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

I agree with @DeQuin

Focussing on eating for health has SO helped me... I feel full and satisfied and find I don't often want to binge. I eat masses and have lost lots of weight doing this, alongside IF. Piles of veggies, berries and protein with a good amount of calcium and gut-friendly food is now what my body craves... and I never thought I would say that!!

So yes, I do think there is a significant physiological element. That having a healthy gut and a full stomach takes away some of the levers for craving. As well as the delight in "eating for pleasure and for health" which is what I now aim for... realising how little pleasure there is in binging, and how much there is in having a beautiful pud at the end of a meal.

I genuinely now love thinking about what I'll enjoy eating and finding things that are healthy and delicious, as well as happily eating chocolate and cakes just not so often.

That said, I do know that after a lifetime of binge eating, I am still vulnerable... if I'm very stressed or overwhelmed, it can pop up ... but it doesn't always. I haven't done those 8 days of binging, entering a carb-coma, I did in the past for over 7 years now. And it is increasingly rare for me to even binge for just a day - I can go for months without . But in tough times, yes, I eat... several periods of grief and I notice I put on 2 stone each time but the difference now is, that I often overeat healthy food - huge bowls of berries, yogourt and muesli, and find them deeply satisfying... and noticing what helps calm and soothe me. Yes, sometimes its a whole box of chocolates and a tub of icecream but far far less often now.

So not yet got the whole answer... but well on the way, enjoying the journey and just observing what my body/mind say and want at different times.

Thanks for all the replies. I didn't think mounjaro was the right thing for me because it suppresses appetite and i binge when i'm hungry and I binge when i'm not!
I'm tempted by the surgical option as I know about 6 people who have been to Turkey for a gastric sleeve but I am held back by fear because something may well go wrong.
I wish I could control myself I really do.
I think I am a strong person but in this area of my life I am so damn weak and I hate myself for it.

I have a friend who binge eats who has been very successfully managing it on WLI. She told me the other day that she had a situation (her manager was a complete arse to her at work) and a year ago her response to that would have been to go home and fill her face with biscuits and chocolate. When she got home she had one biscuit, and then didn't want any more. I had a really funny message from her saying "what do i do now??? please don't tell me I have to sit with my feelings ... LOL" (which of course is what she needed to do!). So WLI doesn't solve the behaviour completely (wanted to numb feelings with food is often a driver) but it can still curb the behaviour and might be less drastic than a surgical option which likewise might not curb the behaviour (I was listening to a podcast where someone was talking about some of his patients who had had the sleeve op but figured out they could liquidize mars bars to still overconsume ...)

How are you doing today OP? I've been comforting myself with food of late. :(

I’m going by hearsay rather than personal experience, so take this with a pinch of salt, but….. there are reports that for some people at least, mounjaro reduces alcohol, smoking and other acknowledged addictions. So it’s clearly doing something in the reward centre of the brain, not just appetite. The caveat is whether stopping the injections would result in the urge to use the substance returning….. so you might need to be on them for life. Which they are licensed for - but if you can’t get them on the NHS that is a big financial commitment.

Re the surgical option, you would still need to address the emotional factors behind your bingeing. It is entirely possible for someone who has had a gastric sleeve or bypass to graze on calorie-dense food or drink, and put their weight back on. Some do.

Binge eating is complex. There are emotional triggers, and I believe there are also physical triggers, usually in the form of sugar and other UPF’s.

There is no one size fits all treatment.

It’s been 3 months since my last comment on this thread, at which point I said that having been wearing the same size jeans for over a year was an unprecedented miracle in my life, which it is. I’m still in those same jeans, but 3lb lighter than I was 3 months ago (and 8.5 stone lighter than my all time maximum).

It is still a miracle as far as I’m concerned. I want to give you hope, OP. Recovery is possible. You’ve just got to find the right route for you. Have you looked into any of the several things which were suggested when you first posted your thread?

@VimtoPrincess I used to eat when I wasn't hungry, in fact often when I was already uncomfortably full. Mounjaro stopped all that, as it's not just an appetite suppressant. I would think that it's worth a try, to see if it has that effect on you, before committing to surgery.