Hello, I am so sorry that you are having a hard time with this and cannot stop. When you feel this feeling to have the food, can you go for a walk, or put on music or writing down in a journal, or put on a funny TV show or movie to get you're mind off of this? I really hope you will be ok. Lots of Hugs.

I find the busier I keep myself, the better I am at staying out of the kitchen. I agree with Laya, take a walk, clean something, read a book, find something to occupy your time. Candace Cameron Bure wrote a wonderful book that I would recommend. I think it's called Reshaping It All. It talks about her journey and gives tips. I loved it! Good luck!

I also used distraction but that did not work long term for me. I didn't want to simply distract myself for the rest of my life so I worked on healing my traumatic past and healing the ED. Now the only time I need to be distracted from food is when I am bored or when there are serious issues in my life. This is because ED's are coping mechanisms to help us not feel. This generally happens in our childhood when it becomes unsafe to express emotions (i.e. you get in trouble for expressing feelings; you come from an abusive household; etc). The way to heal an ED is to learn how to feel, recognize what those feelings are and express them in healthy ways - and to heal any traumas you have in your past. Now when I feel that overwhelming compulsion to eat, I figure out what I am feeling and I express my feelings instead. Once I am expressing my feeling, that compulsion to eat goes away.

It is a process to learn how to feel and express feelings again so if you decide to heal in this way please be patient with yourself and please work with a therapist. Especially if you have trauma in your past you want to work with a therapist. If you do this work I can promise you that you will no longer need the ED to cope with your feelings and you will not need distraction to cope with the ED. It's such a vicious cycle. ((Hugs))

I feel the same way!!! It's so frustrating! And embarrassing thinking that everyone around me sees me gaining weight...but no one says anything. Makes me want to cry. And then go binge on something else. I totally feel your pain. I just want to eat like a normal person.

Thanks for the comments and ideas! I appreciate the support!