I've been in coronavirus confinement at home in Barcelona for over a month, and my binge eating cravings are driving me crazy. My body and mind feel like a battleground. I'm in a constant struggle with myself over food.

The restriction and binge cycle is a common occurrence when struggling with binge eating disorder. When active in my behaviors I had a tendency to cycle through this quite often. When we deprive ourselves of food, our body's reaction is to binge. With a balanced eating plan we can put a stop to this vicious cycle (Why Do I Need a Dietician on My Eating Disorder Treatment Team?).

It's utterly common in modern culture to congratulate someone on their weight loss, but what does it mean when someone with binge eating disorder (BED) loses weight? Weight loss is never automatically a good thing (people lose weight because of physical illness, mental illness, and a variety of other reasons which aren't positive). But when someone has an eating disorder, what does it mean when they lose weight (Is It A Diet Or An Eating Disorder)? How should you react when someone who has binge eating disorder loses weight?

Skipping meals is something that a lot of people do but skipping meals when you have binge eating disorder is not going to help you manage the disease. It seems like everyone has to skip a meal at one time or another, whether they're incredibly busy or they just forget to eat. But skipping a meal when you have binge eating disorder, as a long-term habit, is going to harm your body, not help it.

Someone might wonder what kind of toxic thoughts a person must be thinking in order to go on a starvation diet. The short answer is: a lot of them. The long answer is that everyone will experience their toxic thoughts that cause a starvation diet differently, but there are some common threads that run through them.

It might seem obvious that starvation diets, restricting food to the point where you are not taking in enough calories for your body to properly function, is a bad idea. But when you have an eating disorder and you're desperate to lose weight, sometimes you do things that are definitely not good ideas. But starvation diets don't work in the long term and will only hurt your body. Although starvation diets are popularly linked with anorexia nervosa, people with other eating disorders can experience this as well.

My name is Star LaBranche and I'm so excited to be writing for the new blog, Binge Eating Recovery. I've struggled with my weight and body image my entire life. Although my eating problems went unnoticed for years, I was finally diagnosed with overeating and food addiction (now known as binge eating disorder) a few years ago. Since then, it's been a journey of discovery to find a way to eat, be healthy and feel comfortable in my own skin. It hasn't been easy and there are always setbacks, but I'm on the right path.