Anyone have Binge Eating Disorder Success stories (BED)

nlamb1988 · February 2020

Anyone else in here have Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and have any strategies to avoid binges while calorie restricting and trying to meet weight loss goals/ideal body weight?

Would love to hear success stories.

jenncornelsen · February 2020

So mine was maybe not as severe as some, but before weight loss i probably binged 2 evenings a week, eating anywhere from 1000-2500 cals in a few hours, mindlessly. I had to change my routine. I always binged in front of the tv, so i stopped watching tv. I would do anything else. Read, walk, take a bath, whatever. I still slip up, but it's maybe once a month. Think of what triggers the behavior, or what's associated with it. Good luck!

ksharrell48 · February 2020

I've been dealing with BED for 20+ years and feel I'm on a successful path that also includes occasional lapses into unhealthy eating habits. My binges are now much shorter (1-2 days vs. weeks/months) with greater time in between so that's definitely progress.
A great help to me was reading Brain over Binge by Katherine Hansen. Even though everyone's story is different, there were enough similarities in her book that I could identify with along with strategies to help me overcome daily urges to binge.
In a nutshell, I don't restrict any foods, as long as I log every single portion and I stay within my calorie goals. I'm also learning how not to label foods good or bad; it's just portion size and mindful eating strategies that help me get through the day under my calorie goal. Well, those strategies as well as consistent exercise.
For me, I've learned that BED will always be with me, kind of like grief, and I just have to accept that and approach each day, each meal with the knowledge that I have the tools to eat healthier and I have to make that choice.
All the best to you and anyone struggling with BED issues.

freda666 · February 2020

I am finding IF is working for me.

I change it around a bit but at the moment I am restricting myself to 600 calories 3 days a week but on the other 4 I allow 1800 calories which means, within reason, I can eat pretty much what I want those days.

I do however tend to eat pretty healthy stuff - porridge, loads of veg, apples, lentils and brown rice, fish, turkey and chicken. I also tend to eat crispbreads instead of bread. I do allow myself a small bag of 8 gummy sweeties on normal days and that helps too and I also have frozen, 75 calorie juice bars in the freezer.

On fasting days I make veg soup with a couple of ounces of chicken, currently with miso.

Binging has been a way of life for me and restricting calories has always ended up with an urge so great I have got in the car to buy ice cream, sweets and crisps at any time of the day or night but so far, following my current regime, this has not happened once.

Been doing this around 6 months and I have so far lost 25kg and have the same amount still to go.

And as weird as it sounds, I have also realised that if I shop on fasting days I am less likely to buy high calorie treat foods than I am if I shop on a day when I am 'allowed' to eat them - so there is a thought that might help someone else.

gustavsen22 · February 2020

Most recommendations are short term tricks and nonsense and do not yield long term results. You all know this so don't pretend otherwise. These tricks and fads can help jump start toward a goal, but the bottom line truth is there's nothing you can buy, no "diet" or gimmick or product is going to change your inner programming or you'll just revert.

One thing about binging is we tend to say "screw it" the moment we break a rule we've set, we tell ourselves "well who cares, I've already broken the rule, might as well go all in". Seems logical or rationalized at the time but is absolutely stupid and destructive thinking.

What worked for me:
I reprogrammed myself by telling myself that doing that will kill me and prevent me from being a father to my kids. Which is absolutely true. This worked for me but you've got to find what works for you.

Change your thinking and see it through to a change of habits and the weight and better health will follow.

Our weight is a SYMPTOM it's not the cause or disease. Focusing on the fever does nothing to help cure or heal the cause - in fact it can be to our detriment in some cases.

Continue bad habits and look for tricks and cheats to minimize their impact temporarily... we all know what that gets us - more of the same and leads to us being very hard on ourselves for failure.

Create good habits and everything else falls into place. It really is that simple. But you need to figure out what habits are going to work for you, your situation and your goals. Be honest, then make it happen.

The rest is just noise and usually comes from people with something to sell you, or it's words from someone trying to justify their own behavior.

freda666 · February 2020

gustavsen22 wrote: »

Create good habits and everything else falls into place. It really is that simple. But you need to figure out what habits are going to work for you, your situation and your goals. Be honest, then make it happen.

With respect, that is stating the bleeding obvious. :-)

It is all about recognising that you have a problem and finding ways to manage it, which of course is anything but simple. Not convinced it can ever be "cured" though.

But glad to hear you have found a way through and more power to you.

gustavsen22 · February 2020

Because the solution is obvious, but people don't want a solution they want a shortcut or some "silver bullet" and it doesn't exist. There are no shortcuts tricks or gimmicks with lasting results. Zero. The sooner you stop BS'ing yourself about it the sooner you start real changes.

Or don't and stay fat and unhealthy and perpetually dissatisfied with the results from your efforts.

Some people need a 12 step type of program to change behavior, they are very successful when properly executed.

Sylphadora · February 2020

I agree with Freda78 that I don't think it can ever be really "cured" but it can be managed. My problem with BED is that I'm not just fighting the urge to binge, I'm fighting food addiction as well and that made it a losing battle. In my case it's not emotional eating or circumstantial bingeing. It's a dependence. The moment I eat a morsel of a triggering food, I crave it like crazy. It really takes over my mind. It's like a brain parasite. I read Brain over Binge too and it didn't help at all. It wasn't as easy as ignoring an urge. "Observing" my urges was enduring mental torture. It really felt like that. I have always been an overeater and really posessive with food but some foods trigger me more than others.

I had to change my whole diet to avoid triggering foods. I don't do moderation. I do abstinence. It's vital for me to do complete abstinence from triggering foods. I first went keto and it was a step in the right direction because thanks to my increased dietary fat intake I stopped craving the worst offenders which are sugar and carbs. However, nuts, charcuterie and dairy became my new drug of choice and I binged on them pretty often on regular keto so I knew I had to do something. Bingeing is still bingeing. I quit nuts and I don't eat dairy or charcuterie often. I'm also really selective with those. I naturally progressed to a zero carb diet, not 100% but most of my foods are animal-based. I'm always satiated and I'm never hungry.

With this way of eating I don't have to ride the wave, observe my urges, etc - I simply don't have cravings which was my ultimate goal. I don't even have nightmares about me bingeing on sugar. I used to have a lot of those because bingeing, especially bingeing on sugar and carbs, was my greatest source of anxiety. I was constantly waiting for the shoe to drop, with that will-I-binge-today? thought permanently stuck in the back of my mind. A lot of people in the zero carb / carnivore community come from a past of food addiction and/or binge eating disorder and found they don't have cravings with this diet. Now, I know it's not for everybody but after a lot of trial and error I found this is how I feel best. There are more people like me so I know I'm not completely crazy, lol

Yivs_87 · February 2020

#Disclaimer - I'm not diagnosed with BED, but I've always thought that I'm quite close to it. I could eat 3-4k+ calories in one sitting - finish off a pizza, followed by a pint of ice-cream, then a bar of chocolate, then maybe cookies, and finally snack on some nuts or whatever is left. And I also have a big problem with snacking. As in - I can't pass by food without wanting to reach out and grab some.

So maybe not really a BED case, but... something close enough.

What helped me was MFP. I joined a few years ago and the first thing I had to do was to become honest in front of myself. I was not admitting just how much food I was taking in. So I forced myself to start logging everything. And gosh, was it eye-opening. And scary.

And if I was focusing on my main courses (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) they were okay calorie-wise. But it was all that in-between snacking that could easily go into a crazy binge (usually triggered by some emotions - I'm definitely an emotional eater) that was easily doubling and sometimes tripling my TDEE.

I started with a few rules for myself: If you want to eat it, log it. If you don't or can't (don't know the recipe for example), you can't eat it. And this made me a lot more conscious about my eating habits, forced me to slow down and actually be mindful when the urges hit. I've had some successful weight losses on here that I've failed so far simply because I'd go back to bad habits, but for example, the past one year while I'd stopped logging any food, I was still quite aware of what I was eating, so in the end, I maintained where I was (well, gained 2kgs back, but at least I didn't explode with 10kgs+ gain). Which is good, considering that I had some bad, bad days.

And now that I'm back to consciously and strictly logging everything, I'm back on the losing track, and controlling my binges and urges is really no longer a problem. To be honest... I don't even remember the last time I had binge - maybe it's been a couple of years now.

So... yeah, this rambling can be summarized - mfp and the mindfulness it brought me about food helped me with my binging.

lambsonfam · February 2020

It is really, really hard to resist those cravings and urges to binge, but since starting MFP six months ago, I have only given in 3 or 4 times. Of course I have counted calories many times, but for some reason it has been a little easier this time. Sure, there are some nights when I want to make chocolate chip cookies and eat 20 of them, but I have been able to resist. Being aware that I binge to sooth myself and escape negative feelings helps too. I have only lost 15 lbs.( probably slow because I am 60 yrs. old) and have 25 lbs. left to lose, but I feel like I just might make it this time! Good luck to all of us!

scottishrabbit · February 2020

As someone who is just starting again after quickly gaining back the weight that I lost at the end of last year, this is really eye-opening. I always start out on a high, then quickly fall into the binge-guilt-restrict cycle after a couple of weeks. My problem is that, with trigger foods, I let myself have some, it quickly turns into more, and then everything in sight. I'm just starting out again, but like Sylphadora above, I'm going the abstinence route (although not quite as extreme). I have very specific rules for meals and snacks, which means planning out a day in advance and sticking to particular times for eating (eg. 500cals for Meal One at 11AM, then 700cals for Meal Two at 7PM). I let myself have as much coffee as I want, try and burn a coupla hundred cals by walking, and have ONE pre-portioned treat throughout the day (and if it's something like chocolate, it would be chocolate chips or buttons rather than a bar, so I can have a little bit at a time). Seems to be working so far!

Also, jenncornelsen made a really good point about trigger situations. I still watch movies and tv now, but I am always doing something else at the same time so I don't get bored-snacky.

elizarose12 · February 2020

Sylphadora wrote: »

I agree with Freda78 that I don't think it can ever be really "cured" but it can be managed. My problem with BED is that I'm not just fighting the urge to binge, I'm fighting food addiction as well and that made it a losing battle. In my case it's not emotional eating or circumstantial bingeing. It's a dependence. The moment I eat a morsel of a triggering food, I crave it like crazy. It really takes over my mind. It's like a brain parasite. I read Brain over Binge too and it didn't help at all. It wasn't as easy as ignoring an urge. "Observing" my urges was enduring mental torture. It really felt like that. I have always been an overeater and really posessive with food but some foods trigger me more than others.

I'm the exact same way. It makes me feel better that there are more people with this issue because once I have one of my trigger foods, I will spend the rest of the day figuring out how to get more... It really is like a parasite... I've also read "Brain over Binge" and while the concept made sense, it didn't work for me in practice. The only thing that has kept the binge urges away is keto, but I've never been able to stik to it for more than a few months and then get so frustrated to see 10 lbs come back in less than a week. I'm currently 50lbs overweight, and I've been tracking on MFP for years, but I haven't been able to stop binging. I feel like I've tried it all: therapy, keto, Beachbody, Atkins, Whole30, several books including The Hunger Fix, Eat Fat Get Thin, The New Health rules + 20 more.

I'm going to keep trying though.

freda666 · February 2020

gustavsen22 wrote: »

Because the solution is obvious, but people don't want a solution they want a shortcut or some "silver bullet" and it doesn't exist. There are no shortcuts tricks or gimmicks with lasting results. Zero. The sooner you stop BS'ing yourself about it the sooner you start real changes.

Or don't and stay fat and unhealthy and perpetually dissatisfied with the results from your efforts.

Some people need a 12 step type of program to change behavior, they are very successful when properly executed.

That is very close to telling someone who is over-weight to just "eat less and move more" - it risks being patronising and unhelpful.

You have found a solution that is working for you - have a child and want to be healthy for them - good, but that is a very personal journey and one that is not going to work for me as I have zero plans re getting pregnant at this moment in time.

acercas · February 2020

I am recovering from bulimia and one thing that has helped me is the book "Brain over binge" (actually the accompanying workbook) - it's like 5 pounds on amazon. Recovery takes time, but you can do it!

AlexandraFindsHerself1971 · February 2020

First I got the binging under control. It wasn't pretty. I sat and shook and cried and said over and over, "Food is not the answer. Food cannot hold you when you're sad, or build your confidence when you feel bad, or help when you are angry. Food can only fuel your body." I outwaited binges until I proved to myself I could and I would not die if I didn't eat. It helped that we were poor. I was not about to eat anyone else's food, and if there was no extra food to eat, I wasn't going to be eating, period.

I still get urges to binge. At this point, I just say "NO!" firmly and do self-care. If I do eat when I didn't intend to, it's way less than it used to be. For one thing, I've successfully shrunk my stomach down, so there's no room! I don't keep the foods I used to binge on in the house. And I'm properly medicated now for the occasional panic attack, so when those happen I can just take the rescue med and go lie down and let it work, and not try to self-medicate with food. I've changed a lot of things in my life that caused me stress and low-grade misery that would break out in binges, and part of my self-care is making sure that I'm not living that way. If I'm stressed, I deal with that in good safe ways.

I'm getting a lot better at figuring out what my body needs, so that I can provide it in a sober and healthy fashion. TOM and I want to eat the world, starting with all the chocolate? How about a good dinner first, and then a piece of really good German chocolate? Yeah, that'll do. And I can trust that it will as I do it, because it's done it before. A lot of my binge triggers have been whittled down like that. I'm the cook, there will be dinner. If I need to eat a snack before bed, there are snacks for such a purpose. If I am upset, how about a workout, how about a walk, how about a bath, how about putting yourself to bed with a cat to purr beside you?

I don't relax vigilance. I suspect I'll always have binge eating in the back of my head. But the other day I was gravely disappointed, and I wept and screamed and ranted and raved...and took my emergency med, and a hot bath, and went to bed. And didn't realize until the next day when I was okay, if sad, that.... binging hadn't even occurred to me in all that.

runinfinity · July 2020

I’ve been binging on cake for the last two days and I feel terrible. I workout religiously, get my 5k steps in everyday but I can’t control myself around food. I’ve (unsuccessfully) tried to maintain a deficit for the last few weeks but my weekend binging sabotages my weight loss every. single. time. I’m so sick of this never ending binge restrict cycle.

SBfromCali · July 2020

I was recently diagnosed with BED and I am taking Vyvance now. It's a life changer for me. It took a few weeks for the insurance company to approve it since I needed my mental health provider to sign off on it too.

hopejacob · July 2020

Just wanted to comment to give anyone reading this hope. I suffered from horrendous binges for something like 20 years. Wasted my youth on it.. but no use regretting that. The point is that I'm now cured, and I mean really cured.

Two things really helped me a lot 1) Brain over Binge as other people have mentioned and 2) Gillian Riley - Eating Less. Brilliant writers both of them

I lived the concepts day in and day out and I can honestly say that I never ever binge now. Not even a little bit. I could do, if I wanted to, I could eat anything I wanted right now if I wanted to, but then I'd also have to choose the feeling of feeling out of control, fat, sick, sluggish.. I wouldn't sleep tonight and I wouldn't be able to get up at 7 and go for a run. No thanks, you can keep it, I prefer to live without the bingeing.

I thought I'd always have to live with it a bit, I thought I'd never make a full recovery. But I did and you can too.

sam33a · July 2020

It's something I have struggled with for many years. Since I was a child. I know that it usually happens when I have been restricting for a long time. When the hunger sets in. I think the best thing would be to stop restricting for a while and maintain your weight, even if you're not at your goal weight. That's what I'm planning on doing for a couple of months myself - literally just decided. I've been restricting for a year now, still have another 10-15 lbs to lose but I am finding it more difficult now to eat so less and worry that I'll binge eat my way back to overweight/obese. I don't know if it's right for you, but no harm in trying, even if it's just for a couple of weeks, it could help.

Dandelie · July 2020

Not trying to be rude here, but the people who keep saying there's a cure....STOP!

You wouldn't tell an alcoholic that they can be cured. You wouldn't tell a drug addict that they can be cured. And food addiction/binge eating/emotional eating triggers the SAME part of the brain that alcohol and drug addicts do when they indulge.

Congrats if you have gotten to a point in your recovery that you do not binge or don't think about a binge. The difference is....that part of your brain will ALWAYS have this urge. You just chose to do something different. In each of your posts (the ones saying it is easy do this or there is a cure), you ALL posted "I think about a binge and then do this." That is NOT a cure.

That is simply choosing to do something else instead of binge. And that means you are in recovery.

But please, for the love of -insert your choice of word here- stop telling people there is a cure.

THERE IS NO CURE. You are addicted to food and the endorphins released when you eat those foods. You choose to do something else that released the same type of endorphins.

Xiaolongbao · July 2020

I don’t suffer from BED but I just popped in here to mention that I’ve started listening to the Half Size Me podcast (it’s free) after seeing someone else on MFP mention it. The woman who does it lost 170lbs and has kept it off for about 8years. She talks quite a lot about binging and how she gradually lessened her binges and what steps she takes to avoid binging (she hasn’t binged in a long time but I think she would agree she’s not cured, rather has just developed techniques to avoid them.

Just thought I’d mention it in case it’s helpful to anyone else. The podcast is about all sorts of things related to healthy eating and lifestyle but binging does come up fairly often.

KellyMccoy2 · July 2020

I have just started MFP calorie counting again, (lost 5lb last week) I find I do better on MFP as I'm not following a diet as such, I eat what I want. I know if I have bad foods then I cant eat alot and I like to eat a lot lol

If I do binge but in a wise way, I try to limit it and then rein it back in over the next few days.....

So What I do for example is have 2 brown toast, with 2 eggs then have a huge portion of mushrooms and tomatoes with it, Then lunch & dinner something similar but with huge portions of salad (I make a lush dressing that is 0 calories) and if I have veg I have lots of them! (Corn,parsnips, peas, cabbage, carrots, asparagus, green beans and use veg stock on them tastes so much better! I buy 64 cal choc bars or mini treat size chocolate, mini bags of popcorn approx 100 calories, 80-90 cal crisps, 80-100 cal mini ice cream sticks (mini milk lollys from Aldi are 30 calories!!!! so I can have 3 and think Im being really bad lol) so nothing is off the menu and I still get to binge a bit (or it feels like it) and Im still losing.

Good luck xx

PAV8888 · July 2020

Not a doctor; not in the industry; hanging around MFP too much, for sure! MFP forums are a very diverse place and attract a lot of people.

Most people, I think, will recognize that there might exist a substantial gap between a) I drink a lot of alcohol and b) I am an alcoholic. a) and b) may look similar when viewed from the perspective of the calories in a 6 pack a day for a year. (We're talking 80 to 90lbs worth of extra calories here!) But the SOLUTION for the two is not necessarily the same!

BED, has a definition. And can only be diagnosed by a doctor who will evaluate whether their patient fully meets the diagnostic criteria for the disease.

Binge like eating episodes may look superficially, or even substantially, similar to BED, but they are often controllable with effort and smart choices.

Limiting the size of one's deficit seems to be a common thread that helps short circuit the restrict-binge cycle for people whose binge like eating is triggered by excess restriction. I would even go as far as saying that not letting oneself get too hungry may be a tool that could help in that situation. And not letting oneself become too tired (this last one is from my personal experience)

Full on BED might be helped by the above; but it probably won't be solved long term.

Pharmacologically tackling BED seems to have very potent results in the short, and maybe even the mid term. But I urge anyone in that position to not view taking stimulants as anything other than an opportunity to engage in longer term intervention.

Relying on the successful long term use of stimulants doesn't seem to be a very high percentage play (based on anecdotal evidence). Vyvance's web advertising discusses the successful use of their drug during a 38 week study. This would amount to a time period of a bit less than 9 months.

PAV8888 · July 2020

And since this is a success story forum, yes, I did go through multiple (I was going to say hundreds, but thinking about it we may well be talking low four digits over the decades) of substantial over-eating episodes in my life.

Yes, they were a large part of why I got to be obese. Not the only part. But a very substantial part of the equation if we consider them to be concentrated time periods where more than 2-5K calories of food were ingested.

Did weight loss fully eliminate them?

Fully? No. If I let myself get too hungry (and in particular too tired) and do not engage in any mitigation then a 15 to 30 minute 2K calories experience is still a definite possibility!

Does it happen often? Not any more! Definitely nor often enough to affect my weight management, or my goals, or to impede life in any which way--so I would say that things are OK!

Cahgetsfit · July 2020

I haven't been diagnosed with BED, but, like a poster above said - I can easily consume thousands of calories in one sitting. I struggle with this - if I start I can't stop kind of thing. Generally brought on by trigger foods, so I can't buy stuff like crisps, unless I make the conscious decision that I am going to sit down and eat the entire bag in one go by myself. Big bag, not those little single-serve things, I'm talking family pack. Those single-serves don't even touch the sides. Same goes for blocks of chocolate. Who can eat one row? I eat the entire thing.

I haven't found the answer to this question, hence I came on to read what people have said and see if I can take away any ideas to put into practice.

If I restrict my calories too much and get too hungry - that brings on bingeing. So now I operate on a small deficit to lose weight when I need to (such as now, because I put on 5kg during Iso because bingeing). I can handle being "peckish" and I manage that by having a carb-dense meal as my last meal of the day. Not binge-triggering carbs like pasta, but I will usually have breakfast-for-dinner of protein porridge oats with fruit. This keeps me fuller longer than if I ate meat and veg. That's just me, other people seem to feel fuller on Protein/Fats. Not my case though.

I also end up having 4 proper meals per day so that I don't have time to get hungry. I will have a decent breakfast, then a first lunch of something like a salad with protein (not just lettuce salad, but stuff like carrot with more oooph), then a proper lunch with rice, meat, beans, veg (for example), then dessert after my second lunch (fruit, yoghurt, something like that), and then my breakfast for dinner dinner.

I have tried to IF (not 5-2 but 16-8) but I get so hungry that when I do eat I can't stop and even if I have a decent breakfast - like 2 toast, 3 eggs, peanut butter - i will still be hungry and things just go downhill.

Anyway, that has been how I've managed to cope. Doens't mean I don't do it anymore - I still do.

I have considered joining OA, a friend of mine joined and is having success, but the only issue I have with it based on what she has told me, is that they don't want you to track/weight etc and you should embrace your body blah blah. Which is fine and good, but I don't FEEL good when I am over my happy weight (which is not stick thin). I feel heavy and lethargic and my clothes don't fit well and I get down on myself and then hey presto - binge because I'm fat anyway so I may as well eat, right? So that "embracing" thing i'm not quite ready for that yet.

EDIT - I do not purge after my bingeing - I just eat eat eat.

New_Heavens_Earth · July 2020

I restrict/binge/exercise purge. I'm in therapy, support groups, and work with an RD who specializes in eating disorders. For now my goals are stop gaining, balance exercise and food intake, and get to the root of my body image issues.

Duck_Puddle · July 2020

I know this thread is a few months old, but I want to share my experience.

I was diagnosed with BED. I binged multiple times a week-being painfully full, food filling my stomach and all the way up to my throat. And still I could not stop eating. I would have to drink water to try to compact the food so I could fit more in. The urge to eat was overwhelming and uncontrollable. I had several days with calorie intake well over 10k. I came home from an Easter dinner (full) and could not stop myself from eating an entire cake. I would sit in tears in a corner-hiding in shame, disgusted with myself for what I was doing and not understanding why in the world I was still eating when it was painful to do so. But the need to eat was as strong as the need to breathe. No amount of logic and reasoning was going to help. Believe me-I tried it all.

I’ve binged by eating an entire pork shoulder, pounds of cherry tomatoes, and of course sweets of nearly all types. But the binge is defined (For BED) by the behavior - not the actual food or the calories involved (quantity is important though).

I went through treatment - which was individual and group therapy, working with a registered dietician, along with MD’s and physiologists (for appropriate exercise recommendations-it’s common for people to purge through exercise and/or use exercise as a punishment and/or exercise compulsively instead of eating). The program I did helped change the way I interact with food every single day-every time I eat. And all the therapy helped with the issues that led me to start binging.

It’s been almost 4 years since I binged, or even had an urge to binge. I have days I eat many calories-sometimes 6-8k in a single day. But these are not binges (not in a disordered way). They are calculated choices to eat that much, in a controlled manner. But eating that much - including trigger foods - doesn’t lead to uncontrolled binges or anything else. I’ve long been discharged from my program and they consider me in remission.

So my suggestion-if you have BED-is get treatment. It will change your life. Life is too short to be fighting yourself all the time.

Also-weight loss and dietary adherence is at least 9000000000000% easier when you don’t have the urge to binge. I do have cravings and occasional urges to eat a cookie or something. But that is manageable pretty easily. The urge to binge? The “itch”? That’s a monster. Treatment helps.

hellnative · July 2020

A few things that help me:

- Keep busy as much as possible . When you sit down on the couch your mind wanders; more often than not it wanders over to the fridge. Keeping busy doesn't include passive activities like watching TV (unfortunately).

- Eat foods that'll give your body what it needs. Eating empty calories will do nothing to satiate yourself. This might be the most important thing. Foods that work best for me are oatmeal, eggs, and tuna (not all together, haha).

- Choose one, or more, very low calorie, healthy snack/s to binge on. If you're going to binge, make it something healthy. My go-to is cherry tomatoes, deliciously sweet, and moreish; although not great for you teeth (but I'm English, so I figure I can't fight genetics)! 😂

- Always keep your fridge stocked up with a sufficient supply of healthy foods. It's so easy to go grab a takeout on nights where you've accidently run out of food.

- Learn a few quick and easy recipies for healthy meal/snack options. It won't take long to learn 5-10 meals that can be prepared in minutes, and can save you reaching for potato chips when you're feeling a bit bingey.

- Exercise, and log your estimated calorie burn. If you've just done a 5 mile run, you're going to be less inclined to want to gobble up that slice of cheesecake in 2 mintues flat, when you realise it's the equivalent of all that hard work you've just put in during your run.

- Drink water/tea/coffee when you feel like gorging. It's surprising how much this can suppress your urge to eat.

- Never go on a food shop with an empty stomach. You will buy fatty, sugary crap. Bingeing is mostly done using empty calories (chips, chocolate etc); one of the best ways to stop it is at the source. If you don't have those options in your home, you're less likely to do it. The way to ensure you don't have those options is to stop buying them at the supermarket; the way to do that is to avoid going on an empty stomach. In fact, I'd recommend stuffing yourself before heading out! though probably best not to try that if you food shop on a daily basis. 😬

- Stay organised. You won't succeed if you're not on top of your kitchen and it's food contents.

Anyway, I hope that can be of help to people. 🙂

squidgybunny_276 · July 2020

I suffer BED. I've read many books (Brain over Binge etc), had hours of therapy, antidepressants etc. There are times when it is better, times when i spend days in bed, unable to move, putting clothes on is terrifying. The thing is I WANT to binge, just for those few hours where I'm high on all the food. Even if i know ill feel bad afterwards. It feels like a choice, even though I have no power to choose "No".

Weirdly enough i went hiking for 20 days recently, even when i was hungry I ate a small snack and that was it. Lost about 10kgs. I was happy, I was occupied, I got my highs away from food, I slept well for consecutive nights for the first time in years. Now i'm back in the city I said I was not going to binge but i'm lying in bed after about 3000 calories today (and thats an improvement on yesterday) feeling violently sick. I just wonder to what extent for me (and maybe for others) it is environmental. Maybe for me its time for a life change, not just a food change.

For all the people who say there is no cure. Hope that there is for me is what keeps me going, even after 10 years of this, I live in hope that some day things will fall into place and ill be free.

28Haveitall2020 · July 2020

squidgybunny_276 wrote: »

I suffer BED. I've read many books (Brain over Binge etc), had hours of therapy, antidepressants etc. There are times when it is better, times when i spend days in bed, unable to move, putting clothes on is terrifying. The thing is I WANT to binge, just for those few hours where I'm high on all the food. Even if i know ill feel bad afterwards. It feels like a choice, even though I have no power to choose "No".

Weirdly enough i went hiking for 20 days recently, even when i was hungry I ate a small snack and that was it. Lost about 10kgs. I was happy, I was occupied, I got my highs away from food, I slept well for consecutive nights for the first time in years. Now i'm back in the city I said I was not going to binge but i'm lying in bed after about 3000 calories today (and thats an improvement on yesterday) feeling violently sick. I just wonder to what extent for me (and maybe for others) it is environmental. Maybe for me its time for a life change, not just a food change.

For all the people who say there is no cure. Hope that there is for me is what keeps me going, even after 10 years of this, I live in hope that some day things will fall into place and ill be free.

Living in hope is the 1st cure. We all hope for lasting recovery .people don't understand they think it is just excuses to eat carelessly.

Duck_Puddle · July 2020

hellnative wrote: »

A few things that help me:

- Keep busy as much as possible . When you sit down on the couch your mind wanders; more often than not it wanders over to the fridge. Keeping busy doesn't include passive activities like watching TV (unfortunately).

- Eat foods that'll give your body what it needs. Eating empty calories will do nothing to satiate yourself. This might be the most important thing. Foods that work best for me are oatmeal, eggs, and tuna (not all together, haha).

- Choose one, or more, very low calorie, healthy snack/s to binge on. If you're going to binge, make it something healthy. My go-to is cherry tomatoes, deliciously sweet, and moreish; although not great for you teeth (but I'm English, so I figure I can't fight genetics)! 😂

- Always keep your fridge stocked up with a sufficient supply of healthy foods. It's so easy to go grab a takeout on nights where you've accidently run out of food.

- Learn a few quick and easy recipies for healthy meal/snack options. It won't take long to learn 5-10 meals that can be prepared in minutes, and can save you reaching for potato chips when you're feeling a bit bingey.

- Exercise, and log your estimated calorie burn. If you've just done a 5 mile run, you're going to be less inclined to want to gobble up that slice of cheesecake in 2 mintues flat, when you realise it's the equivalent of all that hard work you've just put in during your run.

- Drink water/tea/coffee when you feel like gorging. It's surprising how much this can suppress your urge to eat.

- Never go on a food shop with an empty stomach. You will buy fatty, sugary crap. Bingeing is mostly done using empty calories (chips, chocolate etc); one of the best ways to stop it is at the source. If you don't have those options in your home, you're less likely to do it. The way to ensure you don't have those options is to stop buying them at the supermarket; the way to do that is to avoid going on an empty stomach. In fact, I'd recommend stuffing yourself before heading out! though probably best not to try that if you food shop on a daily basis. 😬

- Stay organised. You won't succeed if you're not on top of your kitchen and it's food contents.

Anyway, I hope that can be of help to people. 🙂

This is a wonderful list of tools for people that May (over)eat mindlessly, And/or May binge due to excessive restriction, And/or have trouble resisting cravings.

Binge eating disorder is an eating disorder-which is surprisingly-not really about food at all. Food behaviors are the way things manifest, but the actual issues that need to be solved have little or nothing to do with food.

People with binge eating disorder don’t binge because they are hungry or craving something. They don’t actively choose a food on which to binge. Drinking won’t stop it. They don’t stop when they are full. Binging Due to BED is often (not always) a response to an out of control situation, or an uncomfortable or overwhelming emotional situation (not even necessarily a bad one). It’s not a craving, it’s not a desire. It’s not wanting to eat. It’s all of the intense energy of being furious-all directed into a *need* to consume food. Doesn’t matter what food. It will all be eaten until it is gone. Every container in the cabinet, or the fridge, even when too full to continue eating-the *need* is still driving you to eat. Even when you’re filled with such shame and self loathing for what you are doing-you still can’t stop. You are in pain from what you’re doing-you still can’t stop. That is binge eating disorder.

And I’m pointing this out because 1-that list is fantastic for people who binge or overeat for any number of non-disordered reasons. It’s a fabulous list. And 2-people who have BED feel tremendous shame that they do all those things and it doesn’t help. What’s wrong with me? I’m really a horrible person because I have no self control/no willpower/etc. But the issue with BED is whatever the (emotional) issues are that are leading to binges. Self control, willpower and rational thought are rarely involved.

Anyone have Binge Eating Disorder Success stories (BED)

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