im addicted to food and its devastating me

[angel_baby_needing_help]

its wearing me down physically but more so emotionally.
i cant control myself i am piling on the pounds and its so depressing the worse i feel the more i eat.
especially wen life gets hard.

does any one else have this problem?

[rarmst]

I understand what you mean about worrying about what people think, like when passing people in the street even if they know you or not. Its an awful way to feel and makes you want to hide. I am the same although I am starting to worry less and less. I think it's because I have always had such a low opinion of myself. And I think this is why I binge eat. I don't know whether thats why you do but it could be that you have low self esteem too.

Have you ever talked to anyone about it? Maybe you could talk to your doctor and they might be able to suggest something that could help. I've been to a counselor once but I'm not very comfortable talking to them so I didn't keep going, but I know they are really helpful if you stick with it. My doctor suggested antidepressants as well which not everyone is comfortable with either but I have been on them for a couple of years and really feel like they have helped me with my anxiety and self esteem. I was bulimic for years and it was only when I went on them that I got better. It seems to help me think more logically about things rather then being down on myself. I still binge eat to the point where I feel sick and uncomfortable most days and always think about food but I am trying not to beat myself up about it and feel thats working a bit. Like I am doing it less and less and hopefully I will stop doing it altogether.

Hope I made some sense anyway and helped in some way. Hope you are doing well and not feeling as depressed about your eating too. And try not worry about 'piling on the pounds' because you'll just be harder on yourself and then eat more.

Good luck.

[angel_baby_needing_help]

i have always been this way from a very young age, but the obession would have been with different things like i constantly would worry about what people think when they look at me whether even strangers i passed in the street this goes way back and is still a big problem in my life, so much so that i was a reclcouse from the age of 24 til i was 26.
even now i would have panic attacks about how i am perceived. its awful this is when food became my best friend and my worst enemy all at the same time.

[rarmst]

I know exactly how you feel. I am exactly the same. I think the crapper we feel and the more we beat ourselves up about how much we eat, the more we sabotage ourselves. Maybe try not to obsess about it and think positive things about yourself. Focus on your good points rather then letting this depress you. It's really hard I know..but maybe if we can stop thinking so much about trying not to eat...we will eventually be able to eat normally and over come it.

How do you think you got this way? Was it from dieting or were you bulimic or anything?...I think It's normal to binge after constant strict habits.

[flmagi]

Is this a new behavior?  Are you feeling like other aspects of your life are out of your control? Are you on any new medications that could be causing this? Have you resently had a cortisone shot?  If this is new behavior, there needs to be a reason. Good luck to you.

[enemy48]

I don't have that problem, but really........It's hard enough that we have to eat food to survive, then when addicted to it?....Not exactly something one can completely cut out of their life, like drugs, nicotine & alcohol.

I had to cut my opiate addiction from my life completely, but it's not lke I needed it to live.  I couldn't imagine just cutting it back for survival.

I wish you the best.