How to overcome binge eating?

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dpreston85x
dpreston85x Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have to admit, for as long as I can remember. This has been my biggest issue. I'll get so hungry, so weak, that I will just eat.. and eat.. and eat.. Till I'm ill. I woke up in tears this morning because I can't do this anymore. Its taking over my life. I just have such an unhealthy relationship with food. Anyone successfully overcome this "addiction"?

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  • EmilyHughes801
    EmilyHughes801 Posts: 63 Member
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    I'm still struggling with it. I didn't sleep at all last night, thinking about how this affects me and how to try to stop. I've tried eating a bigger breakfast so I won't overeat as the day goes on, but it's doesn't work that much. I realized that since I go to school most 5/7 days of the week I wake up at 5 in the morning on school days and eat breakfast. I somehow eat healthier when I'm at school. My body is used to the schedule I guess, so when I have days off I either eat too much or workout too much. Just treat everyday like a new day. The first thing to do when you wake up is drink a glass of water to get the metabolism started. Take 10-20 minutes to listen to motivational videos or inspirational music. The first thing you listen to everyday gets your mindset in the right place (it works for me when I listen to them).
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Decide to stop the binge - starving cycle. Stop depriving yourself. Set up MFP to maintenance. Log your food and aim to hit your calorie goal (+/- 50 calories) every day. Plan your meals and eat at regular intervals every day. Try to incorporate some protein, fat and vegetables in every meal, and have fruit, starch, dairy and nuts every day, and meat/fish if you eat that. Choose foods you like. Don't cut out anything you like. Make every meal something you look forward to. If you can share any of your meals (not your food) with someone, do that. If you can cook, do that.
  • wvmark41
    wvmark41 Posts: 124 Member
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    1. Always leave a little bit of food on the plate. Throw it away! This will start telling your mind, "I don't need that much food."
    2. Throw out all unhealthy snacks (I donate my unopened ones to a food bank). Replace them with carrots, celery, sliced peppers, etc. Healthy snacks (raw fruit & veggies) are not so bad to "binge" on.
    3. Track your meals & snacks on MFP. It worked for me and many others. A healthy meal, followed by a healthy snack 2 hours later can help fight those cravings.
    4. Literally look yourself eye-to-eye in the mirror and tell yourself that you can do this. Dismiss all negative thinking. Every day look at yourself and say, "You can do this, Deb."
    This is a daily battle. We all experience set backs, but we have to keep marching on. I found when I was eating very healthy meals that I was more than full after meals. Sometimes I felt too full, but MFP was saying I needed more calories. Crazy, huh? You can do this!
  • Mersie1
    Mersie1 Posts: 329 Member
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    All good advice. Brain over binge and intuitive eating are also great books!! I love the advice of talking to yourself in the mirror. We must be our own greatest cheerleaders.
  • lemonychild
    lemonychild Posts: 654 Member
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    Ure so hungry? Then yes, you're probably over restricting and in a huge deficit that is not allowing you to feel satisfied so you binge because who has the tolerance to always feel hungry. U need to reevaluate your goals and opt out for a less restrictive diet plan
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,952 Member
    edited April 2016
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    dpreston85x wrote: »
    I have to admit, for as long as I can remember. This has been my biggest issue. I'll get so hungry, so weak, that I will just eat.. and eat.. and eat.. Till I'm ill. I woke up in tears this morning because I can't do this anymore. Its taking over my life. I just have such an unhealthy relationship with food. Anyone successfully overcome this "addiction"?

    Why are you allowing yourself to get that hungry?
    1. Overly aggressive weight loss goals? What's your weekly weight loss goal and how many pounds do you have to go to make your goal weight?
    2. Restricting as part of restrict/binge/restrict cycles? Get Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
    3. Not eating foods that satiate you? Please change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings and see http://www.nutrition.org.uk/healthyliving/fuller/understanding-satiety-feeling-full-after-a-meal.html
  • leahkathleen13
    leahkathleen13 Posts: 272 Member
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    Feed your body on a consistent schedule. That way you will know that food is coming soon and never get so hungry hat your appetite is out of control. Protein, and tons of vegetables to fill you up. Also remember that habits take a while to break . Replacing with new habits is also good!
  • DanSTL82
    DanSTL82 Posts: 156 Member
    edited April 2016
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    Here's what I would recommend though you won't like it at first:

    Don't keep food that you love in the house, especially snack food.

    If the food isn't there, you won't be able to pull it out of the pantry/fridge and binge on it.

    Start eating healthy food, food that probably doesn't taste as great as pizza, cookies, whatever else you like, then you probably won't be tempted to binge eat stalks of broccoli and lean ground turkey or egg whites. You'll find other ways to deal with your boredom, stress, etc., than just eating. When you do this, I think you'll find that you are never really as hungry as you think you are. Instead, most of your desire to eat just comes from wanting the entertainment/pleasure aspect of it, not actually for nourishment on an empty stomach. It will take a week or more for you to get used to this, but afterwards you might find yourself much more comfortable with not binging all day.
  • chulipa
    chulipa Posts: 650 Member
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    Hate to say this but maybe you need Professional help it is a eating disorder and someone in the medical field can help you
  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
    edited April 2016
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    Find a counselor who works with eating disorders -- you don't have to go it alone. Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch do a lot of work with folks with eating disorders, and I highly recommend their "Intuitive Eating" book. It's focused on developing a healthy relationship with food.

    http://intuitiveeatingcommunity.org
  • graduateschooler
    graduateschooler Posts: 9 Member
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    It's hard. I still struggle every day, BUT I'm down 32 lbs by managing by emotional eating better! I read a lot of Geneen Roth's books (and did the written exercises) and I'm at a point where I haven't eaten over maintenance since January. When I really want an unhealthy food, if I have enough calories/meals left, I'll eat that pizza or burger, because deprivation can lead to binges. When it's not actually physical hunger that is driving my desire to binge (which is almost always) I remind myself that food is fuel, not comfort, and that overeating actually doesn't make me feel better, solve or respond to my feelings. Best of luck!
  • sokkache
    sokkache Posts: 220 Member
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    It takes 30 days to break a bad habit. I found that if I eat more slowly, I won't eat as much. Keeping myself busy while I eat keeps my mind off the pleasure of eating. Honestly, the biggest piece of advice is to keep yourself busy with something that's more important than eating. I haven't read any books but this was a huge problem that I have had, I just tend to not have a large amount of unhealthy foods around
  • jessica22222
    jessica22222 Posts: 375 Member
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    I go through binges in waves. It seems if I didn't binge I would have been at my goal weight a long time ago. I totally sympathize. I find I get into a rat that lasts about a week. I just keep pushing myself mentally and really try not to beat myself up because that turns it into a worse cycle.
    I find Upping my water really helps, tea. Try to stay hydrated.
    Exercise. Try to do exercise when you feel binge
    Distract. Pick up a hobby or get busy with your hands. Art, gardening, even reading.
    Focus on healthy meals.
  • GreenIceFloes
    GreenIceFloes Posts: 1,491 Member
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    Guilt from binging makes you starve yourself, and starving yourself makes you want to binge. So, first you have to break that cycle. If you do binge, forgive yourself and start over instead of depriving yourself, because you know it would lead to another binge. However, if despite not punishing yourself you feel an 'episode' coming on, I suggest you either distract yourself or try and figure out why you want to binge in the first place.
    I had this issue a couple of years ago myself. To distract myself, I'd get out of the house and take a long, leisurely walk, go to the beauty salon, sit in a coffee shop with a book and be mistaken for a hipster etc. Sometimes I did a half-hour workout and the feeling would pass by the end.
    But what helped me the most was writing down why I wanted to stuff myself, what were the emotions driving me to do this and so forth. This made me take a step back and take a pragmatic look at the situation, because in my case, going on a binge was an emotional problem. It can also be a problem with your nutrition though, so you have to make sure you are not lacking on that front.
    All the best to you! :smile:

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