Am I just struggling with my weight or am I binge eating?
Many people that seek out weight loss help are actually struggling with binge eating. Someone may try and find a weight loss solution by turning to a new diet plan, calorie counting or food recommendations. However, binge eating disorder is an eating disorder that requires psychological treatment and not just another meal plan/ diet recommendation. This is often why so many diets fail - they don't address the psychological drivers for people's food choices and help them to build new habits and a new mindset around food.
So you may be wondering, am I just someone that struggles with my weight a bit or do I actually struggle with binge eating? Here are some signs that what you are experiencing is binge eating or disordered eating that could benefit from some psychological treatment or support:
You find yourself eating in secret and when you are alone and try and hide wrappers/ things you have eaten or perhaps even go out and re-buy the foods you have eaten so that nobody knows you have eaten them.
You struggle to control your food intake (especially in the evenings). Once you start eating you just can't seem to stop. You may even find that you have to throw food away just to prevent you from eating it.
You are really triggered by certain foods and feel out of control around them. You find that you have to avoid these foods as otherwise you may find yourself eating far too much of them.
You cancel plans with people where you will have to eat but then find yourself over-eating at home instead.
You find yourself in a cycle of being restrictive around food or on a diet plan, breaking this diet plan and then promising to "be good" again from tomorrow/Monday. This of course, then gives you permission to binge/ over-eat until the diet starts again.
You eat when you are not really physically hungry or find yourself eating food very quickly, perhaps not really even enjoying it as you eat it.
You relationship with food and the way you eat makes you feel very low or bad about yourself.
You eat a lot of food in a short-space of time.
You feel a lot of guilt or shame after eating and find yourself eating to the point of feeling uncomfortably full.
The sad thing is that a lot of things that people turn to in order to help them with their weight such as extreme diet plans, fasts, calorie counting and weighing themselves a lot, can all actually trigger bingeing or make binge eating much worse. This is why it is really helpful to access psychological support for binge eating rather than just trying to rely on willpower to follow another diet plan.
We offer an 8 week online treatment programme for binge eating. Most people believe that in order to lose weight and get healthy, they just need to eat less and exercise more... however this often just gets them trapped in a vicious cycle of dieting and then over-eating/ binge-eating/ comfort-eating. In this programme you will learn how you can set yourself free from this cycle - without counting calories, having to follow meal-plans, giving up food groups or obsessing over food and your weight all day long.
You can find out more about the programme here: https://www.thefoodtherapyclinic.com/online-binge-eating-treatment
“Honestly, unless you killed the chef or the farmer, there should be no guilt about your eating choices.”
― Evelyn Tribole
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