Tell me how you stopped addition eating???

[bigmonkeys]

My life ....

(posting for traffic)

Eating really well, exercising lots ... then emotional/addition eating comes in and I BINGE

I then feel crap, I'm snappy, all I'm thinking about is food, I don't want to exercise, I just want to eat chocolate, crisps, cakes, I don't want to cook normal tea I'll want a takeaway etc then I'll pick myself up and repeat the process over and over

It's taught behaviour, it's how my Mum is, how many family members are ... I don't seem to be able to break the habit

I'm so annoyed and get so frustrated that I have an issue with food, it's brings me out in floods of tears

I was talking to my husband the other day and said oh just can't wait to get back to normal ... as in can't wait to eat shit food whenever I want ... at that point I did think you fucking knob you cannot ever go back to that, it's so UNHEALTHY 😢😢😢😢

I need to lose about 3 stone of fat

I started to change my binge food to stuff that didn't work (i.e. didn't give me the emotional release), and eventually it broke the habit. I used to eat dry Ryvita, or porridge. When I used porridge, I used to allow myself to make a bowl at a time, and then I had to clear everything away, before I could make another one. It's not about self-control - I found it easier to quit smoking than I did to stop if I wanted to binge - but almost about trying to re-program your brain. Those connections are there, but if they are used less, they become less powerful. Don't worry about quantity of food at first - the main thing is to break that cycle, to teach your body that food doesn't give that release. I used to have terrible issues with binge eating - I never wanted a single biscuit, I wanted a whole packet. Two packets. I remember running to the shop to buy biscuits, and not opening them as I left the shop. I wouldn't even taste them until I was halfway down the first pack.

Obviously I can't guarantee that what worked for me will work for you, but I think finding ways to enjoy the things you like as part of a healthy diet is key. And give yourself a break - food addiction is seriously tough.

Oh OP I get you as I’m the same. I weighed nearly 22 stone a few months back and got told I’m close to becoming pre diabetic - I’m only in my mid 30’s so that was a massive wake up call I can tell you! I’m now 18 stone and it’s taken being in a perpetual state of starvation just to get this far and I still have a very long way to go - it hasn’t stopped me craving junk food, I’ve just had to be really tough on myself and not give in, with just a once a week treat rather than a binge. Easier said than done I know but it’s my health that I am doing it for as I have diabetic relatives and I know I don’t want to be like them.

3 stone is a totally doable amount of weight loss so you can do it. Have you ever thought about counselling to get to the root cause of why you binge eat? I’m a comfort eater and I always have been - I eat when I’m happy and I eat when I’m sad so it’s a vicious cycle that’s hard to get out of. It’s particularly hard at the moment with what’s going on in the world, I’ve just used it to exercise more and take my mind off food (and as all my favourite takeaways are closed it means I’ve had no choice not to eat the junk I crave).

It really is an awful cycle to be stuck in and ultimately makes you miserable so I hope you can get the help you need to be happy with yourself 💐

I have been doing the 16:8 diet for just over a week now. It’s where you only eat within an 8 hour window.
I decided to do it because I want to lose about 10 lb. Not a huge amount, but all my fat is round my tummy. It’s an unhealthy body shape.
I’m skipping breakfast and eating lunch at about 12 and dinner about 6. I’ll have a snack before I stop eating at 8. If I’m really hungry at say, 10, I’ll have something really small and not beat myself up about it. The key is to be kind to yourself.
I go for a run or a walk every morning about 7 which kickstarts me into fasting mode.
I’m trying this because I can’t do depriving myself. Previously I would try calorie counting. I’d have a healthy breakfast and lunch, but then the cravings would start in about 4pm, I would eat and eat and by dinner, I wasn’t really hungry for it. I eat for emotional reasons; boredom, stress, etc.
The most surprising thing is I am fine with having no breakfast. At times I feel really hungry but it’s really doable. And I snack less in the afternoon. If I fancy something I’ll have it, but it’s like I’ve retrained myself about what real hunger actually feels like.

Thank you for your replies I will appreciate it, thank you as well for your suggestions.
I'm not 'trying' to do anything - so I'm not trying to calorie count, slimming world etc because I get obsessive about it, then I feel like there is even more pressure on me and I just buckle and fail. I'm just 'trying' to eat sensibly but it isn't working as I'll keep it up for 2 weeks and then will fall for about a week and then pick myself up again. I don't ever go anywhere with weight, I have been around 13 and a half stone give or take for the last 2 years. I haven't eaten myself this size, I gained the weight through two pregnancies but cannot get it off, it's seriously pissing me off.
I hate the way I look but that isn't enough to get me to stop eating badly? I don't seem to ever be able to have a 'treat' for some reason it spirals me. I'm very much all or nothing. I have spent hundreds, probably in its thousands on counsellors, hypnotherapists etc - I did have a struggle growing up but I can't link that to eating all I can link it to is learnt behaviour from family!

Hi OP, just wanted to post that I'm exactly the same if not worse because I don't lead a healthy lifestyle in any way at all.

Used to be very slim and cared about what I looked like. Now I just binge eat. My partner is slim and into fitness, complete opposites now. I'm getting bigger and more and more addicted to food. I can quite easily have a takeaway every day of the week.

The amount of money I spend on food in this way is scary.

Following. I'm skinny these days and eat much better but exactly what you said is always in my mind. So hard to break habits.

I wish I knew the answer to this. I have had an unhealthy relationship with food since primary school. I was very unhappy and had no one to talk to about it. Constant binge/diet cycle. Being hungry makes me foul tempered and I can’t concentrate.

I’m 3 stone overweight but exercising a lot to prevent even more weight gain in lock down. I feel so proud of how fit I’m becoming then blow it all by stuffing my face. I feel addicted to food and it’s a battle every day not to become obese.

I am in the same boat, weighted myself the first time in a very long time and am distrusted by how much I’ve gained. I feel I have learned behaviours too from my mum and I do not want to pass them to my daughter so I need to do something now.

I need to loose 3 stone too.

I’ve cut out full fat coke, which was a crutch for me and I’d drink can after can all day. I’m also trying to drink more water as I centrally don’t get enough and limiting carbs to one or two meals per day rather than every meal or snack. I’ve lost 4lbs this week. It’s good to see it on the scale but demoralising when you can’t see them difference and this is the point at which I’d normally fail but I’m determined.

My mum is big, always has been. I hate not being in a bikini on holiday or photos with family because I hate the way I look.

I also changed jobs before Christmas to drop a 4 hour commute and use the time for exercise - I haven’t of course, but I will.

My work is very full on (key worker too so not furloughed etc) but I must do something. It feels different this time.

Just wanted to let you know you aren’t alone. We can do this.

@InFiveMins

I feel you, I am normally very careful with money and very cautious however when it comes to shit food I have no boundaries.

@Stopfundinghate
How do you keep it off? Even when I was ‘skinny’ I still constantly panicked

@DefConOne

I’m so sorry you’re going through this too, I can relate to primary school, I remember having problems then too 😢 I use to eat so many crisps that my Mum would give me a 6 bag of crisps a week in my room and I was to see that out for the week, needless to say they were gone in a day.

@Randomness12

I feel the same, worried about passing it onto my children. Well done for cutting out the coke, that’s a really good step. I didn’t have it with full fat coke but had/have it with Coke Zero, I could get to the end of the day and I hadn’t drunk any water 😳 something I have been doing is taking pictures and measurements, it’s something I seriously had to force myself into as I didn’t think I would see any results this way, I thought I’d only see them on the scales but honestly it is really worth it. I jumped on the scales and had lost 2lbs (I was gutted) but had lost 2 inches from my waist. That is a lot!! Needless to say I’ve probably put all that back on just this bloody weekend 🥵 my Mum, Auntie, Nana, other Nana, mother in law ... etc are all big/over weight!!! The list goes on and on. They’re constantly ‘I’ll start monday’ - which is now ingrained in my head 🤯 I’m just so fed up of talking about it if that makes sense, as I’m annoyed that I need to talk about it. But I do, I so desperately need help but I just don’t know where to turn or how to change.

I can get slightly frustrated at people who say, try slimming world, try weight watchers ... for some people it is as easy as that, as easy as not knowing how to eat healthy but for me I know exactly what I'm doing, it's emotional, it's addition!!

Thank you for all your kind words & support. Sorry you’re going through this too

I was exactly the same and struggled with the binge/restrict cycle for years......decades actually. It's a horrible place to be.

The thing that helped me was the "brain over binge" podcast. There's also a book but I found the podcast more useful. There's loads of episodes but I'd recommend listening from the start.

I've been healthy weight for about 5 years now. I have biscuits/crisps/chocolate in the house and I have one if I fancy it. In the past I would binge on the whole packet in one sitting. I feel a massive sense of freedom around food that I never realised I could achieve.

It’s linked to insulin levels. Look at Dr Jason Fungs and Dr Eric Bergs videos on youtube.
I’ve managed to stop by a mixture of fasting and eating more wholesome food.
It does feel like it’s impossible but once I’ve kick started it, my cravings just went. It’s amazing.
The problem is, it just takes that one time to fall off the wagon, then it’s back to craving all the crap again.
The only way for me to keep this up, is to not ever eat certain trigger foods at all. Mostly bread, croissants, biscuits.

Thanks @BluebellSurprise I'm going to try that podcast.

I could have written your post @bigmonkeys I hate myself for it.

The only thing that works for me is to put off the 'start' of eating each day as long as I can.

I don't have breakfast, and then just crackers or ryvita at lunch.

Find that easier than 'not' eating after tea.

@bigmonkeys I agree with @BluebellSurprise

Binge eating is a type of eating disorder, you may have been responsible for your eating habits at the very beginning but now your eating habits are addictive and out of your control.

I am on the road to recovery from an eating disorder - bulimia, using podcasts and my own online research. I learnt an interesting theory about our relationship with food being live cave men. Basically in cave man times, we would hunt and forage large calorific foods so we would be full and that sends a positive message to our brain and keeps us alive.
When we binge, our brain is happy and content that we have had a large calorific meal, but that feeling is incredibly addictive, except nowadays food is always available and we don’t need those meals like cave men did. We then get stuck in that cycle and normal portions of food won’t hit the same happiness level as the nice big calorific portions.

Honestly the more I researched the more I realised I wasn’t in control, my brain and impulses had taken over and I needed to stop feeding my brain with what it wanted. Stop the cycle.

It always helps to have a supportive friend or partner - what does your husband think or say?

*like cavemen

Wish I knew. Life's always easier if you exercise.

Another binge eater here, I have fortunately always been slim and active and only after having my first child I realised I had spent my whole adult life doing intermittent fasting and it's only when I started eating three meals a day with my DC and polishing off her leftovers (that and not walking the dog as much I started to put a lot of weight on). Anyway long story short I also have Ulcerative colitis and when that flares up I get really ill and loose weight and my appetite, and all I can really manage to eat without making the pain worse is junk food, so I wanted to know why, I started drinking kefir to help my gut microbiome. Turns out your intestines produce 90% of the seretonin in your body, and the cells that produce it are triggered by the bacteria in your gut (bear with me) now if you eat rubbish you produce less seretonin and you crave the junk food because it gives you a nice dopamine hit which gives you a temporary high. Problem is you need to eat more and more to get the same "hit" and so it becomes a vicious cycle. I realised I was managing my anxiety and depression using sugar (not surprising when I have watched my dad do it his whole life to help with his MH) When I cut the sugar out and eat well and drink my kefir my mood improves, and after a month or so the sugar cravings pretty much go. It's just sticking with it long enough for your gut microbiome to recover and for you to notice an effect. Google gut-brain axis. Fascinating stuff. I had got my cravings and binge eating under long term control until I got pregnant again and I fruit and veg made me 🤢 after a mouthful and I had really bad cravings for full fat coke and sweets, so kinda rolled with it for the sake of getting through my pregnancy. Binged so much and getting cramps/bloating again so think I am finally fed up enough to try and cut it out again.
Noticing when you get cravings helps, I eat rubbish when bored or not far off having my tea, so last time I used to have a glass of milk or water and usually that helped mask the hunger till I could make something healthy.
Things worth a read are the blood sugar diet by dr Michael Mosley, the kefir solution by chuckling goat.

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@BluebellSurprise
I’ve never looked at it like you’ve just said, ‘freedom’ - that’s exactly what I do not have and I want to achieve. I am so fed up of thinking about food! Doing my swede in. I just want to be able to eat because I need fuel.
This probably sounds really silly but I have no clue on how to listen to a podcast? 🥴

@Charles11
Thank you for the YouTube videos I will have a look. That is something I want to stop, I want to be able to be out and just have lunch out because it’s just happened and then not feel the need to gorge on ‘nice’ foods and then continue for days afterwards!!

@DreamingofSunshine
I think a lot of people are in the same boat, it’s such a vicious cycle that needs hard work to break

@CazzaCat
That’s a very interesting comment. I definitely need to do more research to learn to be in control and learn the actually reasoning.
My husband is the most supportive person in the world. He is so kind. He himself has struggled with weight in the past before I knew him, so he is very conscious himself in keeping fit and healthy.

@Meowandchoppychops
Before I met my husband and had my children I would only drink tea, Diet Coke and water during the day then eat chocolate for dinner. That was pretty much my daily diet. I would walk into Tesco on my lunch break and be having a fight in my head on what to pick up and buy, I would pick up crap and then see somebody overweight and put it down and walk out with nothing 🤨 I’m the same as you, now I have children it’s so important that we sit down at each meal time as a family but I can’t gain control on my portion sizes, I think I need to eat off a smaller plate. So interesting to hear the research people have done on this. This is what makes me so frustrated with the likes of slimming world etc, they are just a business but not many people realise. There is so much more to why people are overweight.

I woke up this morning, with chocolate still left in the fridge just in a panic, I’m saying to myself ... well that’s this week fucked because once you start eating that you’ll just buy more until next week... I’m then panicking because I didn’t get up and exercise ... I just almost had to slap myself round the face to chill out, be kind and roll with it. I didn’t have my breakfast until I was actually hungry today.

Sorry just managed to add my to do list in that comment 😂😂

I have switched to using smaller plates as well, and I sometimes I weigh my food. Like pasta as it turned out my big portion of pasta was actually two portions worth.
One of the biggest things that has helped was not having the snack food I wanted to binge on in my house and having lunches already made for work so I don't get tempted the same. I will literally eat anything with sugar in when I get cravings. Also make sure I only go shopping when I have eaten so I don't pick up as much rubbish.