For as long as I can remember, eating has always been a type of comfort for me. If I'm really upset about something, I eat so much junk food while watching a movie, thinking that I'll feel better. And I do, for probably two seconds.

Living in the dorms has made my problem even worse. If I'm bored, upset, or even happy, I'll go out and buy a horrendous amount of fast food. And then go back to my dorm and eat it all it one sitting, to the point where I think my stomach is going to burst. I find myself hungry all day and all night, even if I'm not physically hungry. It's extremely annoying, especially since I have gained a lot of weight because of this issue. Yet, sometimes if I try to avoid food, it ends up plaguing my mind. Possibly this over-eating is somehow linked to my depression, or some kind of "form" of "anti-depressant".

Does anyone else have this problem?

When I was a young teenager I would eat to pass the time. It was one of the first things that would occur to me when I thought about what fun things there were to do; which seems a very strange thought to me in retrospect. Whenever I was bored I would gravitate towards the kitchen cupboards and see what exciting thing there was to distract me for a while, even if I wasn't particularly hungry. I think valuing food too highly makes people prone to use it as a way to entertain or mollify themselves.

I suppose it has nothing to do with hunger in your case. If it did, I might suggest eating something smaller and waiting for 30 minutes, rather than filling your face until you can eat no longer. I don't think the body can immediately tell when it has had enough. Also, I would have suggested drinking more water so that you aren't confusing hunger and thirst signals.

You're right, as soon as you bar yourself from something it becomes an undeniable fascination which builds and builds until you can't stand not having it anymore. I wouldn't deny yourself in those instances but be reasonable with how much food you get, and what kinds. If you can find something that you enjoy eating which isn't junk food I'm sure you wouldn't feel so bad about binging. (And I don't think other food types are as addictive either, so your desire for it might decrease)

I don't comfort eat anymore. I guess, because my diet is quite bland that I'm not very tempted to, so I don't really know what else to offer. Saying, distract yourself is easier said than done for someone who spends lengthy periods alone.

I'm not sure if I eat when I'm depressed. A lot of the time I find myself eating out of boredom more than anything else.

I eat out of boredom, emotional distress and uncontrollable cravings. It's a fudge cracker nightmare.

It's an urge I can't ignore. It constant eats at my mind and makes it very hard to focus on anything else. Definitely not healthy and I never binge on the good stuff.

I sometimes question why I'm not over 300 lbs yet. I eat a lot. No one can imagine how much since it's always when I'm by myself. I rarely ever eat in front of people, and when I do, I usually eat like a bird. I have horrible anxiety when it comes to eating in public. Consider yourself lucky if I feel I can eat comfortably in front of you.

It's getting better now, but eh. It comes up every so often. Hard to deal with.

Being in university doesn't help either. Everyone eats like a fudge cracker pig here. I definitely know what you mean though. I have the same problem. It's uncanny and unnerving and I don't like how others can feel the same way because it's not a nice situation or feeling at all.

Another case of fucking word, here.

I eat when I'm depressed, mostly, to help kill the bad thoughts. It's a form of self-comforting, mostly. If I wasn't depressed, I wouldn't eat half as much as I do. I've tried everything to stop it--tried switching to another form of comfort (baths, naps, favorite films), tried switching it to healthy foods (I've downed whole bottles of pickles, multiple cucumbers, whole bags of clementines. It's healthier for me, yes. But it costs three times as much.), tried to just exercising my ass off and eat less (led to compulsive over-exercising, until my weight plateaued for a month at 220 and I flipped the hell out and binged). The cure is not in the food. It's in facing the depression. So I've sort of given myself a buy on fighting my eating habits in exchange for fighting my depression. I figure that if I'm still binge eating once I've become less depressed, I'll handle my bad eating habits then instead of trying to fight depression, anxiety, and obesity all at the same time.

I eat when I feel hungry and that's about it.

I did have a milk shake last night, though.

I do taht too, mostly when I'm bored or depressed. It happened a lot when I was still in high school.
When I feel stressed, anxious etc i usually can't eat anything.
I don't know which one is worse.

Oh, I also eat a lot a week before my period. It's not that I get hungry, I just get cravings for sweets and feel like eating more.

I had a problem eating too much as I when I'm bored I want to be occupied so I don't have crazy thoughts.
But I also wanted to enjoy myself more so I chose high calorie tasty food.

I stopped by developing self control, it differs from person to person but if you're determined you can find what works for you.
Some things I can suggest:
- Take up fitness or a sport as a hobby (can be difficult for recluses I know)
- Count your calories (scientifically impossible to gain weight if you don't eat more than you burn)
- Drink water to fill yourself up halfway before eating, it has no calories (or very very few) and you'll notice you're full up sooner.