Emotional Eating, Mental Illness and Weight Gain

hoola

Member
It's really interesting to see here how many people are suffering with depressive illnesses and weight gain.

I'm bipolar so it's more difficult for me to know whether my eating habits are linked to my (permanent) condition or are just a part of my make-up. I know I'm an emotional eater but I don't have a tendency to go off my food when I'm manic (which is characteristic of a manic phase).

So I'm just wondering if those of you with depression etc find that you binge when you're down or if you just have a tendency to eat more anyway? How do depression and/or medication affect your weight and diet? And do you have any secret weapons to combat emotional eating?
 
I haven't really got any advice but I have suffered from depression and I definitely binge when I'm down. The only thing that has helped me really was to get out of the job that was making my depression worse and to do more exercise. But I still binge sometimes when I feel down!
 
Hi, I found this thread when searching for emotional eating in the minimins search bar. I have a mental illness and for the first time since doing slimming world I'm feeling really down and of course I feel like binging. I've armed myself with a bowl of fruit, some tasty sugar free squash and a packet of cigarettes. Hoping I can get through today without the binge.
 
I suffer with depression and find it so difficult not to binge eat when I'm really low, I think it's very common as depression and mental illness usually directly effect how we look after ourselves and food comes into that. Not only do I overeat when I'm low but I really can't get the motivation to cook things I like either and end up eating frozen convenience food day after day.

One thing that helped me get out of this cycle lately was removing most of the readily available rubbish I was bingeing on eg. biscuits, chocolate, crisps and making the effort to have a day out buying lots of fresh fruit and veg and healthy things I'd like to try and ingredients for new recipes. It put a bit of excitement back into eating and because I had no convenience food, when I was hungry I had to make something with the food I had. This helped me stop just grabbing anything from the kitchen when I wanted to eat and helped improved my mood as I was doing something (preparing meals) rather than just sitting in front of the tv thinking about what I was going to eat next or simply put in the oven.

x
 
This is my main downfall. I am diagnosed with bipolar and have lots of depressive episodes and I binge eat when I feel low.

I've bought some weight watchers cereal bars and things that have low points values so hopefully if I feel I need a chocolate fix then they wont be too high in calories.

I'm going to try and join the gym this week and aim to get there at least once a week, maybe that will help me feel better about myself.

I was able to quit smoking last year and I'm frustrated because I feel like if I can quit smoking I can stop binge eating! But I never have to look at a cigarette again but I have to face food every single day. It's difficult!
 
Hi, today is one of those days. Having my first emotional day since beginning slimming world. I seem to have only eaten my syns and healthy extras instead of loads of free food. So not sure if my body wants to overeat or undereat!
 
I've recently re-discovered fruit. It sounds funny I suppose but I'd forgotten how sweet fruit was and it seems to placate my sweet tooth. Can you have a bunch of grapes, strawberries, banana etc nearby so when you want to binge you can have fruit and still get the sweetness?
 
Hi I'm glad I found this thread. I'm currently in the progress of being monitored for bipolar....this is the 4th time in 10 years and I've warned them that I have a tendency to 'disappear' either due to manic behaviour or just feeling better for a time.
In a manic stage I don't eat or sleep....or eat weird foods...once I lived off cold mushy peas 3 times a day. When depressed I will stuff my face with comfort food and drink loads of really sweet milky tea. I can get so hungry that after eat enough food for 2 people in 1 sitting, I will then still feel hungry. This then increases the depression leading me to a period of starvation due to guilt and hatred.
The meds I was put on this time round at the start were uppers to combat the depression. I stopped eating and started an extreme episode of mania where I stuttered all the time, and nearly crashed my car. Luckily I had sense to rush into doctors and get help...I parked up first of course lol off those meds that night and straight onto downers....leading to a week of wanting to die cuz it felt like the worlds worse hangover!! In that week I put on 11lb!!!
I then went vegan mon to fri and started taking vitamin d. Weights come back off. I am in early stages of a negative manic episode tho were I starve n binge.
It's hard to explain to people it's not as easy as stopping doing it or getting exercise. Your mind is in control and its working on its own. If I get another 'pull yourself out of it comment' I might just kill lol
 
I forgot to say how good the vegan diet has been on weight n moods. I normally do sliming world but counting syns has just been to stressful for me at mo. it is basically the green plan tho tbh but I've prob had too many nuts n dried fruit and vegan ready made products. I have my own cupboard for just vegan food. It is basically flushing my system out and it gives me a 'weird' eating habit to get obsessed about again. Not as weird as trying to calculate syns in toothpaste lol
 
Yes, yes, yes. I have depression and M.E. and i'm usually found in the cambridge diet section. I gained 2-3 stone with my illnesses and their love of weight gain!. Mine is mainly due to medication. i barely ate because i was asleep all the time (M.E.) The weight piled on with anti=depressants and then i just stopped caring. I needed to eat for energy. At my most i was 11 stone 3. i got down to 10 stone 8 through weight watchers losing my energy drinks etc weight and not caring. 10 stone 8 down to 8 stone 7...is allll medical weight. Weight watchers wouldn't touch it...so i've gone drastic. and its working, but very very slowly. Now at 10 stone 1 (though weigh in for monday is due). Its slow, and dull, especially as i wasnt a binger before... but i'm getting there.
 
to cut of your emotional, you can make a link between food and this desire to eat with your body look that you have on mirror to avoid this emotion,
the first days will be hard and ambiguous but if you keep going you it'll gonna be automatically and easy
 
I have periods of depression, sometimes it leads to me eating more than usual but other times I can go for days barely eating anything.

I've found that eating plenty of fresh fruit and veg usually makes the depression more bearable, even if I do crave more junk during those times.
 
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