Binge Eating Disorder Support 4

[IronMaggie]

Hello, and welcome to our 4th(!) support thread for those affected by Binge Eating Disorder (BED) & disordered eating.

Our manifesto - we recognise that diets are absolutely not the answer, and that overcoming food restriction can help us to have a healthier relationship with food, and with ourselves.

So join us. Share your story. Or lurk quietly in the shadows. Either way, most people feel relieved to find others who know what they're going through.

For some background reading, here are the first 3 threads:-
Thread 1 March 2014
Thread 2 October 2014
Thread 3 April 2015

Here are a few resources to kick off your recovery journey:

• Overcoming Binge Eating - the 'bible'; used by many Eating Disorder services' treatment programmes, this is a good place to start.
• Brain over Binge - an alternative view; the scientific approach to understanding and stopping binge urges.
• Women Food and God - an interesting look at why we overeat that resonates with many.
• Some of us also follow the blogs of coaches within the ED / body image online communities - Isabel Foxen Duke and Summer Inannen are just a couple of examples, full list of online resources to follow shortly...

Please bear in mind that most of the contributors to this thread are eating disorder sufferers and not professionals. As with any online forum, it is best to supplement support on here with real-life support and advice from professionals.

Hi @Newark

I'm here, I don't know if anyone else is as the thread was petering out when I got here!

I've struggled with my eating disorder for a couple of years now. How are you getting on? I have a session with my CBT counsellor in 45 minutes.

Hello Newark and WhingyNinja,

Are either of you still active on the forum?

I really struggle with binge eating and I put on almost 5 stone in two years as a result of my disordered eating.

I am trying to normalise my eating now but it's hard!

WhingyNinja, has CBT been helpful? I have had CBT for another problem (OCD) but would be interested in therapy for my eating issues.

Oh it looks like you have all gone - not any recent posts. Argh! Shall keep looking.

Hi luckycat, we definitely aren't very active on here anymore but I'm happy to resurrect this thread if you want to chat? I've stopped my therapy and have found myself having slight wobbles recently but absolutely not to the extent I used to be! Hoping you're not struggling too much

Hi.

Mind if I join you?

I binge and effectively sabotage any weight loss.

Trying to lose 3 stones after losing three previously, but somehow I'm maintaining at just above 10 stone. I should be 7-7 1/2 stones.

Really pissed off with myself today.

@WhingyNinja, can I ask, what therapy were you having?

@IJustHadToNameChange I was having self guided CBT, it ended a couple of months ago and it definitely helped with my self awareness and triggers.

I am not 100% recovered and do have days where I overeat but it's not to the same extent. I've just started food monitoring again as I felt myself slipping and become lax the other week. I'm 13 stone at present but remind myself that it's not about the weight for me, I just want a healthy relationship with food and to not obsess and use it as a comfort or punishment anymore!

Thank you.

Did you access the CBT through your GP or were you able to self refer?

I was actually already having CBT as I was dealing with PND and mentioned my erratic eating habits so my counsellor referred me to the eating disorders team. However, if I wanted to go back for more sessions I believe I could either self refer OR go via my GP. I am in east herts though so I think it's different for each trust. Are you in touch with a GP regarding your eating disorder?

Is anybody still here?

Clearly not but I'm going to write anyway. I turn 40 this year and have had eating disorders since I was 16. I honestly think if I'd know at 16 I would still be suffering now I'd have killed myself and had done. I thought maybe Christmas would have brought some people back to this thread. Christmas is the worst time of year for bingeing for me

Hi qumquat, I'm checking back in here (was an occasional reader and poster years back). So sorry to hear you've been struggling - Christmas really is tough isn't it, and then all the January diet talk everywhere. Are you feeling any better in the new year? I'm in my 30s and like you, this has gone on since childhood - utterly frustrating being unable to break out of such damaging and irrational behaviour.

I've been considering joining a Slimming group again and it's triggered a bit of a binge relapse - I was telling myself I would eat whatever until I joined the group, but so far haven't got round to joining. I'm in a dilemma because I get married in 6 months and really do want to lose weight for it - I'm a few stone overweight, but I know that trying to follow too much of a prescriptive diet just results in bingeing. I was doing pretty well earlier in 2018 when I was allowing myself to eat what I wanted, as it naturally balanced out.

Trying not to throw up. Binged a bit.

Hi anyone around..

Hi, was going to join but has this thread gone cold?

Hi everyone, I took a MN hiatus and just came back to this thread.

I binge far less frequently than I used to and am no longer buying packets of cookies from Sainsbury's and eating the lot in one hurried go. I'm not recovered and worry this will haunt me forever but I've definitely made some progress.

Hugs to everyone struggling, food is such a problem for me and makes me desperately sad some days.

Hi, wondering if people are still around. Really overweight and unhappy about my binge eating. I recognise it’s linked to stress. I now realise dieting can trigger. I have bought and read brain over binge,it didn’t really help. I am halfway through overcoming binge eating. Started monitoring and have now stopped. I know my triggers (can’t get rid of them but must change my response to them).

Hi @Omgnamechange - I don't think this thread is that active any more I'm afraid, I think it lost people as BED experiences wax and wane over time.

Sorry you're feeling this way, but it sounds like you're super motivated to find freedom from it all. And your realisation that dieting is a trigger is so so fundamental - that has to be the first step to recovery. I wish I could offer some words of encouragement or a quick fix but sadly I don't think there's a one size fits all solution.

For me personally, the answer was working with a therapist on a form of intuitive eating - it was a gradual process over several months so it's hard to think back and identify one single change that made all the difference, but one thing I remember clearly is that I was eating in a state of panic, as if I was being starved. She encouraged me to slow right down - consciously untense and take deep breaths at meal times, taking frequent pauses so that my body could actually register that I was eating. It may be something that's covered in Overcoming... as well, can't remember.

Big hugs though - the path to recovery really isn't easy, but do be patient and kind to yourself in the meantime and you'll get there xx

@IronMaggie, thank you for the response. I have read abit about intuitive eating and am making efforts to eat slower and noticing how my stomach feels. Thinking about leaving food on the plate- not touching kids left overs. Chewing gum at times, trying to drink more water. My big issue is accepting and managing feelings when they overwhelm me. I’ve got a Dr appointment coming up, have looked into OA, I will look at BEAT too. I’m sooo sick of it, this has been a problem since childhood.
XX

Oh good, I hope the appointment goes well. I'd say be careful with little tactics like chewing gum / drinking tons of water as those can manifest as diet-like restrictive behaviours. The idea really isn't to treat it as a shortcut to eating less / weight loss, although that may come in time. But listening to your body and to your emotions is a fantastic practice, BED or not!

Thanks @IronMaggie, good things for me to bear in mind. Xx

Omgnamechange
Dieting and diet mentality is almost always ends in bingeing so stopping dieting and stopping restricting in any way is important. It took me years but I now buy all the foods I want when I shop . If I fancy biscuits or cake or lovely cheeses I get them. They last me a long time as I know I can have them. If I was dieting though they would be taunting me and I would end up eating them in a binge. Best book for me was back in the 1990s called Overcoming Overeating by Jane Hirschman.

Anyone still around from this thread? I posted asking if there was an active thread but have had no response