Here is a pic of me in 2005, with who I felt at the time were my 2 annoyingly pretty, outgoing sisters 😒. I had binge eating disorder but I didn’t even know what that was then. A big reason why I got it was that I was constantly comparing myself and feeling bad. I’m 2-3 sizes and 2-3 stone bigger here, Obviously there is ZERO problem with that weight or size or any weight and size! But for me that weight was gained through a lot of mental and physical stress that I put myself through : I started to think very negatively about what I ate and my body > which lead to very negative behaviours : not caring about how my body felt, sometimes intentionally making it feel bad through behaviours such as dieting, under or over exercising, overeating & binge eating.
Binge eating disorder is a psychological disorder listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It is important to know the symptoms & if you have it so you are aware of things to avoid in order to recover * listed underneath symptoms.
Symptoms of binge eating disorder….
Recurrent episodes of eating, in a discrete period of time (e.g., within any 2-hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances
The sense of lack of control over eating during the episode (e.g., a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating)
Eating much more rapidly than normal
Eating until feeling uncomfortably full
Eating large amounts of food when not feeling physically hungry
Eating alone because of being embarrassed by how much one is eating
Feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or very guilty after overeating
Marked distress regarding binge eating is present.
There is a very helpful booklet available at bodywhys.ie (2nd picture taken from the booklet)
Things to avoid
When friends chit chat about how much weight they’ve gained, how crap their bodies or metabolisms are, what diet they are going to start next – this is fun and games for them but for you it is likely to fuel the disorder you already have. Do not take part in these chats, refuse temptation to mock your body and talk badly about your eating. People spend their lives dieting and chatting about it, and thats grand but if you actually want to fix things you’ll have to go a very different road.
Magazines about diet and weight loss – yet again, great for some, but if you suffer from guilt, shame and comparison, these will make you worse.
If a group of friends all decide it might be a bit of fun to join a slimming club together, that is fine for them, but for you it will worsen your relationship with food, your body and therefore your weight. Slimming clubs are heavily discouraged if you are a yo-yo dieter, overeater, emotional eater or comfort eater, they usually are why peoples disorders get so out of control, they’ll never be the cure!
Tracking apps – in my professional opinion these are an absolute joke anyways, completely inaccurate and lead people down a very misinformed path. However if you’ve the symptoms of binge eating disorder, my god is it important to stay away from them and focus on your body’s reaction to foods and food amounts.
I don’t think the worst thing about disordered eating is the weight. Weight doesn’t effect you every waking minute, however learning to abuse yourself mentally, training yourself to only see negatives about your body or food, or what you ate. Training yourself to think about it alll the time – thats damaging, not just to your health & weight but coaching yourself negatively will affect all areas and all goals in your life.
That is why the first step to change always starts with your thoughts. If you train yourself out of thinking so negatively and criticising what you have eaten or your body, you will be doing a lot! 🙂 You deserve to feel good now, and feeling good now by thinking in a kinder way about yourself and your body, will cure a lot of issues with food 🙂
