someone please help me. I'm at my wit's end.

It's been 8 months. eight freakin' months of continuous daily massive binges. and resulting in a 15 pound weight gain.

I'm frustrated.

I tried to go a day without bingeing. only resulting in me being unable to sleep and using another binge to make me sleep. I can't seem to go to sleep without bingeing. it's like a habit, an addiction. I'm scared.

I don't even know the amount of calories I should be eating to prevent me from bingeing. yet I want to lose weight too. I have no idea how much I should be letting myself eat. I'm scared that if I eat too high a calorie limit, I will not lose weight. aah god, I'm confused.

I have 4 weeks till the new semester in college starts. and I have absolutely nothing to do at home. boredom leads to more binges. urgh.

I know people are saying that exercise helps curb the binges. but I feel that exercising makes me binge more!! anyway, I have been working out on my stationary bike an average of 45-60min per day. and yet I still binge. and gained weight.

I don't know what to do anymore. I hate my body. I don't even want to be seen in public at all. I have no one to talk to about this. I feel so alone. I hate my life.

can someone please give me advice?

Hello, my daughter binges frequently and the only thing that has helped her is taking TRIM SPA. She tried on her own, and she tried many other otc diet things, and nothing helped. she has gone from 220 to 190 but it all takes time.  Apparently this one makes her not hungry and helps kill her urge to binge on the entire bag of cookies. She has also finally been able to cut down her serving sizes.  When she runs out of it she goes right back to her bad eating habits. 

She celebrates each 5 pound loss by buying a cute shirt or something at a local thrift or consignment. If she gains weight, she doesn't beat herself up anymore and just knows she can get back in control. she also didn't lose weight while exercising.

Hope someone's example might be able to help you.

amy

sorry, but I don't want to take anymore diet pills. taken too many in the past few years.

Exercise is ALWAYS the answer, if you RUN or do BIKE for half an hour, but getting to a point where you swet a LOT will burn calories FAST, and if you have a low cal healthy food you will have results realy quickly(believe me)

I think you might do best if you tackle one issue at a time- trying to solve your binging issues while losing weight would be an extreme challenge for anyone. I wouldn't worry too much about losing weight at first, and take things one step at a time. Try to control the binging by eating your maintenance calories with a good balance of foods- including a few treats. Maybe once you've gained control over your binges you can consider weight loss once again. I wouldn't attempt both at once, I'd be discouraged and fail. Weightloss isn't a "one time" thing, it's a life thing. You have years and years to solve the entire issue. Take it slow!

I bike 60min per day, which ends up causing me to binge more.

so sorry, i don't think that's gonna help. any constructive criticisms pls?

Do you log in every bite of food that you consume in a day?
If not then do this for one week.  Do not stress over what you eat for the week, this is a learning week.

Click on the analysis feature and look at your averages for the week. 
What is your carb/fat/protein ratio? 
Does it look balanced.  50% carbs/25% fats/25% proteins.
If not try to tweak your meals to be as close to this as possible.

What is your average calories for a day? 
Does it come close what you burn every day? 
Are you over or under or at maintaince?

Hover your mouse on the date that is underscored in the analysis.   It will give you your vititmins intake for the week.  Are you close to 100% on them?
If not you need to eat more vitamin filled foods.

The second week you plan your meals taking everything that you have learned from analyzing the previous week. 
Log in all foods for the day before you eat them, remember to make room for snacks.
See if this helps you with your binging.

Remember to meet your caloric needs for each day provided by the tools.  For the second week make sure that you eat back every calorie that you burn. 
Remember that you are learning to control your binges this week, not lose weight, so do not worry about that right now.
Repeat week two until you get the hang of controlling your binges.  The more you learn about your eating habits the better you will be able to handle a binge in the future.

Come back and post here with your results in two weeks.

How much calories should I be eating? I'm only 5'2!!

Click on the Tool link.

Click BMR and fill out the form honestly.
Click on the Burn Meter and again answer honestly.

This will give you the numbers that you need to work with.

ok yess...i kno wat u saying....and yes i use to binge more wheni use to work out and now i hardly binge ever since i stopped all activitiess....i sleep alll day lol..or sit at my desk...there r days when i FORGET  to eat....yupp i forget that ohh my i havent eaten at all todayyyy......its badd....my lifestyle has turn very unhealthy these days

but initially when i was at my wits end trying to lose weight and quit binging i did a few tricks u mite wanna try

i drank alot alot alot of water.........min 3 litres of water...kept me active fresh and tummy full.....mostly warm water

and yes i use to drink dark black coffeee with salt,,,,, it wud spoil the taste of my mouth and i wudnt want to eat anything at alll......i even bought all kinds of disgusting herbal teas which tasted horrible..... just to spoil my taste and the mood to eat

u may wanna start simpley by having 3-4 litrs of water....and noo matter WHAT REMB NOT TO EAT AT ALL AFTER 7-8 PM......tell ur self ur gonna weigh urself in the morning and it will warm up if u eat at nite......cuz ur gonna check 1st thing in morning....controll till morning...hehehe...thats the hardest part...but u can do it.

Also take the diet profile test to see what kind of eater you are.

What time of day are you binge eating?  I used to binge all the time in the late afternoon/evening, but figured out that eating a lot of fiber in the morning helped stave off afternoon and evening food cravings (fiber slowly empties from your stomach so it gives you a long term feeling of fullness). 

I like Fiber One cereal (14 g of fiber and barely any calories!).  I also eat a table spoon or two of flaxseed meal or psyllium husk powder (it's basically metamucil!).  Getting around 10-15g of fiber at breakfast really helps keep hunger pangs at bay the rest of the day.

Good luck! 

I don't know what other people's experience has been, but I have heard great things about Overeaters Anonymous. I may try it myself at some point to deal with my own emotional eating. But specifically, I have a friend who is a compulsive eater, and speaks very highly of OA. It works on a similar level to Alcoholics Anonymous, with 12-step meetings. Food addiction has so much in common with alcoholism. Some people can overcome it with willpower, but most people need a little help. No shame in that. Check out their website - there are meetings all over the U.S. and Canada. http://www.oa.org/index.htm

 (to the above advice of counting everything you eat....) I  notice I eat when I am bored--ugh! However, if I eat a HUGE healthy salad, or a huge serving of stir-fried vegies over brown rice or quinoa, both with some lean protein (shrimp, chicken, or flank steak) that I am SO full I can't eat another bite. (either meal for me is about 300-500 calories). I just have to remember to eat A LOT OF really HEALTHY food so there is no more room to eat anything else! And then lift weights! Give it a try! Good luck.

I'm going to say: DON'T IMMEDIATELY SWITCH TO WHATEVER CAL COUNT RECOMMENDS. I recommend seeing what they recommend, and then starting a good bit higher than that. If they recommend you eat about 1400 to lose, then I recommend starting at 1700 and slowly bring it down about fifty cals every week or two. Maybe what's causing you to binge is the sudden drop in calories seeming unfulfilling?

I think exercise can help, but I don't think you should binge and then try to work off a ton of cals, but instead something high in protein when you're done. Maybe even one of those protein shakes.

You also need to look at what you're eating. Are you eating whole foods like chicken, pork, wheat bread, and tons of veggies? Or are you eating a lot of processed food. Be honest with yourself and really look at what you eat. Keep a log even. Processed foods simply don't fill you up as well and they also have an almost addicting quality. (At least to me.)

Even if you binged on veggies at least it would be better than chips, no? (You STILL need to deal with what's driving your binging, of course, but at least it would be way less caloric and not make you feel so bad on that front.)

In addition, try eating slower. I know I can put away a lot of food because I'm a fast eater. I've heard all kinds of solutions to this problem, including using children's dish sets with tiny plates and forks, spoons, and knives.

Here's what stopped mine.  The ONLY thing that stopped mine.  Allow yourself anything, but log every bite before you eat it.  Only you will see.  Only you will know.  No need to hide, no one to impress.  But log it in.

It stopped my binging immediately, and I was a daily binger.  I had a binge last week, but it was on cauliflower and ridiculously healthy foods - maybe a few too many crackers.  It was a binge, and it wasn't good, and it made me miserable.  But it did no damage.  I attribute that to my logging it in.  And the fact that there was only ONE binge - totally because of logging it in.

No excuses.  Log it.

Original Post by alisonrd:

What time of day are you binge eating?  I used to binge all the time in the late afternoon/evening, but figured out that eating a lot of fiber in the morning helped stave off afternoon and evening food cravings (fiber slowly empties from your stomach so it gives you a long term feeling of fullness). 

I like Fiber One cereal (14 g of fiber and barely any calories!).  I also eat a table spoon or two of flaxseed meal or psyllium husk powder (it's basically metamucil!).  Getting around 10-15g of fiber at breakfast really helps keep hunger pangs at bay the rest of the day.

Good luck! 

I love Fiber One.. js. Haha but she's right. I've found that eating more fiber in the morning really helps.

Well, judging by all the replies it looks like you are certainly NOT alone in this!  I used to do the same thing, exercise a bunch then have a big plate of Nachos!  You might want to look up a local Overeaters Anonymous meeting.  It is free (Maybe a buck in the basket), you don't have to buy anything, and you will find a room full of people who understand what you are going through and have gone through it themselves and come out the other side!. Good luck! Remember, you are not alone!