Binge eating support thread

[cheeseisthebest]

This is for those of us with binge eating disorder whether formally diagnosed or not.
Please comment if you would like to join and I hope its helpful.
Any reading or useful strategies would be great too.

I gained 2 and a half stone in 3 months this year. I had loads of stress and some nasty family experiences and I just shovelled sweet stuff every second of the day. Now I want to stop but I go dizzy if I stop, I wonder if I have diabetes, sugar addiction or some health problem now. I don’t know how to get out of this. I went from slim and healthy to a shadow of myself in no time. I’m gutted for myself. Now I eat sugar like medicine.

Is this group still active?

Just found this thread. I've always been a binge eater but I normally have periods of control but I am experiencing a really long binge of months of stuffing my face every evening and I don't know how to stop.

I am going to buy the Brain over Binge book that some people here have suggested. Has anyone tried an online Overeaters Anonymous group? I am too nervous to join. Do you have to speak on your first meeting?

Has anyone had any success with approaching their gp? I am wondering whether to do this, but concerned about being dismissed and I don’t know what the
nhs can practically offer.

Hi all I'm really struggling at the moment. I've put on a lot of weight this year and my eating is out of control.
I had a few sessions with a therapist specifically to address my relationship with food, but she wasn't the right person for me and so I stopped after 3 sessions.

@LucyLatimer I spoke to a nurse at my GP practice about this - maybe a year ago? I got quite upset about it, because I do find it very hard to talk about and she was no real help at all. She seemed a bit overwhelmed by my emotions so obviously I felt bad and stopped talking about it.

She said she would refer me to a colleague but wasn't clear who that was (and I didn't press the point as I just wanted to get out!). I got a phone call from a lovely woman the following week who was from the talking therapies team. She listened and said that I would definitely benefit from talking to someone about it but there was a massive waiting list so I'd be better to go privately if I could.

I don't think you'll get much out of the GP/NHS on this. They have never been interested (other than giving me healthy eating advice). I have recently had some NHS CBT for my binge eating but only because I am pregnant and there is a perinatal eating disorders pathway where I am. I will come off that in a few weeks when I have given birth.

Have a look at this thread: What type of counselling? www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eating_disorders/4555896-what-type-of-counselling

I'm still not doing very well. So cross with myself. I now weigh more than my husband 😮

Super interesting to come across this! I’ve been telling myself I’m going to book a GP appointment. I did manage to ring once, but there were no appointments and I felt awful after about whether I was wasting NHS time. But if I don’t do something I’m going to be a seriously NHS problem with the inevitable obesity related issues catch me up. My family have started to comment about the obvious weight gain.

Is it just CBT that a GP might offer? I’d wondered if antidepressants might help me. My main trigger, probably 80% of the time, is my job. But I’m financially stuck with my job for another 18 months.

I did try a hypnotherapist, and actually found it really beneficial in some aspects, but it hasn’t stopped me binging (it did for a week! One amazing week! I felt so happy and free… and then a fcking sht meeting at work just undid me.)

I don’t want to waste nhs time, but everything that has worked for me in the past is no longer working. Have tried diets, antidepressants, saxenda, orlustat, exercise, cbt, counseling, hypnotherapy and I cannot stop obsessing about food and binging every day right now. I am disciplined in other areas of my life, and I know what to do. I just feel that I am losing control and harming myself.

Hi, I have been compulsively eating on and off all my life but it has escalated recently due to seprating from my dh. I am just getting to the point where I realise it’s not just that I’m a big greedy bitch. I don’t even enjoy the eating and compare it to self harm, it s just a way to numb the feeelings. On the surface I am doing really well, great job good fun to be with etc the I come home in the evenings and eat entire cakes and huge chocolate bars. I really worry about ruining my healt and of course I hate being bigger.

I am having some therapy atm and he has said I probably have ptsd.

I am going to get the brain over binge book.

I do think the first step on this journey to accept yourself and try and be kinder , the binging is so compulsive. We can stop but beating ourselves up just makes it harder.

let’s do this!

I agree, it does feel like a form of self harm.

I stopped drinking when dh left cos I wanted to be there for dd not just sitting around wailing with a glass of wine. Binging is the addiction of choice for those of us with caring responsibilities I guess.

Can we try and keep this thread going as support. So many of us having the same struggles.

I’m not doing too good either. I’m actually seriously considering starting smoking again just so I can have a cig when I want to eat 😢

I had such a good day yesterday. I ate so healthy, did my 10000 steps, did a lovely workout, felt amazing. Then come 9pm I ate an extra 1200 calories in junk. I had zero control. I was eating while I was making other food. I don’t know what to do.

Having read this thread this morning I have ordered the book recommended, and binned my stash of shite. This is of course the millionth time I have decided to get my act together, but at least I have started to recognise my behaviour for what it is.

I am so comforted that reading through this thread so many others are experiencing the same. I come from a family where food is and was a treat. When my marriage broke up, I made sure that everyone else had meals, but I ate what made me feel better inside. Drinking and smoking are not acceptable options, especially when you are parenting children or at work, and food seemed to be the think that would help me any time. We all know how to eat sensibly in theory, its just doing it that that the problem. I mess up right from the start every day at the moment, and I am obsessed with what I will eat next. I would love to hear how you're all feeling and doing with this, please keep talking about how you feel.

I'm trying to change my mindset.
When I go to binge I think oh i deserve this, it will taste nice etc.
But I need to stop and think how I will feel worse afterwards, how I'm going to end up diabetes, not give myself a hard time but instead tell myself I deserve to be treated with kindness and my body deserves healthy food.

I completely agree it's a form of self harm - I say that as someone with diabetes already (had it since my 40s) (quite well controlled...at the moment)

This morning I have already eaten a croissant, porridge and just now a cinnamon bun. I feel sick and didn't really enjoy it after the first bite but kept cramming it in.

In the past I gave up smoking easily and I rarely drink - if I was told I could never drink again it wouldn't hugely bother me. But food is different - obviously we do need to eat - but I have no control over myself.

Like @LucyLatimer said, I am constantly thinking about what I will eat next. I've got some sandwiches in my bag for lunch but I doubt they will make it past 11am.

I wish I understood better what was the trigger for me.

I really appreciate people sharing their stories and thoughts here. It is good not to feel totally alone with this.

Those of you who have partners / husbands / wives - do they know about your eating habits?

I hide a lot from my partner but I have started talking to him about it in the past few months.

I hide it from the family, but my size is something of a giveaway. The thing is as @Cottagepieandpeas says, I don't actually enjoy it after the first bite, but just carry on cramming it down. Then try not to feel ashamed.

I have remarried since my divorce and I hide it. To everyone else, including my family, I am in control and just overweight because of my age. I have a GP appt next week, although I don’t hold out much help. Have been researching gastric bypass etc but I can’t face the risks of surgery when I have a family. I also see people who have gone through everything to have this surgery and still continued to binge eat and return to how they were before. I just don’t know how to approach it. As people are saying, it’s the first thought in the morning

What do you think would help? Would a gentler version of an accountability thread or chat be useful? Anyone like to check in and say how they are today? I know I feel the need to start thinking about food really early in the day. It would be nice to hear from others who are feeling it, or feeling positive too! Pm me if you’d be interested

I'm going to copy and paste what I wrote on the other thread in case it is useful:

NC for this but I am having CBT and ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy) for binge eating and it's made the most difference ever for me, after 20 years of binge eating and plenty of previous therapy.

This is a good, free resource my therapist shared with me: www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/Resources/Looking-After-Yourself/Disordered-Eating

It was hard to commit to working through the workbooks, but it was helpful.

I've also been working on identifying and moving closer to my values using some of the Happiness Trap resources, which has also helped me shift my focus and see my life in a more rounded way: thehappinesstrap.com/upimages/TheCompleteeHappinessTrappWorksheets.pdf.pdf

One of the most useful things I've found (although it's taken me many weeks to implement) is the idea of having two choices - choice A binge, choice B don't binge right now. It has always felt like a compulsion to me but the therapy has helped me come to understand I do have a choice and be able to find that microgap between the thought and the action, and build that gap into a pause, and that pause into space to make a decision.

The most recent work I've been doing is on unhelpful thoughts and ways of thinking. It's in the CCI resource linked below, and I use an app called Moodnotes to work through when I'm having unhelpful thoughts.

The choice A and B has been so helpful for me. When you get a binge urge, you do have a choice whether to A) binge or B) not binge right now. If you choose B you are probably going to have some really uncomfortable feelings. But every time you are able to choose B), even if it's initially just a pause of 5 minutes before you binge, that ability to choose B) will get stronger.

Another thing I found helpful was identifying triggers. For me some are:

• Unstructured time
• Not having an idea of what I'm going to eat for my mealtimes
• Tiredness
• letting myself get too hungry
• weighing myself

Then trying to avoid those situations developing, or if inevitable (tiredness) then thinking about constructive ways to cope with the situation ahead of time, so I have some tools when it comes up.

@LucyLatimer PM'd you.

All good info, thanks. Will have a go at the worksheet and look at resources over the weekend. It’s all the mindset isn’t it, but I don’t know why mine has gone so self destructive recently