So first a little background on me. I'm 26, and around 353lbs. I've battled my weight since childhood. And in the past I've eaten to fill full on many many occasions. But recently (for the past 3 days) I have had this seemingly uncontrollable desire to eat until im so full and in horrible physical pain. I don't know what to do, I truly feel lost and out of control. Please if you have any suggestions or any advice with helping to control this desire, I would greatly appreciate anything.
Google "eating until uncomfortably full" and you'll get hits for Binge Eating Disorder. Certainly I'm not saying you have this, but what you've written about the past 3 days of eating led me to the Google results. Perhaps if you read some of those sites it will bring you some relief.
You said it's been the past three days- is something going on in your life that might have been triggering this? I have definitely felt this before, and one of my biggest struggles has been letting go of the desire for the 'full' feeling. I definitely feel for you.
The first thing that popped in to my head is are you close to that time of the month? When it gets close for me, I get the desire to eat everything, its like I cannot get filled up.
There is also a chicks in control section on this forum that has many posts about binge eating and how to help control it.
Best of luck to you.
How far along are you on your weight loss? I see you have been a member since 2006 but this is your first post. Are you just deciding you are going to start again? Did you tell yourself you would start Monday?...Or October 1st, or a day coming in the near future? I ask this because for years I would plan a date to "start". It was never that day but a day or a week from when I decided to give it a whirl again. SO...in my mind I would play silly little games with myself. "Okay," I'd think, "You have 3 days until you start your diet...you better eat everything now while you can, because once you start, you have to deny yourself of all good things". So I would eat like a freaking pig and then the day would roll around to "start" and I would then find another excuse to not start. I played this game for several years until I realized one day that I'll never lose weight if I don't just freaking do it, and do it right then and now. Game over.
Of course I have no way of knowing what is going on in your head, but this was my experiance with binge eating as an obese person...and it pretty much sums up the reasons I have done it since goal.
Thanks ladies. I have always had the feeling of wanting to be full and feeling emotionally empty but trying to fill the void with food. This was just different in the fact that it was like I wanted to feel the pain of being over full. Thankfully yesterday went far better and I'm praying today will as well.
I've been trying to control my eating and count calories for about a week now. Most days I'd do well for the first part of the day and then end up over eating almost like I'd have a psychological melt down and freak out wanting to eat until I'm full. That is the hard part for me also, I need to work on fixing what's broken inside and find the reasons why I eat the way I do and fix those because I won't suceed without it. Its like food numbs me so I don't have to deal with my deepest feelings.
Thank you ladies for your in site, it definitely helps knowing that I'm not alone, even though in hind site i know I'm not alone in my struggle sometimes it sure does feel like it!!
I have several suggestions that can help. I also thought I was an emotional eater, but I learned that my food choices were actually producing the fragile emotional state (this may or may not be true for you, but changing what you eat is a simple experiment, and if it doesn't work, you can continue to look for the underlying emotional issues in therapy or in support groups like OA).
For me, it turns out many of my hunger and binge triggers were physiological.
1. TOM - my TOM and PMDD symptoms are so severe, hubby called me werewolf. Birth control has helped (ironically I avoided birth control most of my life because I didn't want to risk the associated weight gain I was told to expect. Turns out the opposite was true for me. BC helped control hunger so it actually helped me lose weight (again this isn't true for everyone).
2. Carbs - Many people are carb sensitive and lose weight and control hunger best on low-carb. On very low carb my hunger virtually disappears but I get headaches and dizziness and severe irritability - so I had to experiment to find the right carb level for me. Some folks find that eliminating processed sugars and flours is all they have to do (as with the South Beach diet and other diets based on low-GI foods). Others find that they even have to watch "healthy" high carb foods like grains, fruits and sweet potatoes.
3. Eating small meals to reduce stomach capacity, and learn to eat without the "stuffed" feeling.
This one was really tough, but it has paid off. I decided that I had to learn to seperate the association between "stuffed" and "satisfied." Most of my life I wasn't satisfied until I felt stuffed. I had to unlearn that, and it wasn't easy. My choice was to stop eating meals altogether, and eat 8 or more snacks per day instead. I still had to count calories, buy by turning meals into "mini-meals" I was able to shrink my stomach capacity and break my need for physical discomfort after a meal. This wasn't easy and it took a long time to get used to the absence of stuffedness, but it's been incredible. Now, it takes a lot less food to reach the stuffed sensation - AND I find the sensation uncomfortable not satisfying (I wonder how I ever endured the feeling in the bloated, painful, food comas of the past).
These may not work, and you may have underlying food/stress issues, but I found that eating healthier, moderately low-carb actually did wonders to improve my mental state. I thought I was eating to medicate emotions (because that's what everyone kept saying I must be doing) but I learned that the ridiculously high-carb foods were actually stirring up the emotions. If I truly had deep emotional problems, low-carb wouldn't have helped as tremendously as it did. It's more likely that the crappy diet was effecting my mental health.
the need to fill full (painfully full)
I ask this because for years I would plan a date to "start". It was never that day but a day or a week from when I decided to give it a whirl again. SO...in my mind I would play silly little games with myself. "Okay," I'd think, "You have 3 days until you start your diet...you better eat everything now while you can, because once you start, you have to deny yourself of all good things". So I would eat like a freaking pig and then the day would roll around to "start" and I would then find another excuse to not start. I played this game for several years until I realized one day that I'll never lose weight if I don't just freaking do it, and do it right then and now. Game over.
