Stress bingeing- How do you avoid it?

honestly, i would go talk to a therapist. they can help you identify triggers (even some you may not realize) and help you find solutions to reducing your stress levels or finding alternatives.

irishdancer23 wrote: »

Hi everyone! I'm 21 years old and just starting my senior year of college. I've had a binge eating problem since high school, and it's only gotten worse since then. My biggest issue is bingeing when I'm stressed. If I ever don't want to do something that I know I need to do (like homework), I turn to food. I'm so busy this year with school, activities, and job interviews that I often tell myself that I don't have time to procrastinate or take a small break to relax. This always backfires, and I end up spending hours binge eating and then moping about what I've done. I've talked to a lot of fellow binge eaters with the same problem. Does anyone have a solution as to how to overcome this? I'm getting desperate!

It sounds to me like you already know at least part of what you need to do... don't let your stress level get so bad that it triggers a binge. Take a few minutes to relax during study sessions, get up, take a short walk. Call a friend and set a timer for as long as you can spare to be away from your work. Or watch a half hour TV show and then get back at it. Make sure you're also getting enough sleep.

I work full time and take classes online, I get stress. I live with stress every day but I've learned to not let it get the best of me. Some stress is healthy but too much is not. It does terrible things to your body and hinders your weight loss. There has to be some balance, you'll figure that out eventually and you'll figure out your best way to handle it.

Until you get a handle on the stress that's causing the binges do things to ensure you can't binge. For example, if you don't have the foods to binge on in your apartment/dorm, you can't binge on them, right? Stop buying the foods you normally binge on and don't let yourself leave if you feel one coming on. Remind yourself how awful you're going to feel after, not to mention how much money you're wasting on food you don't really want or need.

Therapy has really been helping me with my binge eating problems.
It took a couple tries to find a counselor that was the right fit for me, but now I wish I'd tried harder years ago.
You could also read up on the practice of Mindfulness.

Your school will likely have counseling or referral services. I'm sure they see a lot of students who handle stress in various counterproductive ways. Please consider taking advantage of any available services to learn some coping mechanisms early in the school year, before things REALLY get stressful in your last semester.

You know what I do when I want to over-eat? I come on here. Sometimes just sitting and reading other people's success stories or writing out advice to someone who is struggling can really help you remember why you are doing this and what is important in the long run. You've probably noticed I'm on here a lot - but I am losing weight and feeling a lot more content

Another thing you can do is find out what you enjoy doing that you can have access to in your home, for me - it's reading. I'm a huge book-aholic. I can happily get lost in a book for an hour and that definitely helps me forget my urges.

If these straight-forward ideas aren't helpful and you still have the urge to binge, I would suggest speaking to a doctor and seeing if they can help you address the problem. Having a healthy relationship with food will really make this process more sustainable and a lot more straightforward. Wishing you the best of luck