Emotional/Binge Eating - Tips To Handle Stress & Raging Emotions

[CamCat]

I guess, we all need somebody to assist us when we can't do it ourselves. Thanks for sharing this.

[gefree2770blessings]

Stress is bad once not controlled or managed accordingly. We need a helping hand from a trusted person. Likewise, I direct my attention to reading the book of Marlo Thomas, the New York Times Bestselling author. The title is "Growing Up Laughing, My Story and the Story of Funny." https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...0634#/laughing /

[sraebaer]

Just the past 2 weeks I've started eating more fruits and veggies (Ann's advice!) and it has helped with my cravings. I had been basically living on protein with a little bit of other stuff thrown in. I've also cut out all sugar and bad carbs from my diet, and I really don't crave it at all. I can now walk past the donuts at school without even thinking about it.

But I have never had a problem with binge eating, just a problem making the wrong food choices. I'm learning. Over 4 years from surgery and still learning!

Good luck!

[Ann2]

Amen here, sraebaer.

I'm still learning ... every week!

And learning the same things over again.

Maybe one day I'll get smarter.

[sraebaer]

Amen here, sraebaer.

I'm still learning ... every week!

And learning the same things over again.

Maybe one day I'll get smarter.

When my sweet 2nd grade grandson does something wrong at home or school, he cries, "I just can't learn my lesson!" The struggle is real.

[AmyBee]

This is really hard for me, and since I'm pre-op, I'm really looking for ways to learn to manage it going forward, especially after surgery. I don't live in an area where I can easily access therapists who are trained specifically in this.

One thing that has helped me is just increasing my level of mindfulness over all. I use an app called Insight Timer to meditate for 20 minutes a day, at least, most days. It centers me. I am combining what I'm learning from various authors (like Geneen Roth and Isabelle Foxen Duke) with my Buddhist practice, and am learning more about staying in the moment, and not using food (or anything else) to take me away from uncomfortable situations. I'm also learning how to be honest with myself about what I'm going through. If I'm eating because I'm bored at work, I need to run the full dialogue to its conclusion. Being bored reminds me that I'm not happy in my job, that I find it tedious, and menial, and pretty much intolerable. Rather than soothing myself with food, I need to stay in the moment and FIX the uncomfortable situation. It's daily work, and very challenging most of the time. I meditated yesterday after not having done it for awhile, and I swear I had to re-center myself like 30 times. It's crazy what pops into your brain when you try to sit in silence, and how far you can get down a trail of thought before you even notice you've lost control of it.

[Ann2]

Amy, thanks for raising these issues. They're very important issues for everyone who ate and lived in ways that led them to become morbidly obese (all of us, eh?).

Whether we struggle with binge eating, self-medicating our discomforts with food, or "food addictions" (however you define that term), we each have to find ways of living/eating that encourage our post-WLS healthy lifestyles and discourage reversion to old ways of living.

For the record, the greatest challenge I have in this arena starts with sleep hygiene. If I get 8 hours of sleep a night (or even 7 or, better yet, 9 hours) I'm golden. Once I drop below 7 hours though, food becomes more dangerous. And when (on occasion) I get only 3 hours of sleep due to life's stresses (I have them, we all have them!), food becomes much more problematic for me.

The old Alcoholics Anonymous acronym "HALT" (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired) really describes the danger zone for me. And my main bugaboo is Tired.

The journey continues.

[AmyBee]

So true... my urge to snack on "quick energy" foods dropped to almost nil after I started CPAP treatment. I wasn't falling asleep at my desk, but my body was definitely needing a boost, and so I would have uncontrollable cravings for carbs. It's a battle!

[CamCat]

Just the past 2 weeks I've started eating more fruits and veggies (Ann's advice!) and it has helped with my cravings. I had been basically living on protein with a little bit of other stuff thrown in. I've also cut out all sugar and bad carbs from my diet, and I really don't crave it at all. I can now walk past the donuts at school without even thinking about it.

But I have never had a problem with binge eating, just a problem making the wrong food choices. I'm learning. Over 4 years from surgery and still learning!

Good luck!

I would agree on fruits and veggies as part of the healthy diet. Those help a lot.

[kenson]

I am struggling, struggling, so this conversation is very helpful.

[AnnieG]

What a great, candid thread.
I was binge and purge when I was young (response to trauma). Then I straightened up for about 30 years while I was having my kids and at home, where controlling what was in the house and outside temptations were less available.

Then life changes and back to it, coupled with med and weight went up to 240.

I journal; I've had cognitive therapy. I have built in PAUSE as part of the process. PAUSE and ask hungry? thirsty? bored? pissed? lonely? just vaguely dissatisfied with someone? In need of nap?

But journal has been very helpful because I can go back and see what happened last time. I do log in MFP even if I eat unwisely or too much. I do find most of the triggers are"old messages" that something has rattled.

But as self pay, and greatly improved health, I just want to continue on a road to health. Self-compassion has been a huge lesson in this. And I hope this helps someone!

[Bonnie D.]

Bigdog, thank you for starting this thread. I was searching for a place to share what I am going through right now, and I think I found it.
I am going through the process of doing what I need to do for insurance approval. I may not have surgery until the end of January or February. Even though I am meeting with a dietician once a month, I still am not sticking to any healthy diet. In other words, even though this is hard to admit, I still am binging on sugar and carbs. I am very ashamed of this as you can imagine ~ who wouldnt be that is in the process of having bariatric surgery. I am so excited and anxious (and binging is what I do with any emotions). I believe that unconsciously I am saying good bye to my "foods", like a Last Supper because that I will be giving them up. Has anyone else experienced this? I am aware of all the things that I can do to distract myself when this wave of anxiety rushes over me, but am choosing not to make the right choice. Has anyone else experience this sick behavior while waiting for surgery approval? Thank you so much in advance.