BINGE BREAKER: BEYOND OVEREATING

After spending most of her adult life unsuccessfully trying to lose weight, Janet finally found a diet that gave her hope. After a month of dieting, she had lost 12 pounds and her spirits were high.

Then, at 4:15 Tuesday afternoon, self-restraint came to a screeching halt. Janet was home alone feeling bored, tense, and restless. Her day had been stressful and hectic. Her husband was out of town on business and would not be home that evening. She felt very hungry, strongly craving something sweet.

She just had to eat something. To keep dietary damage to a minimum she fixed herself an English muffin with nothing on it. She finished it quickly, experiencing little satisfaction. She fixed another, but this time smothered it with strawberry jam. She ate rapidly, feeling driven to eat more. Rummaging around the kitchen, Janet found an opened package of Oreo cookies that her daughter had brought into the house. The package was still about three-quarters full. Almost without thinking she turned on the television, sat down, and proceeded to eat one cookie after another until the package was empty. As she was eating, Janet felt that she was unable to control what or how much she was eating. She felt uncomfortably full.

When the impact of what she had done finally hit her, she experienced an extreme feeling of self-disgust, anger, and guilt. She later described her thoughts and feelings to me in this way:

I felt totally defeated. I began thinking, "Now I've really blown it. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I'll never do it. This happens every time I try to lose weight. What is wrong with me? Who cares anyway? It doesn't really matter. Nothing matters. I'll never be able to lose weight. Things will never change. I'll always be fat."

With that, Janet gave up. She had planned to eat a low-fat, low-calorie frozen meal for dinner but instead she picked up the telephone and ordered a medium pepperoni pizza with extra cheese to be delivered. After she ate the pizza, her mood became even more negative. She felt embarrassed, depressed, and hopeless. She stopped dieting and exercising and over the next three weeks gained back all the weight she had lost.

If Janet's experience sounds familiar, you may be suffering from a newly described eating syndrome known as binge-eating disorder, an eating problem that keeps thousands of women and men from successfully losing weight and keeping it off. Recent studies have shown there is a subgroup of overweight individuals who have a serious problem with persistent out-of-control eating. Successful dieting is not possible unless this basic eating problem is overcome.

*1\358\8*