Hello

Hi everyone! I’m17 years old and today I had a binge eating session, and had about 6 binge eating sessions in the past week. I’m kind of new to binge eating but I’ve been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder last year.

I’ve always had pleasure to food but after losing my sense of smel last year I lost a lot of my appetite so i guess the war with food started when I got anosmia (lost sense of smell). I always thought that eating was something to be enjoyed. That I can eat until I’m full. And I’ve always stopped when I was full. But for some reason right now I have the tendency to eat more even after I’m full so I’m concerned what will happen to me if I kee continuing this way. I’m into building healthy habits with food and want to eat healthy. But outside of this binge eating thing, I’m passionate about mental health and mindfulness, and plan to pursue a career in it.

it was today that I realized that this is something to be taken seriously so I called my NYC state and I kept searching up apps and websites for support (hopefully will help some of you here!).

after reading some threads here,I felt a sense of compassion and a sense of shared human connection. I never thought that there could be a platform for people to support and share their thoughts and I feel in awe that these services exist. I always thought that I was alone, because I really does seem like this way, right? You don’t go out to the subway and see people binge eating because people here are either homeless or burnt out from work or school. I barely see anyone suffering from eating, but after reading some of the threads here, I felt connected, I felt for once, that actually, so many other people are having the same issue. (Also why can’t I reply to threads?! It says I don’t have the permission >:( I feel angry because there are people I want to offer support but I’m blocked by it).

I also want to seek help for binge eating because I’m still a student and doing college applications and everything is like a tight deadline.

but I want to share some resources:

http://intuitiveeatingcommunity.org/ (<- there’s a community based on “intuitive eating”)

https://www.eatingrecoverycenter.com/ (<- another resource)

https://www.alsana.com/programs/online-support-group/ (<- free live support group hosted by a therapist on fridays )

https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/

http://www.intuitiveeating.org/10-principles-of-intuitive-eating/ (<- something called “intuitive eating”)

Personal tips from me:

Tip #1: you can do this. You’re stronger than you think. Even though it doesn’t seem like you don’t have any power right now, you will overcome your struggle.

Tip #2: sometimes, trying too hard gets you to the opposite direction. Try to be like a feather, sometimes you try too hard to snatch a feather that’s falling down, it actually gets further away from you. Why not try being like a feather? It doesn’t try to get anywhere, but yet it doesn’t suffer from anything.