People Who Have More Triggers for Binge Eating Before Gastric Bypass Surgery Lose Less Weight at Six Months Post-surgery.

A recent study published in the Jan/Feb issue of Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases (www.soard.org/) suggests that people who have more triggers for binge eating prior to surgery tend to lose less weight at six months postopertatively than people who have less triggers.

What is binge eating?

According to the Mayo Clinic (www.mayoclinic.com/) binge eating is:

• Eating large amounts of food

• Eating even when you're full

• Eating rapidly during binge episodes

• Feeling that your eating behavior is out of control

• Eating a lot even though you're not hungry

Many people who binge eat may experience feelings of guilt, shame, embarrassment, depression, anxiety and/or hopelessness associated with binge eating.

What to do?
Weight loss surgery may limit your ability to binge eat (at least at first), but does not necessarily change the urge to binge eat. So if you struggle with binge eating and are planning to get weight loss surgery (Or just want to stop binge eating, because it feels so rotten.) go get help before you have the surgery.
There are tons of self-help books on reducing binge eating (See Gurze Publishing at www.bulimia.com/index.cfm. Psychotherapy especially, cognitive-behavioral therapy, can help eliminate binge eating as well.