I keep binge eating!

[atz100]

I am seriously struggling with binge eating, which is a new thing for me ever since I've come home from college. I think the extremely available and easily accessible food whilst being at home has triggered me to binge eat. I keep binging, at least once a week, and I feel like I'm losing control. I eat 1500-2000 calories and am fully satisfied with my food, so I don't understand why I keep binging on food, even though it's all MWL approved. I just binged on boiled peas, two(!) cans of beans, lots of pineapple, blueberries, and so many raisins..easily 3500 calories worth of food in this binge. I feel horrible...what do I do and how can I move forward?

[karin_kiwi]

Hi...sorry there aren't more people popping up to answer.

Some things I'd wonder about...

Do you have a history of binge eating? Sneaking food to consume alone? You say it's a new thing, but is it really totally new or is the new part actually the feeling out of control with it?

Is there something going on in your life that is stressful or disturbing or disorienting? (e.g. eating for comfort or love or pleasure or distraction)

Are you bored or lonely or dissatisfied or some other emotional state? (e.g. trying to feed other needs)

Are you conflicted about losing weight (or staying thin, if you are now)? (e.g. trying to sabotage yourself)

Are you really tired? (e.g. trying to perk up/ wake up with food)

The misuse of food and I go way back. I wish I could say I've figured it out and am totally on top of it, but I haven't and I'm not. I do know that the stuff in the questions above are very relevant to my situation. Sometimes I can distract myself and just get the heck out of the house and do something else.... anything else. It seems like most of my days are spent delaying first food as long as possible (ideally until noon or later) and then keeping it under control for the rest of my day. Breakfast is definitely the most important meal of my day - eating it almost guarantees that I totally lose it for the rest of the day, even if it's super healthy.

There are a lot of people here who do totally get eating disorder behaviours and emotional or other issues that undermine the desire or ability to follow what we know is a healthy diet and hopefully they'll chime in.

Good luck!

(Oh, and just FYI, raisins and other dried fruits aren't MWL, which also limits all fresh fruit to 2/day.)

[Katydid]

You need to get to the bottom of why you are using food to self-medicate. What are you feeling prior to a binge? Nervous? Frightened? Stressed out? Bored? Do you find being home after the independence of college demeaning? Keeping a food vs. mood journal might help you pinpoint the problem - but you need to be honest with your emotions. As a compulsive overrated myself, I get where you are coming from. Eating due to stress is a constant struggle for me. Exercise can help by generating the serotonin you would otherwise get from food. And while Dr. McDougall would never recommend a supplement, I have found 5-HTP helpful in the past when I have been stressed to the point of a breakdown.

Kate

[Jumpstart]

I've read about success treating a variety of obsessive behaviors including various addictions using amino acids. They are supposed to kill cravings. As I remember the treatment includes DLPA, L-Phenylalanine, 5-HTP, Glycine and Taurine. It might be worth a try considering how serious your problem is. I'm sure there is more information on-line. A book called The Diet Cure that talks about the process. I did read the book a number of years ago. I did have some doubts, but it might be worth a try.

[spinner]

I do this as well. It is a very difficult challenge. I've had the best luck with it if I take a very practical approach. I get out of the kitchen! I go work on a project that can easily take all morning or afternoon and get my mind off eating. I do veggie prep (sounds weird, but cleaning veggies for dinner can often quell that eating urge). I've never been able to do self analysis and get to the basis of my urge to overeat, but by taking the practical approach, I can get pretty good results. Best wishes and hang in there.

[PurplePotato]

Hi, binge eater here. I hardly ever binge eat any more, but I feel being a binge eater is like being an alcoholic. Once an alcoholic always an alcoholic; once a binge eater always a binge eater. I'm in control, but I know what would cause me to binge. Maybe I can be of some help.

First off:

Don't count calories

Why? Because you will fail. I don't see any way around this. Even when nutritionists try to count calories, they tend to be way off. An even if you could count calories accurately, it still wouldn't be useful. The body adjusts hunger based on how much energy is needed on a certain day, so eating more one day and less another day is to be expected. I have a roommate that will consume large amounts of food one day and little food the next; this isn't abnormal. This newsletter by Jeff Novick goes into more of the details: http://www.jeffnovick.com/RD/Articles/Entries/2012/8/2_How_To_Successfully_Count_Calories.html.

My guess is that since you are counting calories, you are using calories as a metric to say I've eaten enough/to much today, and are consequently restricting the amount of food you are eating in some way to make up for a binge. You say you are fully satisfied with your food, but nonetheless my guess is that you are still restricting quantity in some way. There are a few ways to do this. One is to not eat when you are hungry, either by putting off or skipping a meal or snack. Another one is to eat till you are a bit satisfied, but not completely so. It could also be a case of not eating enough starch, so a meal may fill your stomach, but not actually provide enough calories or true satisfaction.

The result of any of these or similar quantity restriction happening throughout the week is that by the end of the week, your body has had enough of the calorie deficit, and so you binge to make up lost ground. It's not a case of eating to much when you take the week as a whole, just eating to much during a short window to make up for lost ground.

And after a binge, it's temping to try and eat less the next day to make up for the fact that you binged the day before. But there is in actuality nothing to make up for, and what really needs to be done after a binge is to make sure to eat plenty of food the next day, so that you never go hungry - which would set yourself up for another binge. And if you do restrict, it can become an endless cycle of undereat => binge => undereat => binge.

At least, this is what was the case for me. I really don't know, but I would bet you are going through something simmilar.