Problem with reoccurring binge eating
enaudnoslo
Posts: 9 Member
Anyone have any success regarding binge eating?
I believe it's not really about the food but rather the underlying emotional struggles. I came from a very dysfunctional/alcoholic family and believe that is a possible source (of inner, unresolved turmoil). Another one I think I have found is not eating enough, and that sets me up for a binge. Another is certain foods (sugar, white flour). Also, when I am with my family, I am very susceptible to overeating/binging.
Knowing this doesn't seem to keep me from binging/overeating. I had one tonight. Sad face.
Any thoughts? Anyone else having success in this area?
I believe it's not really about the food but rather the underlying emotional struggles. I came from a very dysfunctional/alcoholic family and believe that is a possible source (of inner, unresolved turmoil). Another one I think I have found is not eating enough, and that sets me up for a binge. Another is certain foods (sugar, white flour). Also, when I am with my family, I am very susceptible to overeating/binging.
Knowing this doesn't seem to keep me from binging/overeating. I had one tonight. Sad face.
Any thoughts? Anyone else having success in this area?
6
Replies
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You're on the right track. Keep trying. Keep thinking, researching, learning. It gets better.1
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Just don’t buy it. Keep steady full balanced meals around. If I feel like eating like crazy I only allow myself to go over by 1000 calories and it’s heck to pay in the gym the next day because I will work it off.
Very sorry to hear about the family situation. A few things I did that were hard at first but I’m so glad I did it....unplug the tv. It’s been unplugged for two years and I loved tv. I stay on the run from morning until night. If I find extra down time, then gym second time, library, walk outside, shop, friends, hike....changed my focuses. When you build a better world around you, you will demand more out of yourself and others. Maybe things that once stressed you or were a priority fade and that want to binge eat to have control and feel satisfaction..might disappear.
Eat to live, not life to eat. Cheat here and there. Live life. No deprive yourself of carbs.10 -
Thanks for your comments. I ended up going for a 2 hour walk last night later and got down to just 500 cals over for the day. I then apportioned that to today's breakfast and will workout a little bit more today. I hope this doesn't occur too often. It seems there is a rebellious monster living inside me at times. Also, I have food allergies - sugar, white flour, and many sugar substitutes. I love them, but they make me crave. I think part of the puzzle (for yesterday at least) is a "low sugar" oatmeal I ate that seems to keep sending me over the top. Also, two days earlier I ate too much (including much sugar) when celebrating a birthday/mother's day party with family. Two days later is usually when I am susceptible to overeating again due to a sugar hangover. Hope you have a blessed day.3
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Are you my male twin????? When you figure out how we can fix this then let me know! It’s a battle that I have fought my entire adult life. I think we can do it, just have to find the exact motivation to succeed.
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A binge is what happens when your inevitable losing battle to deprive yourself of something hits a speed bump. Unfortunately, all weight lost through deprivation is temporary... because once we stop depriving ourselves of whatever that is, that weight comes back (that's the very definition of a "yo-yo").
And so while you're being good and strong willed and shutting yourself off from certain foods, when you hit a trigger... family, a bad day at work... a weight loss plateau... it sometimes causes us to question why we've been depriving ourselves and overcompensate by binging on that which we've been self-withholding.
Basically, what I found really worked for me this time... and I've now gone from 400 lbs to 255 pounds in the last 2 years and I haven't felt like I'm denying myself anything... is that I DON'T deny myself anything. Just restrict how much of something you can have. So whatever those foods are which you've found yourself binging on? Going forward, let yourself have them in small quantities from time to time. Enough so you feel satisfied and don't "miss" them, or long for them. Just enough so that you don't overdo it with them, you know? If you can find that balance, when you hit a rough patch next time, you won't turn to that particular food for comfort, because it's already something that is part of your life. Not something you feel can "fix" things for you.
I'm not saying that's an easy thing to do... but I am saying if you can figure out how to mange things in that way, it really makes the way forward a lot easier.
Good luck!!!
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I understand. I have noticed I also started turning to food to fill the void I have. I’m a single mother so I have absolutely zero time for myself, work or go out and socialize. I gained about 10 pounds within a short period of time and for my frame you can tell right away. So what I did was go ahead and do a detox. Then tried the 7 day water fast to eliminate more toxins (lasted 3 days)
and now I’m trying to balance with meal replacement shakes and the gym. Excercise has helped. It’s all mainly mental and will power 8 -
Behavioral therapy is working so far for me! Highly recommend it3
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sunsweet77 wrote: »Just don’t buy it. Keep steady full balanced meals around. If I feel like eating like crazy I only allow myself to go over by 1000 calories and it’s heck to pay in the gym the next day because I will work it off.
Very sorry to hear about the family situation. A few things I did that were hard at first but I’m so glad I did it....unplug the tv. It’s been unplugged for two years and I loved tv. I stay on the run from morning until night. If I find extra down time, then gym second time, library, walk outside, shop, friends, hike....changed my focuses. When you build a better world around you, you will demand more out of yourself and others. Maybe things that once stressed you or were a priority fade and that want to binge eat to have control and feel satisfaction..might disappear.
Eat to live, not life to eat. Cheat here and there. Live life. No deprive yourself of carbs.
I understand what you're getting at here, but don't buy what? food? My binge eating (and from what I read here, many others) isn't restricted to "junk" food it could be any food. It's the act of eating that calms me in response to an emotional trigger. It could be a bar of chocolate, but it could just as easily be a bigger portion of what I was planning to have for dinner.
I think the way someone else described it on another thread is exactly the way I feel - other things can help me destress, but not in the same way that I feel a wash of calm over me when eating. I know it's not a healthy response, but it has taken years to try and get some sort of handle on it and even now I still do it now and again.
OP - do you continue to log when you have a binge-eating episode? I did find that the accountability in itself made me more aware of what I was doing and has helped me in a way, it's also helped me realise that if it's not that often, it really doesn't lead to weight gain, just sets my weight loss back a little. Try to avoid eating too little/exercising to compensate, getting into a cycle of binge & restrict is hard to get out of and isn't healthy for the body or the mind.
Have you sought any professional help in dealing with your emotional struggles?
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My struggles come from my job working with children and my co workers . I was a huge snacker. It was bad, I would only eat real meals about once a day. NO breakfast and eat on chips , crackers, cookies and other junk foods ALL DAY. It did not cross my mind as to how much damage this was doing to my body. I end up being 248lbs at 5”9 when I decided enough was enough . Long story short I’ve lost 46lbs so far and my co workers know this. They continue to offer me snacks almost everyday or even buy me big bags of chips or boxes of crackers. No matter how much I explain to them I can’t have just one serving and be okay, they don’t stop offfering! It’s CRAZY and now I have been eating one or two crackers here and there or even the whole sleeve and going way over the carbs and calories that I have been eating! I’m so disappointed in my self it’s so hard to say NO!2
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I agree with you that it's rarely about the actual food.
For me, thing went something like this...
First...
I started reflecting on my binges and what had happened that day, how I was feeling, what I had done, etc... I tried to identify common factors that led to my binges.
Once I had a handle on that...
I started anticipating a binge, first by recognizing the contributing factors and eventually by being self-aware enough that I could feel myself headed down that road.
That allowed me to...
Work on preventative/proactive behaviors. Sometimes those behaviors were healthy alternatives to binge eating, sometimes there were simply less bad/destructive.
Ultimately though, all that is just a bandaid to the real issues. Getting a handle on the real issues is the only way to really "solve" things. Otherwise it's just a process of being better able to manage/cope with things.
To add...
My ability to manage comes and goes. I still have really bad phases, during which I know what's happening, I just don't care enough to do anything about it. Conversely, I have really good stretches, too.5 -
I understand. I have noticed I also started turning to food to fill the void I have. I’m a single mother so I have absolutely zero time for myself, work or go out and socialize. I gained about 10 pounds within a short period of time and for my frame you can tell right away. So what I did was go ahead and do a detox. Then tried the 7 day water fast to eliminate more toxins (lasted 3 days) and now I’m trying to balance with meal replacement shakes and the gym. Excercise has helped. It’s all mainly mental and will power
Detoxes are not a thing. Your liver is designed to detox your body. Detoxing and water fasting do not remove toxins. Again, your liver does that.
If you believe you can utilize meal replacement shakes as part of your daily intake for the foreseeable future, by all means, enjoy. I think most people would find that a drastic and unsustainable way to lose weight long term. Eating calories at a deficit is proven to be effective. No shakes or fasting or cutting things out necessary. Drastic measures might work in the short term, but pretty much never keep the weight off in the long term because these measures are not sustainable.
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I completely understand everything you said
I’m glad you posted!
I was a binge eater
I have food sensitivity
I also have a problem with alcohol
What I did:
I had to stop drinking (so I joined a 12 step program. It was worth it, best group of friends I have who get me and who are focused on improving their lives
I cut out sugar and flour
I got a therapist (someone I felt comfortable talking to) - within 1 month of seeing her once a week I was no longer binging. Yay! As I’ve continued to see her the more I eat only because I’m hungry
Eating a lot of protein helps too for me for some reason
Most of all- I decided to be gentle with myself and not judge myself if I did over-eat
Good luck!
I believe in you3 -
Over restrictions are pretty common triggers for binges as are emotions. Forgive yourself, track the food and move forward. Extra protein helps and be sure your calorie goal isn’t set too low.2
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Hi. I put on pretty much all of my weight very quickly through binge eating. I found that once I started binging, I struggled to get off the wagon and would binge every day despite feeling really sick. I had some success with cutting out all sugar but as soon as I had some (due to increased confidence or social expectation) I would quickly find myself back in a binge cycle.
I have binged once or twice while dieting and am certainly nowhere near cured however I have found the following things to help:
- eating enough calories and aiming for a reasonable amount of protein and bulk fibre. This way I avoid getting over hungry and craving high fat/high sugar foods.
- not restricting any foods. I eat everything so long as it fits in my calories. I eat chocolate at least once a day, often twice. I regularly have fast food.
- logging everything I eat on MFP even where it is only a best guess.
- always aiming to eat to my calorie goal and planning special events etc so that I do. However, if I have really increased hunger (like when pre-menstrual) I will allow myself to eat up to maintenance.
- if all fails and I binge I log what I've eaten no matter how bad. What I often find is that although it's a lot of calories it is not in itself enough to put on more than 1lb of fat if that, when my nornal deficit is taken into account.
- after a binge, forgive yourself immediately. I do not punish myself, try to exercise the calories off or reclaim the calories from my next meal/day/week. This is really the hardest bit but the thing that may make you most successful in breaking the cycle.
Hope that helps4 -
I just ate well for 5 3/4 days and then started binging all evening. I go to Overeaters Annonymous which you might find helpful. I really don't think it is for me but I still go. It can help with mental/emotional issues because you would share your problems with a sponsor. I have not had luck with a sponsor. A number of people there do not eat flour, sugar or wheat product because they are addicted to them. You know, I do the yo-yo diet binging and dieting for over 45 years. It is actually I think easier to have a plan set up where you do not eat any of your binge foods so that you would never have to struggle with should I or should I not eat something. It would be more straight forward. It is truly so tough when you have an eating disorder. I lost 70 lbs. a year ago and have now just gained back 30. People say that dieting and restricting sets you up for a binge. But if you are like me and cannot have one roll with butter at a restaurant because if you did begin to just plan to eat one, you would not only eat the rest of the basket but ask for another bread basket with more butter. If you cannot stop at one, then you should have none. But the emotions of the day can get you off track. I am not sure why I started binging tonight. Some man at OA asked me how I was. I told him I had a good week but was sad the before that because my mother-in-law died and my Mom just died. Do you know he told me to keep it in perspective because at least I didn't lose a child? So I think what he said is bothering me. (My sibling did die so I do know what it is like a bit through my Mom's eyes). But anyway, I transgress. Some posters above did say to track your binges. I don't and that is definitely a problem (and usually stop weighing myself). I guess a form of denial. What I should have done tonight was to come on here and share that I felt like a binge was creeping in. So it is great of you for asking for help. Hopefully, tomorrow I will not binge and get right back on track, please. Hugs to you.3
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HI all, thanks for the input and support. I have been entering my food as best I can and had a few more binges since I wrote this thread. I found one thing that helps for me is to track my food in MFP but then write it down on paper only once the afternoon starts. I seem to get more obsessive as the day wears on and I will obsess on "500 unused calories". It's like someone who has $500 extra dollars "burning a hole" in their pocket.
Two things I found or were reminded of that are huge triggers for me are (beside sugar/alcohol/white flour): 1) Not eating enough and 2) My family (siblings). Somewhere inside, I seem to be judging myself as unworthy and I eat to cover this untruth up. It seems when I am with my family I am triggered in these feelings of unworthiness or at least "nothingness". Probably from childhood abandonment issues as my mother suffered with alcoholism and would (at times) leave us with people we didn't really know. I have been to OA meetings and read their stuff and like it, but I am not sure of the whole disease thing. I am not this "disease" or even this struggle. I believe it's confined to my body and I am not my body. Make it a great day and be kind to yourself.1 -
I think everyone has a bit of a binge eater living inside of them. I give myself a binge day on each holiday that comes up and eat at a slightly steeper deficit the days surrounding to keep my weekly calories to a standard instead of focusing on the daily ones. Perhaps you could treat it like that? If you know you're going to see your family, kind of shift your calories lower on the surrounding days to make room for the binge you know you're going to indulge in. It may not be the healthiest (mentally) approach to the situation, but if it helps you overcome feeling guilty about it later then that's what really matters, don't you think?
If you find yourself skulking around for an extra something at home, maybe pinpoint what your binge triggers may be (for me, it's M&M's, those little suckers are the devil to me) and eradicate them. I've had M&M's all of once in the last two and a half months and honestly, while I do think about how great they would be from time to time, I find it best to wait it out and have an actual meal before I even consider giving in, and by the time I've finished eating I don't even crave anything sweet anymore.0 -
When it comes to weight loss and keeping the weight off (the most difficult task) binging can happen at any moment. Stress, work overload, depression, anxiety, etc etc. I say instead of binging have one cheat meal once every 10 days. A small reward. And eat healthy for 9 days. 10th day a cheat meal and then day 11 and on eat clean.0
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enaudnoslo wrote: »Anyone have any success regarding binge eating?
I believe it's not really about the food but rather the underlying emotional struggles. I came from a very dysfunctional/alcoholic family and believe that is a possible source (of inner, unresolved turmoil). Another one I think I have found is not eating enough, and that sets me up for a binge. Another is certain foods (sugar, white flour). Also, when I am with my family, I am very susceptible to overeating/binging.
Knowing this doesn't seem to keep me from binging/overeating. I had one tonight. Sad face.
Any thoughts? Anyone else having success in this area?
I started a similar thread and got a lot of fantastic input. One thing in particular that seems to be helping a lot is front-loading evening snack calories (I tend to overeat in the evenings after a good day otherwise). I just log 250 extra calories with breakfast and then work with that total the rest of the day. I often forget that I put them in and I'm thrilled when I get to consume the snack!! Works well for me. 🤗1 -
I have this problem some days when I am probably not eating enough I get super hungry. I used to cave and eat whatever but now I keep bags and bags of my favorite frozen veggie mixes in the freezer. When I get the urge I microwave an entire bag and just binge on a veggie mix instead of junk. I feel full and maybe do about 200 or 300 calories worth of eating. Not bad for feeling totally full.0
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Good info here from others. I have been free of the binge eating for years now--I struggled with it for 20 years of my life.
But I don't even have the urge anymore. Therapy helped a lot, so I'd recommend that. Here's what I did in case it helps you or someone else reading.
I would always find myself in a frenzied state of mind in the grocery store buying a bunch of "forbidden" foods to eat--and feeling like I had no idea how it happened, as if I was on auto-pilot.
My therapist got me to recognize what was happening before I got to the grocery store so that I could realize I was making a choice to binge. Before that, it had always seemed like something I couldn't control or something that was happening TO me. But once I saw that it actually was a choice, it was empowering because I realized I could make a different choice. That's how I started changing my behavior.
As others said, I do believe that the binges were driven by emotions, but I have to say I've never understood exactly what my reasons were--and I got better without understanding the root.
Something else I found helpful was realizing that I just really like to feel full and satisfied. I have a huge appetite and I always have. "Normal" portion sizes have never filled me up. So now I do something called volume eating, though I never realized there was a name for it. It is just a way of eating that uses lots of low calorie foods that take up a lot of space in your stomach. This allows me to have a feeling of being full and satisfied while staying within my calorie budget, eating healthy foods, and not binge eating. There is actually a volume eaters thread on MyFitnessPal that is very active. You can get some ideas there if you think that would help you.
I don't eat any of my trigger foods. I just know they send me off track, and I find it easier to avoid them than to try to eat them in moderation. That's is just my personal strategy, but in general I think moderation is better if you can manage it.
A few other things that help me:
Learning to cook
Pre-logging my food one day in advance
Prepping food in advance (usually on the weekend)
Reusing a lot of the same meals and copying them forward in MyFitnessPal
Increasing protein keeps me full longer
You can beat this--hang in there!
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