Anyone struggling with compulsive ways of eating? Anyone getting any answers?

[Italiangreyhound]

I am busy reading books like mad about my rather compulsive way of eating.

I am going to get to the bottom of this!

One thought is that I was a bit OCD as a teenager (obsessive compulsive disorder) but not overweight at all. In my twenties I stopped the OCD (pretty much but started putting on weight).

So one theory (of mine) is that I have swapped OCD for compulsive eating!

I have noticed I kind of have to finish food, and even if it is opened and in fringe (chocs etc) I can't leave it until it is all gone!

I think exploding this and reading about it is making it worse as I feel I am almost giving myself permission to eat more! But I also hope this is a good sign that I am getting to the bottom of it.

Does anyone have any experiences of this, of counselling or any advice to offer, please?

Many thanks.

I do the 'tidying up' of food eg whole packet of biscuits. Well, I used to do it all the time but am following the Paul Mckenna system now and getting things slowly sorted. It is helping me sort out my issues with food - it may be helpful for you? It's kind of given me space to think about things properly and I am no longer entirely obsessed with food and eating and weight etc. It has been life changing for me.

I'm reading a fascinating book called Potatoes Not Prozac. I'd highly recommend it.

I'm doing Paul McKenna too! It seems to be helping. I'm about to bake a pan of brownies with homemade chocolate frosting and walnuts and I'm only going to eat one. This is a very big deal for me!

I'm the same, I eat almost on autopilot and it's very very hard for me to really even know when I'm hungry or full, because I'm so used to ignoring those signals.

Some books I really liked were by Geneen Roth. (She has some of the same advice as Paul: eat what you want when you're hungry, stop when you're not hungry anymore, basically.) Per her advice, I made a really pretty sign that says "It's not in here, sweetheart," and hung it on the refrigerator. Just meaning that whatever I'm looking for isn't there, that I might be lonely or bored or sad instead, and I won't find the answer to those things in the fridge.

HTH, I really, really, really, understand what you're going through. And it's hard. But I've no doubt it's something you can conquer. :)

Another Paul McKenna one here! Would recommend it 100%, it has completely cured by horrible eating habits. I am a believer in Intuitive Eating & teh freedom it gives us.

As CY said, eat when you are hungry and stop when you have had enough.
Put your knife and fork down between bites, as it takes about 20 minutes for you brain to register that you are full, so even after you stop eating your stomach will continue to fill. The ideal feeling is not one of fullness, but when you don't feel hungry anymore.
Before eating make sure it is stomach hunger you are feeding and not emotional hunger, so ask yourself why you are eating, if it is because you are bored, angry, happy, upset etc stop and walk away from the food source.
Also something to remember, you stomach is as big as your fist, so it doesn't take a lot of food to fill it, a handful is about all you need. You can go back for more later if your stomach tells you it wants more. You are better off eating 5 or 6 handful sized meals a day than 2 or 3 huge platefuls.

I am slowly but surely shedding the excess following this approach. I still have another 15 to 20 kilo to go but will get there. :)

Good post, squirrelsmum

I found Fat is a Feminist Issue was a good book for discussing issues of overeating.

Another thing is that hunger can often be misinterpreted as thirst, so make sure that you drink enough water. If I feel hungry I drink 2 cups of water, and then reassess afterwards if I actually am hungry. Before my diet I don't think I was ever hungry as I ate so much. Now I am never totally full, which is better as there is none of the bloating I used to get.

Also good to buy treat sized foods so you can have one, eg babybel, mini chocolates. I weigh nuts and put scales and container away and then take them ito another room to eat so I am not tempted to keep on eating.

Thank you for all your comments and suggestions. I was really surprised to see so many people had replied.

I think my issues with food are very deep routed and as I am exploring this issue I am actually finding it is getting worse. I am hoping it is the preparation for a break-through!

Has anyone had any experiences of OCD type symptons and also over eating/compulsive eating, please?

Has anyone tried Paul McKenna and other hypnosis things and why is he better than others? A lot of people talk about him and I wondered why he has got so well know or is he one of few people doing this. There seem to be masses of books on the subject but no one as famous as Paul McKenna.

Thanks again.

I won tickets here on MN for the Paul McKenna seminar, but Id already tried his method before that. I think its popular because it works, the CD works wonders for me and the tapping techniques help me on my very occasional temptations. There a lot of books that are more in-depth about intuitive eating than Pauls, but i think its the NLP he puts with it that makes it work so well. Someone just telling me via a book to only eat when hungry, stop when satisfied etc etc, wouldnt do muvh for me at all. I need the NLP/hypnosis too. I was a terrible over-eater/compulsive eater, and now I am not. I have only Paul to thank for that :)

Hi - think you have learnt that you have struggled with weight and perhaps getting some help to look at reasons behind it would be more helpful. Personally for me I would struggle, due to my beliefs, with a Paul McKenna type hypnosis - but that is me!

I have heard good things about CBT - and this is something all Gp's can refer to now, under accessing psychological treatments, for time limited help for certain things such as this. Or equally find a private person who specialises in overeating counsellling. CBT looks at changing patterns of behaviour and reasons for it. I haven't had it directly but indirectly for something similar and found it helpful.

Great you are looking at tackling this head on.

I'm not really sure how Paul McKenna works.

As a Christian I would like to get help from God with these things but I know that sometimes God uses skilled people to help us too!

A few years back (about 15 years ago) I got some very bad anxiety (I call it anxiety attacks but the counsellor said not to think of it as an attack (as it was not exactly that!). I got lots of help in terms of people praying for me but I also had CBT councelling on the NHS and it was really helpful and the anxiety went. I will always be a person who can feel anxious about some things and very confident about other things, but the irrational anxiety I had 15 years ago is gone. So maybe some CBT would help.

I have similar problems and thinking of getting the Paul McKenna book and CD as I've heard good things about his method (on here and in real life).

I've been trying to follow the basic principles people have mentioned above, the biggest problem I have is with the 'make sure its real hunger not emotional hunger' - the problem is I know very well it's 'emotional hunger', but sometimes I don't know any other way of making myself feel better other than eating, and sometimes the anxiety and self-loathing is so unbearable that I make the rational decision to binge-eat to make it stop.

I think in some ways it's not really about the food. As a teenager I used to cut myself to deal with similar feelings, in my early 20s I used to drink far too much (I know that's hardly unusual, but it was for the wrong reasons in my case!), now it's food which I guess is better than the other alternatives.

You can always try the Paul McKenna and see how it feels for you. It's only about £6 on Amazon. I still have those deliberate binges that you describe - it feels like dosing yourself with food as medicine. They are just getting further and further apart. The nice thing about the Paul McKenna system is that you aren't somehow back to the beginning if you do have a binge. You can just move on. Such a relief after feeling that if I had a bad meal when I was doing slimming world I might as well trash the day and try and fit in as many of the foods I was missing for the rest of the day.

Hi italian. Just popped in to support you on your new thread. I wanted to say that, as you probably know, I tried Paul McKenna and lost about 7 pounds in the first week. I don't really remember why i stopped doing it (probably thought I could do it alone from then on ). Anyway, I can't find the flippin' CD but am tempted to buy it again as it really was good.

i know that as a christian you are very worried about alternative stuff and that things might not be coming from God and I cannot comment on that, except to say that I'm pretty sure Paul McKenna is harmless in that respect.

Maybe try the Paul McKenna thing. It is relatively cheap and if it doesn't work you've lost nothing and at least you'll know.

I love the person earlier who commented that she wrote on the fridge it's not in here sweetheart - v.good I do get a sense that italian is looking for something more from her food than just nutrients.

Good luck, honey. And to the rest of you. XXX

I know that feeling shrinkingnora, that's one of the problems I have with calorie counting (which is what I'm trying at the moment), if I go over my 'limit' I tend to think - well, I've ruined the day anyway, might as well eat everything I can get my hands on while I have the chance. Which I know makes no sense, but I still do it!

I struggle to let go of the 'control' aspect of calorie/points counting though, even though I know it's probably making things worse in some ways...

Italian if you have found cbt helped you before would you consider going to your gp and asking for cbt again for a different issue?

I have joined a slimming group - worked for a while, but I have lost motivation now! Think having someone to go with to an exercise class might be more helpful for me (but all my friends have toddlers!!!) - do you do exercise etc? Know that not the real issue here, just an asside.

Thanks shrinkingnora, washnomore, HowToLookGoodGlaikit, Squirrelsmum, Guildenstern, foreverondiet, Keziah, Ephiny and Hippychick66, thank you all so much for sharing your thoughts and experiences. I really do appreciate it, and feel very encouraged that so many kind people have replied.

I will set out some thoughts that have come to me today and reply to anyone, so sorry if I go on too long, or if I miss out anything/anyone!

Ephiny so sorry to hear your experiences. If you think Paul McKenna will help then go for it but to be honest from what you have said I think some counselling could help you. I got free counselling on the NHS when I had my anxiety and it really was sorted out. I mean I could hardly get on a train without having heart palpitations and now I do all kinds of things I would not have imagined possible.

I had a bit of an epiphany (moment of realisation!) tonight on my walk with my friend. I realised that I am not a compulsive eater I am an impulsive eater. 'How nice to be present at the birth of a new phobia' (in the words of Frazer Crane!) - but really it is not new, I found masses of things on the internet about Impulse eating!

I am just so glad that what I feel is something that is real! Because I did not fit into the 'normal' binge eating stuff or compulsive or emotional eating (what I had read about on the internet I mean).

Anyway, I am going to work through a few ideas from these websites and some books I have got and if I can work it through I will with healthy eating and exercise rather than 'dieting.

If I can't get a grip on it then I will approach my GP.

My main concern is now that I have a daughter who is only 6 and I don't want to pass on any bad food habits to her. I have suffered with self-esteem issues in the past, although happy now I think some of that baggage from the past is following me!

One thing that was interesting to read on one of these websites (below) was that being thin does not make you happy!

www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/emotional/limits-of-thin

It says "Try this experiment: Instead of waiting to be thin to be happy, try being happy right now. Live as if you were already thin, as if you liked yourself, as if you chose to have the life you have right now.

My bet is that you will discover the real It thing: the riches of your own life that were yours all along."

You can read more: Losing Weight - Being Thin - Happiness - Geneen Roth - Emotional Eating - Good Housekeeping - NO I don't work for them, I just read a lot on this site (see below).

I think for me I need to find some balance, between eating everything in sight and being really restrictive! I think I also need to work out what I am looking for, I am a very happy and fulfilled person now but at times I think there is a shy little person in me who is still a bit shy!

I can't speak for anyone else on here, as to why you are overeating or how you are feeling. If Paul McKenna or anything else works then good luck and well done. I am not against him or anything, I just don?t know how it works and I would like to get to the bottom of this issue I have with food.

I have battled with my weight for almost two decades and I have finally decided that it stops here! But as I said earlier I may need some help! I don't want to try and do it alone, I know I need help!

I have got into exercise lately and that has been helping. My weigh has not gone up and up, actually for about the last 6 years it has been the same, so I am doing some things right. I think being positive and nice to myself will be very important. I deserve to be fit and healthy and I really want to get there.

Keziah I do exercise, I got out one night a week with a female friend or two, and we go for a walk for about two hours around the local area (I am lucky I live in a very nice safe area). I also go to a Rosemary Conley diet and fitness exercise class about once a week. I have the diet DVD (Ultimate) which I can also do at home and have just got some Christian yoga type exercise DVDs called Wholly Fit. www.wholyfit.org/

The good thing about the DVDs is you can do them at home. The walking has really encouraged my friendship with these ladies as we talk about everything when we are out walking and it is free.

In the last few months we have only had to miss a few days due to bad weather and we have walked in sunshine and snow. I am lucky as my DH is happy to put DD to bed and babysit while I go out. In the past I did go swimming etc in the evening but it costs money and also for the time in the pool you have about an equal amount of time driving to the pool/parking in the minuscule parking spaces and getting changed/changed back etc etc. plus swimming makes me want to eat snacks and drink hot chocolate!

Anyway, as you can see, I've done a bit of Googling around found some website which look helpful. What I have read is helpful but I can't vouch for the sites, so please take a look if you like but judge everything on the basis of whether or not it is good for you!

ezinearticles.com/?Impulsive-Eating---Preventing-The-Binge&id=838500

www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/advice/end-impulse-eating-oct06

www.drphil.com/articles/article/398

www.impulsive-eating.com/impulsive-eating.html

www.healthnetwork.com.au/weight-loss/impulsive-eating.asp

www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/advice/emotional-eating-0707

www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/advice/advice-emotional-eating-greene-0306

Sorry this is very me me me! Good luck to anyone else who is struggling with food. There is also a website which I get emails from called Women struggling with food www.eatingsdisorders.com/ It is a Christian thing and may be of interest to some. I?ve also been reading a Christian book called Overcoming Overeating: It's Not What You Eat, It's What's Eating You! by Lisa Morrone www.amazon.co.uk/Overcoming-Overeating-Whats-Eating-ebook/dp/B0030MI1CY. I know that this will not be everyone?s cup of tea and will not be helpful for all but I did find some of it of interest.

As I said before, I just feel I need some help, it might come from a Christian person or a non-Christian, a medical professional or a friend.

My own experience of counselling and CBT was that it was amazingly helpful so if people are really struggling then that would be my recommendation and I just need to work out if I can overcome this problem with the help of books, exercise, and now that I know what my problem is (and I really feel it is impulsive eating because of lots of things I?ve read today!) I do feel more positive.

Please do keep posting here if it helps you or if you think you can help me.

Many, many thanks...

Oh that quote from Frasier was actually Niles!

Niles: Why didn't you hold the elevator? Didn't you hear me shouting?
Frasier: That was you? Oh, I'm sorry, Niles. I was afraid you were trying to get a picture of my butt.
Niles: How exciting to be present at the birth of a new phobia.
Frasier, "Radio Wars"

Almost the whole show is on You Tube and the quote is in the second one:

Ephiny how are you doing?

I feel happy that I'm making progress with food. My mother-in-law made me a packed lunch 2day (hubby was doing the London Marathon and I went to watch with my father-in-law). The packed lunch came with THREE chocolate bisuits bars! I only ate one of the bars. Quite proud of myself! A while ago I feel sure I would have eaten all 3 of them!

Now I am getting somewhere!

That sounds great, well done. It is nice when some feeling of control comes back isn't it?

Yes, shrinkingnora, it feels good, yes, I just hope it will all continue. Managed to have one croissant for breakfast. I know for some people one croissant is one too many but for me I just want to eat normally. I had one chocolate after dinner tonight too! (I mean a single chocolate!). I have not weighed myself for 2 weeks, I will at Rosemary Conley when I go back in a week's time. I hope the results are good but my main concern is just eating normally.

Waves to washnomore, HowToLookGoodGlaikit, Squirrelsmum, Guildenstern, foreverondiet.

How are you *Keziah?

How is it going Ephiny?

Waves to Hippychick66

If you want to try a CBT approach, Judith Beck's books are great - The Beck Diet, etc. But it is very structured. If you are like me, then you may be eating down emotions. It took me a long, long, time and a lot of work to realise that I was very uncomfortable with strong feelings and used food to "sedate" myself, so to speak. Are you really able to sit with your anger, fear, sadness? If the idea of that is unfamiliar to you, then you may be using food to muffle the feelings. I believe Geneen Roth takes this approach. McKenna never worked for me, and I endlessly listened to his tapes. I have mixed feelings about NLP, but that is for another thread. Best of luck.

Moonranger thanks so much for your post.

To be totally honest I don't think it is about all about straight forward emotional eating. I did really think it was that and I was making assumptions based on that. But now, looking at my eating and trying to make sense of it I don't think it is exactly as you describe, but I would not discount some emotional element to many things we do, generally, and I do in particular.

It was not exactly binge eating, more compulsive but not exacty that either!

When I hit upon the phrase 'impulse eating' and read stuff like this I knew it applied to me:www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/advice/end-impulse-eating-oct06 I just felt a connnection.