Anyone successfully stopped binge eating.

[Crazykefir]

Hi hive mind. I'm 47. I've binge eaten my whole life (acted out in secret). I'm about 3 stone overweight. Tried everything, slimming world; wierd consultant was some guru like figure. Weigh watchers; lovely consultant lost half a stone in a few weeks then prompty put all the weight back on in 1 week and was too ashamed to go back! Gym; lost a ton of weight, worked out obsessively, got an injury and never went back. My latest attempt was overeaters annoymous; imo they are fundamentalists.
Tried counselling one kept on saying don't beat myself up, the others were significantly overweight and wouldn't go there at all.
Do you have any experience or success to share around binge eating. I'd love to hear it. Thx

Thanks Indoctro. When I started this thread I never thought people have been treating similar conditions with drug therapys.

I saw a dietician about this, who said she sees it all the time in women and it's often because they don't eat enough during the day (dieting and 'being healthy' etc), and then combination of relief at the end of the day, hunger and relaxing leads to a habit of evening binging.

Her recommendation was three meals, two snacks a day. A meal has to contain carbs and protein, a snack doesn't. Rate your hunger before and after each meal/snack - if 1 is about to faint and 10 is how you feel after Christmas dinner, you're aiming to let yourself get no hungrier than a 3 or more stuffed than a 7.

Sounds so simple, but it's amazingly difficult! Because you're only eating to fuel yourself for the next couple of hours until your next meal/snack, you start to tune into how big your portion sizes need to be, which means you end up getting enough calories during the day and then evening binging falls away.

Although there are more serious mental and physical issues which can lead to binging this simple fix might be worth a try in case it works for you.

Practically you need to start allowing all foods. But BOTH mentally and physically.teach your body it can trust you.amd trust the foods you shame yourself over are bad.
As soon as you restrict your body is just waiting to binge.
Dieting and using compensatory behaviours.shame,guilt and restriction will only lead to binging.
Your body need to 're leeb it can trust you will feed it adequately.regualy.and not starve or restrict it.this goes with both mental and physical hunger.
Shame and guilt keep the cycle going of restriction and binging.
Thinner does not equal better and weight does not equal health.
So focus on what to add in rather than take away.focus on actual health promoting behaviours.
Step away from weight loss.
Learn about diet culture and fatphoboc.
Start on actual health.

Diwt company's make money on keep you trapped in the diet culture cycle.
There's a reason people gain it all back.rhey make thete money this way.
95% of all diets fail.

I recently worked out that my binging problem starts with a carb craving problem - I crave something carby and then, having had one, I eat the whole packet. I've been working on cutting the cravings.

I find eating a diet which is low (not zero!) in carbs and processed foods, high in fat and green veg, and moderate protein is a huge help. Eating carbs causes some people (me) to lose control of their appetite and off switch, whereas on LC I'm in control. Cutting the carbs has a huge impact on me within a few days and cravings subside.

It doesn't need to be "keto", which I associate with processed keto food and artificial sweeteners, which aren't very healthy. When I say low carb I mean eating 'real' food, and plenty of it - it should be satisfying and you'll not be hungry.

There's a LC bootcamp thread on MN where people share their experience and food ideas, and support each other to eat more healthily. We don't count carbs or so anything complicated, we just omit high carb or highly processed foods altogether and eat lots of the others until we feel satisfied.

Pop over for a look

I haven’t beaten it for good but have managed to be in control of it at times

CBT/psychotherapy helped me understand more about it and why - although I understood it I found it hard for that to translate into a change in behaviour as ultimately I just love food

there’s a good person on Instagram thebingeeating_therapist who posts some thought provoking things

but mostly I feel most free when I’m eating low carb. Not sure it’s the final answer as it feels a bit too close to dieting and consequent sometimes I can ‘fall off the wagon’ and go mad on the carbs. But I just feel so much better in myself and it’s amazing that when I’m in that zone, food seemingly has no power over me and I’m not tempted by junk food and I am no impulsive/compulsive in the same way. I started with the mn low carb boot camp. I would however make sure if you try that that you are focusing on how you feel not what the scales say.

Ah yes this has reminded me of another couple of years when I was in control - saw a nutritional therapist and she introduced me to this. Called intuitive eating I think, the rating thing before and after eating. Re learning to tune into your stomach hunger signals (not mouth hunger) which can be so destroyed after years of yoyo dieting. Also not thinking of any food as bad or naughty but recognising some is nutritionally empty.