Overeating and keeping it..

When I first heard about purging I tried it. I just couldn't do it so I wear it and my binges show.
So does anyone have an addiction to food? Binging but not purging? What helps?
Do you think a thread of support would be helpful?

Yes I think it would be helpful to have support. I don't have an eating disorder luckily and I believe in healthy eating - paying attention to lower fat foods. I'm glad you don't purge because obviously it's unhealthy/dangerous. The acid can also ruin your teeth enamel and esophagus. If you learn healthy food choices and exercise, you should be fine. Naturally you want to make the connection of food and how it relates to you psychologically. People spend way too much time on the computer, so try to exercise. Best of luck.

I sure wish I knew of something that would help. I need to lose weight. I just obsess about food. All I have is healthy foods at home, but I overeat that. In a couple of weeks I'm starting an exercise class at my YMCA. I hope I can do it. I'm fed up with myself.

I was wondering if it can be influenced by moods too.

My T says it is emotional eating. A way to cope.

It's definitely emotional eating--it is for me, at least. I find myself thinking: "Oh, I can have one slice of toast." But one slice of bread turns into two, then four, then sixteen...

Emotional eating turned into emotional bingeing, then emotional purging, and emotional non-eating... That's how my ED progressed.

One thing that might help you is to determine your binge foods. Some people binge on salty snacks, like chips, while others lean towards sweet, like candy and ice cream. It's different for everyone, though.

When you identify your binge foods, it becomes easier to stay away from them, or at least realize that you're triggered by them.

Eating regularly throughout the day also helps prevent binges. Don't allow yourself to get too hungry. Starving all day = binges at night.

Good Luck.

I also LOVE food. It's addicting bad habbit.
But there are little things you can do to loose weight without working out.

Like me, I stopped drinking sugary drinks, and I drink water with all my meals,and all day everyday.
And I loose 4-5 POUNDS A WEEK.

It's amazing how cutting out little habbit's can really make a big deferance.
It's hard to cut out sugary drinks, but I did'nt even crave them after 2 weeks.

I hope this helps :]

Thanks for everyone's suggestions. Every bit helps.

Yes, the suggestions are very helpful...but keep um coming

I guess I didn't notice this before. Just because someone purges... doesn't mean they get rid of the calories. I struggle with bulimia but I'd DEFINITELY classify myself as having a "food addiction." My binges are worse now that I'm at a "normal" weight with bulimia than when I was overweight w/out it.

But PLEASE don't turn to purging to lose weight! (I lost weight before bulimia, and now bulimia makes me gain more weight.) It doesn't work...!

So... I'm sorry if my advice doesn't count since I actually b/p.

Anyways...
Here's some more information on binge eating.
And here...
And here, too.

Good luck, everyone!

(Maybe posting updates would be a good idea? Just a thought.)

Wow, Howswho that second one especially was excellent. I am bookmarking that one. Don't know about b/p. No problem with purging..can't stand it, truly.
Oh yes, that is a good idea to keep updating each other.
I am convinced that I have to get back to charting my food. I haven't binged the last oops well that is not true. I did.
I am on a kidney support diet..yes I think I will do this. At least keeping track Honestly. Getting track of that should then help me to see what is going on.
How is everyone doing?

Sorry, SunnyD, about my slight freak-out there.

(and b/p just means bingeing and purging)

I just see eating disorders glamorized a lot, and it bothers me. There is NOTHING glamorous about getting tooth-fillings redone several times because they inconspicuously fall out... Just thought I'd throw that out there.

That's a good idea to track your foods! I've heard that people who keep a food journal lose more weight in the end. Sometimes I surprise myself with how much I eat in a day...

I guess my problem is that I'm too aware of the calorie content of what I'm eating. I start food-journaling and I get a little crazy with it...

Anyways, here's my update:

Today I binged. Probably wasn't the worst binge... but it was pretty bad--enough to make me feel sick afterward.

I think I'm going to eat a bigger breakfast. I'm hardly hungry in the morning but by 6 PM I'm starving! So I'll try to force myself to eat more in the morning and hopefully offset some late-night bingeing.

Have you ever waited until you are hungry to eat and stop when you are full? If you don't eat too late you will be hungry in the morning...I try to do this if I can.

My biggest problem is knowing when to stop. I can carry on eating way past the point when I am logically full. I want to share more but feel insecure at the moment.

I'm doing well with the tools on http://www.SparkPeople.com as it's not a diet site and it's totally free and has "teams" (like these forums) to explore problems; there's tons of teams for overeating, emotional eating, depression, bulimia, anorexia, and everything else under the sun one can think of, both eating oriented and anything else. It's about changing one's lifestyle and it just happens that most people are working on losing weight. But there are scads of people who have lost many more pounds than those on Biggest Loser and there's a really good food tracker software and exercise tracker software and lots of professional articles that are truly interesting (and you get rewarded for reading them :-)

I lost 46 pounds in about eight months (and in the two years I've been on there I've now gained back 25 of those but am going back in the "right" direction now :-)

Here's an article: http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/...es.asp?id=1396

Here's an emotional eating team: http://www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/g...al.asp?gid=439

Thanks Purna for the Spark sight..there is even a kidney support team there. Maybe this will be helpful to me. I didn't do anything but register but will have lots of questions for you probably.
Oddly enough I see my GP today. I am going to mention to him about my struggles and things I am doing.
When I know I will be weighted at the doctor I do it at home (with shoes on) and happily I weigh less than I thought but my pants feel tighter anyway.
My plan today is to chart my food..
How is everyone doing?

I really like Spark..I am sure it is going to make a real difference for me in my kidney support diet. It has a couple of other teams that are going to help me in other ways. I should probably look for a mental/health bipolar team too.
And I thought this was a huge forum.

I have the same problem, even when I'm not hungry or the food doesn't taste good.

I also have a hard time throwing food away. It really bothers me to leave food on the plate. Now I compensate by eating off really small dinner plates, haha.

Well, what happens with me is that I eat when I'm hungry... and don't stop. I think my brain must be broken!

I remember that I used to be a casual overeater and I simply wasn't listening to my body signals. You know... grabbing that extra slice of cake even though I'm not hungry just because it looks so yummy. I worked on that and lost some weight. But ED really messes things up. When I binge now, I'll eat several days worth of food in an hour or two. I'll get physically ill before I stop eating... But I guess that's just how it is.

Anyways, good luck on Sparkpeople! I used to use that, along with eDiets (which you have to pay for). There's also some free, printable food journals out there. Here's a food & fitness journal and here's a mood & food journal (doesn't count calories, but your mood in relation to eating to ward off emotional overeating) just in case anyone's interested.

Smaller plates...I forgot about that. One of the things that took me years to overcome was 2 cups of salad every dinner in Overeaters Anonymous. But you know salads are pretty filling. Just finding a salad dressing with low sodium is really hard.

Have you ever thought about making your own salad dressing? Then you know exactly what's in it can can cut out some preservatives/salt since you can make exactly as much as you need...

Cucumber-Avocado Salad Dressing recipe...
Balsamic Dressing...
Basic Vinaigrette... (You've got to scroll down for this one.)

Also, I found this article about making food taste good without salt.

I'm one of those strange people that doesn't use salad dressing at all. I'm a salad-purist...

Thank you so much for the recipes...
unfortunately aside from the salt issue..I can't have any type of vinegar or avocados. This diet is just the pits...

I do that sometimes when I feel lonely or empty.
Lately however I've been starving and not sleeping so I lost so much weight...

I duno I just stopped. Don't do what I did though it's not healthy today i ate two giant cheeseburgers lol

If I were you I would instead of eating, drink water. Not too much because too much water can kill you...

I lost a lot of weight when I became manic...are you bipolar by chance Bakery?
This can play havoc with my food. I just didn't feel like eating and enjoyed a very light weight..but it was not worth in the long run.
Depression is even harder to handle when the weight comes back on.

I used to purge when I was a teen but I havent since I had my kids now I just cant help myself

does anyone ever get put down by their family for eating too much or looking over what you eat?

I can relate to that, humors1!!!

I get comments from my friends and family about what I eat all the time. I don't understand why people seem to feel the need to comment on what I'm eating, especially when I'm actually eating sensibly.

"Woah! Are you really going to eat all that?"

Sometimes my brother comes and steals my plate from me just to see what I'm eating. Like it's his business to know.