Compulsive Eating

[anonymous24]

About a year ago, I was obsessed with being thin. I would starve myself to lose weight. Recently, I've developed a habit of over-eating. I'll literally eat every snack I can find in my house. I've gained quite a few pounds, and I really want to stop. I'll keep eating far past the point of being full and even past the point of feeling nauseous. One odd thing I used to do was only eat if I was full or a meal was presented to me (such as a family dinner), and never when I was hungry. I assume that it was because I liked the feeling of being hungry, but I'm not entirely sure. I'm not saying that I want to go back to starving myself, but I need to know how to stop this. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

P.S. I've recently been fairly stressed, but the major cause of my stress is gone now (if that helps).

[~CourageousSurvivor~]

Hey there,

A lot of the time over eating can be tied to emotions. So, what you need to try to do is figure out what emotions are at play when you want to over eat. Are you angry, sad, happy, bored? If you can work on figuring out what emotions are at play you can slowly work on those emotions. Before you compulsively eat try and figure out what you are feeling. For example, say you have a snack and you want to go back for another one try to assess why. Are you hungry? Are you feeling overly emotional? What emotion are you feeling? Even if you still compulsively eat the more aware you are to the emotions the better able you will be to fight the urge next time.

I would also suggest that you work on distracting yourself. I am going to link you to teenhelps Alternatives to self harm and I suggest you try distracting yourself with some of the things on the list. Sometimes when you want to compulsively eat the best thing to do is distract yourself, go for a walk, read a book, etc.

Here is the link:

http://www.teenhelp.org/forums/f12-self-harm/t9418-alternatives-self-harm/

Another thing that might help is if you started journaling when you feel the urge to compulsively eat. You could sit down before, during or after an episode and write what you are/were feeling. This would be a great way to tap into your emotions and it would be a good positive relief for the emotions you are having.

I hope this isn't all jumbled and I hope it helped. If you need anything please feel free to pm me.

Jenna

[anonymous24]

Originally Posted by ~CourageousSurvivor~

Hey there,

A lot of the time over eating can be tied to emotions. So, what you need to try to do is figure out what emotions are at play when you want to over eat. Are you angry, sad, happy, bored? If you can work on figuring out what emotions are at play you can slowly work on those emotions. Before you compulsively eat try and figure out what you are feeling. For example, say you have a snack and you want to go back for another one try to assess why. Are you hungry? Are you feeling overly emotional? What emotion are you feeling? Even if you still compulsively eat the more aware you are to the emotions the better able you will be to fight the urge next time.

I would also suggest that you work on distracting yourself. I am going to link you to teenhelps Alternatives to self harm and I suggest you try distracting yourself with some of the things on the list. Sometimes when you want to compulsively eat the best thing to do is distract yourself, go for a walk, read a book, etc.

Here is the link:

http://www.teenhelp.org/forums/f12-self-harm/t9418-alternatives-self-harm/

Another thing that might help is if you started journaling when you feel the urge to compulsively eat. You could sit down before, during or after an episode and write what you are/were feeling. This would be a great way to tap into your emotions and it would be a good positive relief for the emotions you are having.

I hope this isn't all jumbled and I hope it helped. If you need anything please feel free to pm me.

Jenna

Great advice! The list is really helpful, too. I'll really try to think about the root of the problem. Thanks for your help!