My eating is so out of control. I eat non-stop and don't know why. I want to lose weight so bad I sit around and cry, but yet I eat even if I am not hungry. Yesterday was my b-day and I went out with some friends and one of them made a comment about how I didn't stop eating. It was so embarassing and hurtful. I sat there crying at my own party yet I came home and wanted to eat some more. I just don't get it!!!

I know exactly how you feel.Stress and depression can play a big role in our wanting to lose the weight . You don't want to always eat but its tere and gives you something to do.Try doing some craft or that ,so yor hands ae occupied without food in them.If you need a buddy I am here for you.

Dear Hope2Lose50,

I understand totally what you are going through...I just can't seem to get it together...I've been on WW for 7 weeks and have lost a total of 1lb. ....So I am definately in a funk ..I'm trying to keep going but it is hard....just writing to you is helping..thank you ...good luck to you and we will make it.

onangelwings

Hi Girls,

My you all sound so much like me. Hopin I'm sorry your friend hurt your feelings and if your like me you probably ate more just to ease the pain. I don't know why we do what we do. I was just telling a friend that I am so out of control, it scares me.

Hang in there and let us know how you are doing.

Like so many of these wonderful people here have told me, just do it one meal at a time.

Love, Leens

Hopin2Lose50: I am also an out-of-control, seemingly nonstop binge eater. I also struggle with depression and anxiety. I am now (finally) getting therapy after struggling with various eating disorders and yo-yo dieting for almost 3 decades. I am finally facing up to the fact that my weight is not *the problem*-- my trying to cope with anxiety and depression by stuffing myself with food is the real problem.

If you can afford to, I urge you to seek out a therapist who can help you sort out the emotions that you are trying to quell by stuffing them with food. Also, there are a number of great books out there that deal with emotional eating. Geneen Roth has a number out there as do many other authors.

You may also want to get evaluated to see if perhaps you need medication to help stabilize you so that you can begin working on the other issues.

Journalling can also help you sort out the reasons you eat. Just get a little notebook and when you are tempted to begin eating, take a moment to write down where you are and what you're feeling and thinking about. If you can't do it beforehand, take a few moments after you've eaten to record these things. It will help you identify the emotional and physical stimuli that trigger your need to feed. By doing this the past couple of weeks, I found that I eat mainly to quell anxiety. When I'm upset about something that I feel I can't deal with or change, the anxiety begins building up inside me and it's like a pressure cooker building up steam until I feel desperate to relieve the pressure by binge eating.

Then I begin to feel guilty and anxious because I feel *bad* for resorting to food and I begin to worry about gaining weight so I eat MORE to tamp down these feelings -- and I find myself caught in a loop that I can't eat my way out of. Does any of this sound familiar?

Identifying and learning to find less destructive ways to deal with these feelings is the key to getting out of the loop.

I can identify with all these feelings. One thing a therapist once suggested to me and that I have found has helped is getting regular exercise, even starting very simply with something like walking for 15 minutes during my lunch hour or after dinner. I don't mean to say that it's a panacea, but for me I have discovered that it does help. Plus, related or not, a vitamin with B-complex seems to help even out my moods, and those mood swings are something that make ME feel out of control. Again, this is just a little something that helps me.

Best wishes,
Pen

Mzpen: You're right about the exercise helping even out the mood swings. It really helps me too--altho to hear my poor, pitiful DH complain . . .

Hi Hopin'-

My name is Sharon.

Your story sounds very familiar. You should give yourself credit for getting through breakfast, the rest will come later. I know with depression it hard to see the good in anything.

I know how you feel, I've been a LTM since 1977 and been going through the yo-yo syndrome since. My highest weight was 225 lbs. I can't really say what makes me return to W/W but, I know it's always there for me.

Right now i'm at goal (only good thing about being older is the goals are set higher!, i'm 41 yrs. old) and struggling to maintain. I'm always afraid of the day when I can't stop eating. It starts out with overeating all the "healthy" things, then jumps into all the "good" stuff. Everytime I get off track, thatttt'sss it, it's ...let's gain all the weight I lost plus more. I am also a binge and closet eatter. I can gain 60 lbs. in a few months. All I live on is pastries, cakes, sugar and fat. At the time, i'm misserable but I can't stop myself.

I've been depressed since I can remember. It's very difficult to do anything when you're in the thick of it.

I hope this helps, even just a tiny bit. If you'd like to "talk" my username is giraffe.

GOOD LUCK!

I read your post and wanted to cry for you.

I think binge eating is definitely related to anxiety. Getting in touch with what you feel anxious about creates anxiety itself! But I have come to believe that is the only way. I know my urge to eat often comes from wanting to anesthetize myself from shame, embarrassment (sp?), loneliness.

Feeling bad about yourself is a bottomless pit. When will we all have the self-esteem we deserve? I think you have to feel good about yourself before you can move on.

As you can see, I have lots of ideas but no easy answer. Taking things day by day and cherishing yourself are key, I think.

I would like to recommend a book called "Worth Your Weight" by Barbara Bruno. Wish I could get everyone who loves me and worries about me to read it! It is about learning to value yourself as you are.

Please consider a therapist and/or meds for anxiety/depression.

Good luck. Stay in touch.

Susie

I am feeling the same way that you are feeling right now, this is so depressing! I am way to addicted to food, and all I ever think about is eating! If you need to talk, write to me, and we can talk [email protected] Good luck !