Binge-eating disorder

Hi guys

Thought I'd ask for some advice as I'm feeling ill, depressed and totally lost right now.

It seems like my life has always been controlled by food and my image of myself and what I think other people's perception of me is.  I'm a 6 ft 2, 30 yr old guy, who's not fat fat (36" waist and 15 stone), but I would love to get down to a 28-30" waist and have a six-pack. 

The crazy thing is that I know exactly what to do, I eat healthy 99% of the time, and I go to the gym.  What is sabotaging my attempts to lose the lard is the binge-eating habit that I have had for the past few years.  What's stranger is how I've managed to get from 18 stone down to 14 st 3 relatively quickly and without hardly any dietary slip-ups, but, for some reason, when I get down to around 14-15 stone, the binge-eating starts. 

For the past 4 weeks it has happened once every 7 or so days.  I just don't understand it.  All of a sudden I get really anxious and depressed and I crave foods like sweetened granola cereals, chocolate, etc., and end up caving in.  It just feels like I have no control.  The biggest problem is that when I start one of these binges, I eat ridiculous quantities of high-calorie foods, well past the point of fullness.  I spent yesterday lying down, recovering from the binge from the day before.  In fact, I'm still not feeling well as I type this.  I estimate that I ate 20,000 calories on Tuesday, and, as a result, I've went from 14 st 5 to 15 st overnight.

All I want to do is get rid of this affliction, but it all seems so pointless, as every time I get back on the bicycle, a week or so later I succumb to this demon on my shoulder. 

I'd love to know why exactly this is happening.  Part of me thinks it is physiological, i.e. I'm not getting enough calories and this is my body's way of fighting lack of food.  However, I eat 2000 calories a day when I'm dieting, so this should be enough?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  I just feel like this condition is  ruining my life.  I'm at university doing a nursing degree so have lots of coursework and exams to do in the coming months, and I'm scared that this curse is going to ruin everything for me.

I feel even worse because I'm a 30 yr old guy who's acting the way that society thinks only teenage girls behave.  I've arranged an appointment with my doctor.  Will he have any answers?  I'm hazarding a guess that he'll just prescribe me with prozac; that's what they did when I first went to the doctor complaining about being depressed.

Sorry for the long post.

cheer up! You are giving yourself a solution to your problem by seeing a doctor and by working through your issues cognitively. That's half the battle.

maybe when you get down to a lower weight your body doesnt want to be there. Could you hit in the middle of your current weight and lower weight? I mean you're 30 years old. Not 20 anymore.

Maybe you are depressed, however instead of medication have you considered therapy. Even short term is quite helpful if you have the correct attitude and outlook.

Are you sure you ate 20,000 calories Tuesday night? In addition, try not to stock your "trigger" foods in the house. Maybe until you get this more in control, you could stock only 2-3 days of food in your cupboards? You would have to walk to the store more often, however it would be a bit safer.

Are you getting a decent amount of fats, protein, etc?

I don't understand why my body "wouldn't want to be there"??  How come so many other people manage to get down to size zero and 28" waists.  That's a cop out for people who can't do it. 

Yeah, believe it or not, I ate 20,000 calories, though it was spread out over the next day, too.  And I went to the shops specially to get the stuff I was going to binge on.

And yes, when I'm sticking to my diet, I'm eating all the right things, e.g. all-bran, semi-skimmed milk, wholemeal bread, fish, fruit, lots of veg. 

There's no reason why a 30 year old can't have the body of a 20 year old.  Heck, look at Daniel Craig.  Problem is, I've never been able to get much below what I am now, though I was a 34 inch waist briefy 5 years ago. 

If I am on a strict diet for long periods of time without the occasional --but reasonable--indulgence, I will usually end up craving a lot of not-so-healthy foods and often give in to it. So I plan my reasonable indulgence in the midst of the diet, but it has to be planned and reasonable. Otherwise, it will control you, and there will be more guilt than benefit from it.

Also, you need to make sure your expectations are realistic, healthy and safe. I would love to be a size 2, but my body type is not built for that, so I could never safely and healthily get to that size.

This sounds just like me.....

Although I don't think I have ever eaten 20,000 cals in a go..!

But I too do well,  somtimes for a week, sometimes a month, but over the years, I have always been controlled, and end up bingeing.

The worst thing is that once I start, it gets hard to break the cycle again.

Now I'm not very overweight, Its not caused by any trigger or depression etc, I have never purged or anything like that, but it really is a form of eating disorder.

I actually heard of the term "Non-Purging Bulimia" somewhere before, and thought that might be me!!!

It would be interesting how other "sufferers" cope with it.

Probably 2000 calories a day is just not enough for you and it triggers the binges.

Do you workout? I am 34 year old 5'4" female maintaining at 8.8 stone and I need 2200-2400 a day (I workout 4 days a week). Sooo , given you're a 6'2" guy I'm gonna guess you'd want 2500-2600 for comfortable sustained and slow weight loss.

Also, a lot of folk overlook that mental effort (being in school and studying) actually demands energy -- specifically glucose derived mostly from our body's ability to breakdown complex carbohydrates and proteins. So, even if you're not working out, 2000 is not not working for your biological needs at the moment.

And you are right, 15 stone is a fabulous healthy weight for a guy your age and height. I think aiming for a 28-30" waist isn't realistic for your height. You would look too emaciated, but 34" would be fine if you really feel the need to trim. However, even that dimension is more suitable for guys with narrow frames -- if you are broad-shouldered with a broad rib cage then it is likely unattainable.

Your doctor could be useful or useless -- it all depends on his or her experience with men who struggle with body image. Unfortunately, we are often sexist when it comes to the pressures that men experience for pursuing the airbrushed ideals of our media-bombarded lives -- we presume only women are affected. Not so.

I would suggest you will have better outcomes with a psychologist or counselor specializing in eating disorders (again they too are not immune to sexism, so move onto the next one if you find they minimize your issues as a guy). I'm not suggesting you have an eating disorder, but someone specializing in that area is familiar with all facets of body image, anxieties and stress responses which could play a part in your frustrations at the moment.

As for SSRIs (eg. Prozac), they are suitable for severe clinical levels of depression only (i.e. requiring institutionalization either due to psychotic and/or suicidal symptoms). Studies show they are little better than placebos for mild depression -- cognitive behavioral therapy and regular exercise is far more successful. They should not be prescribed for generalized anxiety disorders, although they often are due to current scrutiny and risk of a physician's license if s/he prescribes anxiolytics such as the benzodiazepines.

Basically, if you do not like your doctor or feel that you are heard, then time to find another. Each GP has his or her own interests and biases like any human being, so when it's not a good fit then it is best for both GP and patient if the patient moves on.

Best of luck!

Original Post by lightf00t:

I don't understand why my body "wouldn't want to be there"??  How come so many other people manage to get down to size zero and 28" waists.  That's a cop out for people who can't do it. 

 

Yeah, believe it or not, I ate 20,000 calories, though it was spread out over the next day, too.  And I went to the shops specially to get the stuff I was going to binge on.

And yes, when I'm sticking to my diet, I'm eating all the right things, e.g. all-bran, semi-skimmed milk, wholemeal bread, fish, fruit, lots of veg. 

There's no reason why a 30 year old can't have the body of a 20 year old.  Heck, look at Daniel Craig.  Problem is, I've never been able to get much below what I am now, though I was a 34 inch waist briefy 5 years ago. 

 

I think you're putting way too much emphasis on your physical appearance instead of your health.  Daniel Craig is a celebrity who is seen by millions and likely has a team of trainers/nutritionists to get him in that shape.  Have you tried not being so strict when you are sticking to your diet?  Maybe allowing some treats will help you from craving them later on.

Original Post by hedgren:

 -- cognitive behavioral therapy and regular exercise is far more successful.

Instead of letting your doctor prescribe meds, ask for a referral to someone who can treat you with cognitive behavioral therapy, or look for such a person yourself. That stuff really works.

And I second all the other good suggestions above.

Well, to be fair, it's all about calories in versus calories out.  If I could stop the bingeing, then I could eventually have a physique like Daniel Craig without the need for trainers, nutritionists, etc.  What's weird is how I managed to get from 18 stone to 15 stone without bingeing, and yet now, all of a sudden, it all goes pear-shaped. 

I'm going to try and get back on track with the diet today, but what I'm going to do is schedule every Sunday as a cheat day where I allow myself 2500-3000 cals.  Hopefully that might make the difference.

There's no doubt that eating the sheer volume of food I end up eating makes it a full-blown eating disorder.  I mean, when you're shovelling it in even though you're in pain, that's insane.  I acknowledge that; I just wish I could stop it.

You got yourself to 15 stone because you were dieting from being overweight to a healthy weight. The body is capable of using the fat stores in that case.

Now you are in famine mode and that's why the bingeing has begun. You will not be able to stop without a) upping your daily calorie intake now and b) some professional guidance from a psychologist/counselor.

Your body now has to seek out energy from your bones, muscles and vital organs because you no longer have excessive fat stores available. You are doing damage.

It is well known that dieting will trigger in genetically vulnerable people compulsive issues with food restriction and full blown eating disorders:

"New imaging technology, that marries Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging with selective neurotransmitter radioligands, confirms that altered serotonin neuronal pathway activity persists after recovery from an eating disorder and supports the possibility that these psychobiological alterations might contribute to traits, such as increased anxiety or extremes of impulse control, that, in turn, may contribute to a vulnerability to the development of an eating disorder."

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ben/cdt cnsnd/2003/00000002/00000001/art00010io

You need 2500-3000 as a daily amount and then go ahead and have a cheat day of 4000 or more if you want.

And just on the topic of Daniel Craig -- we need to be extremely cautious of viewing any celebrity as somehow achieving his or her perfect body through nutrition and exercise alone. What do you think the chances are that Craig is on steroids? Plausible given his well-publicized outbursts, as roid-rage is not just a term.

It's fairly easy to spot steroid use because the muscles, in particular the shoulders/biceps/chest will have a marked lack of veins on the surface and tend to be proportionally more pronounced than leg muscles -- they just look inflated. To look at Craig's upper torso relative to the slim mid-section with defined six-pack is another give-away to steroid use. With his upper torso as large as it is, he should have more fat around his mid-section (without steroids). But with steroid use, the fat is reduced as the muscle fiber inflates.

Hopefully I don't need to go into the monstrous damage steroid use does to a body to help you recognize that what you may have held up as an ideal is just a manufactured fantasy.

The tremendous pressure placed on celebrities to meet these manufactured fantasies leads to epidemic levels of surgery, drug use and eating disorders not only in their ranks but in the ranks of all the susceptible public out there who believe the articles where the stars espouse their healthy lifestyles and hard workouts to their fabulousness.

If you really do wish you could stop it then start by seeing a professional counselor. Best wishes to you.

Okay, are you positive that you eat 20,000 calories on binge days?  You must be overestimating, because that actually doesn't seem physically possible! What, precisely, are you eating??  That would be like 10 pounds of pasta, plus several whole chickens...

I won't delve into the emotional/anxiety issues that are causing you to do this.  But on the physical side - do you normally feel hungry on your regular days?  Do you deprive yourself from eating ANY of your favorite treats?  Do you constantly FEEL that you are on a highly restrictive diet?

If so, you're doing everything wrong and setting yourself up for failure.  TRUST ME on this.  You need to make a healthy lifestyle change, and delegating one full day (or god forbid, a whole weekend) as a "cheat day" is simply not the way to do it.  Eat regular, well-portioned meals, and include a dessert or something that you love - just keep the portions reasonable.  You can eat "a little bit of anything"; that's not going to sabotage your weight loss.

If you can average about 2,400 calories a day, EVERY day, then there's plenty of room in there for a guilt-free slice of cake or a Big Mac. There's NEVER a need to swear off all the food you love! If you are constantly feeling deprived, then eventually your willpower will break, and you'll also feel justified in eating horribly since you've been so good for a few days. 

But that's not the way to make a lifestyle change! The only way to lose the weight AND KEEP IT OFF is to have a SUSTAINABLE DIET, one that satisfies you and doesn't make you feel the need to "cheat."  So work on achieving that, and the need to binge will go away!

Hello Lightfoot:  I just feel compelled to reply to you because I often go through phases like this too when I'm doing great with trying to get healthy and succeeding with weight loss.   I have a somewhat strange theory that I believe is behind my binges when I'm doing particularly well.  I think subconsciously, I have a fear of success.   I do genuinely feel that my life will be better when I'm at my reasonable goal weight of 140 (I started out at 177 and now I'm at 153), but I think there is some niggling little thought in my subconscious taunting me that losing weight isn't going to change anything so quit setting yourself up for failure and go and enjoy some food.  Weird huh?  Once I realized this, the binges didn't stop entirely but they are really slowing down and happen on a much smaller scale, like 5 twizzlers instead of a whole pound of them.  Besides, I know that my life WILL change for the better as I will be carrying 37 fewer pounds around each day, my heart won't have to work so hard, and as a bonus, I already look nicer.

One thing I've found for sure is that if once a week or even just once every two weeks, I eat something like 1 chocolate bar, an order of small fries or whatever makes me happy and then I don't seem to binge.  

Best of Luck!

Yeah, I've decided to incorporate a "cheat day" into my week.  But instead of a full-blown binge, I'm just going to have second helpings of Sunday roast! lol

Hopefully, the thought of a slap-up meal on a Sunday will help motivate me.  Also, I'm going to stop weighing myself every day and just cut it down to once a month.  I think I get really OCD when I start weighing myself.

You might also check out radiantrecovery.com if you have found you have trouble with sugar/white stuff. That is what I did first before I ever looked at cutting calories. I am a sugar sensitive person and previous binger. Best to you... Lisa