new member, compulsive eating

[Guest]

Hi there. It would be great to speak to anyone else who is a compulsive eater. I call it my 'post box syndrome' where eating is like posting letters, just shoving food into my mouth-especially sweet stuff. After I am disgusted with myself and think I should have more control. Most of the time I hate myself and have low self esteem. Am middle aged and searching for help please.

 

[kgord]

I sometimes eat compulsively Misty. One mantra that seems to help is when I feel like I want to just down food, consequences be damned is to repeat.."Food is not your friend." to myself. I know it seems that way at the time..but you know intellectually it is not. However, beating yourself up is not going to help. Maybe try to find something to fill yourself other than with food. I know it is easier said than done...because believe me..I struggle with the same issues.

 

[John Snort]

You could start by establishing a regular eating pattern and try to force yourself to stick to it. It's not easy but if you can manage to eat only at the specified time for three weeks, you'll be well on your way to acquiring a new habit. Before that though you need identify your triggers. If you know what triggers the urge to eat, you can go a level lower and find out what exactly makes you want some sort of "reward." If you can identify what's causing the negative feelings, you can deal with the problem. It's the basis of beating any addiction.

 

[shcoo]

The number one thing that helped me with this issue is do not purchase food for your home that is unhealthy. Only keep fresh fruits around to snack on. If you feel tempted to order out for a pizza or something, make a detailed budget and reallocate all the money you would've spent on junk food and fast food. Choose something to save up for and reward yourself with that instead. If you are feeling hungry, drink two full glasses of ice water, distract yourself with a TV show or something for 30 minutes, and see if you still feel hungry. Usually when I do this I notice it was only an "emotional eating" urge and it dissipates.

 

[kgord]

Yes, we all have different "trigger foods" that we want to eat compulsively. I think it is important to identify those, and stay away from them...For some reason it is never celery lol. You may be able to add them back in. I have an issue with ice cream, chips and sometimes alcohol. I totally eliminated them for awhile. I am in a bit better control of myself at this time...when I want some of those things now, I will weigh them out or measure them..I allows myself to just have a small amount and that is it.

 

[MellowCat]

I posted a little bit about this under OCD. I hadn't realized you had posted here. Sorry for missing this before! For some people, removing those 'trigger foods' works, but for others it really doesn't. For some people it can simply make you crave them more until you're desperate. I tried going to OA (over eaters anonymous) for a while, and while it helped me a little bit, I found that some of the people in there were super religious about insisting you had to cut out sugar completely. Now, while I would agree that works for some, it does not work for all. And this rule is certainly not in the OA guidelines, but the people I met acted as if it were. Anyway, what I would suggest is getting some kind of help, whether that's in OA, therapy, or a self help group. Just being able to talk to other people who understand helps a lot. I found that that helped me more than anything formal ever has.

 

[Moroccanbeauty2266]

I used to suffer from compulsive eating and all due to the heavy emotional stress that I was under at the age of 18.


I am glad that I am out of that phase but I can tell you that talking to people who have the same issues really helped me.


At the time, I had a friend who was willing to jog with me on a regular basis and that helped me so much to control what I eat.

 

[mariaanca]

Hello Misty and welcome to this forum. You have my support.


I'm not a compulsive eater but I tend to exaggerate with eating sugary food, candy, chocolate bars.


I often lie to myself saying I eat healthy the rest of the time but that is not the case. I have been a vegetarian for 3 years now but I haven't gotten to the point where I'm pleased with what I eat.

 

[Houille]

Hello misty! I used to be a compulsive eater in my teens - I would go on for weeks just eating toasted chocolate sandwiches. (If you've watched the movie Mary and Max... I would be Max.)


I was able to get rid of the habit by keeping tubs of saltine crackers in my room. Whenever I feel the craving, I just go for the crackers. As for food, I'm on a strict budget, so I usually just buy the food I know I'm going to prepare and eat - so there's no snacks, no ice cream, no nothing. Just tubs and tubs of saltine crackers. It's helped me with keeping my weight and my overall fitness in check too.

 

[hades_leae]

I wouldn't say that I suffer from that, but there have been many months in my life threw out the years where I just get to the point where I stuff my face and gain a lot of weight. I do have much control over it I believe because when I get threw this period of eating like crazy, I lose much of that weight in time. You can imagine someone who does that has a lot of stretch marks, which I do because of gaining and losing weight constantly. I actually just started a diet today because I have been doing this for the last 2 months.

I gained so much weight, and I noticed it very much in my face after watching the blogs that I have done in the last 2 months. Plus I know I physically weight more, and my body feels so disgusting because of the excess body fat that I have accumulated.

 

[aimeepoo]

Hello there. I am an emotional eater. This is due to the fact that it seems to "calm" me down while I'm eating. BUT I had to do something to save myself because I was morbidly obese and so I opted to have weight loss surgery a little over 6 months ago. Now..while I have lost weight, the cravings and wanting to compulsively eat are still there and they always will be..but my tummy can not hold the amount that it used to. Counseling is key..you have to seek counseling in order to be able to control this compulsion. I have to find someone I can see as well. For the time being I try to distract myself with chewing gum. Exercising helps as well.

 

[joshposh]

By eating sweets you are feeding the pleasure sensors in the brain. But that kind of diet will lead to multiple health ailments like diabetes. So it would be wise to use exercise to stimulate that part of brain instead of sugar products. That's all you need to do and it will be a test to your will power. Exercise take the place of sugar you just need time to adjust. You can start now by removing all sweets from your refrigerator and not buy any sugar products from the store.

 

[WorkAtHomeGal]

I can sadly say part of my weight gain over the past 9 years is not just from working at home and over time exercising less. But just unhealthy eating patterns and emotionally eating. Its easy for me to want a chocolate bar when I am upset or during PMS... Or chips or something worse. Having a regular eating routine has helped me but it only helps when there is healthy food in the house I like. Like watermelons, stuff to make salads, and healthy snack options here and there. I will eat very well all summer now because of my parents garden thankfully. A big problem to is money wise its easier for us to buy what is on sale which sometimes includes more processed junk then good food.

 

[Kaynil]

It is hard to tackle if you let yourself into the emotional cycle of eating as an escape and then let your mind beat yourself up for being weak and disgusting.


Someone mentioned about to identify the triggers, and I agree, but this is not about the food you choose to eat, it is what makes you feel like eating. You can feel like eating if you are feeling low, if you are feeling bored and are trying to fill up some time, if you want some time away from your thoughts, if you are trying to find comfort or pleasure, etc.


We are all different so you need to find what are the things that might make appealing to grab the snack or decide "screw it" and go way past the normal ration.


A trigger for me was thirst. Until recently I had never really separated thirst from hunger so II would identify either as hunger, the best way to know if you are really hungry is to drink some water. Your body will go like "Yeeees!" if it was thirsty and it can help you fend off the idea of getting snacks until the next proper meal.


 I have a container with water next to me when I am in the computer or playing games. I drink more water if it is already available.


Like some people said, I agree that just trying to force yourself not to eat something, it just become harder because your mind will start to crave it. The best thing you can do is to switch it. it doesn't have to be instantly, but you can try to find a way to add something healthy to it. For example, I like cooking slices of apple. No matter what objections people might have about how a fresh apple is better and what not. I know that I am still eating my apple and enjoying it, which is way better than feeling it like a chore or choosing instead cooking in that pan something else.


Finding recipes online is a good motivator to get some snacks that are both appetising and healthier.  So start with the healthier food you already know you like and try to find some fun and quick recipes for them. If you are into raw snacks like carrots. Don't leave things for later and as soon as you're back from shopping them, prepare them and have them in containers. It is way easier to convince yourself to get the healthy one if you don't have to prepare it when you get the urge. A lot of the time I go with the unhealthy because it is already done: like a bag of chips.


Lastly, you need to find a way to separate yourself from your thoughts. Sometimes we can't avoid them and we have to let them flow, but not following them. So if your mind starts beating you up, don't engage and ponder how right or wrong that is, let the moment, the thought pass. You can also try some mobile application to keep you motivated or make a list of why you want to lower your compulsive eating to keep next to you when your mind is playing the persuasion game of "it's not that bad", "you deserve a reward", etc.



This is my own experiences and this is a battle I am still fighting, I hope this can be of help.

 

[biege]

I had this problem before and the think that helped me get over this is to punish myself. I would have to go to a local restaurant and eat expensive foods until I no longer have enough budget for the week and then the next day, I would just eat less and less until the end of the week. It's very rewarding on my case actually because the next week I would be able to save more since I was able to adopt to how I eat everyday. I still eat healthy foods though despite having myself deprived of good foods.

 

[Jasmin Cottontail]

I have this problem and I was able to overcome it before and it came back again. Now I'm having a hard time not overeating and I really can't resist but to eat no matter how hard I try. Next week I will try to do a certain diet plan and hopefully I can do it this time. What I'm gonna do is that I'll just buy food that are in my diet plan and will certainly not buy anything that aren't on my list to avoid eating unnecessary food. You can try doing that as well and see if it will work

 

[Natasha0717]

Okay, then your best bet would be to go for low-carb eating. And before you say, "NO WAY, sweets are my favorite"....I don't think it's so much the sweets that are bringing you relief. It's the act of eating, itself. When you lower your total carbs, doesn't even need to be anything drastic like Atkins, Paleo, etc., you'll be surprised how much MORE and OFTEN you can eat, without the weight gain. If you love omelettes, you can make a huge one, loaded with cheese and ham and mushrooms or whatever you want, and use as much butter as you need to make it all tasty and delicious. Pack up on that, make another one if you need to, and you WILL NOT gain weight. I won't sit here and tell you to "find other interests" and "food isn't love", and all that...etc. etc. blah blah blah.....if you like to eat and it makes you feel better, then do it. Just don't pack yourself up on carbs....you'll just gain weight and that will begin the process of hating yourself and having the low self-esteem. Look into delicious foods that are not high in carbs, but high in protein and fats....and then go ahead and enjoy. Guilt-free. Don't live on lettuce or do anything boring like that, it will only cause you to binge....and you'll head straight for the carbs and sweets. You need to trust me on this. Life isn't about eating, not eating, dieting, restricting, binging, or starving. Once you're full, you're full....and it won't even be an issue anymore. It really can be that simple.