Am I the only person who feels like the lack of control they have in regards to his/her eating is not limited to that area of his/her life? I'm typically pretty bad at making myself do things that I don't want to do (i.e. cleaning, studying, exercising, etc.) and it makes me wonder if self-discipline is really more so of a problem for me than overeating. Anyone else feel this way or understand what I'm saying?

Mmmh, not so sure about it...And maybe my expierences are a bit different from others.
I wouldnīt say that I am lacking self discipline at all. But sometimes I think and feel that my ED is consuming a lot of my energy. Energy I would need in other sections of my life. If my eating behaviour is ok, I have a lot of energy left for studies etc.
Eating well and exercising is for me somehow something like the "basement" of my life- makes me able to do things psychically and physically.

And in my opinion binge eating is an addiction to food and therefore an illness, not just a lack of self discipline. I know several people who seem to be Mr. or Mrs. Self discipline who are bulimic for years.
But if you are struggeling with an illness it is quite normal that you have problems with other parts of your life as well.
The bad trick is, that the cure is doing the things you have the most problems with: eat right and move your body, no pill available.
You have to be self disciplined to get back your self discipline, you have to be in control to re- gain control. That what they call the vicious circle....

And another thought: I tend to binge on high sugary food. And itīs proven that such huge amounts of sugar are quite the same for your brain like alcohol or drugs. You can get high from sugar, it gives you a bit of a dizzy feeling somehow. Sweets are able to stop your alcohol cravings you have in your first weeks of soberity (ok, that may set you on the ED- track, but thatīs another story....). So being disorganized in every part of the life could be due to the brain chemistry.....

Ok, I hope some parts of my ramblings are actually making sense......

Kate

Eating anything and everything is a control issue and I gained weight when I felt out of control. I am now working on losing weight for the third and final time. I've lost 9lbs in 6 days so I'm well on my way. I am still addicted on food but I'm battling the cravings. Just say no to drugs.

My self-discipline tends to come and go. I know it's there (I couldn't have lost weight if I didn't have any at all). Sometimes I can get myself to clean all day (or do something productive) and some days I can't seem to get off of my butt to do anything. And it does seem to correlate with ED episodes. And I was a PERFECT student (4.4 GPA, honors classes) up until my mid-junior year when my bingeing was at its peak (I gained about 100 pounds that year). I pretty much never showed up my senior year and BARELY graduated.

When I'm in complete control, not only do I have more time to be productive, I have the motivation as well.

I'm a type "A" perfectionist control freak - except in the area of food! My eating is where I often feel out of control and I hate that feeling. Maybe it's my psyche's way of rebelling against my perfectionism???? Food is my addiction and compulsion - if it wasn't food I think it might be alcohol, gambling or drugs.

That statement resonates so truly with me that it's not funny. When I'm on, I'm ~really~ on.

I guess thatīs true for me. Sometimes I think my food addiction and the weight gain are a semi- concious rebellion against that "Being the perfect daughter" (like in law student, never problems with school, never brought home nasty boyfriends...). Does anyone know what I mean? ??

Kate

Thanks for putting that into words. That is me to a "T". Sometimes (okay, often) I feel that my whole life is out of control.
I can't commit to a regular writing schedule. I can't get my house dejunked. I have a kazillion unfinished projects. I feel like I can't "live" because my head is cluttered. And my eating (although that's getting better) and exercise plans "fail" along with everything else.
I've been working on decluttering my house, because having a "Zen-like" living space is really important to me. But my house is huge, and it's full of stuff... so many fun projects I've started... and so much stuff I love... but it's all cluttering my head!
One thing I've started doing is using a timer. (thank you, Flylady.com!) When I'm at the computer (and I could be here all day, believe me), I set the timer for 15 minutes. When it rings, I get up, set it for another 15 minutes, and rush around the house doing some laundry, cleaning, dinner-prep, etc. I'm much more productive when I do this.

If Im not binge eating Im usually self-mutilating. Sometimes to try and prevent a binge I cut myself and sometimes to try not to cut myself I binge eat. It's all about control and lack of control for me. If I try to stop one the other one gets worse.

[QUOTE=HarpoChicoGroucho]My self-discipline tends to come and go. I know it's there (I couldn't have lost weight if I didn't have any at all). Sometimes I can get myself to clean all day (or do something productive) and some days I can't seem to get off of my butt to do anything. And it does seem to correlate with ED episodes.

That is me,,,when Im good Im dang good,,,when Im bad Im seriously bad. I struggle to put things in place,,,having control...some days its not possible to do it.
Like Ellis I have been doing a decluttering of the house...but painting as I go. I am down to 4 rooms, counting 2 bathrooms. After this job is done,.,,,there is always more things to do..

When my eating is out of control so are most other areas in my life. I have self control for a long time but when I lose it, it is so hard to get it back again.

You're not alone.. I like to be in control. I feel anxiety if I'm not.. I was told that is a form of OCD

I'm the same way. I always have to push myself to do anything, like the dishes or cleaning. I don't know if I'm just lazy or what. I hate cleaning though. lol

Yes! I know that I have a horrible oral fixation...I'm always touching my mouth, putting the rim of a glass or bottle on my mouth, whether I'm drinking it or not. I used to be a smoker, and of course, eating problems.

I have a problem with control too. I'm fine as long as I don't start. Once I'm started I lose control. Everything turns into a binge. Drinking, smoking...exercising. Eating...even diets. I'll get out of control restricting myself too. I need to learn moderation. I tend to do everything in extremes. I either sleep too much or don't sleep. I eat too much or starve myself, I'm OCD or I try to ignore messes. Bah Humbug.