feeling trapped

Former Member

Hi,

i need some advice, i'm a comfort eater, when i feel down/depressed i go on binges where i eat ridiculous amounts of chocolate/sweets then i feel sick n even worse about myself but i cant seem to stop. I'm very overweight, i go to the gym and work out yet i keep eating crap so i'm not loosing any weight. I think i should go and talk to a counsellor about it but im scared to, but i dont know what else to do? i dont want to get bigger, i dont want to keep feeling like this, its like i'm trapped in this circle of self harm and cant get out.

Former Member

I think it might be worth speaking to someone and explore the ways in which are triggering you to comfort eat, and find solutions to help you from getting out of that cycle.

When I wasn't having therapy but felt I needed some help, MoodGym helped me a lot.

Former Member

Processed carbs are a fairly common comfort food because they increase your blood sugar levels,which makes you feel happier. When I was depressed my binge food was white bread, for pretty much the same reason, and when I was bad I could eat half a loaf before calming down. You're not abnormal for doing it.

recognising that what you are doing is damaging to you is an important step in the way to recovery. Have you thought about what triggers your comfort eating? Is it social anxiety, is it seeing thin people on the bus, is it seeing happy people in the pub? Knowing what your triggers are is a good step in learning how to deal with your problems.

MoodGym is a pretty good starting place if you don't feel up to talking to a real person yet.

Former Member

You said a few months ago that you were having a hard time with uni and struggling to make friends? Do you still feel lonely? If that's the case then it's likely low self confidence and low self esteem is leading to this cycle. I think seeing a counsellor might help, even if he just gives you some things to think about, and where to go from there. Comfort eating, anxiety (in my case), self harm, even depression are often just symptoms of problems, and once you start to tackle them they can often solve themselves. For me it was that I wasn't happy about my social situation with friends and family - I felt I wasn't successful in anything and that nobody liked me. The only thing that cured this was luck when I made some awesome friends, who helped me realise I was worth liking. It took a while after that for me to cope properly with my anxiety but I've got a handle on it now and feel much happier.

I hope this is of some help. Please feel free to let steam off on here if you need to rant though, we're all friendly people

Former Member

i think another good first step is to make sure that as far as food is concerned you are getting 3 decent meals a day. Some times if you can get control over that part, you get better control over the food you are eating and you don't feel so out of control with it.