Dealing with Complusive Eating...Any tips?

I have to admit that I am a compulsive eater or a food addict. I go through stages of bingeing until I am over full and I constantly think about food. Sometimes I can hold off the craving to eat and it disappears but it always comes back and bites me in the butt and I have a binge sometimes when I'm not even hungry, afterwards I feel guilty. Somehow I have managed to maintain my weight because I exercise a lot to make up for these times, usually happens once or twice a week. I have a "day off" each week hoping it would help, sometimes it does, other times it doesn't.

I really want to work through this and get rid of it for good. I can't really afford to see a psychiatrist which people say I should do (I do want to), but has anyone else had this problem? Have you worked through it? Any tips on things I could do? I have tried to distract myself with other things, I've tried exercising instead. I have affirmations stuck up around my place to try help but I keep doing it (mind you a little less than I used to, so I know I am going something right!)

Any ideas welcome :)

So your weight is maintained through exercise and it doesn't sound as if you have developed other issues surrounding food or eating disordered behaviors as far as what you have told us in this post.

We are all food addicts -- we have to be to live. I think your situation at the moment may have more to do with restriction that is biting you in the butt. We tend to think constantly about food when it is forbidden.

Have you tried upping your daily calorie intake? In other words, take a rough approximation of the amount of calories you take in when you binge (the once or two times a week) and then spread that total amount over an entire week.

You've found that a cheat day can sometimes be successful, which likely means that you avoid certain foods and then end up craving them. Again, try adding small portions of those foods to your diet every day. The idea with this is to reinforce in your mind that everything is available to you whenever you want and this can take diffuse the obsessive thoughts of wanting and needing that food.

If people in your life are suggesting you see a psychiatrist then perhaps go with that. Can you afford one consultation session? It might be good to get an initial diagnosis and a psychologist or psychiatrist can offer you referrals to less expensive group sessions for either disordered eating or compulsive behaviors should you and your therapist see the need.

Best of luck.

I was annorexic when i was 15/16 and since I started eating again my eating has never been right I have always binged since then (I am now 23).

I never recognised I had a problem before and now I am working really hard at fixing it. I know that a lot of my problem is emotional.

I probably could afford a couple of counselling sessions but it usually takes months of regular sessions that is what I would struggle to afford. Maybe I should just go talk to someone anyway and take it from there.

If you see a psychologist that focuses on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) you should experience a marked improvement in 8 to 10 sessions and they don't necessarily have to be batched up in a regular way either -- as long as you've got homework in the interim.

The cognitive part is connecting the emotional challenges to the logical part of your brain and the behavioral part is learning and practicing the techniques on how to successfully short-circuit the previously locked in thoughts which have inevitably resulted in unwanted behaviors (in your case bingeing).

Recovery from anorexia can be complete or it can have lingering, but essentially manageable, challenges. I think an initial visit might just help put in perspective whether it is healthier for you to overcome bingeing or whether in fact your pursuit to fix the 'problem' is actually the problem (i.e. pursuit of perfection) -- and I am not suggesting it is necessarily one or the other.

So yeah, a bit of perspective from an outsider might just be a good first step? Hope you meet your goals in whatever process you choose.

Thanks heaps, I find your advice is very enlightening for me :)

Youre in New Zealand, health care, including mental health care is free. You are also in Auckland, where there happens to be the following services that deal with food/eating related issues for free.......

North Shore Women's Centre  www.womyn-ctr.co.nz 

Papakura Support & Counselling - Email: pscc@xtra.co.nz 

Auckland Eating Disorder Services, Greenlane Clinical Centre, Greenlane Hospital, Phone: (09) 623 4650

It doesnt matter what your eating issues are, these services may be able to help, especially if your eating issues are causing you distress. 

I dont know what your income is, etc but WINZ provides funds for counselling if you are on a low income, are a student etc. All you need is a letter from your GP stating that it would be of benefit to you and youre off.

You could also look into youth health services. Im in the lower Nth Island, and in my city we have a free health service for youth (12-24) which includes GP's, nurses, sexual health and counselling. 

If all else fails, refer yourself to your hospitals community mental health service, its free!!

Hello. Here are some things that work for me (I cannot affors to binge at all, but sometimes it just happens)

1. Surround yourself with healthy food that you love (your favourite fruit, diet fruit yogurt, healthy snack bars). If you absolutely have to binge, it will minimise the damage.

2. Keep the treats out of reach (top shelf or something) and carry a very small portion of it with you (I usually binge in front of the TV, so I take small portions from the kitchen, eat them and then have to get back for more... but often I forget about it or I am too lazy to move, so I have to do without)

3. Keep water ar hand. Might help you fill up the stomach (a full stomach usually makes me feel guilty so I stop eating).

4. Use mints (not chewing gum), sugar-free but tasty (mint or fruit flavour usually satisfy my longing for sweets)

5. Try and fix whatever is not working properly in your life. It is probably the reason why you are bingeing (as I have been told, bingeing is the way you are punishing yourself for something you are doing wrong or conforting yourself for something wrong that you have to put up with). Clean cuts are the most difficult, but they are the only ones that work on the long run.

Good luck with everything

Hi, I also have struggled with compulsive eating.  It ebbs and flows and is a long term battle.  I, too, could not afford counselling.  Anyways, what I found most effective, to be honest, was planning for a binge (as counter-intuitive as that sounds).  Sometimes, I will save up like 500 of my daily alloted calories (still leaving a caloric deficit of at least 500 in a day so as not to impact my weight loss), and then I set up a nice spread of really healthy foods.  Like, I might have a whole plate of veggies and low fat dip.  I get the feeling that I have had a binge, but none of the negative side affects.  Also, I plan for treats, every day in the 100Kcal range.  I found that I binged way less when I allowed myself a fudgsicle or a couple cookies.  By incorporting small amounts of "bad food" into my diet, I didn't feel the need to binge. Also, the gum and water techniques got me by on occassion.  A big important thing, if you can manage it, is keep your worse binge foods out of the house. 

But, I guess most effective for me was my affirmation "you DESERVE a better life than you have been choosing for yourself".  Because at the end of the day it is a choice.  Realizing that it was a choice was my first and biggest step to making meaningful and lasting change. 

I struggle with binge eating too... I just started this book

http://www.amazon.com/Four-Day-Win-Achieve-Th inner/dp/1594866074

It makes a lot of sense to me so far.  The author has a degree from Harvard and has herself struggled with and overcome a binge eating disorder.  Its really long and I haven't finished it yet but I just thought I would suggest it  :)

Ive always found that keeping my trigger foods out of the house helps alot.

I also pretty much only binge in two kinds of situations:

1.When no one is around, my brain probobly thinks that if no one can see me eating, the calories dont count.Silly.

2.At night,under the cover of darkness,lol.If im drunk or in a altered state of some kind than it increases my chances of binging by like a billion,so i find it helps to sit around with friends or be out of the house if im going to party or just be awake later at night.

So maybe try to keep track of what time and situations you binge in?

and then you can come up with a game plan, like not being in the house, or replacing binging with a differant activity.

I'm trying to quit bingeing too, and I have to say that I agree with hedgren, pretty much everyone is deep down a food addict-minus those very very few people in the world that don't like to eat very much. Last week I didn't count calories for the first time in awhile...and (I am writing down what I eat to try and stop the bingeing) yesterday I added them up to see how I did (I tried to just make good choices on my own). Turns out, I did better than when I was counting-I focused on making the binges I did have less/stopping once I got full, and basically just did the best I could. I did get rid of the bingeing for a little while last year and I wasn't counting calories then and was actually at a very good place. This is how I did it. I think its absurd to say "As of right now I will never binge again" b/c thats just being unrealistic and making you think about it more. What I did was everytime I did binge, I tried to lessen the damage. Sometimes it was by substituting-like I'd eat chocolate graham crackers and milk instead of cookies, and other times it was just by eating less of what I wanted-only 1/3 of the pint of ice cream rather than the whole thing. Eventually, I wasn't bingeing but I messed it up by restricting which started the whole thing over (I learned my lesson haha).

Yesterday I sort of had a binge (the whole day was slightly over 2000 cals, which is pretty good for me when I binge haha). After, I was thinking about cookies and milk. Instead, I went out and got a diet sierra mist (I don't usually drink diet pop but it fills me up) and some mints and thought about how happy I will be later that I didn't eat more. And it totally worked. I drank the sierra mist which made my tummy happy haha and within an hour I was so happy I didn't ruin my day with more food. It takes some serious effort sometimes I think, but after a few weeks it got alot easier for me last time. Also, I make sure I do allow myself to eat what I want for the most part. I don't eat "super healthy" b/c I just end up craving unhealthy things and bingeing on them. Rather I make the best choices I can while still satisfying myself. Meaning those dark chocolate hershey kisses are not forbidden haha-just not the whole bag in one day! Hope this helps a bit! Keep fighting!

I would recommend a self help book for bingeing, ive got one called overcoming binge eating which outlines 6 steps to overcome bingeing/bulimia , for example the first step is doing a food diary, the second step is to eat 3 meals and 3 snacks a day at set times etc

Original Post by wannahotbod:

I'm trying to quit bingeing too, and I have to say that I agree with hedgren, pretty much everyone is deep down a food addict-minus those very very few people in the world that don't like to eat very much. Last week I didn't count calories for the first time in awhile...and (I am writing down what I eat to try and stop the bingeing) yesterday I added them up to see how I did (I tried to just make good choices on my own). Turns out, I did better than when I was counting-I focused on making the binges I did have less/stopping once I got full, and basically just did the best I could. I did get rid of the bingeing for a little while last year and I wasn't counting calories then and was actually at a very good place. This is how I did it. I think its absurd to say "As of right now I will never binge again" b/c thats just being unrealistic and making you think about it more. What I did was everytime I did binge, I tried to lessen the damage. Sometimes it was by substituting-like I'd eat chocolate graham crackers and milk instead of cookies, and other times it was just by eating less of what I wanted-only 1/3 of the pint of ice cream rather than the whole thing. Eventually, I wasn't bingeing but I messed it up by restricting which started the whole thing over (I learned my lesson haha).

Yesterday I sort of had a binge (the whole day was slightly over 2000 cals, which is pretty good for me when I binge haha). After, I was thinking about cookies and milk. Instead, I went out and got a diet sierra mist (I don't usually drink diet pop but it fills me up) and some mints and thought about how happy I will be later that I didn't eat more. And it totally worked. I drank the sierra mist which made my tummy happy haha and within an hour I was so happy I didn't ruin my day with more food. It takes some serious effort sometimes I think, but after a few weeks it got alot easier for me last time. Also, I make sure I do allow myself to eat what I want for the most part. I don't eat "super healthy" b/c I just end up craving unhealthy things and bingeing on them. Rather I make the best choices I can while still satisfying myself. Meaning those dark chocolate hershey kisses are not forbidden haha-just not the whole bag in one day! Hope this helps a bit! Keep fighting!

 This is really good advice.  I also got over bingeing last year, but I was in a SUPER stressful situation this summer and my bingeing came back hard core.  I think that is part of it too is being in a good place mentally.  Support from people like on this site help too!  You totally aren't the only one going through it  :)

I agree with what everyone has been saying so far.  The things that I find work best for me are just not buying those foods that cause me to binge (and make sure you aren't starving when you go grocery shopping- you will buy stuff you don't need!), trying to keep out of the apartment as much as possible (I only eat a lot when I'm by myself, so if I need to study or something it's better for me to go to the library or some where public), and trying to fill up on stuff like carrots, broccoli, fruit, etc.  Also drinking lots of water does help to keep your stomach full.  This is a demon that I have not totally conquered yet, but I have gotten better (as in my binges now are much smaller than my old ones! haha but at least its a step in the right direction).  I have such emotional issues with food- some days it's my only comfort, but if I am keeping myself busy and happy, I don't think about food as much.  Easier said than done, trust me, I know, but nothing feels quite as good as looking in the mirror and thinking, 'hey, I look okay today'.  That's really what it's all about for me.  I don't necessarily have to feel hot or beautiful I just want to comfortable in my own body.  Sorry for the length of this post and good luck to everyone! 

I've been dealing with overeating and purging since childhood.  I recognized I needed help when I got to college and I've become more aware of my issues... but it is a constant struggle and its hard to not obsess over what I eat or how I look.  Either way, you are either constantly mad at yourself or feeling ill because you aren't watching what you eat, or you are a diet junkie and you can't help yourself but talk about diet food and exercise all the time.

I won't lie and say that I'm all better but I have had some good periods since got treatment a few years ago.  The begining is always the worst, but like I got into the habbit of binging, I got into the habit of not obsessing over food.  The best way to avoid it is to breathe and smile.  I always thought that I would be happy after I lost a few inches of belly pudge.  Then my life changed drastically ( I broke up with a bf) and I was out all the time having fun with my friends instead of being cooped up with him.  I didn't even think about binging and I stopped throwing up, I even did better in school (plus I got some killer abs working out with my roomates 4 times a week :) but they are def gone now haha).  The point I'm making is that I got happy first, then my disorder became manageable AND I got in some kick-ass shape.

Its hard to keep a level head, especially when you feel like you need to binge, it's like your head gets full of static and you just reach for the cereal and peanut butter.  But if you drink a glass of lemon-infused water, go lay down and pay attention to your breathing, take a walk or just get OUT of the kitchen until you can calm your mind down, you are much better off.

And like everyone is saying, keep a routine and pick up some hobbies that keep you happy.  Its SO hard.  But its doable (I'm half psyching myself into doing better, too :)  Hope it helps others as well

I don't buy chocolate or sweets very often. I keep them to a minimum, and my binges have been a lot better lately because I have been making myself more concious of them. But I would like them to disppear completely or at least keep them to a once a month thing. I do try to keep myself busy, I make myself accountable by writing down what I eat but sometimes the urge just won't go and I really have to. Mostly when I am down I struggle the worst, I went for 8 weeks once without a binge, I was on top of the world and I really felt like I was there but the urge came back again. So I know for me its an emotional thing and I need to get the emotions sorted.

I think certain people are predisposed to having an addictive nature... and like many disorders they usually are accompanied by anything else (anxiety, depression, etc.) If you can recognize those patterns you might be able to link them to the eating.  I know for me, extreme, stress, social anxiety like being way too excited, and crappy feelings trigger my binges.  Being happy and excited can trigger wolfing, too.

Its unfortunate I can't buy a bag of candy and leave it in my place to grab a teeny bit every once in a while, that might go for a few days but usu I will down it then feel horrible.  Keeping them out of the house is the best idea

I find the same thing with me, I can sometimes not touch them for a few days but then I willjust eat the whole lot.

If I buy anything I buy very small amounts so if I do eat the whole lot there isn't much damage. I quite often find I eat a lot of muesli bars, bowls of cereal or toast when I have a binge. Its not that bad but the calories very quickly add up.