Binge eating in pregnancy

[Justgivemethehobnobs]

Hello, before I start please be nice to me, I already feel like absolute rubbish and really really don't need any further criticism as I am already constantly criticising myself.

I have suffered with binge eating disorder for more than 20 years since my teens. Sometimes I deal with it better than others and have periods where I rarely binge. I am currently 20 weeks pregnant with my second baby and I feel that my binge eating is out of control. I had a lot of success last year with focusing on eating healthily, nourishing my body and doing lots of yoga and walking. I was also dipping in and out of the brain over binge method and listening to some of the podcasts also. This all seems to have fallen by the wayside since falling pregnant, I felt awful for the first 12 or so weeks so wasn't eating very much but the last 2 months I literally can't stop binging. I don't enjoy it, and I just feel so disgusting, and disappointed in myself. I really don't want to discuss with my midwife, I just want to talk to anyone who has been in the same situation or had any pointers.

I don't recall suffering to this extent in my first pregnancy. I weighed myself today and am alarmed by how much weight I seem to have gained! I think I need to focus again on nourishing my body and baby, and also working on the brain over binge principals again but I just seem to stumble every day.

I feel too embarrassed to speak to anyone in real life about this so just wondering if anyone can relate?

Thank you :)

Ah sorry you're going through this. Pregnancy definitely exacerbates issues we already have. I know you don't want to speak to your midwife and I understand this. But could you ask to be referred to a mental health midwife? They'll be much easier to speak to as will deal with this sort of thing regularly.
Hope you find something that helps you, pregnancy is hard for so many reasons.

I can relate, to be honest I could have written this myself, everything sounds the same!

So I'm going to recommend the same to you as I am for myself!
First thing tomorrow I am going to refer myself to the food disorders service (or finish my referral!)
Then what I'm going to do is tell myself that today is a beautiful new day, and I will make time for some self care. That self care starts with decent hydration. Lots and lots of water.

My meals will consist of high protein meals with lots of fibre and I will try to limit the processes carbohydrates because they're what I love and I do binge on them.

I will have some fruit but as my last food of the day (its always most helpful to me to eat that way- or I'm just ravenous all day!)

And I will make time for a walk or yoga, and if I can squeeze it in 15inutes for meditation or reading as my relaxation.

It all seems a bit strange but these were things which worked for me when I was doing well.

Food aversion hit me early on and it was just a matter of getting food in, then i was in the habit habit bad foods again, and I'm just trying to get back to decent food choices so I'm not binging and craving all the food all the time.

Wishing you the best day tomorrow, and the day after!

Can anyone help!
I have a faint line on a pregnancy test
But today I've done 2 tests and tested negative?
I'm completely baffled

The Binge Eating Therapist on YouTube has some great videos to dip in and out of. Although not pregnancy specific.

Thank you all for your replies yesterday. Reading through really made me feel a bit better.

I didn't know about the mental health nurse so I will definitely bear that in mind. At the moment I am still reluctant to ask for help as I feel embarrassed but it is helpful to know there is perhaps more specialised help available. I had not heard of the Binge Eating Therapist either so will check that on you tube.

@Nowayoutonlydown I hope you had a better day today too. I am feeling much more positive today, I actually didn't binge at all and ate fairly healthy meals (definitely fairly rather than supremely healthy though, ha but to be honest that's all I want). Sometimes a day is all you need to start feeling better. I rarely binge in the evening, it is mainly a afternoon activity for some reason. I think Christmas really doesn't help, because it's all about eating ALL the nice foods constantly and I find it very hard to regulate, I always find holidays tricky for the same reason. I've been for a long walk today and decided to start listening to the brain over binge podcasts again, I listened to the first one earlier. I have also told myself that if I feel like binging then I will listen to a podcast before I do anything and hopefully that will help me to break the cycle.

Thank you again for everyone's kind words, and hope everything goes well for those of you who are pregnant too :)

@Justgivemethehobnobs
I really feel for you. I am bulimic and though it has been under control for a while, pregnancy seems to be triggering for me. I just want to say you can pm me if you’d like to talk. I find talking to someone who understands very helpful xx

Thank you @closingtime101, I have never sent a PM before but will try to do so now!

I definitely think pregnancy is a difficult time when you have issues with food, I am guessing it's something to do with a loss of control.