- I'm still binging.

I find that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound in cure" is relevant here. The only way I can tackle the binge monster is to try and prevent it in the first place. I keep an envelope of "things to do instead of binging". When I'm feeling lonely, bored, or sad (meaning the itch to binge is coming) I reach into the envelope and force myself to do that activity for half an hour. Usually, this helps take my mind off of binging. Things on my list are: play violin, go for a walk, take a warm shower, color, write a letter to a friend, call my sister, dance to music, etc. Keeping an emergency list helps me when I feel weak and vulnerable...having something pre-prepared makes it easier during a mentally tough time.

What helps me is to start an activity that requires effort for a period of time. I'll start painting, because I know that I can't let paint sit out or it will dry. So it will distract me for at least half an hour.

- Because of my binges, I am 20-30
pounds over a healthy weight (for
me).

Be patient with yourself and realize that it's not just about weight/numbers. You said yourself that this is a mental battle. Your improvements won't always show on your body. Take note of those accomplishments, too. Be kind to yourself and understand that mental health is necessary to get the ball rolling. If necessary, get rid of the measuring tape and just go by how you feel in your clothes. You are more than a sum of numbers and if you stay focused on your weight and measurements, efforts to lose weight may be thwarted by feelings of failure and inadequacy...setting up the self-defeating cycle.

- Because I am overweight, I have terrible body image and I don't want to leave my house until I'm thinner.

This is a tough one. Very, very tough. You know what? Don't put off buying that special dress, makeup or purse (or fill in the blank) "until you lose weight" as a prize. Dress to feel confident about yourself. Get your nails done. Get a new haircut. You can be full of life and beauty at any weight and you deserve to feel good about yourself. Just because you are overweight doesn't mean that you are any less deserving of experiencing the beautiful things life has to offer. If you dress it and fake it til you make it, it might give you the confidence boost to meet your goals. Dressing well also helps you get into that mindset that you need to take care of yourself and give you motivation to continue doing so.

Other suggestions:

• Try a support group like OA.Having a sponsor to call when you need one (and with someone who understands) might be helpful.
• Are you eating alone? If so, find a way to eat with people. It's easier to control your eating and to eat mindfully when you are social and talking. It makes eating a less stressful experience and being social is good in other ways too.

Hi guys. I'm writing this to self-plug, but just to let you know about what I do. I write two blogs on women and paleo nutrition, with a special focus on eating disorders. I come from a background of disordered eating myself, as well as being a trained eating disorder advisor for many years, and a functional diagnostic nutritionist. I openly welcome women and men to email me to talk about their problems and how I might help them. Please feel free to shoot me a line from either one of my blogs: www.paleopepper.com (where most of my eating disorder stuff is archived) www.paleoforwomen.com (where I put more of my scientific and neurobiological research)

Best of luck, guys. It really is possible, and I do believe in you. I did it, and so, so many women I've talked to have done it.

Stefani

A year ago, I would have said I had no answer since my binge career covered 40+ years.

Now, however, I can't make promises but I can tell you I found a solution for myself.

• It took 5-7 months
• It started with a 3-month stint of starting my days with large meals of fatty meat, either with or followed by low-starch vegetables and low-density fruit (using willpower but the meat helped)
• In month 4, I binged twice but got back on the meat, vegetables and fruit wagon
• In month 5, I began drinking water kefir and it healed my gut. Within a month I noticed that drinking a fizzy bottle in the afternoon seemed to turn off my cravings for junk
• Beginning in month 6, I found I could choose to splurge on a neo-food and there was no binge

In the 6 months since the last step above, I have splurged and safely returned to my "formula" of meat, vegetables and fruits many times. I no longer have digestive upsets from my splurges, nor do I lose control and have massive binges as I used to. What happens is that the neo-treats taste amazingly good at first but there is vague disappointment when they hit my gut and within a day or 2 I am happily back to my unprocessed foods. I even have neo-stuff in the fridge and cupboards that my grandson bought and it doesn't bother me.

I hope you're able to find your way to a solution that works for you; at least I can tell you it's possible.

Hi, Paleoette. Do not lose hope. It looks like you are doing many of the right things, but I'm going to relay a few things that I believe are critical to overcoming your eating disorder. I'll try to make it quick, but it's going to be dirty. The first thing I would suggest is to get yourself an active, personal (people you see face to face) support group. This is so critical as it keeps you accountable. The second is positive affirmations, which includes writing and memorizing 3 of them, and then reciting 2-3 upon waking, before bed, and before meals. It sounds selfish, but for someone experiencing the cripplingly low self esteem and personal doubt that accompanies an eating disorder, it is one the best things you can do. Don't sweat the small small stuff, take baby steps, and accept that you can never be perfect and no one on the planet is- appearances can be deceiving. Set daily goals and stick to them. Set new ones frequently but keep in mind and adhere to the old ones (if still relevant) as well.

You need to give it enough time without relapse to build positive momentum. This will build your confidence and ability to trust yourself, which is critical for long-term success. As far as I know, the 21 day rule works pretty well for establishing new habits, so give it at least 21 days without obvious eating disorder behaviors- severe caloric restriction, or bingeing/purging.

I won't sugar coat it and tell you that a light switches on and you have zero compulsion to slip back into bad habits. However, I will tell you that once you make the decision to get better, the will to overcome defeats that compulsion. At first you have to consciously fight it- every moment of every second of every day. But with dogged determination, what was once active fighting will become passive and unconscious, and the desire to regress back to old habits will be fleeting. Please don't give up- everything can get better if you want enough and take action.

If you're wondering what my "credentials" are, I'll give them to you. I was extremely anorexic, underweight, and malnourished from the ages of 12-15, and have been totally recovered at a healthy weight for the past 7 and a half years. I am literally over 100lbs heavier now than I was when I was 15, I'm also taller too and I was told that I would not surpass 5'6" because of my prolonged and severe anorexia at a critical stage in life (I'm now 160 and 5'10"). Those were absolutely the most dismal and desperate days (years, actually) of my life. It is exhausting to live like that both physically and emotionally, but don't be foolish and think that it can never get worse. No matter how bad off you currently are or have been in the past, it can always get worse (trust me). It is up to you to prevent this from happening. I do believe that if it doesn't kill, it will only make you stronger.

Best of luck.

P.S. Sorry for the sloppiness of this. I am writing quickly and trying to condense a lot of thoughts and personal experience into something short enough to still be readable.

I too have the binging problem. Once I fall off the wagon, I convince myself I need to take advantage of the situation and eat everything possible that I normally wouldn't allow myself. This even continues past the point where I know I am full and have a stomach ache.

One thing that helps me with at least ending the binge and perhaps delaying a relapse is to set a firm time when the binge will end (hopefully not too far in the future) and then fast for 24-36 hours to provide a clean break. Here is more detail:

http://paleohacks.com/questions/115756/in-the-middle-of-a-binge-how-to-stop/115870#115870

Danny Roddy's advice derived from Ray Peat's research about sugar has really helped solv my binge eating disorder. Sugar without the fat actually made me feel A LOT better. It may help to check them out.

dannyroddy.com

raypeat.com

There are a lot of really great answers here. I only have one thing to add, and that's to cultivate patience. You're doing yoga, which is great. One of the things I like about yoga (at least with my teacher) is we talk about your inner fire - the flame of your life force. As you breathe through your yoga exercises, try to visualize this life spirit within you. As you heal, your body and your spirit will ever so gradually come together until you will realize that you are your body, you are your spirit, it is one and the same, and you can finally inhabit your body fully. When you walk, you can meditate, like in yoga, breathing deeply. I would concentrate on these - walking and yoga - rather than on honing your body through sprints and weights exercise at this point.

I know all this might sound hokey, but I have been where you are - in a place where I rejected my own body and just wanted it to be something other than it was - and RIGHT NOW. Running compulsively, binging, restricting, the whole nine yeards. It is devastating. I could hardly tolerate being in my body a minute longer, I hated it so much. It is possible to recover, I have. I never thought it would be possible for me to look in a mirror and actually like my body, but I can and do. As someone else said, we are all different and we are all imperfect. What we need to be able to do is embrace our uniqueness and inhabit our bodies here and now, not in some more perfect future.

THere was one exercise I did that was very powerful and helped at one point - go into the bathroom and look into your eyes. Deeply. For a long time. There you are. You are worthy of love. You are incredible. It is your life, your spirit, your body. You can bring them together. It won't happen in two months, three, even six maybe, but everything you are doing is helping. Be patient with yourself.

I feel with you. I really do. When i was 13 i slowly developed an eating disorder too and i have until just a few months ago (im now 18 years of age) been on a starvation diet. A year ago i started having trouble with binge eating too, but this has only given some 4-5 pounds of surplus weight luckily.

Its tough to say what'll work for you to conquer it really. Given that i'm not through it yet. The paleo diet has helped part of the way imo. I'd advise you to think about what triggers you: Is it boredom? then find something to do, take a walk (this is hard i know, even as i say this i think of instances where i SHOULD have but didn't do this) is it when you feel bad? It is also important to be in a socially happy enviorment. If you live in a place you don't like or hang out with people who doesn't 'fulfill' you, this could actually be contributing to your binge eating. It could act as a way of filling a social void. But above all i'd say: Don't try to compensate too much for your binges. Focus on attaining a normal relationship with food. Imo its a good idea to cut out fruits, 'snacks' like dark chocolate and nuts etc as they are easier to binge on than real food. And hey - you're already a long way. Admitting that your eating is disordered, and your fed up with it and want to have a normal relationship with food is a huge step. One i first took half a year ago.

Great progress!

Dial in the micronutrients. Add in: Organ meats, bone broth, gelatin.

Get your D tested & sun or supplement to 50-60 ng/ml.

Many folks are deficient in Magnesium, zinc, selenium.

Make sure you are getting sufficient A & K2.

Measure hips & waist once a month.

Try some EFT for the binging/cravings/image issues. Works wonderfully!

Well done, it sounds like you have the right attitude and mindset to lead a healthier life.

All I can add is that you may find it beneficial to learn some form of mindfulness meditation. Vippassana is a very simple but very effective method to heal your relationship with yourself and your environment.

In the Paleo world we love cold hard science, so here is a snipit of science to backup meditation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCxo9GwbP_8

Because I am overweight, I have terrible body image and I don't want to leave my house until I'm thinner. This is unhealthy, unrealistic, and overall a terrible idea. But how do you go out and see people when you feel terrible about how you look?feel terrible about how you look?

This might sound mean and like I'm criticizing you (not my intention, pinky swear) but you just have to "get over it."

I had severe acne for most of my adolescent life.

People in 2012 society view acne as more of a problem than being slightly overweight. Unless you're morbidly obese, nobody is going to point and stare.

But even if you have mild or moderate acne, MOST people stare and a few will also point or comment on it (which made my self-confidence plummet to 0.) That's why I think you just need to get over it.

Long story short, after some deep thought and consideration, I decided I like myself - acne (plus 4 other major health problems) or not! First step is to love yourself unconditionally.

Make some pizzas, sandwiches, tacos, gyros using my 'pork bread' recipe (found here: paleohacks.com/questions/122385/what-do-you-think-update-on-pork-bread-usage-with-recipe).

If you can over eat on that you are a better person than I. The 'bread', which is high in protein/fat and has zero carbs, is super filling, and easy to make. I'll make a 8-10" pizza and be STUFFED after eating half. Sticks with you too.

Hey girl, I know this is a late answer but I am battling the same battle. What has helped me on my way to getting over 9 years of eating disorders and some of the most ridiculous binge-eating you can imagine (think 18oz of chuck roast, whole watermelons, bags of apples, blocks of cheese, jars of honey...in the same sitting) was the ebook "Brain Over Binge." There is a website associated with this as well where you can learn a lot about the author's concepts. No affiliation whatsoever, it just helped me open my mind to the real reasons behind BED, and how to really stop. I know everyone is different and it may not help you but I know how eating disorders can ruin your life, so to speak and if I help one person it would make me happy. I am also a 22 year old female, and all I wish is that someone had given me that book earlier so I could have saved precious years of my life. (You're supposed to binge drink your way through college not binge-eat, sheesh). Let me know if this helps at all, or how you are doing since this post.

Julia Ross' book The Diet Cure is my go-to for attempting to nip a binge or excess snacking or just "I don't like myself" behaviors when they start. Good luck and be well!