I'm new and struggling

Hiya

I'm new to this forum and I have found it really good to read about other people having the same experiences as me. I don't know anyone else who has problems with binge eating and it feels like such a shameful and lonely thing. I also get so tired of it, I've been struggling with it for over 15 years and while it has had good patches in that time, I have never totally managed to leave it behind.

I have found some things that help me. Having an ipod to listen to music while walking so that I avoid temptation in shops, trying to deal with my emotions rather than eat my way around them and really trying to get other preoccupations (study/hobbies/friends) which leave less time for thinking about food. I was wondering what strategies do other people have?

bluemonday
X

Hey, and welcome.


The coping strategies that you are employing are good. You are a long sufferer of this; 15 years - wow... I have been a sufferer for about 3 years now. I can pinpoint the moment it first began. It was Christmas-time and I had just eaten a substantial amount of chocolate. Then, for the first time ever, I felt guilty about it and planned to starve myself to counteract what I had eaten. From that moment on I never truly regained control of my diet an I was Bulimic.


Currently, my best coping strategy is one of acceptance - Acceptance that I have bulimia. It has made things so much easier and allows me to control how and when I purge.


This is knd of off-topic but what's your most-played song on your iPod?


Kevin.

Hiya

Thanks for the welcome!

It's interesting what you say about pinpointing the moment it began. I can do that too, I had been restricting my diet quite severely for a few months and then one day my control just snapped and I ate some noodles which didn't seem like much at the time but started a pattern of restricting and then bingeing.

Do you wish like I do that you could go back in time and just stop that moment from happening? I do, I just wish I hadn't started restricting as I was completely fine with food before then and I didn't need to lose weight.

Thanks for sharing your coping strategy. How does that work for you? Does it take away some of the anxiety?

My most-played album at the moment is probably The Raconteurs.

bluemonday
X

Hey,


The Raconteurs? Forgive me but who on Earth are they? There's a song called 'Blue Monday' by a band called New Order that you might have heard. So, I thought that they might have been your favourite.


If I could change being Bulimic I think I would - of course - but the way I view it is that it was meant to happen. I think everything in your life is set-in-place from the moment you are conceived. However, it's still impossible to predict the future. I'm in no way religious by the way; I'm an Atheist.


My coping strategy (of accepting that I'm Bulimic) definately takes away anxiety. It's like I can forget about the fact that I am Bulimic even though I know I am. In that sense, it doesn't bother me too much.


That's my only strategy at the moment though. Without that, my diet would be so erratic that I'd start skipping days of college and I'd be putting on so much more weight.


Kevster.

Hiya

Actually I'm not a New Order fan at all just choose to have a miserable screen name! Where does your name come from, is it from a film?

I'm glad you have a coping strategy which takes away your anxiety. Do you think what you have been through with your eating disorder has made you stronger?

I don't really think in the same way, I don't think my problems were pre-determined. And I also don't like accepting I have an eating problem, so I fight against it quite a lot although obviously never yet with long-term success.

It's good that you're managing college as well as dealing with this stuff - it's tiring, isn't it?

bluemonday
X

Hey,

It's good that you're managing college as well as dealing with this stuff - it's tiring, isn't it?

It's very tiring indeed and the past year has been the most stressful time of my life. Is it work that stresses you?


My name - Chucky - is not from anything really. Some guy from college just started calling me it and the name stuck. No-one calls me it anymore though - not since I left that particular college. Now I'm just called Kev or Kevin (Although one girl calls me kevsteropilopidous on rare occasions!). What are your nicknames??


My eating disorder obviously made me weaker at first but I'm a firm believer that things that hurt us will make us stronger. So, yeh, I feel that I'm slowly becoming stronger. I like to think that I've been through a lot of bad things in life and, as such, I am unphased when faced with new bad situations that arise.


What about you - Made you stronger or not?


Kevster.

Hiya

Yes it is work that stresses me at the moment, although this did all start when I was in college. I am someone who thinks too much about everything and binge eating is one way I find to quieten my mind. So at the moment I am trying to find other ways to quieten it which are less destructive.

I found college difficult because it allowed me too much time and space to think and I find it easier if I have more structure in my life - at least work gives me this.

I don't really have any nicknames, I like kevsteropilopidous though

I identify with what you say about being unphased by bad situations due to what you have been through I feel like that too, I feel quite emotionally strong because I have been through some bad stuff and therefore have some effective coping mechanisms (although obviously the binge eating isn't one of them). It also makes me more able to emphathise with other people and I guess that's pretty important in work and in life.

bluemonday
X

Heya Blue,



Work is stressful? - Same for me. Everything I do is stresful in fact. I'm putting my body through an awful lot of wear and tear. Do you find it impossible to relax? I ask because you said that you are the type of person that thinks too much about things. Be warned that thinking too much is hazardous for the health... ...


Kev.

Hiya

You're so right that thinking too much is hazardous to your health. I often wish I could switch my brain off and stop it thinking, I guess bingeing does do that for a while and that's why I do it. I do find it hard to relax. I often can't switch off and watch a film because my mind is too active.

How do you de-stress? I find going for a walk really helps me, especially if it's sunny......

bluemonday
X

I can't watch movies either; My mind never sits still and when I have nothing planned my mind drifts to having a binge. I just wish I could sit down and simply relax but I can't. I cannot remember the last time I did it. So, I don't particularly have techniques to de-stress right now. Work is basically on my mind from when I wake-up to when I go to bed.


The sunny weather recently is good though. I hated the dark winter months and the cold because I have Raynaud's syndrome and my hands become numb and spontaneously cut.


Kevster.