Help dealing with binge eating

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A few questions

What does a binge look like in calorie terms?

What was your eating pattern like before lock down? Is binging new or long term?

How much weight do you want to lose?

Have you been diagnosed with an eating disorder?

Could it be you binge because you deprive yourself of food during the day? Do you build small things that you really like into your diet during the day?

Other than that: You have to find something to do despite the lockdown. How serious is yours? Can you go to the bins and bring paper to the recycle bin? Do that every day just for a bit of fresh air. Otherwise: what about a small workout over lunch? Doesn't need to be much: maybe some light yoga, a bit of bodyweight exercise, or put on a song and just dance wildly. What do you do in the evening? Find something useful to do: more exercise, learn a new skill, just keep yourself busy!

iuoyuwwrmlioxneunm wrote: »

Don't buy binge foods and don't keep them in your house? It's like having a stocked liquor cabinet around a raging alcoholic.

For me, ice cream and a lot of candy and cereal I tend to binge on. I can rack up 4,000 calories a day on those foods easily. It's hard to binge on things like chicken breast, broccoli, and celery.

Only semi-true here. True bingeing episodes don't even have to include food you actually like or enjoy all that much. Personally, I could theoretically binge on everything in my kitchen except celery unless there's peanut around. IF I lived by myself I'd not bring home anything except chicken, fish and veggies. But since dh is here too, and he just does NOT understand how having a package of cookies in the house can be for me(or crackers, bread, anything at all), it's not going to happen. He can make a pint of Ben and Jerry's last 2 days, I might get it to last an hour.

OP, I can sincerely sympathize with what you're going through with this. I just started a thread about the same topic on the nutrition site. At the moment I have no advice, just complete empathy. I am as weak as I've ever been.

When you plan a restriction it perpetuates a binge. You are starting your day in fear of the binges and the binge and restrict loop begins.

Trying to save all your calories for the inevitable seems like you're being proactive but in reality it's a restriction and it's just continuing the loop.

You need to eat normally and eat regular meals and then find other means to deal with the night time, you cant remove the food, but you can pick and choose the food you binge on, you can ask for help from your husband, explain that you are struggling right now and that you could use his support.

Be conscious for those binges, if you eat normally all day and at night you find yourself eating, make sure you log the food, pick foods that arent calorie dense and be accountable for it. Log them before you eat them and acknowledge the food you are eating. Ask yourself each time you decide to get more food if you really want to eat as you watch those calories climb.

It's really hard to deny yourself those higher calorie foods sometimes but it is possible to get through those moments with minimal damage.

Also when you wake up the next day do not correct or restrict the calories you went over, make sure you just eat normally and eat all your calories because correction is restriction and restrictions loop to binges

The only thing I can add is, keeping myself busy helps me from snacking (or binging in your case). I make a hot cup of apple cider (70 calories) and read a good book. Or clean out/organize a closet while listening to music. Take a long shower or bath. Paint my nails. I try and walk/get in a good exercise session daily as it helps curb my appetite. When all else fails, go to sleep. Pre-logging your food is helpful for a lot of people as well - make sure you are getting enough calories (0.50-1lb per for a goal of weight loss).