[BonnieL]

I recently learned that binging is an eating disorder. I got a book, and am reading it, and I think I have this disorder. The great thing about the book, is that is gives advise to stop doong it. I didn't know before that there were strategies known to help stop or reduce binge eating.

I have been losing weight for over 2 years now. It is very slow progress b/c I do ok for awhile, then go on binges for a couple of a few weeks, and regain most of what I just spent months or weeks losing. Very frustrating & it is preventing me from getting to a healthy weight!!!

So I am starting this thread to try to find a group of people who will come here every day or two, and write when they are feeling a binge coming on and how they are trying (or not trying) to stop it, and what happens, and provide support for others in the group. Hopefully, together we will all learn how to reduce binge eating.

If you struggle with binge eating like me, hope you will join me here!!!

[BonnieL]

I am trying to hold off a binge. Yesterday I ate a few bites of apple cake, and then a medium sized brownie. Once I did that, last night I really wanted to go way off and eat lots of sugary treats.

I was very tired, after not sleeping much the night before. I think maybe when I am tired it is a weak time for me because my last binge also happened when I was tired and under stress. And now I am under a lot of stress too.

Anyway, last night a full binge was prevented because I got in a big fight with DH. This was very upsetting, as we dont usually have bi g fights, and by the time we calmed down it was time to go to sleep. While I didnt have time to go out and get food to eat, it was not a good way to distract myself from eating. One of the things I had read was distract yourself from eating.

Then today I started on track. But again, I went off plan and are a big chocolate cookie. I still ate the rught amount of calories on average over today and yesterday. And I am so glad that I have not gone way off and eaten huge amounts and lots of calories.

But I am still fighting it. I feel like I still want to do it. I feel like tomorrow I will eat more sugar, which I should not be doing because I have a high blood sugar problem. I also feel like I am still at risk of way overeating tomorrow. I almost did overeat today.

So in short, I feel very out of control now. I am trying very hard not to go into a full binge - but fearful that I might.

[time2lose]

Bonnie,
I am sorry that you are struggling but it is great that you have not given in! What book are you reading? It sounds like it could be helpful.

Hang in there. You can do this!

[BonnieL]

Thanks time2lose. The book is Binge No More by Joyce D. Nash. I have only read about half of it, but so far it is very informative and helpful.

I have lots of stressful stuff going on now, and am going further and further off plan. Ugh! Have been eating sugar and white bread. Way off my diabetes friendly eating plan.

But I have been hanging on enough not to eat. ore than my alloted calories each day. Hope I can at least do this till things calm down a little and I can get back under control.

[Ubee]

Hi Bonnie,
I read that taking at least a 1/2 TBSP of cinnamon after sugar/carbs helps stop the cravings for more. I buy cinnamon in capsule form in the vitamin aisle. I take some everyday. It is supposed to stabilize your blood sugar. You may want to do some research on this.
For me the best thing that works is having a really clean enviorment. If there was one cookie in my house that would set off a massive binge.
Thanks for starting this thread I think it will be very helpful.
How is your day going?

[Dreamgyrl]

/\ THIS! I've learned that lesson as well (just don't bring it in the house period lol).

[BonnieL]

Thanks for the cinomin suggestion. I gave in to the binge, and it has been going on for a couple weeks now. I am slowly stopping it, every few days I start doing one good thing, and I am now not eating much sugar. Today I will try to stop eating lots of bread and chips and hogh carb. food.

I regained all of my most recent loss that I worked so hard to acheive!!

Very sad, but I was paying attention to what triggered this, and learned that it was stress. So at least now I know that it high stress times I have to really focus on not using food to calm anxiety.

[SMSDREAMER2007]

I feel you all. I'm a psych major so you would think I wouldnt emotionally eat right?? WRONG. I AM A BIG emotional binge eater. I have pcos, adhd and ptsd. Im a mental mess sadly and all of that makes me depressed and emotional :/. my mother used to shove food on me to comfort me and I used to watch her eat a whole tub of ice crean in one sitting (yep you read that right). Because of this I learned to numb with food so now im having to learn go feel. Its a hard battle but we CAN overcome it! Good luck everyone!
P.s. love nash's work!

[mhill0823]

I tried everything for a while trying to make myself stop binging.
Last week I started a 30 day clean eating thing to hopefully stop my binging and food addiction.
It's called the Whole30 and now 8 days in and I'm feeling great and I'm craving the heck out of food, but when I stick to plan I feel fantastic!!
I know that when the 30 days is up I will be able to go back to eating whatever I want but i'm going to try to make this habit in my life!
Just thought I'd share!!!

[BonnieL]

i know mhill - i keep telling myself if I can just eat well for a few days, I will feel so much better. It really doesn't take that long of healthy eating to feel lot better, but , it can be so hard to do it!

thanks for your thoughts dreamer! Since you study psych, do you know of any other good books you'd recommend on this top ic?

[Ubee]

I am fighting the urge to binge today.
I think there are several things that make me want to binge.
The big one that is hard to handle is emotions. The second is that sugar and flour make me want more and more. Let's not forget being tired and hormones.
I keep telling myself it is easier to stay on plan then get back on plan...
Any one else struggling today or have some advice/encouragemnet?

[LaurieDawn]

I love the feeling of being full. I crave it. And not just full, but "can hardly walk" full. But even when I achieve that, I sometimes still don't stop. I eat and eat and eat. As long as there is pizza, cake, or whatever that is still readily available, I crave it until I have eaten all of it. I combat this by not bringing it into the house. And when it is there, I have no qualms about throwing food away. It will get wasted either by my ingesting unnecessary, harmful calories anyway. But it is a constant struggle. Especially when co-workers bring food in. I desperately want to throw it away because I know I have no self-control. But that's just not okay. I wish I could control it. I wish I didn't plot to find a way back to the dessert table to get more food without people noticing. It's freaking hard.

[betsy2013]

I, too, have been having trouble with binges. As it's getting towards the end of the year, I've been doing some accounting of where I am compared to the beginning of the year. Well, by the end of the year, I probably will be at the 70 pounds lost mark. I am happy with that, but since I have gained and lost the same weight 3 times, I realize that if I had just stayed on plan and not binged that I'd be closer to 110 pounds lost.

I'm definitely an emotional eater -- tired, bored, or angry get me to eating the foods that bring me down. Lately I've been trying a different tactic because just banishing my favorite foods isn't working. They're the ones that I end up binging on. So, I allow myself my dangerous three: potato chips, ice cream, and chocolate. But, the rule is that I can only have one of them once a week and it has to be in a measured portion; i.e., 13 potato chips. I'm also trying to find substitutes such as pop chips and nut thins and Arctic ???? for ice cream. So far, it's been working pretty well plus it keeps down the cravings for other higher carb foods.

Part of what set me down this path is the realization that watching what I eat and tracking it daily is going to have to be a life long event. So, I'm trying to slowly change my eating habits but accept that there will be times when I have foods that aren't as healthy. And, knowing that I'm not alone in this struggle helps immensely -- thanks to all for sharing.

[Fiona W]

I have a couple of books to recommend, both of which give good tools for overcoming emotional eating:
—The Emotional Diet: How to Love Your Life More and Food Less by Bill Cashell
—If I Am So Smart Why Can't I Lose Weight? by Brooke Castillo

I find Cashell's book useful as a kind of "kit bag" of different techniques for how to deal with cravings when they hit. Castillo's book goes deeper into the ways that emotions and beliefs can lead to unhealthy eating, and is also very useful.

Another thing I've found helpful is that I made a long list of all the things I can do to distract myself while I'm waiting for the craving to pass, and I printed it out and put it somewhere handy, where I can refer to it when I'm panicking. Don't worry if your list is not very long to begin with. Just turn your mind to the question of "How can I keep myself busy until this urge to binge goes away?" and you'll find yourself thinking of more & more things to add to your list.

Courage!!! Remember you can always come here and post when you get tempted to binge. There are lots of people here with good advice. Post every day, if you possibly can. I've only been here a month, and it's helping me a lot!

[AshleyAnn519]

Hey everyone! As much as I hate to admit it, I am a binge eater. Especially with chocolate. I will just eat it until its gone. I'm making lifestyle changes, but I still get that urge to just eat whatever sweets I can find. I hate it and I feel so disgusted with myself.