And please don't tell me nothing or exercise because I dont believe you!

For me, I initially started with make up from ebay! I became obsessed with youtube make up videos. I watched them constantly (when I gain weight i tend not to wear make up) before bed, on the bus, in the evenings etc (first food replacement) then i started buying make up from ebay and strawberrynet (second food replacement) and I bought everything, from primers, to eye shadows (120 colour eye shadow which I dont wear) then when I started to lose weight it became clothes and shoes.

has anyone else done this? So even though I dont spend money on junk food (and I used to spend so much money on junk food and eating out!!) I dont see any financial benefits really, because I now spend in on clothes and make up. I guess in a way it is an easier way of dealiing with my food addiction as looking at these things kind of calms my head and make me not want to eat (or at least stops me eating badly) but then I worry that I am not dealing with underlying issues. Like I am stress/emotional eater. My job at the moment is very stressful and I used to come home and eat chocolate or eat chocolate during the day and it would calm me (before self loathing hit) but now there is nothing that gives me the same level of satisfaction. To be honest not even clothes and make up give me the same feeling of calmness food did but at least its something.

So to all of you who have your binging eating under control (or almost under control, or working on it) what is your replacement addiction?

Shopping. It's gotten pretty bad - and not just clothes, which is hard enough because I actually NEED smaller clothes. I will come home to see a box from Amazon and not even remember what I ordered. I am on an Amazon ban for now...

I also do my fair share of online shopping at discount websites that have designer brands. I have to stop because my husband is getting a little fed up. I don't spend that much but I look and look all the time, waiting for that great item at a great price. The problem is that I still binge but shopping reminds me of how much I don't want to gain all the weight back so it does help to some degree....but it is definitely a crutch.

I don't think there was a "replacement addiction." Unless you count reading? But I've always been a big reader.

I was a big stress eater, and suffer from anxiety. Getting a better grip on how I handle emotions, cutting back on the stress I CAN control (ex: not overscheduling self) and spending a bit more time nurturing my spiritual health bucket helped ease the emotional health.

Things like gardening, finding and joining a church, reading more about spiritual development, etc.

This stuff helps me face emotional brouhaha with calmer spirit.

Sounds cheesy, I know. But it helped!

A.

I used to spend so much money on take-out lunches ($7-10 a day) at work and junk food at home. But now that money is spent toward healthier groceries (which taste so much better than the post-takeout coma), cute clothes and makeup! I have done a lot more activities like skydiving, paintballing, cycling (a lot of $$ spent on a nice bike and bike apparrel). It is so much more rewarding than shoving crappy food in my mouth, for sure!

Juliana - haha I know that feeling!! Luckymommy - well at least the clothes keep you motivated to stay thin. I do that with clothes from etsy!

Well last night I was starving and decided to clean the whole house before I ate. I ended up getting ambitious and switched out my winter clothes for spring, and sorted out 3 bags of stuff I never wear. By the time I was done it was 9pm and I just ate a small healthy dinner and went to sleep! I think I'm going to organize my life instead of eat!

Reading about nutrition. I'm so boring! I bought a Groupon to take a jewelry making class and I have yet to do it. Good news is that cleaning and cooking all my meals takes up quite a bit of time so I'm not super bored. Also I am strolling around the park a lot.

Hanging out here! Cooking (believe it or not), walking (yes I do!) and window shopping or looking for crazy deals at consignments shops or Goodwill.

I first started with house cleaning of all things. It was summer at the time and I had two small kids all the time. So, it was just practical and convenient. Once school got in session, I started to exercise --just walking and then into running darned near daily. Then, came the shopping. Oh, the shopping--makeup, clothes, shoes, purses, you name it..If a woman can wear it, I bought it. Once I hoarded enough stuff (LOL) I went into indulgences like seeing two movies at once, reading useless magazines, and sometimes working out twice in one day.

Oh, and another HUGE interest of mine became reading about nutrition. This was HUGE. I read all I could, learned all I could and then went to the market for more SHOPPING! Cooking, food preparations, menu planning, and in general all things healthy food related.

I do exercise a lot, though I haven't really 'replaced' eating with exercise. Hah!

For me, it is shopping. Some of it is very needed, I need new clothes, I was a size 18/20 and now I'm a 10/12 - so simply can't wear anything I used to wear. But, a lot of it is impulse shopping that I know is replacing impulse eating. Both bad, but we've gotten a lot of cool stuff recently. I'm horrible about trolling RueLaLa, Fab and Gilt apps on my iPad for daily stuff. Stuff I don't need, but it's cool, hah!

Also, jigsaw puzzles. I find that I have to "busy my hands" at certain times and jigsaw puzzles really do engage me. We have them spread out on our kitchen table all the time now - working on a 3k piece puzzle now!

Sleeping. Instead of munching all evening, i go to bed earlier, and i get up later because i don't have to eat breakfast (i'm doing intermittent fasting). I wish i could sleep MORE because sleep is pretty much a fooproof way to prevent yourself from eating. (i already sleep 8-9 hours a night sometimes)

When I stopped bingeing what helped me a lot was this web site. First blogging, then also the forum. I also play a lot of on-line chess, which I love doing. As soon as the weather turns --Fall is coming and the hot hot summer is over!-- I will go for walks. I have not binged for 80 days!

Now that I don't eat packaged foods anymore, a lot of my time is taken up with walking to the grocery store, grocery shopping, looking up healthy recipes, cooking, and doing dishes. Might sound boring, but I actually welcome the extra exercise and I have a newfound love for cooking. Never thought I would actually look forward to making all my meals from scratch!

I also spend a lot of time per day reading websites like this one and reading about diet, exercise, and nutrition in general. I love learning about this stuff!!

I still play a decent amount of video games too, just now I don't allow snacks and mindless eating at the computer.