Do I have a problem with compulsive overeating?

Understanding and admitting that you have a problem with compulsive overeating is the first big step towards recovery. This is, in itself, an important milestone and we understand how difficult it can be.

When considering your current eating patterns and body image, do any of these issues apply to you?

Eating patterns

• You regularly eat large amounts of food, even if you are not hungry. You feel powerless to stop and continue eating until you feel so full you could burst. Afterwards, you are left feeling guilty or ashamed.
• Overeating gives you a temporary sense of relief from the stress in your life – but afterwards you feel increasingly out of control.
• A great deal of your time is spent thinking about when you can next eat, planning what food you will eat and where you will obtain your food from.
• You often feel compelled to eat large amounts of food and try to resist - but eventually, you give in and eat.
• The urge to overeat is becoming harder and harder to resist and often distracts you from your daily activities.
• Your overeating has become more frequent and is getting out of control. You keep on overeating even though you don’t want to do it and you can’t face how you will feel afterwards.
• You conceal your overeating from friends and family – for example, you may eat normal, healthy portions with others but then overeat when you are alone.
• You often hide food from your partner or family, in places all around your home – for example, behind cupboards, in drawers, in the garage or shed.
• You will go out and buy food whenever you want it – at any time of the day.
• You dispose of the evidence of your overeating – for example, food wrappers, packets or boxes - away from your home.
• You often get up during the night and eat.
• You have experienced dramatic weight gain as a result of your overeating.
• You are doing less of the things that were important to you, for example, going out or enjoying hobbies.
• Your relationships are suffering as a result of your problems with food – for example, you have missed family birthdays or meeting up with friends so that you can be alone and eat what you want, away from other people.
• Your health has been affected by your overeating – for example, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, development of diabetes or joint pain.

Body image

• You feel ashamed or disgusted with your appearance – you can always find flaws.

If you can relate to any of these, it may be time for you to get help to deal with your compulsive overeating.

At Life Works, we believe that compulsive overeating has become a problem when you continue to overeat in spite of negative consequences – whether they are health, relationship, professional, financial, legal or other problems.

As a leading, private behavioural health clinic for the treatment of compulsive overeating, Life Works is able to help you.

If you need help or advice about your compulsive overeating, please call us on 0800 081 0700 to speak to one of our counsellors in confidence or email us for more information.  

We can answer any questions or concerns you may have and help you find the right treatment.

Not sure if you have a problem?

Denial is common and symptomatic of compulsive overeating, so you may deny that you have a problem both to yourself and to others, through:

• Minimising the impact of overeating on your health.
• Criticising those around you for making too much fuss about your eating habits.
• Concealing your overeating from your loved ones.
• Placing the blame for your overeating on other people or situations in your life, such as “I eat because my job stresses me out”.

It is worth considering why you feel the need to do any of these things if you don’t have an issue with food. It is likely that you have a problem with compulsive overeating but you are not ready to admit this to yourself or to anyone else.

Why admitting you have a problem can be so hard

Denial is a key characteristic of compulsive overeating. It is one of the few illnesses that perpetuates itself, as one of the symptoms of disordered eating is that it tells you that you don’t have a problem. This is one of the reasons why individuals stay trapped with compulsive overeating for a lifetime. We advise you to stay open to the feedback from others and professionals and look at the evidence.

Why it is so important to get help

At Life Works, we know that compulsive overeating is an illness. This is central to our clinical philosophy and underpins our approach to treatment. We use the latest neuroscientific thinking to inform our understanding of how problems with compulsive overeating affect the individual and how we can provide effective treatment of these problems.

Being a compulsive overeater means that you have an illness which affects different parts of the brain and seriously impairs your ability to make choices. This means that over time, your decision-making ability and your behaviour become increasingly focused on being able to overeat, to the detriment of everything else in your life – your partner, your job, your family and your friends. Overeating becomes your number one priority.

Feeling ashamed or disgusted with your behaviour can be incredibly difficult and often increases your compulsion to overeat, if only to help you feel better. And yet, the satisfaction or relief you feel each time becomes more and more short-lived. But, over time, this will worsen the problem for you, increasingly isolate you from those who care about you and leave you with feelings of loneliness, fear and shame. Sadly, many individuals do not ask for help when they really need it, to the extent that their compulsive overeating problem worsens to the point of crisis - medically, physically and emotionally.

Is it really a problem?

Compulsive overeating is a progressive, life-threatening illness. If left untreated, it causes serious long term health problems – for example, obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol, type II diabetes, gallbladder disease, gastro-intestinal problems, malnutrition, osteoarthritis, joint and muscle pain and sleep apnoea. Tragically, in some cases, individuals with compulsive overeating die.

Being in this situation can often be terrifying, exhausting, depressing, upsetting and deeply shaming. The future may seem totally bleak and pointless, and the only thing that seems to make you feel better is overeating.

What is recovery?

There are many misconceptions about what being “in recovery” means. Recovery is commonly misunderstood, especially by people who have not received treatment and also among their friends and families.

At Life Works, we truly understand that the prospect of recovery can seem frightening and totally pointless. You may believe that recovery offers you nothing but a lifetime of permanent deprivation, having to live with your own problems, frustrations and feelings, without even being able to feel the relief you get from overeating. Imagining your life like this may seem incredibly daunting and overwhelming. Faced with a choice between your life as it is, or recovery, it is understandable why you might have reservations about seeking recovery.

We believe recovery is about so much more than controlling your overeating. We define recovery as getting your life back, especially those aspects that are valuable and precious to you. It also means putting more into your life than you may have previously and finding meaning either once again, or for many, for the first time ever. Recovery means creating a healthy, fulfilling and meaningful life that is characterised by abstinence from overeating, more effective tools for coping with the stresses of life, and a greater connection with yourself, those close to you and the larger community.

At Life Works, we strongly believe that recovery is not about what you are taking out of your life, but rather, it is what you put back into it. Compulsive overeating is a disease of isolation. The life of a compulsive overeater tends to get smaller and smaller. Recovery is about expanding and enhancing your life.
By taking that first step and receiving treatment at Life Works for your problem with compulsive overeating, you will be able to start leading the new life you deserve.

How can Life Works help you get treatment.

Life Works is a leading, private behavioural health clinic for the treatment of compulsive overeating.

If you need help or advice about your problem with compulsive overeating, please call us on 0800 081 0700 to speak to one of our counsellors in confidence or email us for more information.

We can answer any questions or concerns you may have and help you find the right treatment.