Binge-Eating

[sharnrae]

Hi everyone!

After having searched on the Fitbit community ‘binge’ I haven’t really been able to find any recent advise/tips.

Personally, I know it is hard to admit that you may have an issue with binge eating however if anyone is willing to reach out I would love to hear from people who have worked through this and come out the other side. 

I will eat healthy, work out etc and then I like to call it ‘self sabotage’ but will eat in secret and consume thousands of calories when I’m not even hungry. This isn’t every day but is at minimum once a week. 

Thank you you in advance to anyone willing to share. 

Kindest,

Sharn

[Baltoscott]

Hi @sharnrae 

Is there a particular food you binge on?  

I have had problems with some foods in the past that I just had to get out of the house.  But I try not to put anything I really like completely off limits.  Instead, have 'it' whatever it is, at a specific time on a specific day (or a few specific days) of the week.  I cut my beer and wine drinking in half simply by not drinking on even number days.  Totally random timing, but once I established the 'rule' if I got a craving on an even day, my willpower only had to last a day before I was able to have a beer without 'failing' my promise to myself.   

[SsSuzy]

Hello Sharn! 

I'm a fellow binger. Though I'm much more mindful now. I'll be frank, it took therapy for me to stop (though I'm not perfect and it is something I still do sometimes). Through my therapy I was able to identify the root cause of this eating pattern. For me that was from a place of childhood food insecurity and hunger. I became subconsciously paranoid that I would go hungry again, and so I would calorie load. 

As I said sometimes I still struggle with it, things that I consider treats are hard for me to portion. Examples are candies, some folks can eat them one at a time, I will sometimes eat them by the fistful. Especially if I'm stressed or have a bad day and honestly that adds up. It's a psychological thing, it's not fueling me, it's just that 'self-sabotage' aspect. I am angry, I am upset, I am not whole today...so eff it...I'll binge.  

I am doing MUCH better, but I have to be really HONEST when I log my food, down to even logging the binges, and I'll be honest looking at those numbers hurts. Then I do a mood journal and determine what happened so that I can continue to work on that because I want to be 'on the other side'. 

Not sure if that helps as I'm still demonstrating the behavior on occasion, but just know, progress can take time. 

Sue