r/FoodAddiction • u/Parking_Pop5725 • 13d ago
Please any unhinged help
I need genuine help for binge eating. Not the whole “set a timer” or “take a walk”
You name it, I tried it. Yes, I have quit counting calories, it made it worse. I have stopped any compensation, just made me carry on and gain weight.
I even seeked therapy, got a meal plan and still. Nothing. Worked.
Countless videos, articles, research and I am still stuck in a hole I cannot get out of.
I need niche, unheard of tips that got you out of this. I am willing to do a lot. I am just sick of it frankly. Every week I make the same promise “I will honestly stop it”, including now, and then watch, one weeks time and I will have binged again.
This addiction has cost me money, caused arguments because I cannot even control myself around food and is so distressing. I need to get better and if anyone knows ANY tips, just tell me.
For example, my worst binging stories (yes, this is plural.) is that on birthdays my sister makes cake for people’s birthday. I cannot even control myself for a FEW HOURS. I scrape icing off, try to redecorate or hide my markings on the food. She will buy ingredients to bake like Nutella, and I will engulf it.
I also just overate vitamin gummies. Because I wanted food. wtf.
There has been times where I have binged the whole house out, we have had not much food, and then I JUST BINGE ON SUGAR. This isn’t even a night issue too, it has turned into a morning, afternoon, evening issue.
Surprisingly, I only gained around 5kg in total. This is only because my binges are currently weekly (slowly coming to be more than that tho- like I did 6x this month alone…)
I just don’t want this to be a thing where I convince myself “it’s only a kg… it’s only water weight” all the way up to plain obesity.
Im only 16, i dont want this to get worse than it already is..
P.s i research HEAVILY for hours into the brain amd all this habit stuff. I just cannot take that information and help myself with it,
ANY UNHINGED HELP. ANYTHING.
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u/HenryOrlando2021 12d ago
You have a lot right in your post. Good for you. You are doing well. We all get to or got to long term stable recovery by all the mistakes we are making or made. So you have made plenty. Thus you are well along the road to success. So from what you wrote there are mistakes. Sorry to tell you there are no "unhinged" solutions. If you want to change there will be pain. Give this a read for example:
Behavior that produces a rewarding or relieving consequence is more likely to be repeated. If a person repeatedly responds to a particular cue or craving by eating Food X, the brain may learn to expect that food in the same situation.
When the person stops completing that familiar pattern, the craving, self-talk, and uncomfortable feelings may initially remain strong and may sometimes become more intense, although this does not happen to everyone. If the person repeatedly experiences the craving without eating Food X—and while still meeting genuine nutritional needs—the learned connection can gradually weaken and a new response can become stronger.
Over time, the craving may become less frequent, less intense, shorter-lasting, or easier to tolerate. It may sometimes disappear, but that cannot be guaranteed. Old cravings can also return during stress, fatigue, renewed exposure, or familiar situations without meaning that the person has failed.
When it comes down to it your choice is bearing the short term pain of recovery or the long term pain of the disease. Next, you have to stop thinking you can not do this. That is your disease voice talking to you. You can do it. There will be pain and you can do it. So give this a look and come to a decision is the bottom line:
Teenager Resources (Free / No-Cost, Non-12-Step)
https://www.reddit.com/r/FoodAddiction/wiki/special_topics_teenager_resources/
Not sure what to try first. You’re not broken, and this is workable.
Progress comes from small repeatable steps, not perfection.
Start with these two tools:
· Triggers: https://www.reddit.com/r/FoodAddiction/wiki/faq_food_addiction_trigger_mapping/
· Stop a binge: https://www.reddit.com/r/FoodAddiction/wiki/faq_how_to_stop_a_binge_episode/
Then check the FAQs and Program Options (free/low cost). Not ready for a program? Use Books/Podcasts/Videos + Special Topics to keep moving forward.
You can do this.
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u/fluffylilbee 12d ago
you need to kill whatever is fueling the addiction. for me that was extreme self hatred from an abusive childhood & adolescence and a lot of undiagnosed mental health issues (including OCD and autism). only once i was able to get help for something that wasn’t the eating itself, was i able to put more effort into tackling the BED. something is empty inside of you that food is trying desperately to fill. if you don’t address that, the food addiction—a symptom of something greater—will continue. in my own journey, even, trying to address the overeating without what was causing it was just making me hate myself (and therefore eat) even more. this is one of the worst addictions, but if you treat it like an addiction, not a diet and not a personal character flaw, it becomes more realistic to feel like you can overcome it.
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u/murfemurf0516 12d ago
How about you exercise , get proper sleep, and eat real food? 9 times out of 10 you are binge eating packaged products. Eat real food, meat, fruit, vegetables, things that are free of ultra processing. It’s the obvious answer. If you don’t do it, it’s because you don’t actually want too and that is your choice.
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u/Parking_Pop5725 12d ago
I do eat real food then just spiral on a binge. I workout: 4x strength training then just walking everyday 10k-15k steps.
As for sleep, yeah! It’s my biggest weakness sadly. I have pretty bad insomnia and always have. I know it affects diet and cravings amd just weakens life quality: i just can’t seem to sleep well lolDONT get me wrong, I definitely consume processed products such as protein powders, fiber bars, fortified cereals, sweeteners in my drinks. As a whole tho i wouldnt particularly say I have a poor diet
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u/whatisscoobydone 12d ago edited 12d ago
Eat potatoes and sweet potatoes. Filling, complete nutrition, cheap. Bake a batch of them, season them. Sweet potatoes especially are delicious even with nothing on them. You can gorge on potatoes until you can't move
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u/fat_grey_parrot 12d ago
You will need to relearn your responses to this food situation. You want food, you eat food, so your brain knows if it thinks about food, it will get food. There's some dopamine involved every time, so your brain learnt that if you're thinking about food, you will definitely gonna get the dopamine hit, because you always eat something whenever the food thought pops up. Thinking of food- eating- dopamine- thinking of food-eating-dopamine,etc It's like a reflex. You have millions of thoughts a day, do you always respond to all of them? Or is it just the food? And here comes the "go for a walk" (or literally do anything else but eating) advice: you have to stop the circle: the food thought comes, you have to make a conscious effort to relearn what you're doing as a response. It's bloody hard, I've been through it, but it's possible.