Help with Binge Eating

[Adi80adi]

About 6 months ago I was at my goal weight, training for a marathon and weight lifting. Then my health started to slide and I was diagnosed with an intestinal condition and developed IBS symptoms. I have adopted the FODMAP diet, which didn't seem to help, and have been taking multiple lab tests to try and discover the cause of my IBS symptoms. I will be having surgery for the intestinal condition this month. The problem is that my weight has been creeping up, partly due to periodic binge eating episodes where I will go 2600 calories or more over my maintenance. Today, for example, I woke up and tried to go to the gym, felt tired, so I went home and ate 1200 calories worth of cookies and slept for 3 hours. I went back to the gym, only to follow it with another 2000 calorie binge. This happens to me every 3-4 weeks. I feel absolutely horrible when it happens, especially because I am frustrated by the weight gain. Between binges, I feel like I track my calories fairly well. Yet I am still gaining weight. I'm up 10 pounds from January. I could really use some wisdom and advice about how to control these episodes and get back on track. Thank you.

[DrAcula811]

I'm so sorry you're going through this. As someone who deals with this issue as well, I know how hard it can be. There are a couple of books I recommend. The first is Brain Over Binge by Kathryn Hansen and the second is Never Binge Again by Dr. Glenn Livingston. Both of them have a lot of podcasts as well that are free that can get you started. If you go to neverbingeagain.com I think you can get the Kindle book Never Binge Again for free.  

I believe I started binge eating because of over-restrictive dieting and then my brain formed a habit. Both books talk about that. There's the higher brain which is you wanting what's best for yourself ie a healthy body and weight then your lower brain that runs your survival mechanism automatically which is responsible for sending signals to your higher brain to binge because of the habit or because it believes you're starving. Both books explain it better than I am, but that's the gist of it. Don't let my terrible explanation of it deter you from checking out the books. They're really worth the read.

Good luck and I really hope you beat this!

[Adi80adi]

Thank you for the book suggestions! I'm going to look into those.

[Daves_Not_Here]

@Adi80adi - Even prior to reading the books as recommended by @DrAcula811, it sounds like there are a lot of podcasts and YouTubes you can listen to now, today, starting in the next 2 minutes.

I did a search on YouTube for binge eating, and there a quite a few videos that pop up, ranging in length from 3 to 30 minutes -- you could start with those.  There are even videos on binge eating and IBS combined.

My impression is that these are fairly common issues that people have (not that they're easy), which means there is a lot of shared experience on how to get through them.  Please report your progress back.

[emili]

I think and this is strictly my thoughts.. binge eating is not a physical need or response to a situation, it is mental. Something triggers you to feel the need to eat until you feel sick. And you aren't binging on apples, lettuce and celery... which is what your body would be craving if it were nutrient deprived. Think back to the last several episodes. What happened the day before, or during that week or within hours? what makes you drive all the way to the place you know you should be, but your mind turns you around and does the complete opposite of burning through calories? I think the information you get from all the sources mentioned is excellent- but I would suggest a really good be honest with yourself session as well.

[Adi80adi]

This is such a good point! I never thought about the fact that I never binge on healthy food. You’ve prompted me to go back and really think about what happened the days prior. I agree that this is a mental, not physical issue. Thank you!

Sent from my iPhone

[emili]

I'm so pleased. If you need anything..give a shout .

[Bionicwoman71]

I have a cookie addiction just like you and marshmallows. Control your environment.  Keep trigger foods out of the house like cookies ice cream etc. Once in a while you can have it portion controlled. Buy a small bag of cookies for one person in a dollar store (or gas station) and get one ice cream cone in a ice cream store. If you cant control it don't buy it in bulk and put it in your house!. I keep cookies and ice cream and marshmallows out of the house for that reason. I'm at a healthy weight now. You have to make the decision every time not to buy these foods in bulk and bring it in your home environment. I make that decision every day.