How do I stop binge eating?

I suffer from depression and panic disorder, and also binge eating.

I'm a 40 year old married man whose weight has ballooned in the past year.

Every day I tell myself I'm not going to binge but I usually do.

Yesterday my wife (who also binge eats) and I devoured an entire medium taco pizza from Pizza Hut. I felt horrible afterward and still do.

There are no OA groups within driving distance. I took part in one online discussion.

I hate the way I feel and the way my body is starting to look.

I am in counselling and see a psychiatrist for my other disorders, but all they offer me is various diets; the psydoc's mantra is "diet and exercise". None of that helps my binging.

Can any of you relate and/or help?

Thank you.
Kurt

I found myself doing the same thing a while ago

I don't know if it works for everyone or what but what I done is I started deliberately putting myself off certain foods.

Like I kept telling myself if I ate after 9pm that it'd be a disgusting horrible, inhumane thing to do. Almost as if I ate after 9 it'd be like stealing from my parents or something.

Then once I had stopped eating past 9, I started working on the things I /was/ eating during the day, for instance my mum she isn't a binge eater but she has a sweet tooth, so I used to find myself eating like a packet of crisps instead of an apple or something, so I eventually put myself off eating crisps and such by thinking about how awful it would taste.
Example; with the crisps I kept telling myself that either the crisps were off and sort of mouldy, or that they were burnt or something that would make them taste unappealing.


Don't know how well it works for other people but it's starting to work for me so I hope it helps.

Everyone is different and different things work for different people.

But, the general theory with binge eating disorder is that diets do NOT work. In fact, dieting (and restricting) is part of the problem! It creates the vicious cycle that leads to more binging, more weight gain, more self-hate, more dieting, more binging, and on and on.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is probably the most effective treatment for binge eating disorder. The average treatment program is 20 weeks - and insurance should cover it.

It has worked wonders for me. I saw improvements on the FIRST day!! I went from binging once or twice a day every single day to binging just once or twice a week...and now, it's been 3 1/2 weeks since I have binged (I'm in my 8th week of treatment.) That's a huge success (though, I have to remind myself that...because my focus is on how much I hate my body and want it to be smaller, but I know that dieting will restart my binge cycles.)

What I learned in therapy is that really so much of my binging was triggered by restricting myself. I'd skip breakfast and eat a light lunch, so that I wouldnt gain weight. But, then I'd binge all night. The first part of my treatment was basically making a planned breakfast, lunch, dinner and 2 snacks a mandatory part of every day. It was ironic that the hardest part of my treatment was really eating enough! It was hard for me to get all that in, but doing so left little room for binging!

I have not heard of the above posters program but I would look into it. My suggestion would be to seek out a therapist who specifically deals w/ eating disorders and can target that w/ you. I'm diagnosed as dealing w/ bulimia...but I do go to the opposite ends w/ binge eating as well. They tend to go hand in hand...the two eating disorders. In combo w/ my therapy I take topamax and that helps ease the symptoms. It is not a 100% cureall.....I need the counseling as well. But it does help keep things under control. However I will warn you.......it is INCREDIBLY expensive. WORKS very well for me........but for myself my dose is 200mg. per day and that costs me....with insurance ....$170/month (my insurance pays 80% of that....so after I pay I then get $135 of that back)