How do YOU define a binge?
joshperson195
Posts: 819 Member
I wouldn't say I have a true binge eating disorder, but I DO struggle with eating most of my calories at night in large amounts so it feels like a binge. This usually results in going over my daily allowance... which is always discouraging and causes guilt. Today, for example, I ate clean and healthy all day and then started grazing. Finished the night at around 2,000 calories... which seems like a lot.
Just curious as to what you all consider a "binge" episode.
Just curious as to what you all consider a "binge" episode.
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Uncontrollable0
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Is there a chance that your being too restrictive and that's what's causing you to graze at night? I eat the foods I love, but in moderation. So if I want ice cream,I have a portion within my calories. That way I don't feel deprived and restricted. For me, this is a life style change. I know I couldn't go my whole life with just eating carrots and lettuce every day. In the real world, there's snacks and goodies. So I allow myself to have these treats within moderation.
I don't think 2,000 is bad anyway though. I eat around that every day and wear a size 4 . So don't beat yourself up over this at all. Just log it and move forward.0 -
In my own experience, eating when your not really hungry, eating until I'm sick to my stomach, hiding shoving food in my mouth from others ( I remember a few years ago at work a drug rep brought lunch and brownies. I took 1 brownie on my plate then when everyone was out of the breakroom I put 5 in a napkin shoved them in the pockets of my scrubs and ate when nobody was around)
Again, in my experience I increased my calorie intake ( from 1200 to 1650) and just refused to allow myself to let food run my life. Since i increased my calories I only lose 0.5-1 pound a week instead of 2 but I haven't binged in a year and I'm down 24 pounds
You'll get it, I promise. Don't give up0 -
You finished the night with 2,000 calories from the binge or including your regular meals, too? If the latter, then I hardly consider that any real damage!
I've gone about a year now without binging which I'm super excited about, but when I had binged, it was pretty bad.
It started off innocent enough, a tub of Ben & Jerry's or several packages of Reese's.
Then as I began to binge more, the cycle was getting much worse and my binges were completely redefined.
My binge episodes escalated into days, and I would consume over five pounds easily (not water weight). I once ate an entire 3-course meal from Olive Garden, then went home and had a pint of Ben & Jerry's. Another time I had THREE boxes of Girl Scout cookies to myself. I've also demolished those pound packages of Reese's with two half pound cups per pack. Not to mention the all day grazing and eating until I could hardly breathe. Snack after snack I would eat to my heart's desire, because I "wasn't allowed" the food tomorrow. The next day, I felt miserable, guilty, weak, selfish, and experienced the worst PAIN. I felt hungry yet stuffed, and when I pressed against my skin I felt as if there was a layer of water beneath my skin, with a layer of fat accumulating underneath that. It was bizarre.
Do I ever have urges to binge? Absolutely. But just remembering how I felt afterwards... it truly makes me want to avoid ever getting that bad again. I recovered all on my own without therapy, just accountability and a more healthful approach to dieting (no more extremes)!
Everyone may have their own definition on what makes a binge, but I wish everyone luck in controlling it before it becomes worse, a binge is never worth it and will never make you happy in the long run! Five minutes of snacking pleasure just isn't worth it, no matter how much every part of your body lies to you in the moment.0 -
Binging is when i go out of my way to stop at a shop and i buy everything that looks good and eat it all in one sitting ... or when im home and i scour through the fridge and cupboard eating anything there even things i dont really enjoy ...
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I find my binging isnt from hunger its from emotional triggers ...0
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binge eating for me is eating a whole pizza.0
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I often feel like that when I restrict too much during the day, but sometimes I do it purposely so I can eat a huge dinner. Try to spread out your calories more throughout the day & see if you still feel really hungry at the end of the day. If you prefer to eat most of your calories at the end of the day, but you are still within your limits then there's nothing wrong with that.
A binge is either uncontrolled eating or eating until you feel like you'll explode lol. It happens.0 -
I would call it a binge when your eating feels out of control. When it's no longer for hunger or pleasure and has become compulsion.0
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Binging, for me, has an element of self-harm to it. For me, binging is eating beyond just discomfort. It's emotional, it's not a conscious decision, and it's sometimes painful. Binging, again for me, comes with a little voice at the back of my head begging me to stop. It's like watching someone else take control of my body and start eating. It's an all-consuming need to find more food, to make more food, to fit more food inside of me. I'm bloated and uncomfortable and I wish I could stop, but I can't. It's something that's hard to explain unless someone has experienced it. It's me, in the kitchen, making eggs at 10 pm while eating a box of Fiber One bars (though I know I'll regret it in the morning) dipped in peanut butter because I'm waiting for the popcorn in the microwave to finish popping and looking around the kitchen while I try to talk myself into salsa on the eggs instead of peanut butter and oh man do I have any cheese because I could make nachos.
For me, binges tend to run 2000-3000 calories just during the binge. If you finished your day out at 2,000 calories total, that sounds like a decent maintenance number. Whether or not you personally consider yours a binge, it's worthwhile to consider why it happened and look at steps (both emotional and not) that you can take to prevent it.0 -
diannethegeek wrote: »Binging, for me, has an element of self-harm to it. For me, binging is eating beyond just discomfort. It's emotional, it's not a conscious decision, and it's sometimes painful. Binging, again for me, comes with a little voice at the back of my head begging me to stop. It's like watching someone else take control of my body and start eating. It's an all-consuming need to find more food, to make more food, to fit more food inside of me. I'm bloated and uncomfortable and I wish I could stop, but I can't. It's something that's hard to explain unless someone has experienced it. It's me, in the kitchen, making eggs at 10 pm while eating a box of Fiber One bars (though I know I'll regret it in the morning) dipped in peanut butter because I'm waiting for the popcorn in the microwave to finish popping and looking around the kitchen while I try to talk myself into salsa on the eggs instead of peanut butter and oh man do I have any cheese because I could make nachos.
For me, binges tend to run 2000-3000 calories just during the binge. If you finished your day out at 2,000 calories total, that sounds like a decent maintenance number. Whether or not you personally consider yours a binge, it's worthwhile to consider why it happened and look at steps (both emotional and not) that you can take to prevent it.
Exactly that. Luckily I've gotten to the point where I am more conscious of what's happening and can now stop it before it starts. Every now and then I allow myself to go over my calories for a particurly good "cheat" meal, but it's not the same at all to me as a binge, because it's usually premeditated and isn't followed or ruled by emotions.0 -
A binge to me is uncontrollable eating, usually a horrible an stressful experience, calories anywhere above 3000 in the space of 1-3hours. I personally think the term binge is over used sometimes, it can be used in too many ways.
(Thankfully I've not binged in several years since my late teens, July 2006 was my last but I still remeber the horror of realising I'd just eaten a entire families worth of calories and the discomfort.)0 -
A binge to me is uncontrollable eating, usually a horrible an stressful experience, calories anywhere above 3000 in the space of 1-3hours. I personally think the term binge is over used sometimes, it can be used in too many ways.
(Thankfully I've not binged in several years since my late teens, July 2006 was my last but I still remeber the horror of realising I'd just eaten a entire families worth of calories and the discomfort.)0 -
Uncontrolled eating in large quantities.0
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Eating and eating and eating in a relatively short time without feeling full.
I am unable to do it now. I have times where I eat a larger volume of food, but I get full much sooner than I used to. Maybe I've successfully fixed my hunger/full switch. Don't know. Not complaining
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Here's the thing about this word- there are TWO types- there's a legitimate psychological binge- where it's nothing to do with food- it's 100% beyond food consumption.
The other type is how a normal person would say- man I binged on cookies this weekend- and it's just way over doing it- but you just stopped when you're done "over doing it"
But the actual technical binge is way beyond over doing it.0 -
Uncontrolled eating.0
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A binge for me would be eating all my calories in one sitting because I am going to get hungry at some point later.
A binge that didn't get me drunk was 2000 calories in alcohol and mix drinks.0 -
A binge for me is: unaware uncontrolled eating. I "gap out" to disconnect and shove my face.
A binge for me might be 4 pieces of cheesecake plus other stuff in an evening. It might be eating a 100 g choc bar, pecan pie, some chips etc. A binge for me would be 3+ serving sizes of things (3 pieces of pie plus other stuff, etc), a full meal plus hamburger and dessert...(fast food) or a pack of 6 strawberry strudels...some times way more than this.
A binge would not feel like meh, not so great....it would feel like shame, and embarassment and very poor self-esteem afterwards. Grazing I can do in front of someone, binging I make sure I am alone.
Also a binge leaves me feeling very sick. I never vomit, but I am at that point that it would be easy to. I eat until I am gross feeling like I might get sick.
Last night I ate 65g of popcorn and butter which was like more than 10 cups of popcorn...but it was within my calorie allowance, and I planned it, and was "conscious" during eating it so I don't consider that "binging"...although technically I consumed a large amount of food at that time. Binging is me disconnected from food, and using it for pleasure instead of fuel.
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Many people use the word binge wrong/way too frequently in this society, and they are misusing it. It can be hard in this society that encourages over eating to define what a binge actually is, and it can very from person to person. As a general rule of thumb, a binge is NOT just overeating. It is eating uncontrollably, way past the point of fullness. It is taking in thousands of calories at once. It is usually the result of a severely restrictive diet, and also emotional and mental issues.0
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For me, I rarely binge on food. Food I've got down to a tee, since I prepare all my week's lunches and dinners ahead of time. I binge on snacks. Especially the kinds where quantity control is hard... I guess that would be my definition of a binge: lack of control. If I have a big, open bag of chips/candy/cookies in the house, it's hard to not eat all of it. I don't really have a problem with cravings if I plan ahead, maybe buy ONE cookie, or a small piece of candy, etc. I pre-log it and fit it with my daily goal and all is well. But then there's that open container of something and I find myself stuffing my face... I try my best to log it afterwards and accept whatever damages were made. Usually you just have to shrug it off and not let it become a habit 0
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To me, going on a binge is eating very large quantities of something like a batch of cookie dough. I am talking about eating half the bowl of the raw dough. For me the urge to binge would appear with boredom or feelings of low self-esteem. Then when the binge passed I would feel so ashamed at my lack of self control.
My son helped me be more aware of what I was doing to myself. I have taken his lead in finding snacks that are appropriate when faced with the urge to eat wildly. A small handful of walnuts with some dried cranberries satisfies the urge for something crunchy and for something sweet. It is a learning curve for sure.
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BicepsAndBows wrote: »Many people use the word binge wrong/way too frequently in this society, and they are misusing it. It can be hard in this society that encourages over eating to define what a binge actually is, and it can very from person to person. As a general rule of thumb, a binge is NOT just overeating. It is eating uncontrollably, way past the point of fullness. It is taking in thousands of calories at once. It is usually the result of a severely restrictive diet, and also emotional and mental issues.
I have say it's not usually the result of restrictive diets. It's possible due to people being hungry etc. but not the cause of binge eating. It's often part of compulsive behaviour patterns (like OCSD etc)
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Need2Exerc1se wrote: »I would call it a binge when your eating feels out of control. When it's no longer for hunger or pleasure and has become compulsion.
This sums it up well. Feeling an uncontrollable need to eat despite being full. And once you start, tending to be vast quantities that just end up making you feel sick and very guilty! I get really angry when I can't have that food. Silly really, I think its more out of habit than anything. Once I'm used to a healthy eating routine and i know there's no rubbish in the house, its not a problem.0 -
Uncontrollable and unaware eating. You see the box of crackers, you are completely unaware of eating the crackers, next thing you know, you have an empty box.0
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BicepsAndBows wrote: »Many people use the word binge wrong/way too frequently in this society, and they are misusing it. It can be hard in this society that encourages over eating to define what a binge actually is, and it can very from person to person. As a general rule of thumb, a binge is NOT just overeating. It is eating uncontrollably, way past the point of fullness. It is taking in thousands of calories at once. It is usually the result of a severely restrictive diet, and also emotional and mental issues.
I have say it's not usually the result of restrictive diets. It's possible due to people being hungry etc. but not the cause of binge eating. It's often part of compulsive behaviour patterns (like OCSD etc)
This, it has nothing to do with diet, and everything to do with your brain.0 -
I have been eating anything I want. Any quantity I want . for two weeks. I still don't call it bingeing. Its getting close now though as I'm at the high side of my maintenance range. Time to reel it in.0
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No control. Lots of shame. Doing it even though my logical mind doesn't want to. I am coping well right now, but when I was in the thick of binge eating, it was like I was in a daze. Whenever I think back on that period of time, it feels surreal because I just didn't feel like myself at the time. I get a weird feeling whenever I go back to stores or restaurants where I would pick up my binge food. I wouldn't say I feel triggered when I visit those places, but I think back on how I used to calculate just how much I could eat that night, throw away the rest in the morning, and then start all over again that evening. It helps to talk about it, at least. I don't think my therapist quite gets just how bad it got for me. Maybe it's because I'm doing better now.0
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