I'm not sure if this qualify as an eating disorder

Hi!

I'm a 23 year old girl that's quite overweight. I have a BMI of 33.7. Most of my teen and grown up life I've had an unhealthy relationship with food, especially fatty foods and snacks. I've been known to skip dinner, and instead munch down on a bag of potato chips. I can walk into a shop, see some kind of candy, and the next I know the cashier has beeped it in with the rest of my groceries. I can't remember the part where I pick it up and bring it to the cashier. When I start eating sweets, I can't stop, and will usually keep on munching until the bag is empty. Even though I close the bag and put it away, I will just get it a while later, and finish the job. I never eat consciously, so one moment the bag is full, then "suddenly" it's empty, with me not remembering I actually ate more than a couple of pieces.

When I'm in town, I never remember that I already had an expensive coffee calorie bomb, or an ice cream, and will buy several, only remembering afterwards that I had more than one (but rarely how many I had). I can't say no if I'm offered something sweet or tasty, sometimes even though I don't like the item in the first place.

I need to know if this is some kind of eating disorder, or something completely different (since I have a rather weird relationship with money, too, spending more than I need/have). Any webpages with info and tips on how to handle this is also greatly appreciated. Also, other tips and experiences would be nice.

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

you definitely have an eating problem and in order to change it you will have to do a great deal of psychological work.  The best site I can refer you to is the one that I run on the subject and it is www.shrinkyourself.com.

You are describing an unconscious blur where you go into automatic eating or what I call in my book and in this program, Phantom hunger.  There is a real cause and you can discover it but you will have to work on it over 12 weeks, step-by-step, and really put in the effort.  It can change your life.  You probably cannot do it alone and you certainly cannot do it by gathering the few tips here and there.