Compulsive Eating
This question comes up from time to time in the forums. Compulsive eating is something I have dealt with almost all of my life, although it’s certainly gotten much better in the last four years that I’ve adopted this evolving fitness and clean diet routine. It was actually a series of compulsive eating days that started me on this journey.
Hearing that others suffer from the same makes me sad but at the same time has let me know I’m not alone, which is empowering in a way. In my worst days it would feel like panic - like I was drowning and food was air. Not even hungry, once in this mindset I was fixated on food and trying to fill up on water or otherwise distract myself was postponing the inevitable - binges. Obviously it was an emotional response and food was my way of self-medicating. Not having bad foods in the house was no deterent, I would simply go to the store. It was like a nightmare and caused a cycle of self-loathing and more binges.
Since it has come up a few times I thought I’d share some of the things that have helped me get over the binges.
Dealt with the emotional aspect of eating. Eating is a very emotional response for me and often a coping mechanism. I started a journal (much like the ones in the journaling section here at bb.com) and wrote out my feelings, when I felt I was heading towards an epidode, etc. It helped to see things written out like that and start sorting out my feelings to separate them from the "comforting" emotional reaction of eating my way through it. Also….very important. When I did go above my target calories for a day or ate something I shouldn’t have (I have a weakness for Mexican food and pizza), I was very strict about not getting down on myself about it, because that could in itself create a spiral of emotional eating from the frustration and panic. "Consistency is key" became my mantra - the little slip ups here and there do not really matter if I stay the course the rest of the time. I also would not use it as an excuse to go off the diet for the rest of the day.
Fitday.com I starting logging my food and learned a LOT about my diet that way.
I quit refined sugars and sugar substitutes. Cold turkey. It was NOT easy, but in Arnold’s book he describes it very well - I’ll paraphrase a little less eloquently - the human body is not meant to ingest condensed amounts of sugar like that. Often it will react by overcompensating with insulin response. I know it made me hypogylcemic (I was professionally diagnosed). It also made me moody, cranky, and ironically….more hungry. Other than maybe 5 times in the last four years I have completely stayed away from refined sugars and sugar substitutes. Oddly many people try to influence me - "it won’t hurt to have one cookie or a muffin or a donut…" I get more feedback on that aspect than I do any other part of my routine or diet. It’s a personal choice I’ve made and to be totally honest, no cookie or piece of cake or other decadent treat has actually been as good as I thought it would be. And in hindsight not worth the price I was paying for it. Now there are fruits that are almost too sweet for me and I do not crave sugars like that at all.
I learned about low glycemic index. I don’t measure my foods or look at the food ratings, but I do understand I can’t just eat an apple and be okay - in fact it will make me hungry in less than 30 minutes if I do. However, if I combine it with a fat and/or protein, like a couple of slices of lowfat cheddar cheese, it’s a satisfying "meal" and I don’t get hungry. So I always work to reduce the gylcemic index of my meals by adding protein and/or fat.
Drink plenty of water. I tend to do better when I drink enough water. I read somewhere that your body may indicate hunger when in fact it’s actually thirsty, or at least that’s the way we can intepret it. I get water in before I even eat my first meal. It’s an ongoing challenge but it has helped a lot.
Eating many smaller meals throughout the day. I now actually get to a point once in a while where I don’t want to eat the next meal or even think about food because I’m on a constant crusade to get the proper meals in and it’s time consuming. And difficult when traveling, etc.
I did find that not depriving myself of food, such as going on a severely low calorie diet, and trying to have a more reasonable approach has really helped. If I try to go too low on calories at any time I start to lose my good judgement regarding meals. One BB.com forum poster had fantastic advice: when your objective is to lose bodyfat, start out by lowering your daily calories no more than 100 per day, one week at a time. In other words, your average daily calories should not go down more than 100 calories per week. If you lose weight, then stick with it until the weight loss stops. If you don’t, lower another 100 calories per day average for the next week. Not shocking your body with a sudden and marked calorie deficit definitely helps keep things more managable.
Anyway, I hope sharing this is helpful to someone. If nothing else, know that you are not alone.
January 23, 2009 at 10:22 am
I saw that you mentioned this post in the forum, and I must say that after reading this it seems like you and I could be the same person. I, too, have suffered from compulsive eating for many years— "like I was drowning and food was air" is such a great way to put it. It does help to cut out sugars, although of course that seems to be what other people most often try and tempt you to eat, isn’t it? Getting into weight-lifting and the lifting lifestyle is certainly very helpful. I’m glad to see that you have been making such great progress.
January 30, 2009 at 11:21 am
thankyou for posting this I loved reading. My compulsive eating seems to be the thing that is almost impossible to beat for me. Harder than quitting smoking. It causes so much self hatred but I deffinitely haven’t given up trying to beat it. Congrats on your great progress!