New Member - Needs Advice!

Hi, all. This is my first binge eating post..ever...and I was just hoping for some support or advice from anyone, really!

I've been struggling with binge eating for a few years now, and recently have seemed to be able to get it under control most of the time. I have found that my problems occur when I have a break in my daily routine. Normally, I'll eat the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and generally do the same activities and job every day (sounds terrible when I write it out), and this seems to have reaaalllyy helped out with my binge eating disorder. Whenever I stray, even in the slightest, from this daily routine, it all goes to hell, so to speak. This could mean going to lunch with my friends instead of eating my normal salad by myself, or being able to come home from work a few hours early and being in the house by myself with a few extra hours on my hands, or the day after a night of drinking with my friends. Anything, really. Anything in the slightest!

This is extremely frustrating for me as I feel like I've been doing so well and then one day something happens and it's like nothing ever changed, I revert right back to my old ways full force in the blink of an eye! And then I have to spend the rest of the day, and usually the next day, too, feeling sluggish and angry at myself.

Just wondering if anyone has any advice on this? Has this happened to anyone else? What was your strategy? Am I going to have to live a routine life forever just so I don't binge eat? Help!!

Thank you!

Hi sgmarcha,

I've had this happen before as well, and not just with an eating disorder. It crosses into other addictions.

I don't think you'll have to live on such a strict routine forever, although you may have to go about it very slowly and test things out one small step at a time. If you've never worked on the emotional triggers for your binge eating it's likely that any deviation from your new schedule leaves you prone to the emotions that caused the binges. Even having excess time to yourself, like you've mentioned, can be dangerous because that means more time to think and get caught up in critical inner voices.

If you've never tried to pay attention to what you think before, during, and after a binge, it could help you pinpoint what's going on. Treating each binge as an opportunity to learn and get healthier is a positive way to look at it. I do understand what you mean by being angry at yourself afterward though.

Take care, and welcome to the forum