Binge Eating... I want to stop.

[VimtoPrincess]

I am binge eating and I want to stop. There, I've said it out loud. How can I stop? Is there help available? Has anyone managed to get over binge eating disorder? I am desperate. If anyone can help me please do. TIA

Same here OP. Moderately reassured that so many are in the same boat, but not sure what the answer is.

WLIs aren't really for me - I have too many rigid fears around potential side-effects, and anyway, I don't tend to eat massive portions or think about food constantly. I tend to gorge on chocolate when I'm stressed, overwhelmed, anxious, bored, procrastinating etc. It's almost a ritual - if there's chocolate around I'll graze on it all day and won't bother eating much else, but I have a night time ritual which includes a very set way of eating a 125g bar of chocolate (possibly bigger if I haven't chided myself enough to avoid the big one).

I'm a good 5 stone overweight with a BMI of 39. I've tried traditional weight loss diets and slimming clubs, hypnosis, slim pod and I've read tons about bingeing. I kind of know why I'm doing it, but the instant dopamine hit is too addictive to give up. I just get heavier year on year.

I’ve been a binge eater since before I can remember, and at my biggest was 22 stone. Dieted (or tried lifestyle change - or exercise, or hypnosis, or therapy) many, many times.

I could resist bingeing for a while, but it always came back. Hence, although I lost a lot of weight quite a few times, and lesser amounts many, many times, the loss would always be followed by rapid regain. More than a stone a month at worst.

3 things have made a difference for me.

The first is understanding the role of insulin in driving hunger, in someone who is insulin resistant. That’s most people. The executive summary is that a low carb diet massively blunts my level of hunger. Conversely, a carb-rich blowout results in me feeling very hungry the next day. Now that I know this, I am ready for it, and that gives me the resolve to stick it out (or eat things which won’t stoke insulin). It only takes a couple of days for my hunger to return to normal levels.

Secondly, I have realised that I am addicted to sugar, crisps, and certain other processed foods. Science may disagree that it’s an addiction, but I choose to trust my own experience. Once I eat those things, I can’t stop - I have an insatiable craving for more. If I manage to resist the craving for long enough - a few days - the craving subsides and I am calm.

So - refrain from specific food triggers and eat low carb, I won’t have excess hunger or cravings. All good, right? Well, no - because physical hunger and cravings are only part of the reason I binged. The other part is the emotional component, and the distorted thinking which makes me believe that a large bar of chocolate will solve whatever feeling is making me uncomfortable at that time. Give in to that thought, and the physical aspect takes over. And then, no amount of food is enough.

There are various ways of dealing with the emotional component. The one which has made the difference for me is the Twelve Step program of Overeaters Anonymous.

So far I have abstained from my binge foods and from binge eating for 7 months and counting - longer than I have ever gone before. For the first time ever, a major weight loss, which happened between January 2024 and April 2025, has not immediately gone into reverse. Well, it started to for a few months, but then I joined OA, things levelled out and have been stable since.

I am wearing the same jeans I was a year ago. First time ever. Size 16 - not exactly skinny. But when you’ve spent most of your life being anywhere between 24 and 30, 16 is an utter miracle. And, just as importantly, I am free of the shame, fear and self-hatred which come from binge eating.

I think it helps to work out what your triggers are. So maybe keep a diary of what is going on in your life and how you feel on good and bad days to see if there are any common threads.
I used to be a terrible binge eater and was 5-7st overweight for most of my life. It wasn't til i hit perimenopause and pretty much stopped that i realised mine was caused by hormones.

I know how this feels too well

Not everyone wants to take WLI why do so many people just give this as an answer over and over again the OP will be aware of MJ and the rest

This sounds like me, which has probably taken its toll on my organs, and is why I have bowel issues and fatty liver.
When you say this happened for 6 years, is that saying things have since changed, and if so what happened/how.

Therapy from where, I have not been offered or recommended anything.

This is me too. The only way I can get round it is by never having anything other than meal ingredients in the house and/or giving myself permission to eat whatever I want one day a week (usually a Sunday). But I've found that as my weight has normalised (BMI of 21) my willpower to stay slim exceeds my desire to eat.

But I'd love a Mounjaro equivalent that just turned off the food noise.

From wherever you can get it. Privately if it’s affordable. NHS Talking therapies if it’s not (self-referral in a lot of areas, if not, via the GP, but probably a long wait). I think Beat has a section on binge eating disorder on their website.

in my opinion, someone with an interest in disordered eating might be useful but I don’t think it’s necessary for a therapist to be an eating disorder specialist or anything. That’s the symptom, the cause is more likely to be something else/something general that most of them are used to working with. For example, the focus of mine has been on feelings of overwhelm/stress/feeling not good enough/not feeling successful etc. it’s unpicking all of that that has made me not feel the need to binge so, although it has been mentioned, that it really the focus. Not suggesting everyone is the same as me, just trying to illustrate the point/give an alternative view.

Redruby2020 i have had threapy from the nhs.(see my post upthread) Speak to your gp.

I would also like to stop binge eating. I am a healthy weight after losing a lot of weight but every day flipping day is a fight against my own brain to not eat a load of shit. I generally manage it but sometimes I wish mounjaro was around when I lost weight so I could be on it for maintenance and not have this noise in my head.

The best way is to try and not deprive yourself or disallow certain foods.
If you can try and incorporate the foods you binge on into a calorie allowance then you don't feel they are forbidden?
I know it's really difficult to get out of the habit of using food as comfort.
I wish you well x

Would you mind saying which app this is please @Giraffehaver?

It depends…..

”Allowing all foods” is a cornerstone of classic ED treatment which started with anorexia nervosa. But it isn’t right for everyone who binge eats.

It depends what is driving the binge eating. If it is primarily emotional, then allowing all foods can be a useful strategy. But if the person develops cravings after eating only a small amount of specific foods, then abstinence from those foods can be helpful.

It’s like that for me. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell myself I will have just one portion of certain foods, I simply can not stick to it. Sooner or later, I will be stuffing unlimited quantities into my mouth, beyond the point of feeling full;

But if I stick to zero, then after a few days, the craving goes away. I don’t feel compelled to eat unlimited quantities of meat, vegetables or eggs. I eat enough - and it’s enough.

I still have the mental aspect to deal with - the little voice which tells me that a big bar of chocolate will make me feel better. And I need strategies to deal with that as well -for me, the Twelve Steps. But abstinence from my trigger foods (sugar, crisps and similar salty snacks, and peanut butter) has removed the physical cravings which used to drive me mad.

I have experimented, believe me. Moderate healthy eating is so much easier when I exclude specific foods. In fact, I would say that it would not be possible for me to eat moderately if I in included those foods.

Also bear in mind that while obesity is a common complication of binge eating, it is not universally so. Some binge eaters have normal body weight, yet their binge eating is incredibly distressing to them. Weight loss or maintenance should not be the primary goal of treatment for most binge eaters.

Thank you. Yeah I come from an experience of ED background. I used to have very severe bulimia and anorexia.

You're definitely right that everyone is different. And I'm glad you found a way to manage it.

I know the OA mantra is very restrictive in that it removes all trigger foods completely. Treating them almost like alcohol or drugs. And that angle also clearly works for many people too.

The actual emotional reasons behind it or the need to use it as a crutch, to find other ways and to address the underlying issue is probably the most important thing overall.

Honestly the only thing that stopped me was taking mj. Nothing else has ever worked. I am on it for life

I make myself eat three full meals a day. Like, eat loads. But eat loads of healthy food. It's hard because it requires planning, and I do not stick to it 100%. It's been life changing though. Going through the mind games of "eat more, eat nutritionally dense food -- have you eaten enough protein / fibre / veggies / healthy fat" today is a totally different internal conversation. For me, one of the triggers for binge eating was deprivation / dieting. Obvs not the only one, and it hasn't completely fixed the issue but it has helped so much. Good luck OP.

@BillieWiper

I know the OA mantra is very restrictive in that it removes all trigger foods completely. Treating them almost like alcohol or drugs. And that angle also clearly works for many people too.

Not quite….. we treat compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviours as the addiction - not necessarily trigger foods. Many OA members do identify trigger foods and abstain from them, but not all. It’s up to each individual to work put exactly what abstinence is for them.

The actual emotional reasons behind it or the need to use it as a crutch, to find other ways and to address the underlying issue is probably the most important thing overall.

Agree. As I mentioned before - as long as I abstain from my personal trigger foods, I do not suffer from food cravings and I do not go on and on and on eating. The problem then is in my mind/emotions prompting me to pick up the foods which would be triggering for me. Plus the factors which apply to non-binge eaters who become overweight because they don’t pay attention to their fullness signals, or eat foods which fool them, eat for social reasons etc.

In fact it’s even more complex than that. Some people have an addiction-like response to volume, the feeling of the belly being very full. Those people will binge on anything, including salad, just to have that feeling of fullness. Not me.

Thank you.
Sorry if I misinterpreted OA. I'm glad what you're doing is working.

For me having calorie dense food is the thing that I find addictive rather than feeling full. So I've found having it in moderation makes me less bingey.

If it’s right for you, that’s what matters.

Most definitely x

This is potentially triggering for some so I apologise.

There are a few papers out there linking excessive eating and obesity to childhood trauma.

This is one:

The association between childhood trauma and overweight and obesity in young adults: the mediating role of food addiction | Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity | Springer Nature Link

I'm not sure if anyone who has gone through these symptoms here have sought help if that's what's needed for mental health and trauma before the weight loss? Also there are specific mental health treatments for trauma, some which are quite difficult to get on the NHS.

How did you get it prescribed when you've had an eating disorder?

Most binge eating seems for me seems to have been from being dehydrated. When I drink plenty of water, I don't binge and lose weight steadily.

^ I was mainlining caffiene for years. Cutting down has tuned me in to my natural thirst signals.
After tons of threapy im still a work in progress. I do often think i should go on the jabs but tbe hunger would come back as soon as id stop.
This should be discussed more in society, people suffer in silence.