Binge Eating Help

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kylielouttit
kylielouttit Posts: 512 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Binge eaters - how did you do it?

If you succeeded at your fitness goals, I want to know how. I am now taking prozac but the compulsive eating is still here. I'm banging my head against the wall. Why can't I stop? I've accomplished so much, why can't I get a good grip on this????

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  • Riverofbeauty
    Riverofbeauty Posts: 205 Member
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    I still binge, and I know it's the reason I got fat in the first place.

    However, I don't keep bad food around the house, so when I do binge (no where near as often as I used to, probably only once a month-ish now) I only have healthy foods in the house to binge on.

    When I binge, it's beacuse I want to, and no matter if I think about my weight, or how it will make me feel afterwards, I still do it because at that point it's what I want to do!

    I'm at my goal weight now, and moving onto maintaining. I eat all the time throughout the day, and find that helps. If I don't eat as much in a day, I'm more likely to binge at the end of the day.

    Good luck!
  • lipglossjunky73
    lipglossjunky73 Posts: 497 Member
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    Binge eating is always the result of an emotional trigger. I taught myself how to recognize those triggers and do something else instead....
  • nmitch415
    nmitch415 Posts: 16
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    This seems like im mocking you, and trust me i am not! but when i was doing it i would only have carrots in the house, or apples. And really how much fun is that? again theres times when no matter what ill find a way to binge on unheathly food, ill try and enjoy what i really want, and than take a bath to see if i want more. another trick i do is as long as its not anything bad for dogs( dont tell my hubby) ill share it with them. lol than its gone. i wish you the best, i really dont know all the tricks, clearly:)
  • kparks770
    kparks770 Posts: 113 Member
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    Its hard and I do it sometimes-but if I get angry or upset I walk or do somethng physical now or clean but thats a whole other story lol
    If you want something bad you can exercise enough to have it once in a while or find a healthy way of having it.
    :) Good Luck!
  • tsportygirl
    tsportygirl Posts: 15
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    Start by figuring out why the binge eating - - what is your trigger? If you know the trigger than it can be better to figure out how to stop/recognize when a potential binge spell is coming on...

    Definitely been in your shoes and I am by no means free and clear of it, but recognizing it is a good first step... Also when you feel like you are about to binge then reach out to someone.. for me it slows down the immediate need to want to binge.
  • lauristewart
    lauristewart Posts: 379 Member
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    The first step is to stop banging your head up against the wall!! Quit beating yourself up for over eating!! Take it day by day.....get through one day without binge eating. Celebrate as soon as you are done with the day......know you can make it through the day with confidence and do it again the next day........but you have to forgive yourself if you binge again. I have suffered with binge eating for as long as I remember......I went to counseling for 2.5 yrs to over come my eating issues. I still am so far from perfect, but I can make it weeks now w/o a binge. It is progress.

    But you have to change that voice in your head that makes yourself feel bad about yourself. When that voice starts saying you are fat, or unworthy, or that you can't do it, turn off that voice and start talking more positive. Positive self talk is the first step in stopping binge eating. Have faith in yourself......it isn't easy, but it can be done!!
  • alyssa92982
    alyssa92982 Posts: 1,093 Member
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    Its hard, I still do it lots of times from tiredness or emotions I just cant surround myself w/ that food
  • Marig0ld
    Marig0ld Posts: 671 Member
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    When I feel a binge coming on (I also call those "emotional eating episodes", or EEEs) I stop what I'm doing and attend to my needs immediately. Something that would be a guilty pleasure that is NOT eating, such as reading a trashy book or magazine, taking a nap, or watching my favorite movie. Hell, even surfing for funny crap on YouTube. Usually when I want to binge it's when I've just been running on empty and I need to "feed my soul." If that makes any sense.

    I've had a binge eating problem for most of my life so I know how crippling it can be. I'll inbox you more thoughts.
  • melbaby925
    melbaby925 Posts: 613
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    Completely crazy - but I was just asking myself the same thing as I went nuts for chinese food earlier. I was going to call and order 5 different things, but instead I went to Trader Joe's and picked up a bag of their orange chicken. Healthiest choice? No. Did I add the noodles that I really wanted? No. I had 2 egg rolls and had to pry the bowl out of my hands and stuff the other half of the bag down the drain before I ate it, but I did it.

    Most days, I recognize my triggers and deal with them so I no longer obsess about food. Today, the urge to eat EVERYTHING and anything came out of nowhere and hit me hard.

    So I grabbed the laptop and logged in here trying to distract myself and here you've posted the very same thing I was trying to avoid dwelling on.

    I think my trigger today came from the fact that I pulled on my favorite pair of capris right out of the dryer and they are too big. Something to celebrate, right? Except, sometimes, I think I'm afraid of losing my comfort weight. I know how to be fat and miserable. I don't know how to be healthy.

    Thanks for your post. I didn't know what I was going to type until it came out...I hope you figure out your issue and a way to deal with it. Maybe you're afraid of facing something and going to old habits for comfort?
  • Jaded_GRL
    Jaded_GRL Posts: 42
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    ok... only keeping healthy food in the house doesn't work for a binge eater... because then you just go through your fav drive thru and order two meal and maybe a dessert. I had bags of baby carrots, apples, banana's etc just being thrown away because they went bad. The only thing that "Helps" me is to exercise REALLY hard that day to try and offset the cal's. I burned 1000+ biking for an hr and a half only to go help myself to way to much steak n shake and some cheese pizza that day. But over all, my calories were not out of line because I knew I wanted the food and I busted my butt to make sure I could eat all I wanted LOL. I lost 50 pounds keping my normal eating habbits and just working out WITH WEIGHTS (heavy stuff, it was my cardio LOL). Went to the gym 5-6 days a week for about an hour each time. Took almost a year but I did it. Then I stopped the gym for personal reasons and gained all the weight back! So now I am trying to get on track AGAIN. But basically you gotta burn it to earn it girl.
  • Jill_newimprovedversion
    Jill_newimprovedversion Posts: 988 Member
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    Logging it- EVERY single morsel- is a HUGE (no pun intended) help.

    it helps to assess the "damage"...and if it's not terribly late at night, sometimes it's a motivation to get up and exercise SOME of it off........
    which, if you can, really helps mentally as well.

    But, it also is refreshing to realize that even if you go 10 times over your daily caloric intake,

    THE NEXT DAY IS A WHOLE NEW START.....A FRESH SLATE.

    That has helped me.......because, in the past, I'd have thought "I've already blown it.......might as well keep on going........."
    and kept on binging for DAYS.......

    Since I've logged EVERY morsel, I have NEVER gone more than 1 day.........
    and YES, I consider that PROGRESS.......
  • kylielouttit
    kylielouttit Posts: 512 Member
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    Thank you everyone!

    I know boredom is a big trigger for me. I need to keep myself busy and out of the kitchen! It's a work in progress!
  • Melmade
    Melmade Posts: 349 Member
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    I have trigger foods. Some things I just cannot have around. Usual culprits that most people have, I won't list because they're too tempting. But the trigger foods change up on me sometimes. Like, if I boil too many eggs, I cannot stop myself from eating all of them, though I can remove the yolks. I can't have meat precooked or I'll eat all that. Can't have ramen noodles or I'll binge on all of them--sometimes to the point of purging--not good. Just the mere social support I get here, plus keeping track of what I eat really helps me control things. I remove guilt by knowing exactly what damage I've done and what to eat or how much to exercise to get back on track.

    Also I cannot be limited on the amount of food I have. So what I did was get a spiral slicer and when I feel like I really want volume I spiral slice a huge casserole pan of zucchini and squash, sprinkle with olive oil, mushrooms, sliced cherry tomatoes and top with plenty of parmesan cheese. Put that in the oven and eat as much of that as I want along side my proteins. I'm stuffed but not miserable, and it feels like I'm eating a decadent casserole. At most you end up eating a few hundred calories, but usually it never really gets past 150 calories for the whole bit.
  • lozzae85
    lozzae85 Posts: 35
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    I also have a major problem with binge eating and I wish I could stop. It’s obviously emotional for me because I don’t do it because I feel hungry. It’s a different type of feeling......I just feel that I need to do it I only really have healthy food in the house but that doesn’t deter me. If I need to binge I will just drive to the 24hr supermarket and buy food.

    It’s always bad food. Pizza, cakes, chocolate or I will order food in but enough for 2 and eat it all. I have eaten enough to make myself sick before.

    I would say I do this once every couple of weeks. I know it’s probably some sort of unhealthy relationship with food.

    Maybe I just deny myself them for so long that I snap and then go on a massive binge? But I just can’t do the moderation thing. I’m in my healthy weight range so I don’t feel pressured to stop to lose weight but I wish I could have a healthy relationship with unhealthy food if that makes sense i.e. a few spoons of ben and jerry’s instead of the whole carton!

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