weight loss and disorderd eating

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jessVanL
jessVanL Posts: 20 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey guys I'm not sure I'm posting this in the right place but i was wondering if anyone else here has disordered eating habits and how it affects their weight loss.
In a but shell I was diagnosed with EDNOS ( eating disorder not otherwise specified ) like 4 years ago and it makes keeping my eating habits healthy really difficult. My biggest issues are that I don't know how to " eat when I'm hungry" I swing between overeating and starving with almost no healthy medium( probably why I've picked up and lost the same 10 kgs like 5 times in 4 years) I don't have a functioning healthy relationship with food and I was wondering if anyone else has something like this and how you deal with it.
If this is the wrong place for the discussion I'm sorry and a mod is welcome to move it

Replies

  • misskarne
    misskarne Posts: 1,765 Member
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    Isn't this something you should be discussion with your treatment team?
  • everher
    everher Posts: 909 Member
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    I don't struggle with an ED, but I think a lot of people who are overweight or obese struggle with "eating when hungry".

    Personally, it's something I struggle with, but I sort of eliminated the whole thing by eating three meals a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner) at scheduled times.

    So it's not really about whether I'm hungry or not. If it's breakfast time I eat breakfast, if it's lunch time I eat lunch, and when it's dinner time I eat dinner. If it's not one of those times I don't eat.

    If I ate every time I thought I was hungry or I wanted food I would be constantly eating. This is just how I personally manage the whole not being able to tell if I'm hungry problem.
  • jessVanL
    jessVanL Posts: 20 Member
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    Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »
    Interesting...however probably a bad choice of words for something like this, but this is the first time ive ever heard of someone having both ends of the spectrum with an eating disorder, usually its one side or the other, like for me i have B.E.D.. and while i went through thoughts of wanting to starve i was never actually ever successful at it..

    I could see how it would be hard to medicate something like that too.. Or even get therapy
    It would be like teaching an anorexic how to eat again and be healthy and then months later have them back in for binge eating and have to teach them how to not eat.. almost counter productive.. and probably very frustrating..

    I hope someone else here on MFP can relate to you OP, cause i definitely have no useful suggestions i could offer =/

    The best way I've ever had it explained to me ( because to be honest I didn't understand it myself) is that I used to ( I don't really anymore or not to the same extent) starve myself for as long as I could keep control, some times it was weeks other times months then I completly lose control and binge and over eat for weeks till I got so guilty I'd swing the other way ahain . so I'd go from sometimes doing 300 calories a day for weeks to 6000 calories per day. So my metabolism is pretty messed. I'm much healthier now and I got help for it but my unhealthy relationship with food is pretty much unchanged
  • pupleglass
    pupleglass Posts: 13 Member
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    Hi! I am in almost the same exact situation. I have never been medically diagnosed but I have been in the hospital (emergency room) for undereating and malnourishment as well as struggled with binging/overeating as well. The thing I find that helps me the most is seeing my calorie goal as something that I need to reach by the end of the day. That way, I am encouraged to eat enough throughout the day and when I finally reach my daily calorie limit, I feel as though I have accomplished my goal and I don't feel the need to keep eating. I know that might not help anyone else, but I guess its just a personal trick that has helped me.
    Another tip I have is that if you feel like you want to eat a lot, as I often do, choose a yummy healthy option instead of a high-calorie unhealthy option. That way even if you eat a lot, it won't impact you as much and you won't feel as guilty about it.
    I know how difficult of a situation this can be and I know that the things that help me might not help you, but I wish you the best of luck! <3 take care
  • allyphoe
    allyphoe Posts: 618 Member
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    My binge-and-restrict cycles have a narrower calorie range (more like 1,000-4,000), but my gain-loss cycles are wider (+/- 50-75 pounds).

    The things that have worked for me have been a slow rate of loss (like half a pound or less per week), eating all my calories whether I wanted them or not, and a half-dose of an SSRI. Preventing the restrict half of the cycle worked reasonably well for me, but was hard hard. The meds made eating an emotional nothing for me - no thrill in restricting, no comfort in binging - as if by magic. YMMV.
  • jamocha101
    jamocha101 Posts: 20 Member
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    I'm currently getting inpatient treatment for heart problems caused by anorexia nervosa. Luckily I didn't get horribly malnourished before I was coerced to go the ER, as I was caught out early on. Nonetheless, I can strongly relate to disordered eating. Message me if you need somebody to talk to.
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
    edited February 2017
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    OP- you didn't tell us your stats or goal, but have you tried pre-logging an entire week or two at your calorie goal, and then sticking exactly to your log? While I don't have an ED, I'm prone to binging. But seeing 1800 calories a day, laid out for the entire week helps me feel in control. I know exactly what I'll be eating and when, so there's no panic about what to eat next. I also do all my prep on Sundays and pack my next days meals the night prior. I realize it's a bit anal, but taking the guesswork out has really helped me. It also allows me to get pretty darn close to my macros each day.
  • fiberopticjellyfishmfp
    fiberopticjellyfishmfp Posts: 27 Member
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    I also have ENDOS and after 5 active years in recovery, I FINALLY have my natural hunger signals back. It just happened around 3 months ago. I agree that prelogging my weeks helped me, and measuring out "normal" portions of food to "train" myself into eating enough, but not too much. Also, try to set a good medium with losing, such as half a pound or a pound of week. You'll have more calories to work with, and hopefully binging won't be as likely for you.
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
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    What has helped me has been pre-planning. If I plan out my meals on a daily basis for a few weeks, I gain more control for awhile; then I have to go back to pre-planning.
  • jnducharme
    jnducharme Posts: 83 Member
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    I would describe my eating disorder that I recovered from as mainly BED but I also went through periods of starving myself for 2-4 weeks and then binging majorly for another period of time. I am recovered now but still find it helpful to eat scheduled small meals throughout the day usually 4 breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner. I think this would help with both ends of your disorder because if you're feeling bingy you know you will get to eat soon so you can hold on for another 2h and if you are having a hard time eating none of the meals will feel overwhelming. Eating small, regular, balanced meals will also help to get your metabolism working in a normal, healthy way again. I have been talking to a lot of people on here recently about tools for recovery from eating disorders (mainly BED) and am happy to chat with you personally to pass on anything I learnt along the way. Hearing insights from people who had recovered really really helped in my recovery because it gave me hope and tools to work with.
  • MaggieGirl135
    MaggieGirl135 Posts: 986 Member
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    Op, there are therapists who specialize in ED's. Please find one; they can help.
  • jessVanL
    jessVanL Posts: 20 Member
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    MaggieGirl135 wrote: »
    Op, there are therapists who specialize in ED's. Please find one; they can help.
    I have a therapist , recovering from an eating disorder is a long term thing and some people never completely get rid of the mind set or habits.

  • subcounter
    subcounter Posts: 2,382 Member
    edited February 2017
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    jessVanL wrote: »
    Hey guys I'm not sure I'm posting this in the right place but i was wondering if anyone else here has disordered eating habits and how it affects their weight loss.
    In a but shell I was diagnosed with EDNOS ( eating disorder not otherwise specified ) like 4 years ago and it makes keeping my eating habits healthy really difficult. My biggest issues are that I don't know how to " eat when I'm hungry" I swing between overeating and starving with almost no healthy medium( probably why I've picked up and lost the same 10 kgs like 5 times in 4 years) I don't have a functioning healthy relationship with food and I was wondering if anyone else has something like this and how you deal with it.
    If this is the wrong place for the discussion I'm sorry and a mod is welcome to move it

    You can do what most of us are doing. Simply track your calories in, and stay in a small deficit, so you lose weight and you don't feel super hungry. Eat a lot of veggies, stuff that are big in volume but low in calories. Those are amazing in terms of making you feel full.

    So as long as you weigh everything, track your calories, follow MFP daily calorie goals for say 0.5 pounds to 1 pounds/week, depending on how much you wanna lose, you'll be okay. No worries about when you eat. Can eat once a day, 3 times, 6 times, 10 times a day, its the same thing in terms of weight loss. What matters is which one do you function better with? Choose that one.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    I have never had enough of the "right" problems to qualify for a ED diagnosis, but I have indeed had disordered eating habits for long periods, based on misinformation-induced fear. Every day I would restrict for as long as I could, and then overeat, and my weight reached borderline obese twice. I still don't have fully functional hunger and satiety cues, but that's not a real problem; I eat three (or four) balanced and thoughtfully portioned meals per day and monitor my weight. The fear is long gone and I enjoy eating; I really feel I have a healthy relationship with food now.

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