is binge eating keeping you from living the life you’ve dreamt about?
Why Can’t I Stop Eating?!?!
When you binge eat you might initially feel euphoric. You may feel soothed and saved by the food. But soon, self-hate and regret kicks in.
Yet, while you might be disgusted with yourself for eating so much, you keep eating. It’s as if some powerful force has taken over and you have no control.
You feel like you just can’t stop eating!
You CAN break the binge eating pattern.
You no longer have to feel controlled by food.
Binge eating feels like intense relief and dismal failure simultaneously.
Binge Eating Doesn’t Have to Control You Anymore!
You may, when you first begin to eat, say “I’ve already started so I may as well just eat everything.”
Once you’ve slipped you can’t seem to stop until you’re so full it hurts.
You might have a stomach ache from eating so much . . . but you just keep eating. Eventually you feel awful. You feel the worst kind of sickness and it can linger for hours, if not days.
Bingeing can leave you feeling sweaty, nauseous, and embarrassed.
Maybe you eat when you’re stressed or lonely or sad or upset. And then feel disgusted with yourself afterwards. Perhaps you feel like all your troubles go away when you binge. It’s a chance to disconnect from the hard feelings. Yet it’s only temporary. Then you feel embarrassed and worry that family and friends will find out how much you’ve eaten. Now you’re ashamed and depressed. Possibly, you find yourself repeatedly binge eating and you have absolutely no idea why you continue to do it.
You might feel bingeing frees you yet weighs you down at the same time. It’s as if you have a hunger so deep it cannot be satiated.
What is Binge Eating Disorder?
Binge Eating Disorder (BED) involves repeated episodes of overeating food and will include a feeling of loss of control. When it happens you can experience significant distress. You may feel angry, embarrassed, or sad. BED often involves consuming what would be considered, by the “average” person, to be an unusually large amount of food very quickly. However, even eating a small amount could be considered a binge to you - so the more important point to consider may be to ask yourself “do I feel happy with my food choices and with the amount I am eating? Do I feel like I have complete control over what I’m eating and can I stop when I want to?” If you answer no, then you might benefit from counseling and therapy for binge eating. BED is less about how much food you eat, or what type of food you eat, and more about whether you feel as if you have control over your behaviors. Does the binge feel like a choice or do you wish you could stop doing it?
If you struggle with BED you may eat to the point of intense sickness and discomfort. And even after you begin to feel ill, you may keep eating. This has nothing to do with hunger. With BED, you may eat alone because you don’t want anyone else to know what you’re doing. Your eating causes you regret and shame. You may experience depression and/or guilt about your eating habits. You might feel like you want to stop bingeing, but it seems completely impossible to stop it.
How do I know if I have
Binge Eating Disorder?
Answering yes to any of the following questions could mean you might benefit from working with a licensed mental health counselor to address your eating habits:
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Feel like you can’t control your eating? Find yourself cycling back and forth from binge episodes to restrictive dieting to “make up for it”?
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Do you find yourself eating when you’re not hungry? Maybe even eating more after you’re already past the point of being uncomfortably full?
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Are your eating habits causing you to feel guilt, shame, or regret? Annoyed with yourself because you lack the willpower to stop bingeing?
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Find yourself sneaking food or eating alone because you’re embarrassed? Wait till nobody is around and then hide the evidence?
The following are some common symptoms you may experience when you have Binge Eating Disorder
Feeling like you have no control over what or how much you’re eating
Eating faster than you normally would
Eating even after you’re feeling uncomfortably full
Always thinking about food
Eating a large amount of food even when you’re not actually physically hungry
Eating by yourself because you’re embarrassed by what or how much you’re eating
After you’re done, feeling disgusted, depressed, and/or guilty
Feeling distressed and upset over your eating
Constantly going on a new diet
Being very concerned with your weight and shape
Constantly checking mirrors to examine your perceived flaws
Skipping meals and/or fasting
Weight fluctuations, up and down
Experiencing low self-esteem
Stomach pains and gastrointestinal issues
Trouble concentrating
Your stomach aches from eating so much . . . but you keep eating. Eventually you feel the worst kind of sickness. It can linger for hours, if not days. Bingeing leaves you feeling sweaty, nauseous, and embarrassed.
Why do I have such a hard time with overeating?
There is currently not one singular cause of binge eating. Researchers believe bingeing results from a combination of both biology and life events. It is attributed to a cluster of varying influences including physiological reasons, environmental factors, social components, nutritional reasons, emotional drivers, genetic predispositions, trauma history, etc.
There are certain circumstances which might increase your risk of struggling with binge eating such as:
A history of eating disorders in your family. Your risk of developing an eating disorder increases when you have a relative such as a parent or sibling who has (or had) one.
A history of dieting and restriction. Women who repeatedly diet are approximately twelve times more likely to binge eat as compared to women who don’t diet.
Past abuse and trauma can raise your risk. This can include sexual abuse, physical and/or emotional abuse, weight discrimination, and bullying.
Significant stress is a risk factor as bingeing can become a way of dealing with emotional pain.
Facts About Binge Eating Disorder
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BED is currently the most common eating disorder in the U.S. Approximately 2.8 million people throughout the country struggle with BED. It’s actually more common than anorexia and bulimia combined.
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Among individuals with BED, about two-thirds qualify as clinically obese. However, many will be of normal or higher-than-average weight. All told, BED can be present no matter what you weigh.
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Binge Eating Disorder is, in general, a very common disorder and is diagnosed more often than breast cancer, HIV, and schizophrenia.
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Another important point to note is that the National Institute of Mental Health (NIH) reports 65.1% of those with BED also have a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder and upwards of 46.4% have a mood disorder such as depression. So if you’re struggling with binge eating and you feel there’s other stuff also going on for you, those feelings are likely very valid.
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It is known to impact 16 out of every 1000 women in any 12-month period and, further, it will impact 35 out of 1000 at some point during their life. So if you think you might need help with binge eating, you are far from alone.
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For BED, the average age of initial onset is 21 – a much later onset than other types of eating disorders. It’s a common misperception that eating disorders are just about teenagers - but that’s far from true. In fact, a study done in 2012 found that 13% of American women aged 50 or older experience symptoms of an eating disorder.
What does binge eating
physically feel like?
Binge eating can make you feel physically terrible and sick. You may feel bloated, and your stomach may physically hurt, as if it might split apart. You might feel nauseous and sweaty. It may feel painful to move and might leave you feeling a bit lightheaded. You could find your head aches, you might experience difficulty sleeping, and your heart might begin to race.
A binge will make you feel absolutely miserable in a variety of differing ways. You are, after all, abusing your body. So, you will feel awful. The sensations might even stick with you for days afterwards.
How does bingeing make you feel emotionally?
Bingeing can be emotionally exhausting. While you may feel excitement leading up to a binge, you soon hit a low. You quickly discover that bingeing does not ever solve any of your problems. If you binged because your job was stressing you out, for example, you soon appreciate that you’re still stressed about work and then you’re now also upset because you binged. Binge eating thus only compounds the problem. You likely end up feeling guilty and embarrassed following the binge. You worry about how you’ll hide it because you don’t want anyone to know how much you’ve eaten. You might feel angry at yourself for not being able to control your eating. You could be disappointed in yourself for bingeing “yet again” when you promised yourself the last time would really be the “last” time.
Why do I keep binge eating?!?!
Why can’t I just stop?
For someone who is not struggling with this problem, it makes little sense. Why would you continue to engage in a behavior that makes you feel sick and which you mentally regret? If you binge eat, you know on a logical level that it isn’t good for you and that it doesn’t help with anything. None of that matters. You still can’t stop eating. No matter how sick it makes you feel, no matter how ashamed you get, you cannot control it. You might promise, might swear up and down, that each binge will be your last, and yet you continue to binge eat. Other people don’t understand it. You probably don’t understand it yourself.
There can be a multitude of factors at play if you find yourself binge eating including physiological reasons, environmental factors, social components, nutritional reasons, emotional drivers, genetic predispositions, trauma history, etc. Which ones will be relevant for you will, of course, vary since your life circumstances, personality, biology, and history are unlike that of anyone else. But no matter the reason, you CAN recover.
Together, in counseling, we can begin to understand your unique bingeing story. You will finally have someone in your corner who truly understands what it is like to go through all this. I know right now it seems like an impossible, insurmountable problem. That simply isn’t true. You have probably tried to quit already. Maybe you’ve tried different diets, tried hiring a trainer or coach, and probably read some self-help books. I know it’s been overwhelming and frustrating. But I know that your story isn’t over. I know you can beat binge eating for good. I will be there to support you and help guide you toward healing.
Binge eating has nothing to do with willpower or discipline.
What Can Life Be Like When You Finally Stop Binge Eating?
It means you can eat whenever you’re hungry and feel confident you won’t have trouble stopping when you’re full.
A life free from binge eating means using food to nourish yourself instead of to cope with emotions.
You’ll feel in control of your choices.
You won’t be afraid to keep certain foods in the house.
You won’t spend countless hours obsessing over what you’re going to binge on.
And then you also won’t spend hours and days trying to make up for bingeing yet again.
You won’t have the stomach pains or the shameful regret.
You can expect to no longer be at war with your body.
You’ll feel more at peace around food and meals won’t cause you so much stress.
You will be at greater ease in your body.
Your eating behaviors will not be the way you cope with or distract yourself from other problems in your life.
You’re not hungry, but can’t stop obsessing over what you’re going to eat. You wonder ‘why can’t I be “normal,” eat regular portions and move on?’
I
t doesn’t have to be this way anymore.
How Will Mental Health Therapy With A Licensed Counselor Help Me Stop Binge Eating?
You probably feel like you’ve already tried everything. And with no success. When I first begin working with clients on overcoming their binge eating I hear this a lot. My clients will share that they got so frustrated when trying to stop bingeing using self-help methods. Finally, when they realized nothing was ever fixing the problem, they reached out for counseling support.
Truth be told, binge eating doesn’t usually respond well to self-help approaches in most cases. So if you haven’t been able to recover yet, don’t lose hope. The good news is that working with a professional therapist has been shown to be significantly effective. There is actual research showing that therapy for binge eating does really work. And I can tell you that I have personally seen how much counseling helps.
I encourage you to get the help you need - you don’t need to keep trying to do this alone!
I have seen so many people recover from binge eating. They go on to find peace, health, and genuine happiness. Watching their transformation is amazing! And all of this is possible for you!
You no longer need to waste time obsessing about food. And all the energy you’ve spent worrying about meals and about how your body looks can get channeled into other parts of your life. How cool would it be to eat what you like without stressing and to feel more comfortable in your skin?!?!? You can absolutely rewrite your story and binge eating can become a page from the past.
Treatment for binge eating can include learning to eat in a more effective way. It can mean leaving behind unhelpful, contradictory rules. It might mean telling the food police to kick rocks and leave you alone once and for all.
When you begin therapy and counseling for binge eating, there are multiple things we’ll work on including:
Adding New and Better Coping Skills: You will need to learn how to actually stop binge eating and part of that will involve understanding how to better manage stressors. Binge eating can be an ineffectual response to distress. We need to replace it with something healthier.
Body Image: You might constantly weigh yourself. You could be hyper critical about your appearance. Perhaps compulsive body checking consumes you. All of these things can be triggers for a binge. How we think about our body can impact the way we eat. We will work together to change how you think and talk about your body.
Rethinking How You Think About Food: How do you think about food? How do you talk about it? Are you constantly going on and off diets? More than likely you’ll benefit from breaking up with your old relationship with food. It just isn’t working out. You deserve better!
As Your Therapist I Am Here to Help You With:
Recognizing and reducing any physical restrictive behaviors which are becoming a barrier to recovery
We want to identify any and all things which are making things worse or which are making it harder to heal - and then we want to eliminate them. For example, if you’re stuck in a cycle of bingeing, then cutting back to make up for it, we want to effectively halt that pattern.
Exploring and working with the thoughts and emotions which are contributing to your binge eating
Are there hard feelings you’ve been pushing down and avoiding? Is the way you’re thinking just making things worse? Binge eating is sometimes a way of coping with difficulties and stressors. But there are much better ways to handle all of that noise.
Gaining insight regarding your binge patterns
Do you binge at certain times? Do you binge in certain places or situations? What are your binge triggers? When and where is a binge more likely to take place? We will explore your daily reality and see if there are any patterns we need to disrupt. Doing this also will help clue us in as to what are some of the things in your life which could use some positive adjustment.