Hello everyone, I'm new here :) Almost recovered but not quite. Would be cool to know where you guys are at in your recovery journey?
I'm hoping some of my observations might help some of you:
My symptoms are worse when I'm alone for long times, such as when I'm single, alone, and very little social interaction such as when unemployed (like currently)
Also my symptoms are weirdly worse right after a social event or meeting. Maybe it's just the sudden spike in dopamine which reminds the brain of the spike in dopamine I get when snacking/bingeing too.
I have ADHD, which makes regular meal planning and cooking hard, and not doing those are the biggest practical reason for my bingeing because it causes delayed or uncertain meal times.
What has helped me
- Knowing that trying to lose w**ght triggers/causes binge-eating, so I stopped restricting. I don't restrict my eating nor compensate with exercise. Instead I now do exercise for my own pleasure and strength. I always notice if it's not fun anymore, and then I slow down or stop. Usually I do dance through online events, which is almost always fun!
I'm able to not restrict eating by: trying new type of treats, and secondly, even if there is a trigger food I allow me to buy it in small amounts (but I don't stock trigger foods because then I'd have to restrict and it would just be cruel at me to do so). It's a good habit to normalise eating treats with a normal balanced meal, and even if it's a snack between mail meals, to add some protein or fruit with it to normalise eating it.
My nutritional/health therapist told me also that once we recover from binge-eating the weight naturally starts to normalise as both our overall well-being increases and as we slowly establish normal healthy habits.
My nutritional/health therapist told me to add more food for breakfast and lunch, and to prepare snacks. The main idea is to eat enough and regularly, which decreases the need for bingeing. Whenever I've done that, there has been a smaller chance of bingeing.
Developing a life/personality/interests/hobbies outside of food. Especially social ones, but also just activities that you enjoy. Doing fun things like learning guitar, singing, planning stuff with friends. I even joined an online book club on D***ord. Having social support predicts happiness and success, scientifically, by factor of 0.7 which is huge in psychological research - more than intelligence. (Source: The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor)
Sorry if this violates some rules but it helped to know that many people are attracted to overweight people so I stopped worrying about it and instead started feeling good about my body and going to dates.