Binge eating and finding a therapist

[PAstudent 117]

Hi all,

So I'm scheduled to get sleeved in May and am self pay so I didn't need prior weight loss or psych evals (the consultation was enough for the surgeon to ok me). However, I'm still really interested in talking to someone prior to and after surgery about binge/emotional eating, the changes I'll experience as I lose the weight, etc. My dietician stressed that I should confront my emotional ties to food now. I've found that in the past I'd yoyo between obsessing over every single calorie and starving myself or just giving up and eating junk.

I've got a therapist through my college who emphasizes practicing mindfulness to help handle my emotional eating. Is that really all it takes? Am I just not applying myself enough to this method? Because while it's helped in other facets of my life, it hasn't necessarily done much for my relationship with food.

Should I find another therapist, perhaps one with more experience with people with food issues? I've heard good and bad things about overeaters anonymous. What are your opinions?

What helped you gain a healthy relationship with food?

[samskiles 159]

I have the same issues and my therapist stresses mindfulness as well. It's hard but it's all in our heads. It truly is about being mindful of what we are putting into our mouths and why. Good luck!

[SweetSusy 9]

I would find a therapist that can help you work on any issues you having that are causing the emotional eating. Yes, we should all be mindful of what we put in our mouths, but if you are having reasons other than nutrition or hunger, you must work through them. Good luck!

[bellabloom 2,467]

What healed my relationship with food was practicing mindfulness and intuitive eating, and to stop dieting and focus on feeding myself enough to where I had no desire to binge. Your therapist sounds like a great one.

Wls is a great tool to lose weight fast but ultimately you will need to be able to eat what you like and still maintain your weight and not be hungry all the time. Getting a therapist who understands I intuitive eating and mindful eating is an excellent thing to do prior, during, and after wls.

[Sosewsue61 3,185]

I can't speak for the OP, but for me reading Geneen Roth's books is helping me. She believes we think we cannot get filled up with whatever is missing and we turn to food to fill that need, and food comforts us and gives us that 'love/acceptance' we are looking for, calms anxiety, is our constant friend that is always there. Somewhere we have been told that we are not good enough or that we are 'too much'(too emotional, too needy, too too too). We need to be kind to ourselves, learn to trust ourselves, find another way to soothe ourself that is loving.

[shellybelly31 2]

I'm very lucky and have a therapist that specializes in eating disorders and has other patients that have had WLS. She is helping me move forward with the choice of trying to get WLS and help me be successful. I think mindfulness is HUGE when it comes to the success of overeating. I'm like you where it was obsessive in either direction. Stick with your therapist and your dietitian and good luck

[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

I think it is better to get the root problems that cause the eating than focusing on the eating. Like are you had at handling stress so you eat? Work on handling the stress. I found it was easier to detach from food once I stopped using food to numb issues I had, food and eating was a symptom of other issues. I was self medicating with food, some people use drugs but I was using food. I didn't have to focus on the food because I focused on the other issues.

[PAstudent 117]

Thanks for the information everyone! I've been keeping a more detailed food journal and started including what was going on around the time of each meal. It turns out I'm a massive stress eater and eat way too much junk while studying. I've also found that almost all of the calories I eat in a day are after 6 PM, despite me being up in the early morning. As part of my trying to start getting ready for the sleeve, I've found that eating slower (by chewing at least 20 times each bite) really helps me consume less too!

I'll have to read up on some of Geneen Roth's books and I'll definitely look more into intuitive eating, they sound like exactly what I need! My Surgery is the first week of my summer break so I'll get to recover and relearn how to eat/live while only taking 1 course over the summer instead of the 5 I am now.

[mariernest 32]

Doesn't a support group come with your surgery? I had to attend the months before and two years after. It was added into the total cost along with the nutritionist physical therapist patient advocate and diet class. Support group really really helps! Find one!

[NCgal1999 5]

I second the Geneen Roth books. They are an easy read and they were honestly just as helpful as any therapist I ever saw. She just gets it. My copies are full of highlights and I go back to them all the time.

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[Atomic*Girl 10]

I would talk to a psychiatrist about OCD. I never considered having it because I didn't have the stereotypical behaviors, but compulsive eating is a symptom. The more I learned about it, the more my anxiety/behavior made sense. It wasn't an eating disorder, it was OCD. I currently take a combination of Zoloft and Prozac, which is unusual, but it's what works for me. Psychiatry is an imperfect science, pretty much trial and error. And I have a Valium prescription to take as needed, which isn't very often.

Personally, the desire to actually binge eat is gone post op, it's just too unpleasant. But, there is a psychological and physiological void left by this. Compulsive eating was a coping mechanism for obsessive thinking, and there's a huge drop in serotonin received from feel-good foods. But, the meds help with both of these.

Another way I have looked at it is that I allowed myself to mourn the loss of my relationship with food. Being a foodie and a classically trained chef, a job I no longer have, food was life. And, it was sad to have to let it go, and I deserved to acknowledge that and give myself time to deal with it.

[Katriena 70]

Very interesting; thanks for sharing this @atomic*girl.


RNY 14 April 2017
SW: 295 lb / 134 kg
GW: 187 lb / 85 kg (I'll see when I get there)