Have you ever got over an eating disorder, in particular compulsive eating...

[Merryoldgoat]

... and if you did how?

I feel broken.

I’m 42 and I can’t seem to stop. I’ve hit steadily fatter every year since my teens and although I lose large amounts of weight now and again I always put it on.

Do I need therapy? Why kind? I found CBT helpful when I had PND - should I try that?

Have you managed to get to a healthy weight if you were previously a compulsive eater? What did you do?

For the meantime I’ve decided to stop dieting and I’m eating 3 meals of whatever I want and having fruit each day but no junk (cakes, crisps, chocolate, biscuits etc)

This is not a solution because I won’t stick to it. I never do.

I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I want to unpick my whole childhood etc - is that going to be key?

I said to my old therapist that if I started unravelling I’m not sure I could cope. But maybe I have to.

I’m rambling now.

YABU - it’s unlikely you’ll recover from this - 30 years of disordered eating will be nearly impossible to resolve

YANBU - you can resolve your issues with eating if you find the right support.

I haven't overcome my compulsive overeating disorder yet. I am working through it though and making small.steps. Am in therapy.for.a traumatic childhood and early adulthood and I can understand the fear of facing things. I joined overeaters anonymous a few years ago and that has been helping me make progress. It does.seem like two steps forward and then three back again at.times. I have been through self harm and other bad coping mechanisms and seems that food is one I haven't let go of yet. I want to do much but I feel as though something stopping me

I Go from bingeing to starving or purging. I shouldn't diet but letting go of dieting completely scares me.

When I first joined OA I did begin to make rapid progress but something caused me to regress. Started therapeutic has helped some of my other issues. Anxiety, BPD, anger, selfharm. But food remains a huge issue

Thank you for sharing.

I’m not sure about OA but I don’t know why. Maybe I’m just scared.

I literally can’t remember a time that food wasn’t on my mind.

I’m the same
Fucking years of bulimia getting fatter and fatter
Stopped the being sick,but can’t stop over eating
My weight hasn’t changed in years ,but I’m far to heavy
I’m going to have a go at food prep this week ,to see if I can get things under control that way

I don't know about compulsive eating but have tackled other issues with YouTube hypnotherapy! You have to find one you like and then listen to it every day, more than once if you like. It's worth a try anyway.

Hello - just to say that yes, I have, for the most part. I had binge eating/compulsive eating disorder in my teens/early 20s - am now mid 30s

A few things helped me

• medication to help with the anxiety that was one of the background causes.
• Leaving home/stopping living fulltime with my mum, who I love dearly but who projected loads of food issues onto me and screwed me up a lot.
• Stoppinb all dieting/having no banned foods (this was a bit scary) - prompted by reading Susie Orbach’s books. One thing I remember her saying is that binging is caused by having finite amounts of food - you intend to have just one, but get fixated and finish a packet. Whereas if you just have limitless amounts of the stuff then that weird fixation doesn’t take hold. I sort of follow this - I either have loads of supply, or if a finite amount I accept in advance that I might just eat all of it, and that’s ok. Usually that means I’m relaxed enough not to.
• tried to value my body for what it can DO rather than what it looks like or how it sometimes feels to me. I got very into long distance walking and a bit of yoga.
• living with someone who had a completely normal relationship with food, and was a bit of a gourmand. So relaxing to live with someone who LOVED nice food and had no hang ups about it
• these days, my lovely DH who is very relaxed about food and loves me and what I look like, and is always encouraging me to eat!

I did have CBT at one point - tbh, I didn’t get very far with it as they kept asking me to do food diaries and I hated that SO much I couldn’t do it, it just made me anxious.

I should say, I’m now a 5ft8 size 16 - lots of people would probably want to be thinner than that, but I’m happy with being this weight and not permanently on a diet or fixated on how much I’m eating.

Very best of luck with it all xx

It did take me a long time to try OA. Fear that it was a cult or something like that. But am so glad I eventually did go. I also tried a similar one called Food addicts anonymous but that one was not right for me.

Yes, I attended therapy and read a book called The Fuck It Diet alongside the therapy.

I now no longer binge eat and have no issues around food. I'm now trying to work out my body issues but I can honestly say it changed my life.

I honestly believe you can get support and turn this around but you have to want to get that help and be ready to listen to it.

I have been trapped in a cycle of diet, binge, throw up since I was about 13. I still get a buzz from being sick and if I have the house to myself, have been known to go binge food shopping, knowing full well my head will be over the toilet at the end.

My dp thinks my sickness is caused by an illness I have and no one else knows anything. I am not ready to sit with someone and go through and unpick my brain so know this would be ineffective.

Good luck to you OP. You sound ready to take on recovery, you got this, just be open to the changes.

Thank you all so much for your ideas and sharing your experiences.

It feels so insurmountable but my health must come first. I need to get myself sorted for my sons and my family.

I’m going to get the book recommended by a PP and maybe see about OA although I still feel a bit scared by that.

I think a big step was realising I have a genuine problem rather than just being ‘greedy’ or ‘lazy’ or ‘indulgent‘.

Hopefully I can make progress.

I must say, I was hungry when I got home and ate a small snack and that was a real change - normally I’d eat all the lunchbox chocolate and crisps but I feel like if I can just eat reasonably it might give me a good start.

Here is the advice I'm going to dish up and take none of myself (it's the stuff I know would work for me if I could do it)

• don't buy anything high fat or high sugar. I can have low fat crisps in for years and ignore them but I'll eat 6 packs of high fat in one sitting
• start the 16:8 diet. If I start eating I can't stop. If I don't start, I'm better off. The time limits of 16:8 can stop a binge
• if CBT helped try the book 'overcoming binge eating'

Unfortunately CBT doesn't work for me. You may need to consider unravelling in therapy. It's normal to unravel though, if you feel that you're able to.