'm too lazy to go out and buy stuff... Hence no binge eating.

If I truly need to eat, then the cooking time will allow me to think about why am I eating, sometimes it could be hunger. Of course from time to time I'll buy something and eat it, but it's once in a while, so not a lot of damage...

About logging or not, I would say it's up to you, but it helps.

That's true that it happens at night!! I went two years going to bed at 8pm for that reason!! Lmao!! It worked though!

I eat dinner later at night now (around 7-8pm) to keep from being hungry by bedtime (10 - 10:30pm). Been working for me for about a year now and that's the only thing that has helped. Good luck!

There is stacks of good advice here.
I want to echo Asher_Ethan, if I restrict too much I have more problems with bingeing. I like to have a little bit of room for something yummy in the evening if I have to go over for it I risk a binge.

Also when I was suffering from postnatal depression I wasn't in the right place mentally to lose weight. I put on a fair bit till I got back in control and managed to maintain for 6 months before coming back and now I'm on track for losing again.

in my experience I tended to binge when I tried to cut my calories to much. I tried to go from 3000 calories a day to 800. that doesn't work. reduce slowly if you are eating 3000 now try to cut maybe to 2000-2500 calories. log everything. don't underestimate the portion sizes, overestimate instead.

You are setting yourself up to binge by reducing your intake. Knowing that you are binging because you don't want to deal with your emotions is a good first steps. Awareness usually results in us feeling like we are doing something more than usual.

The next step is some kind of action. One possibility is forgiving yourself. By stopping the judgment, the action will take on less importance and give you some space to change.

And additional possibility is to get professional help to deal with those emotions that are so difficult to sit with.

As others have said, log all the food you eat including binges. Set your diary to private if you are embarrassed. Not only does the act of logging show you how much damage the binge can cause, it can also help in preventing binges. If you are tracking your food accurately, you will have to put your food on a scale before you consume it. This in itself can help prevent a binge, because you will probably give yourself a reasonable portion.

Also, even though it is hard, try and figure out and address the emotional reasons you are binging. They may already be apparent to you, or you may need a counselor or therapist to help you through it. Either way, until you address the core issue you are going to have binge eating issues or other avoidance behaviors.

I had a period of binge eating a couple years ago when I moved to a new city. I didn't know anyone and was lonely. I joined MFP and lost some of the weight I gained, but still had periods of overeating. When I finally addressed the issue (I put myself out there and made a new group of friends), the binge eating stopped.

You are using food to "zone out" and avoid your problems. Instead of avoiding your underlying problems, face them head on and try and fix the things are can and accept the things you cannot change.

P6O9B wrote: »

Thank you for the words of advice and encouragement. I took time for myself today to really feel emotions when they come up and I was really surprised that I felt annoyed/angry when a friend yet again asked me to do a favor for them and asked me to drop something off to their sister on the other side of the city at 7:30pm because I have a car and they don't. By the time I got back my dinner had gone cold and reheated salad felafel is not so great as the salad goes all limp. Usually I wouldn't feel annoyed or angry I would just do what my friend had asked and binge later. I did still drop the stuff off but at least I let myself feel entitled to be annoyed and to have the feeling (of course I didn't let anyone else see I was feeling this). So thank you to everyone who has given me the encouragement and advice to take the first steps today into feeling feelings I would normally push away.

Don't beat yourself up. Be kind to yourself. Log everything you eat and be honest with yourself. If you feel like having a binge, go for a walk, take a hot bath, papmper yourself and try and take your mind off food. Drink lots of water to curb your hunger. Theres a lot of great advice from all the above members, take it.

Oh, and also drink a glass of water every hour if you can. That helps me too.