Need some support.....

I am a 20 year old student who has just withdrawn from college, and has started working full time. In the past few weeks, I have compulsively binged late at night before I go to bed. I don't know why I do this, but I wake up feeling depressed and sad. I am starting to gain weight now, and I don't want any of my friends to wonder what is wrong with me. I just need some support to get through this and start my life over. Thanks for listening...

Hmm...I see your problem. Well, just eat healthy things and excercise. Maybe you could eat less and less and then eventually you may stop. If you are worried about your friends thinking something wrong, build up the courage to talk to them or a counselor.
Good Luck,
Sorry if I didnt help.
~Laura~

Mel I also binge-eat just before bed-time. I have been doing this every night for the past few months now. Before that I was bingeing in the mornings. Anyway, when I first started bingeing before bed-time I awoke the next day feeling much worse than the night before. The urge to binge was gone but the depression was there. Smiling was a chore!


At this current time though the amount of food I binge on is much less than it used to be. I am also beginning to care less and less about the actualy binge. Before I felt trapped about it - Now I am getting comfortable with it. I am confidant that it will eventually 'just' get better.


There are always reasons behind why a person binges. What are yours? Is it because you left college?

Some advice is, if you eat the food, you could then go to the gym or running and wouldn't gain the pounds from the extra food, if you worked out enough. Another advice is, even though it might be hard, whenever you go grocery shopping, don't go near the snack aisle and just buy healthy food, or low calorie food that you can eat as much as you want. Maybe a physcatrist could help you with your deprression? I hope you get better, because you will.

They are good ideas GummyFeet. Including the gym in your life is a great idea. Some Bulimics use the gym purely as a method for purging however. So, ensure that you use to gym for enjoyment and not purely for counteracting (purging) a binge.


Through exercise, hormones are released that counteract depression also. So, the gym is doubly good.


Kevster

I agree with the gym suggestion. I used to have the tendancy to be a "night eater" and I feel terribly about it. So now instead of eating I go to the gym at night. It burns calories instead of taking them in, and I'm never hungry after the gym.

Is that your current schedule crazylucyloo - Gym, then bed? I sometimes go to the gym at night too but I still binge eat just before bedtime.


I have been binging before bedtime for about a year now. However, I think my body has adapetd to it somewhat because I am never as tired when I wake up anymore.


Kevster

hey do any of yous find that yous go perfect in the morning until around 4 or 5pm and then you just feel larthargic and pig out like no end all night?? if u do, u r like me, and i have some tips that worked for me, hopefully they may work for u2..

1. your metabolism is naturallt at its highest in the morning, and then drops gradually throughout the day. at around 5pm its is pretty low.
wat this meant for me is that in the morning i could eat pretty good and stay in control and lots of energy. but at around 5pm i would start pigging out on anything i could coz i felt so lathargic!
so my tip here is do your exercise in the afternoon rather than the morning. this way your metabolicm is high in the morning anyway, but ALSO in the night coz it stays high for quite a few hours after exercising. this way you wont feel so lathargic at nite and need a 'sugar fix' n pig out!!

2. DRINK COFFEE!!! reasons for pigging out at night is coz u r so lathargic at the end of the day u need something to give u a quick sugar fix, which does bring up your energy levels, but also quickly drops again, and in the meantime added all those caleries!!
a drink of coffee (skim milk haha) can also give u energy, lots less caleries!!!

3. OCCUPY YOURSLEF!!! boredom is a major reason i pigged out at night. wheneva i would stand there with nothing to do, it was a natural thing to go to the fridge and wateva looked tasty id stuff it in! big mistake...
instead, if u r not bored, u wont think of eating. go to the gym, or watch tv or a movie, use computer/playstation, go to a friends, etc. just ccupy yourself take ur mind off food!

4. DONT BUY JUNK FOOD IN THE FORST PLACE!! if theres nothing in the fridge thats bad, u cant eat anything thats bad!! can u?
i find that if i do the groceries first thing in the morning i have the willpower not to buy junk, whereas if i buy it at nite (when i feel like a sugerfix) i will most probably buy junk..

5. DONT DENY YOURSELF JUNK FOOD!!! no, this is not the opposite of point number 4... wat the difference is, is to have a little something here n then like when your out u can buy a small mars bar or somethimg but thats it.. wat i meant in number 4 is not to buy huge boxes of junk and chips and pies etc..

6. DRINK LOTS OF WATER AND GREEN TEA...u may think this is stupid but trust me it works. green tea is also heaps good for your skin and weight loss!

7. EAT DINNER LATER- if u eat dinner later on in the nite u wont feel as hungry later as if u eat at like 5 as oppose to like 6.30.

so yea thats about all my tips i can think of lol... they all seemed to work for me so if it works for any of u it was worth posting here! LOL

ps/ sorry for long reply lol..

Research on the effects of coffee (Caffeine) is not extensive but what research HAS been done is disputed. Personally I do not think it would be good for a person with an eating disorder to begin drinking regularly. It'd be kind of like covering up a problem with a problem. That is just my opinion though.


The 'occupying of oneself' is perhaps the best way to overcome an eating disorder. It gives you much less time to think about your food. Indeed this is how I overcame my first eating disorder: I simply decided that I had too many other things to do besides wasting my time thinking about food.


Kevster