Does anyone else struggle with compulsive/binge eating disorder like me? I have been binge eating since I was a very young child and the therapy continues at age 46! It is a terrible thing to live with because it keeps you both emotionaly and physicaly bankrupt. Anyway I was just wondering how many others are out there with me?

I do not even feel like my band stops me when I am in the binge zone! I guess I do eat less now than I did before banding. But I am also bulimic so the food does not stay with me very long when I am on a binge and purge cycle. I hate myself for it, I really do! I work hard with my therapist and I can get the purging under control, but the bingeing remains. If you eat that much and do not purge the weight just packs on you. I am trying with every bit of stregth I have to stop the bingeing too. Everyday i wake up and say this is the day I make ALL the correct choices to have my band work for me. Everyday is a new start to stop being a bulimic compulsive overeater. Thank goodness for new days!

Terrilen do you exercise?

Teresita, yes I use a tredmill and do apox 3 miles on it every other day. I need to work out more!

I'm a binge eater too. I feel so ashamed of that. I am also very very lazy.

I have talked with my doctor about how to combat these feelings of being constantly tired all the time. When I am not working, it takes a HUGE amt of effort to just get out of bed. I tend to stay in bed, watch tv, read, surf and eat.

I hate myself for it. At first, after I first got the band, I was doing a little better, but now....I have slipped back into this feeling of "I don't care....I just want to sleep". I have tried 3 different antidipressents and there was no noticable difference. My brain doesn't want to be like this....but my body just won't cooperate. Unless I have an obligation to meet, I barely get dressed.

I have learned to eat around the band....and I know I am sabotaging my own wt loss progress, If I made better food choices, I could loose better.

Ok...I will shut up now....I am rambling.

Missy, have you had blood testing? I was like you, and I found out I had Lupus. I'm much better with it controlled...... Lots of autoimmune diseases cause the same symptoms....and so do hormone imbalances.

You have heard the saying 'my eyes are bigger than my tummy' that is soooo mee! I know what portions I should be eating...and i even start feeling full at the right time after a few bites but godamnit it tastes so good I just feel compelled to keep on eating....I wish I could break myself out of that habit...I know its not good for me or the band. and I need to work on it.

becky

Jack thanks for sharing that little pearl of wisdom...100 miles, one mile at a time. If I can keep that in mind, maybe I will be find this journey easier. When I was in my late 20s, I ran 1 mile about 3 times a week. One day my husband and I decided to take a run together and he said I should try for 2 miles. He ran about 5 miles home from work every day. I told him there was no way I could run 2 miles, that 1 mile was already too hard. He said, that's okay, just do what you can and stop whenever you have to. I wound up running the 2 miles and it felt wonderful! I ran that 2nd mile one step at a time. It got easier the longer I ran.

Something else I read earlier in this thread really hit home: she is thinking about food ALL the time. I know I have more important things in my life, sometimes I just can't be bothered with them when I'm obsessing about what I can eat next. I realized when I read that post, that I think about food ALL the time!

I am definitely a binge eater. At least I WAS. I really have to think of myself as a successful bandster, not an unsuccessful one. Because, after all, I have lost a noticable amount of weight and I feel better and I do believe that I can lead a normal life and have a normal relationship with food. But old behavior is hard to change, especially if one isn't motivated.

I'm really going to try hard to think of it as ONE POUND AT A TIME. Damn it I can do that!

I hate being this way aswell... *sigh* at first when i got the band it worked great and i think mentally i was scared to eat but once i started seeing that i could eat more and more with soup i went back to just binging soups.... then i said "let me try this again after igained back 8 lbs of the 22 i had lost.... so i got my band filled tight but my problem went back to making soups and eating a but load....or eating alot of chocolate.... So i got tired of it and decided to start slow and eat healthy again, meaning light tofu and soy beans(edamame) in the morning then at lunch firm seasoned tofu with baby bella mushrooms,bean sprouts,and 1 oz of udon wheat noodles and i would have that for dinner aswell... then i noticed recently im going out of control again...eating sweets like crazy... i ate, no lie, one bag of peanut butter cups and hershey chocolate bells making it equal two bags over 3 days.... i feel like a failure... and i notice when my husband is around i eat more...weird.... i just want to stick to eating vegan and i enjoy tofu. ecspecially the spicy galic tofu steaks, i cut those up and one pack lasts 5 days.... right now im at it. im at my end of my rope... i really need someone close to me...is there anyone near me out there? going through the same thing? downey ca.... but im moving march 1st to knoxville tn....

MourningFuneral: I really wish we lived closer. Unfortunately I believe that some of my relationships trigger my binge eating too. Or maybe that's just an excuse. Who knows?

But it sounds to me like you are almost overdoing it and perhaps not getting enough nutrition and satisfaction from what you ARE eating. And after a few days or so of that, you lose it. If you stay full enough with things that will stay in your system long enough, hunger shouldn't be trampling all over your plans.

Ha. I can't believe I just wrote that. I'm the world's worst at cruising along and then one day eating an entire bowlful of candy. I met a man at the LB office where I go, and he was very interesting. He was frustrated. All of his answers to the dietictian's questions were perfect. He was doing just exactly what he'd been told. Only he had one small problem... chocolate. His lap band surgery was in August. He had lost over 30 lbs before Halloween. Since Halloween, when his wife brought bags of candy into the house, he's gained those 30 back, plus more. He made me look like the poster child for Lap Band. And I'm not.

But you know, don't you, that if this were easy or some exact science, we wouldn't be having this conversation. You are not as unique or different as you might feel from the rest of us posting here. If you read all the good accomplishments that people have here, sometimes it can make you feel like a total failure. But if you go to some of the threads where people are having even more problems than you are, you'll realize that you just haven't figured out yet how to make this thing work for you.

I can tell you one thing. I'm still hungry and I still want to jump up and grab some chocolate every time I see that damn Ghieridelli chocolate ad on TV that they're running every 5 minutes! But I don't because I'll be damned if I'm going to let those ads control my life!

Please hang in there and work hard to find out how to make this thing work for you. I'm still searching for answers and I am starving for chocolate or Cookies or ice cream every stinking step of the way. But I lost 3 lbs. this week and that's about the best feeling in the world for me right now. I'll put my money on the fact that you can do it!

Interesting. I just met a bandster who found out that she had to eat LESS healthy to be healthy. It's a pretty fascinating tale. She always tried to be super healthy in her eating,a nd after the band, so was able to accomplish it. But with the limited intake, she actually ended up with huge cravings for more calorie dense and more variety in foods. So she's eat healthy (also a tofu-ite) and then go nuts with foods. She had to go back toward the norm of meats, a few processed foods, sugar free but artifically sweetened foods...and then she stabilized and lost weight steadily. Now she's trying to re-introduce healthier things, but if she binges, she knows it was too much health too soon!

I am frustrated because I was banded on the eigth of this month and am ALREADY overeating! I cannot believe I even did it. I am sad that I am hungry....and I am afraid that I have stretched out my pouch. I am going back on the full liquid diet for a few days and see if I can get control of myself. I did not go through all this pain and suffering for nothing!!! I refuse to be a slave to food....I just have to find a way to liberate myself!!!

Thanks Jack.....I am not gonna let it whip me! it sucks tho.....

Same binge eating story here. I had surgery in Nov 05 and lost around 20 lbs by Feb. I have gained most of the 20 lbs back because of my obsessive "sweets" eating. I feel like the band has kept me from gaining more weight but I am so disappointed in myself. I don't know where to turn to next. I've done the counseling for 3 years before the band and that never worked. I'll keep reading here in the future and see if anyone comes up with another strategy for us "obsessive binge eaters" to try.

MourningFuneral: I really wish we lived closer. Unfortunately I believe that some of my relationships trigger my binge eating too. Or maybe that's just an excuse. Who knows?

But it sounds to me like you are almost overdoing it and perhaps not getting enough nutrition and satisfaction from what you ARE eating. And after a few days or so of that, you lose it. If you stay full enough with things that will stay in your system long enough, hunger shouldn't be trampling all over your plans.

Ha. I can't believe I just wrote that. I'm the world's worst at cruising along and then one day eating an entire bowlful of candy. I met a man at the LB office where I go, and he was very interesting. He was frustrated. All of his answers to the dietictian's questions were perfect. He was doing just exactly what he'd been told. Only he had one small problem... chocolate. His lap band surgery was in August. He had lost over 30 lbs before Halloween. Since Halloween, when his wife brought bags of candy into the house, he's gained those 30 back, plus more. He made me look like the poster child for Lap Band. And I'm not.

But you know, don't you, that if this were easy or some exact science, we wouldn't be having this conversation. You are not as unique or different as you might feel from the rest of us posting here. If you read all the good accomplishments that people have here, sometimes it can make you feel like a total failure. But if you go to some of the threads where people are having even more problems than you are, you'll realize that you just haven't figured out yet how to make this thing work for you.

I can tell you one thing. I'm still hungry and I still want to jump up and grab some chocolate every time I see that damn Ghieridelli chocolate ad on TV that they're running every 5 minutes! But I don't because I'll be damned if I'm going to let those ads control my life!

Please hang in there and work hard to find out how to make this thing work for you. I'm still searching for answers and I am starving for chocolate or Cookies or ice cream every stinking step of the way. But I lost 3 lbs. this week and that's about the best feeling in the world for me right now. I'll put my money on the fact that you can do it!

Ypu are very right on the subject. I am now trying to take control over my life by asking people to not give me candy and for my diabetic husband to hide his sugar low candy from me. I know its sounds horrid to have to hide but it is the only thing i think will work for me right now.

I started getting rid of everything, everything bad,fried,ec... and i went to the store and bought seasoned tofu and tofu light for breakfest scramblers and veggies. i have been eating it for a few days and it is working, i dont feel sad, i get full from it and im not over eating. actually turning pecto-vegan helped me (pecto mean i still eat fish and seafood).... I know i have alot to over come with my past and my current but i think the next i will tackle will be excercise and i hope ill be down a 100lbs in six months. but im not gonna worry about all that, im focusing on whats hurting me then ill focus on how to rebuild me. thank you for taking the time to chat and if you have yahoo im around under spookylittlegoth.... i'm sure ill have my downs and ups and ill show my face in here again<3

I am a compulsive binger (had bulemia at weight 350...and everyone thought it was impossible)it occupied my life full time,bingeing and purging.

I still have massive blowouts and funny enough it is just when I manage to lose some weight...I just have to sabotage myself all the time...

What irks me is a blow out now is a fraction of what I use to be able to eat,yet I still gain weight faster than anyone I know.

anyway,little bit more self control every day and cut the carbs.they make the bingeing so much worse I find...

keep going,decide daily...what options do we have but to persist until we succeed?That thing about if not at first you succeed try,try again...its all one can do...baby steps.