I can't stop binge eating and I don't know what to do...

[mommathatwearspink]

I've struggled with binge eating for as long as I can remember. My weight has yoyo'd dramatically but despite getting down to my ideal weight in 2013, I've since had two DC and managed to put on 6 stone
I told myself once DS had been born (spring 2017) I would get the weight off but I've spent my whole maternity leave binge eating.
I have some really great days but this morning is bad already and you wouldn't believe the amount of food I've already eaten and it's only 9:30am.
I'm desperate to stop binge eating but I don't know what to do now...

I have a similar problem, it’s horrible.
I keep meaning to buy this book as a start, I’ve seen it recommended a few times:
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1572305614/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_1572305614?tag=mumsnetforum-21

Giving up sugar completely stopped me binge eating. It's tough for a couple of weeks but so worth it. If you decide to try it read up on it first as better to cut back over a few days rather than go cold turkey as the headaches etc are bad. I never binge on chocolate or desserts any more and my appetite has really shrunk so I need less food generally.

This is also me! I lost nearly 4.5 stone on slimming world in about a year and a half, stopped going in august last year and have put about 3 back on i'm so annoyed with myself! I have never lost that much before and i look at pictures from last year and it makes me feel even worse i dont get how some people know when to stop. Even when i was on SW I still used to think about food all the time

It’s Overcoming Binge Eating, Second Edition: The Proven Program to Learn Why You Binge and How You Can Stop by Christopher G. Fairburn

He’s a research fellow at Oxford Uni and runs the Centre for Eating Disorders there.

It sounds like you have an eating disorder and six stones is a lot.

Maybe you could see your gp and he can refer you for some help?

If you want to go it alone, I'd also consider low carb dieting and giving up sugar. Plan your meals in advance though.

OohOoh I think giving up sugar may be the best option for me too as it's mainly chocolate, sweet snacks, etc that I binge on.

Thank you for the recommendation Aunty, I'll have a look.

Bluntness would my GP really do anything or would they just tell me to get a grip?
I honestly feel that I have a real problem with food now and just feel like I could do with some help.

They should help you. Obviously gps differ, but based on your weight and the fact you binge eat they should provide you with a referral, it's worth speaking to them,

The other thing I'd say is you must have the food in the house to be able to binge to that extent, so youre planning to do it. A first step is not to buy it. Don't shop when you're hungry and don't buy a ton of crap.

But yes, speak to your gp.

Have you tried picking a calorie amount, and sticking to it? As in thinking: I’m going to have 1800 calories everyday, including some treats.
I think often people get caught in the trap of: oh, I’ve put on weight, so I’ll only eat 2 apples and a bowl of cereal tomorrow. Then the urge to binge eat increases, as they know they’re going to be starving.
When I was preggers, I actually lost weight, as I knew I couldn’t crash diet, so I just ate 2000 calories of varied food a day. I’ve never felt so well!

I also stopped by pretty much giving up sugar. It just stopped my urge to binge - felt like a miracle. I do allow myself four squares of chocolate when I'm watching TV in the evening, I eat it really really slowly and space it out over the evening. I can look forward to it, and I know I haven't given it up entirely, but it's not enough to trigger that dependency again. Good luck

cavewoman it sounds like that really works for you but I have had to cut it out completely apart from a glass of dry white wine in the evening (we all have our vices!). I'd recommend for anyone cutting out sugar to do it gradually and have painkillers handy as the headaches are bad. Berries are good when you're cutting down as they give you a bit of sugar but nothing like the amount you get from chocolate or biscuits.

OohOoh how do you even begin to cut out sugar? I'm not sure I could... I'm an all or nothing kind of person.

Just eat savoury stuff instead and don't have anything sweet. Toast (brown preferably), eggs, cheese, proper dinners, veg, curry, sandwiches, salads, rice, pasta - there's tons of stuff with no sugar in it. If I go out to dinner I either have a starter and main or main plus a cheese board. I don't miss it all really because I've lost weight, lost all the bloatiness in my face, have more energy, sleep better and my appetite has shrunk loads. If you can cut back on carbs too - even better. I eat bread but mainly brown and have things like chicken and bacon caesar salad for lunch. There's a ton of books that can probably give you better advice though but for me it's been life changing - I never binge on sweet stuff anymore - ever!

I had some success with a book called Eating Less by Gillian Riley. A lot about the psychology of over eating but good practical help as well.
Google it, she has a website as well.

Agree with the sugar thing. It's like a drug unfortunately.

OP I feel for you.

Don’t go to extremes. Thus is y the time for an overhaul. It will be too overwhelming and you’ll likely bail.

Small steps.

First, why don’t you list to us here all that you ate that morning. List it, own it. When you next get thedesire for a binge, comeback to this thread, read it and remember how shit you felt afterwards.

Small steps.

So agree about the writing it down - you need to actually see it, then you can take responsibility for it. You need to be honest, even if it's only you that's reading it.

That's why that old crone Gillian McKeith lays out all the food that her patients have eaten in a week on a table in that show, the shock value.

OP I am in the same boat, really struggle with bingeing and yo-yoing. Always have. I have found GPS useless- the last time I went for help I was told that the key was to eat three meals a day and not snack and then I wouldn't put on weight. All said with an incredulous look on his face as if he couldn't understand why anyone was asking him something so ridiculous. I tried (v expensive) CBT and was treated like a recovering anorexic/bulimic I.e. I should eat what I want and not restrict myself. My concerns about being overweight/health were not addressed. I was not allowed to be concerned about weight gain or to try and regulate my weight but accept it was ok not to be skinny. With the result that I ate what I wanted and became very overweight again. Which is not healthy.

So I continue the yo yo diet cycle.

I wanted to say i would give up sugar, i would binge eat sugary foods all the time. I am about 7 + stone overweight. and i give up sugar 36 days ago. The withdrawals are hard lasted about 3 weeks but its changed my outlook completely!! I would read sweet poison by David Gallipie! Thats what did it for me. Ive been on maternity the last year and found i was eating all the time, since cutting out sugar i havent thought about food that much, ive wanted chocolate but now made my own without sugar and had it this week still lost 2lb, im loving the new flavours i taste with food , i felt i was in a sugar fog. The thing you get back when u cut out sugar is you get the hungry and full 'switch' as sugar is processed differently so you dont feel hungry or full , everything even with tiny amount of sugar tastes really sweet, i had slip of diet coke and it was nasty, its crazy! And breaks the addiction. It sounds impossible and terrifying , like you are giving up lifes joys but actually you gain so much more its worth it! Ive lost 10 lbs so far after 35 days. Ive also cooked desserts that dont have sugar in and not missed out , i recently made a sugar free birthday cake for my daughter and loads of people commented how yummy it was!

Anyone can message me if they want to know anything! I wish id done it sooner im 35 now, i wish we was in a sugar free world but unfortunately sugar makes the big companies too much money that is why saturated fat was see as bad in the 1970s , there is a whole section about this in the book.

Sorry last one ! I know i sound very preachy but i honestly can say its changed my life and im only starting this journey, my weight as been going up and up over last 10 years and i always said i was addicticed to sugar and wished i could just go to rehab like someone addicted to anything else, well this is my way of getting past my addiction, and i honestly believe its working. Im begining to feel full and feeling real hunger for first time in years. Im not missing out because im baking my own treats and still loosing out . Fructose is what i am cutting out but have glucose as substitute sugar , explains everything in book.

*still loosing weight

I have just been through a horrendous time and managed to put on 1.5 stone since the beginning of December. I could not stop eating.
When my too-large trousers became too tight, I did what I usually do in those cases : I went cold turkey on all sugar and starch. No fruit, no bread, no brown rice... I do not limit my calorie intake during the first three days, so the withdrawal symptoms are not too bad. I eat meat, cheese, eggs and vegetables.
It has been a week today and the urge to binge has disappeared.

Hello Not, can i ask why u cut out starch too? And is that something u plan on doing forever as well as sugar?

I'm a binge eater. I've only really owned up to this fact recently. I'd been doing intermittent fasting, but it completely played into my disorder. One of the clinical definitions of binge eating talks about non-purgers - fasting is one way we control weight gain. Oof.

I agree on cutting out sugar. For me, though, it's the combination of fat and sugar, so a bag of Haribo doesn't hold me under its sway like a chocolate cake.

I don't know where to go from here, apart from right now I've decided that fasting in any form triggers binging, so I can't do it anymore. No cakes/biscuits/ice cream/ fatty&sugary foods. Focus on 3 decent meals a day, and eat mindfully (I graze when bored or tired). Drink more water (I need to get a large water bottle so I can easily measure my intake).

I have no other answers right now. I'm not sure what else to do. I have gotten used to the extremes of starvation hunger and painfully full. Satiety is a foreign feeling.

Meditation/mindfulness
Keep a food diary
Reduce sugar (gradually)
Drink water!
Take a good multivitamin
Find some replacement activities (luxurious baths, exercise classes, crafts, music, beauty treatments, book club?)
Learn to spot triggers (boredom, packed schedule etc.)

Although telling your GP might be a good idea (and you could, for instance, push to get on the waitlist for CBT) bear in mind that ED services are heavily oversubscribed at the moment. Think carefully about the practical outcomes you want to push for in that appointment.

There are also online support groups where you might find support and accountability.