Binging


(Brian) #41

This might sound weird when I say it, but have you ever fasted? It seems like the opposite extreme but would it be possible for you to spend even 36 or 48 hours with nothing but water? Seriously, you need to focus on something other than food, even keto friendly food.

It might be just a bit of a “reset” after having trouble with binging.

It might be helpful to carefully plan out exactly what you eat following the fast as well so as to not make yourself sick. Prepackage and label it if you have to.

But others above are right, none of us can do it for you. We’re words on a computer screen. You are the one who decides what goes in your mouth and when and have the ultimate control.

Good luck!


(Troy Anthony) #42

Seek a professional. No advice is going to help. Good luck


#43

I have to agree with @J_A-M and @uniprod - there is already a long thread with some suggestions that you posted a while back. If the situation is only getting worse for you - it sounded like it was improving at that time I seem to remember - then you really do need to find a professional who can help you through this.

@gardengirlkp shared some fantastic insight in her episode of the Keto Woman podcast which you might find helpful so do give that a listen…

www.ketowomanpodcast.com/karen-parrott/

Treatment of an eating disorder really does need to be undertaken with a professional. It will be fantastic of you ca start some self-help along the way but it sounds like you are really struggling to do that. Please, please find yourself some help.

Maybe @Donna can help point you in the right direction of where to start.


(karen) #44

I’m just thinking out loud here, but is there some other “challenge” you could set for yourself that would make it harder to binge? Like: “I’m going to spend less than $50 this week.” Or “I’m not going to drive more than x miles this week”. Or “I’m not going to buy anything in plastic packaging this week”. Maybe if you could bring your focus away from food and toward something else you think is valuable, you could gain a win for yourself by pursuing an interest and succeeding at a goal that’s not about food, while just “coincidentally” eating less?


(vera) #45

I was able to fast for 72 hours four weeks ago but now I’m not able to​:sob::sob:


(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #46

Thats because youre no longer fat adapted. Youre running on glucose again so fasting will be much more difficult/painful.


(Sarah Slancauskas) #47

Reading through this thread and, considering your age and the extreme nature of your binging, I’d say you need more practical help from a professional or from a support group of others in a similar situation. The Overeaters Annonymous group sounds aptly suited to your needs and you’d likely find other people there who could help you in a pragmatic way. The binging / confession habit you seem to be forming here is unhealthy and isn’t getting you any further forward. Apart from costing you (or your family) a small fortune, eating that volume of food is very detrimental to your health, especially with the high sugar and carb elements. I would advise that you seek out the help, because it won’t come to you. You have to deem yourself worth the hassle and humbling to go and find the help for yourself that you clearly need.
I hope you stay on the forum but I hope you don’t rely solely on this for help. It’d be great if you could actively pursue help and then inform us all of these steps and then we’d be able to support you, in a healthy way, gong forward.


#48

I don’t think that fasting is an appropriate approach for someone who binges on 10k daily, it will.most likely lead to more binges and give him excuses to keep this habit if, through fasting, some of the damage is reversed. Reversing all sorts of damages through fasting is a good thing, but not in this extreme case imo. Unless he at some point becomes physically and mentally really sick of food and a fast comes naturally


(Brian) #49

Maybe so, FFFL. What I was thinking of was the fact that when I fast, my stomach shrinks. And it’s uncomfortable to eat a large amount of food with the smaller stomach. Maybe that doesn’t apply here.

No offense intended. Good luck.


#50

@Bellyman I know, I actually agree. It’s just very individual and tricky. Fasts helped you in that regard, in my case they used to exacerbate my binge issues till I got my diet on check (keto), after that I find my self doing OMAD or 2-3 day fasts barely noticing I’m not eating. This is coming from someone who would binge on 5-7000 calories, OP eats double that. Some people with no binging issues develop them after fasting (not common, but it can happen). I’m all for fasting so long as it’s a conscious and well thought approach for the right reasons and not just a desperate measure (not referring to what u suggested just a general thought)


(Mother of Puppies ) #51

Binger checking in…

I’ve been “plateaued” due to binging for over a year.

Restrictions make me obsess.

My thought proces has been, “You can never have x again. This is the last time.” And I would binge on it… repeat DAILY!! With several carby, sugary items!!! Nothing to do with hunger. I can be stuffed with Keto food and still binge on x.

Two days ago I told myself I can have one cheat item with a meal, once daily. I’ve had two days without obsessions or binges.

My Keto state may not be optimal right now, but I feel more in control and think this is a training wheel phase for me. I won’t choose to have a cheat item every day forever. Just knowing I can let’s me relax.


(Auden) #52

You’re right! I never had a binge until I started fasting. I recommend fasting to my friends and family, but I can’f go over 24 hours bc of the bingeing.


(Nathan Toben) #53

My primary reason for gravitating towards ketogenic eating is the suffering I experience from binging.

I was binging once or twice a week, sometimes upwards of 16,000 calories in an hour or two.

I just wanted to add that I am about 40 days in to keto. In the beginning, it was not some miracle satiating fix. I had to remain disciplined and trusting that each day done well would bring my satiety signals closer to alignment.

I still have a long way to go. I check in with myself throughout the day and ask whether or not I feel safe, stressed, hungry and then I return to being as closely on the same page with my body as. I can.

One thing that is frustrating to read is the kind folks who suggest to eat more fat, and once you can’t imagine eating any more fat, that means you are full.

If this does seem helpful to you then disregard this, but I know for myself, this suggestion assumes a binge-eaters sensations and perceptions are trustworthy and/or that their intuition is honed enough to follow. A binge eater does not know what full is, does not know what more is, does not know how to know what to know. So: momentary decision-making is a dubious luxury of individuals with better-functioning satiety signals and food psychologies.

This is why, for myself, I went only eggs and butter for the first three days. In other words, I took a step back and devised a radical, short-term plan. No chance for decision-making thereafter.

I preemptively devised what to eat, when to eat it and told myself, if you do nothing else today, do this.

Perhaps the only idea that matters for the psychology of a binge eater starting out on keto is: I trust that with repetition, this will work.

Become brutally loyal to the plan and expect your brains delusions to present themselves and fight to return you to your troubled homeostasis of binging.

I’m there with you in this specific struggle to reach a sense of freedom from food slavery. About 40 days in, it is working. It is not a linear progression by any means, but I am beginning to experience a strange absence-of-food-thoughts.

It feels like being in a vacant peanut gallery.


#54

This is some well written advice. Sometimes your brain doesn’t want what’s best for you. You have to be aware of that, be prepared and have the right tools in place to counteract it. I’ve fallen foul to intrusive thoughts the last couple of weeks. And thus I’ve suffered for them because they caught me off guard with their ancestral disguise. But recognise your mistakes, work on them and be ready for next time. It’s not all willpower and emotion. There’s actionable steps to make the process a damn sight easier. Surrounding yourself with people that understand and believe you being one of them. One of the reasons these forums are so important. Already had my Dad tell me this morning that it’s not the food, it’s my head. That alone is enough to make me head to the ice cream drawer in the freezer. But I’ve got macro goals I want to hit each day currently specifying on wholefood meat sources with added fat and it keeps me on track, focused and controlled. As well as a good egg yolk coconut oil coffee. My treat.


(Lisa F) #55

Fasting definitely made me aware that I had a hidden binge eater inside. It was always there but not particularly extreme. For me the concept of feasting after a fast is a dangerous license to eat. I stayed Keto but was undoing the fasting with calories. I think there are two factors at work for me: my satiety signalling system sucks and my ability to rationalize eating a lot after a fast.

So I’ve stopped fasting to address the inner voice that pushes me to eat by having some very clear rules about what I can eat and when (so everything else I “crave” is just my lizard brain trying to convince me that I need to eat).

I hope someday to get back to fasting - once I make peace with food a bit more.


#56

Yeah well, amen to that…


#57

This! :clap:t2: My ‘eat to satiety’ is probably thoussssssands and thousands of calories more than a non binge eaters ‘eat to satiety’ :tired_face:


#58

ME TOO! Not that I TRY to do this, but for me to eat to the point where I feel sick, it would require eating fried food or something very heavy. I think I literally cannot ever get to that point on healthy food…I can eat endless amounts and still feel like I could eat more.