Originally Posted by InsideMe:
Try and be consciously aware of what you are doing. Habits become so automatic we don't even realize the action of the our hands picking up the food and going into our mouths.

This is so so so soooooo true and happens to me way too often. It feels like a blackout then suddenly realizing everything I ate :(

I'm trying so hard not to do that.

for me, i think i have to get myself occupied with other things, because if i'm busy, then i won't spend my spare time thinking about food. i'm seeing a pattern for myself these past several weeks, the times when i eat less is when i'm up and about and i find myself binging if i'm home all day.

Originally Posted by dmdreaming:
This is so so so soooooo true and happens to me way too often. It feels like a blackout then suddenly realizing everything I ate :(

I'm trying so hard not to do that.

It's true but the key is not to feel bad, or guilty about what your doing. Those negative emotions will only continue to drive the emtional/binge eating. It's changing those feelings. Remember you can't change what you don't acknowledge. If you aren't consciously aware of what you're doing how can you blame yourself? The key is to slowly become aware of it, which you are doing, and that's AWESOME!!! Give yourself a round of applause cause being aware is the first step! It's the best step cause your awake to your habits now. Now that you know what your doing it will take baby steps to get to a place of finally deciding not to reach your hand into that bag of chips.

So be kind to yourself. Mid way through a binge if you all of sudden become aware of what your doing, don't feel bad. Realize "hey! I'm aware of binging right now, this is how I cope. I'm going to be kind to me, and love me for what I'm doing right now cause this is all that I have known, this is how I comforted my emotional needs for years but I am grateful to realize this now." This is self nurturing yourself being kind to you and loving all of you. Just because your binging doesn't mean your not a beautiful worthy person. Love all of you now, it will make a world of difference!

Sit with those thoughts and tune into your hunger. What happens to your body, your feelings etc? Become even more aware of those thoughts and your feelings. Even if you don't stop binging it's fine, you've taken the steps of becoming AWARE of what you are doing. Give yourself permission. Sometimes I would say "I know I'm binging but this all I know right now and I love me" and I would keep that awareness of what I'm doing and soon realize ok I don't want anymore, it's like the awareness keeps you accountable! Because I realize now how awful this food is making my body feel and the key is again, don't let those negative emotions creep in like "Ahh I'm so gross, I'm so fat, look at what I'm doing" I simply say, ok this is making my body feel awful, what do I want to do with it. Just keep going and be kind to you!

The next time the awareness will return with even MORE awareness, to the point where you can feel strong enough to say "Hey I don't feel like eating that because I'm aware that I'm in a bad place right now and this is my binging pattern to meet an emotional need" and you will slowly discover new tools to help you cope.

That's all it is, its a coping strategy. It's just making different coping choices. Good luck! It's totally a journey to dig deep and realize your subsconsious, but it's baby steps and awareness. Your doing it already! :carrot:

For me it's REALLY important to pinpoint the reason behind binging. When I started this journey my major issues was chocolate (and sweets in general to a lesser extent). I had ZERO control and would eat an entire bag of chocolate chips in two days. :( I'd eat those stupid things until I'd make myself sick.

Eventually I decided enough was enough and I quit eating sugar all together. That cut out that habit pretty quickly! I went through a long detox phase where the only sweets I would have was fruit and eventually I felt ok enough to add in natural sweeteners. It's been a bumpy road and I still can't keep chocolate in the house and have to buy small bars if I do have any but I can't at least have a small amount without going insane. ;)

My next issue that I had to tackle was blood sugar. Timing for me is important and I need to eat a good chunk of food in the middle of the day. Otherwise at night I'm really hungry and very vulnerable to binging. However, if I have a good lunch and a solid snack in the afternoon I'm ok and am not tempted to binge.

I also appear to need to eat lower carb to prevent being too hungry also. Just adding an extra piece of bread at breakfast this past week was making me seriously hungry so I've cut back and seem to be normal again.

Look at your diet and see what's triggering your binges. If it's emotional eating try to find other ways to deal with your emotions. I'm sure many here have a lot of good advice on that.

My doctor once told me, and it works, if you know what you want to eat go ahead and eat a little of it. Otherwise, you will be eating everything you can get your hands on. I found it to be good advise, hope you do too.

So true! Sometimes when I'm really busy I find I have forgotten to eat. I do know that's not healthy either, just happens.