Why can't I be normal?

You need to figure out how to untie your eating habits from your emotions. I would say start with some therapy, both for your eating habits and for the depression that I suspect makes them so hard to change (I say this as someone with lifelong depression).

You are the one who needs to live your life. Figure out why you're the one who's sabotaging that. I understand that it's hard and will bring up some stuff that you probably don't want to think about, but you can do it. At the risk of a bad pun, what do you have to lose?

What she said. Get some professional help. The really good advice you can find on these boards can be obscured by the wild west-ness of it. Still, it won't hurt to keep open to the good wisdom of this crowd.

First off you can never give up. If you had given up you wouldn't be posting on here. There's no way to know your whole story from one post but I can tell you are frustrated and at a loss. Weight loss can be overwhelming but at its basic it's not that bad. Try to take it slow and take small steps towards your goal rather than looking at how far you have to go. Take day by day and always try to make today better than yesterday. I eat a lot of take out and fast food but the key is to find what's better at each place you stop and try to cut portions down. It's hard at first but comes easier as you go. I believe in you and I know you won't give up. You are worth it and don't let anyone else tell you that you aren't.

You might want to see if you can get treatment through a weight management or eating disorders clinic. They have specialized knowledge and options available that you won't have access to if you go see a regular primary care/internal medicine doctor and/or a therapist who treats all different types of conditions. You may want to consider bariatric surgery if you can't get a grip on your eating disorder through other means. But there are other options, including medically supervised diet and exercise programs, drugs like phentermine and topamax that suppress the appetite, and of course counseling with someone who specializes in eating disorders.

When I sought help the local weight loss clinic gave me focussed support for three years. I got training, therapy, and weight loss surgery. The alternative was to go on more medication and suffer continued loss of mobility.

I love my new life. I'm fifty-six.

I am sorry that you are struggling. I have struggled with food my entire life.

Four and a half years ago I got diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. A couple of months later I got diagnosed with depression. It was awful.
It does sound to me like you have some depression going on.

I highly recommend finding someone to talk to. Also, talk to your doctor. I don't think you can fix the eating thing until you fix what is happening otherwise. It seems to be intertwined. I ate my feelings for most of my life. I was a competitive swimmer most of my life, which is the only reason I wasn't morbidly obese. After menopause though, I couldn't lose anything.

I have finally dealt with my eating and eat a clean diet. My MS is under control and I have been slowly going down on my anti-depressants.

I have dealt with some awful things in my life. I don't eat my feelings anymore.

I think that you can do this, but you need to deal with things going on in your life. It doesn't make you weak to reach out and get help. There are many places that can help you. The fact that you exercise and dance will help you lose weight when you are ready. Please reach out and get help. I know you can do it.

Don't give up Libramoon! You have to CHANGE how you are approaching weight loss. It isn't your fault! You learned these habits and they are ingrained. You can also UNLEARN them but it takes a lot of time.

Please take the advice of a poster above who said LOG EVERYTHING and change NOTHING for the next few weeks.

I have been doing myfitnesspal for a year. I binged like crazy yesterday and felt completely defeated. But you know what I did?

I LOGGED IT ALL.

And then I ate normally today. Because I have learned to LOG it.

That is the only thing I've ever learned to do successfully.

I've taken off about 30 pounds this year. I am now 'normal' but I struggle most days.

I am 57.

Don't wait till you are my age.

JUST TODAY LOG.

Report back tomorrow ;-))

You also need to recognise that while losing weight will be a good thing it will not magically fix the rest of your life. Check out the wedding pages and you will see a lot of over weight brides, you will need to do other stuff to fix your social life.