Binge eating

@Babygirl228

I'm glad you are here.  It sounds very frustrating.  It sounds like when you are busy, binging isn't an issue.  But when you have down time, the binging happens.  Have you noticed anything that changes besides having more free time?  For example, do you have emotions, memories, or other things that happen on the weekends when you struggle with the binging?

Many individuals avoid down time for the same reason - when things stop, the struggles may begin.

@Babygirl228

Hi Babygirl!
Welcome to 7cups. I am sure you will find great help here. 

Unfortunately I am unable to help you as I am not experiencing the same kind of ED as you, but here at 7cups I met the amasing @Phoenix22k who wrote me about something similar. So maybe the two of you could find some common ideas and help each other. 

Phoenix, I hope you don't mind I tagged you here, but I thought the two of you could talk.

Babygirl, just for the fact you came here and wrote this post, I am proud of you.
You've set yourself on the path to get better, and I hope you will read amazing recovery experiences and new ideas that will help you overcome binging. 
Sending love!

Hi @Babygirl228

I'm glad you came here and shared your challenges! Know that you are not alone and that boredom is definitely a trigger of mine too.

I try and "notice" when I am having a craving and then I wrote a list of things I could do like go for a walk, clean, read, play a game, or something and set a timer for 20 minutes. Sometimes this helps and then I find I end up thinking less about the food.

But, it's not always the answer. Sometimes I'm so preoccupied and don't give myself that time.

I know for me, I'm generally an active person and when I have down time I almost feel "guilty" like I should be doing something. But I also know that rest and peace is important.

Really proud of you for sharing! I hope some of my strategies will be helpful or that you find your own.

@Babygirl228

Hi, I can really understand your feeling because I was always like that. But maybe you could try to eat some salad every time you feel that you wanna eat something. Or you could try to eat slower so that your stomach will be full before you finish everything. Or if there’s a person or events that is really important, and you wanna be the best you to meet the person or be on that event, your brain will tell you to stop haha. I hope my ideas could help you at least a little. Hope you a good day.

@Babygirl228 I understand your frustration because I am kinda struggling with the same thing. For me it started about wanting to eat healther during the week and do exercise, while allowing myself some threats and cheat moments on the weekend. But this has slowly divided the week and the weekend in some kind of black/white state. Like on a weekday, I feel the need to be healthy and a little bit extra or even a bigger piece can stress me out, but during the weekend, I feel the extreme need to make the most of a cheating moment, like I have been living towards that moment the whole week, working out for it, waiting, abstaining etc. This puts a lot of pressure on it to make the most out of the weekend and causes me to be in a state where I just overeat all the time and keep getting/wanting/fantasizing about extra food during the weekend like it is my last change to get it or something. 

I have been seeing a therapist and one of the routes that we're exploring is allowing myself some threats during the week to relieve the pressure on the weekend and make the obsession a smaller, hoping to cut down on the amounts during the weekend. But this is so hard, since during the week, doing that, makes it feel like I am doing bad every day. And also, just the action of taking a threat triggers the idea that everything is allowed and binge like in the weekends. 

Another route is about trying to find out what the food is compensating for, like a lack of "high", some hype or emotion? Maybe it is possible to reward in another way than food. 

Further, it might be worth looking into not buying certain things, staying away from certain eating situations. But this might also not always work since for example if being at work is a trigger, you have to go right... Another tip I got as a way to regulate might be making the food less visible or making reminders like a note with "normal portion" on a jar of something sweet I binge on, or preparing a piece/amount beforehand. Like 1 cookie or a little cup with a normal amount of nutella for on your bread during lunch so you are further away from the jar that you keep scooping from like it is a bottomless pit and it is your last ever chance or something, when you lose the control.

Hi ! I fell like I have the same problem sometimes on weekdays when I don’t go to school 🥲 . Don’t worry, do you want to try and motivate each other to not binge eat ?