Aged mid forties and restarted binge eating!

[Ahumanjellyfish]

I’m not sure if the right place is to post here.

I use food for comfort and pleasure. In some ways I have a good relationship with food, I love it. My problem is when down, stressed, overwhelmed I binge on carbs.

recently made redundant, relationship pressies (financial and personal) and working from home it’s got out of control.

i keep reading frequent eating is helpful for Bingeing - but that’s triggering - I don’t stop.

Intermittent fasting I tried it and that was so helpful initially then just worsened things as I started eating earlier again and bingeing returned.

I’m acting like I did when I was 15 I think about food a lot and I want quant of carbs. It’s so sad as other things in my life are much bigger problems. I thought it was ok to binge until the other day I realised I’m not handling life well- it’s almost like food is by drug. The issues become extreme when I am in my luteal phase just as when I was a teenager. I’m not sleeping well and have started hrt.

anyone understand and have any advice ?

I understand but I don't have any advice at all sorry. I'm in a similar position and all of a sudden have resorted to the binge eating of my teens and twenties.

It's a difficult one. Take care of yourself and don't beat yourself up anymore. It's a symptom of underlying things.

I understand too. I got down to 10st 13 last week. My mum has since been taken into hospital and it doesn't look good.Have been binging due to the stress. Weighed my self this morning, put just over 3lbs back on. Really trying to control myself today. I'm sorry you are both suffering too.

I’m the same as you. I can’t eat any beige carbs or anything sweet as it escalates out of control really quickly.

I don’t skip breakfast but have protein and fat and very low carb. I have a big lunch and a soup or broth for dinner.

I have to treat myself like an alcoholic. I can’t have even one. I eat keto and it works fantastically well but any high carb food can trigger me so I need to keep “sober”.

Look up the work of Bitten Johnson or Jen Unwin.

I’m in exactly the same situation - also out of control in the luteal phase. I really hoped that HRT would help, but it doesn’t seem to.
I’m worse if I have too much time on my hands, and if I sleep badly.
Nothing to offer in terms of solutions, but you’re not alone!

I am a binge eater so much of this work is going to be psychological that you need to work on. Food is the symptom not the underlying cause. You need to work out how to manage the stresses and feel like you are working your way through them, and find ways to manage your emotions in other ways. This is the real challenge.
Firstly you have to be very ready to change and determined. You will go through a period of grief and loss at losing your crutch but it will not last forever, you can get through that. The only way I have managed it is mindfulness and positive thinking. If you treat food like it’s bad and evil or that it’s a comfort you are treating food like it’s not an inanimate object. It is just fuel for your body so you need to reframe how you look at it. Avoiding triggers is the best way to start, not being around it, not buying it and not smelling or seeing it, getting used to eating different foods and enjoying them. I fill my evenings (that I would usually eat) with something else like exercise or reading or meeting friends

Wow such supportive responses thank you.

Openmouthinsertfood - I am so sorry to hear about your mum. My heart goes out to you. Hoping you can prioritise a little time for you and your own self care.

thanks for sharing. Hoping some tips on here will be helpful.

TheSparkling thanks for sharing, though sorry to hear you’re finding this challenging too.

hopefully others advice on here will help us both

Helenahandkart thanks for sharing. We sound very similar. I thought het would help me too, it hasn’t at all with the binge and low mood. 😢. Hoping we find answers… you’re not alone.

Urghh @Ahumanjellyfish I too have struggled with this all my adult life tbh. From puberty onwards. What helps? Mindfulness… why am I eating? Am I eating my emotions (often, yes!) am I eating as a treat because I don’t get much time to myself and do too much for everyone else (often, yes!) and low carb- it switches off the desire to eat for a while… but I never stay on plan for long.
But you’re not alone.

TropDrôle int testing approach I have a friend who one said my binges sounded like an alcoholic. Interesting it’s only started raising its head regularly since I’ve started menopause.

so you find yourself obsessing about food more whilst limiting carbs or has it been freeing?

@Ahumanjellyfish its freeing. It’s absolutely liberating.

I don’t think about it if I don’t have it. I’ll try to explain.

Imagine a food you hate like liver or kidney (or anything you hate). When you’re in a restaurant or the supermarket you don’t ever think of that food, let alone look at it. It doesn’t enter your head. It’s like that. If I try to moderate, convince myself I can have just one, it’s game over.

Treat it like the very real addiction it is. Nobody binges on cauliflower or steak for example, it’s just carbs.

I think Menora has nailed it. Force and will power, whatever that's supposed to be, doesn't work for behavioural and psychological difficulties, a generic term for a bunch of things such as habits, behaviour, coping mechanisms and other things.

The higher conscious part of our brains aren't designed to deal, consciously, with tasks 24/7. Their designed for programming or reprogramming automatic/semi-automatic habits that require little or no thought. Brains get exhausted having to think too much, it's probably the root cause of giving up on attempts at changes that requires constant thinking every time the relevant scenarios occur

Menora Interesting I worry my mood will really dip. My triggers are processed carbs, have you eliminated all triggers (even if “healthy ones”)?

TropDrôle how did you start on the food addiction pathway? I know some health professionals refuse to accept food addiction exists. Do you have support? Sorry for all the questions!

Yes you’re right, they call it food addiction but it’s CARB addiction.

I watched videos about it on YouTube by Bitten Johnson and then found keto and the community is full of people with carb addictions keeping it under control.

I did 2 months with a keto nutritionist who really helped me. That was 5 years ago and I haven’t looked back.

fourelementary well it seems there is a community of us. Maybe we need to focus on self care and support. It’s upsetting to think you and others have this too, at the same time I feel bit less on my own.

i think it becomes a habit too. I get to around 10 am, working from home and start “nibbling”. I thought IF was the answer but I didn’t keep to it.

I’ve noticed lack of sleep and hormones are vulnerable times for me too, I can’t do anything about hormones I don’t think but can try with sleep.

Thank you so much, and I have the most miraculous news! We thought her cancer might have spread but after a CT scan found it was an infection in her spleen (Burned a hole in it!). I'm so bloody relieved!

Openmouthinsertfood - oh so pleased it hasn’t spread . Although really sorry to hear about the infection in the spleen, hoping that can be swiftly treated and sorted. X

@Ahumanjellyfish you might get on with Noom for a few weeks as it has a lot of the psychology stuff included in it. Yes you have to avoid your triggers. But now I can be around food I used to binge on without crumbling. I actually crave a lovely bit of salmon now! I never go to the shops hungry and I always plan what to buy so I don’t slip up.

With mindfulness I always ask myself a lot of questions.
am I really hungry?
is this something I should eat to meet my goal?
is this decision going to hinder my goal
am I feeling stressed? Could I go for a walk?

I also remember what other nice food tastes like and have a memory of a healthy meal that I really enjoyed, and when I am having a wobble I will think about how nice it tasted

over time your taste buds change. You start to be able to taste sweetener in things or that they are too sugary. Or too salty. Or fake tasting

Agreed I think the psychological impact is huge. If I’m honest, as soon as I felt slightly stressed - I want carbs. Sometimes “healthy ones”. I’m not restricting (aware that would worsen the situation) and I’m not avoiding carbs (which I was told can also cause the bingeing). It’s just that’s what I want in quantity.

it’s that frantic must have it now and a lot feeling I find such a challenge, and hormones hugely influence it too.

its so inspiring you’ve found a way that works for you too. Do you time restrict at all? What do you eat? (I know we will likely be different in terms of food triggers)

🙏🙏