Binge Eating

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  • nocgirl72
    nocgirl72 Posts: 139 Member
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    I am the same way. I see my DR for a physical in 2 weeks I am going to ask her to put me on Contrave or some other meds to take away cravings. I have a terrible sugar addiction.
  • Cahgetsfit
    Cahgetsfit Posts: 1,912 Member
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    You are definitely not alone OP. Lots of binge eaters here. I do it too. Mostly when I'm anxious, or else if I'm in a bit of a "i don't care" mood. Or when I go into maintenance. Then I get fatter than I want to be. Then I yo-yo.

    I was actually Googling that Eating Anonyous group thing yesterday. Like a 12 step program for people with eating issues.

    Has anyone been down that road before?
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,256 Member
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    For me, food isn't the only thing I binge. I'm impatient, a bit obsessive, and can't do delayed gratification at all; I binge-read, binge-watch and binge-buy as well. Binge eating is a bit different, but there are sufficient similarities that I wonder whether my base personality is Not Helping here.
  • Daisy_Girl2019
    Daisy_Girl2019 Posts: 209 Member
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    Log it all even you max out your calorie goal. Once a week I eat out, went to a restuarant chain and ate about 3000kal in one setting. Then I pace my self and eat less that 1200 cal my calorie daily goal for the next week, I will eat around 1000 to 1100 calories only. I also binge before. Now I pay attention to the labels of chips I eat. If it says 150 cal for 7 chips, then I am putting 14 in a bowl and munch on that slowly. Have fruits and frozen veggies available so you can eat those at your hearts content and it's gonna be low on calories.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,130 Member
    edited April 2019
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    Daisy_Girl2019 wrote: »
    Log it all even you max out your calorie goal. Once a week I eat out, went to a restuarant chain and ate about 3000kal in one setting. Then I pace my self and eat less that 1200 cal my calorie daily goal for the next week, I will eat around 1000 to 1100 calories only. I also binge before. Now I pay attention to the labels of chips I eat. If it says 150 cal for 7 chips, then I am putting 14 in a bowl and munch on that slowly. Have fruits and frozen veggies available so you can eat those at your hearts content and it's gonna be low on calories.

    Do you not think that by doing the bolded you're setting yourself up to go OTT at the restaurant every week? I'd be starving by the end of the week if I only had 1000 calories every day. Much easier to stick to your normal calorie goal after a blow out rather than set yourself up for yet another binge. No?
  • helene4
    helene4 Posts: 120 Member
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    I use to binge eat
    Now I realize it’s because I was in a lot of emotional pain (and sort of in denial about it) :(
    Seeing an awesome therapist now!
    My binges stopped within the first two weeks of seeing her :)

    I highly recommend getting a professional in your corner to root you on in this matter!

    I also now eat three meals a day. I set my intentions every morning - to eat a healthy diet and take care of myself

    Good luck!
  • Daisy_Girl2019
    Daisy_Girl2019 Posts: 209 Member
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    Do you not think that by doing the bolded you're setting yourself up to go OTT at the restaurant every week? I'd be starving by the end of the week if I only had 1000 calories every day. Much easier to stick to your normal calorie goal after a blow out rather than set yourself up for yet another binge. No?[/quote]

    You are right. It's really hard for me to go under 1200, but I try my best whenever I go way over my daily calorie. I would eat lots of frozen veggies to stay low on the calories and still feel full.
    I regularly eat out either Sunday or Monday with friends and family and depending on the restuarant we go to I could go beyond my calorie goal.
    I don't binge anymore, but that one night I end up eating 1800 cal dinner plate due to the food being soak in butter and it was mostly pasta, plus 2 cocktail and I ate some appetizer that night, was easy 3000 cal.
    My point is, I log it all in, doesn't matter if I go beyond my cal goals that way I can make a game plan for the rest of my week. It's also eye opening coz it's the same food I ate before I started calorie counting.
  • jendawn13
    jendawn13 Posts: 4 Member
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    ceiswyn wrote: »
    ...binge eating seems to be giving me something I can’t get any other way.
    This is definitely my biggest problem. None of the usual suggestions for preventing binges (i.e., go for a walk, take a hot bath, etc.) do me any good. They might just distract me temporarily, if I'm lucky. So far, I haven't found anything that will fill what feels like the NEED to pig out until I hurt. Keep hoping maybe I'll find it someday.
  • ShrinkingMama2
    ShrinkingMama2 Posts: 65 Member
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    I am the binge eating queen!

    A lot of times it's just because I am bored or need to do something. I don't know why I do it and it's embarrassing to see how much food I can fit into my body at one sitting sometimes. I haven't gotten over my binge eating but I have found at least lower calorie snacks or healthy versions of snacks to binge on. I also try to drink a glass of water before going all out on food and doing the dishes, sweeping the floor, mopping, vaccuming, cleaning out a closet etc. I think it's all about our minds... if we allow our minds to tell us to eat, we will eat.

    When we keep our minds and hands busy it makes a difference in the time that we have to eat
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,256 Member
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    The problem is that you can’t keep your mind busy 24/7; it gets tired and needs a rest. And tiredness can also be a binge trigger because sugar == a quick energy boost :)
  • SoaringOccamy
    SoaringOccamy Posts: 57 Member
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    I have had problems with binge eating for quite a long while. I have gotten it under control lately with a combination of cutting out sugar and going to bed earlier. I know that low sugar diet is kind of becoming go-to advice like low fat was back in the day, but in my case it came about by personal observation over several weight loss attempts where eating sweets was the trigger for falling off my diet and spiraling back into the binging.
  • teranga79
    teranga79 Posts: 202 Member
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    jendawn13 wrote: »
    ceiswyn wrote: »
    ...binge eating seems to be giving me something I can’t get any other way.
    This is definitely my biggest problem. None of the usual suggestions for preventing binges (i.e., go for a walk, take a hot bath, etc.) do me any good. They might just distract me temporarily, if I'm lucky. So far, I haven't found anything that will fill what feels like the NEED to pig out until I hurt. Keep hoping maybe I'll find it someday.

    This is my main issue too. I really enjoy the binges! Well, enjoy probably isn't the right word, but I certainly can't deny that at the time, it feels so good to just stuff as much food as possible into my face. I look forward to it, and then it feels great.... temporarily of course, because soon enough the guilt and disgust kicks in. But in the moment..... well, I've never found anything else that compares.
  • PAPYRUS3
    PAPYRUS3 Posts: 13,259 Member
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    I wonder with all the responses from people on here 'what' in fact they understand as a 'binge'.

    In the true sense of a 'real' binge it could mean 5,000 - 15,000 calories consumed in a short amount of time. Overeating, however, is maybe 'just' a few extra pieces of pie or a super rich dinner, etc.,

    Just a thought...
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
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    teranga79 wrote: »
    PAPYRUS3 wrote: »
    I wonder with all the responses from people on here 'what' in fact they understand as a 'binge'.

    In the true sense of a 'real' binge it could mean 5,000 - 15,000 calories consumed in a short amount of time. Overeating, however, is maybe 'just' a few extra pieces of pie or a super rich dinner, etc.,

    Just a thought...

    Interesting point. For me, the difference between a binge and overeating isn't so much the amount of calories (although that is undeniably part of it), but more the mindset in play at the time. In my experience, a binge is related to a loss of control, to a feeling that I'm not actually choosing to eat at that moment. I can end up binging on food I don't even like that much, just to get that momentary feeling of not giving a damn, of it being out of my hands. It's about hoovering up as much as possible without anyone finding out.

    On other occasions I will choose to eat a large meal, have a dessert that I don't calories left for, eat some chocolate that I know will put me over maintenance for the day etc..... but in those cases I'm weighing up the facts and making the choice that I'm happy to take on board the extra calories. It's a very different mindset to that of a binge, even though the calories may not actually end up that different.

    Same here, it's the feelings that matter. For me, I can simplify it down into a couple distinctions:

    Overeating: I love food
    Binge eating: I hate food

    Overeating: I may or may not guilty afterward (i.e. I did a regrettable activity)
    Binge eating: I feel shame afterward (i.e. I think I'm a worthless person)

    Overeating: Usually done around people (i.e. social celebrations)
    Binge eating: Always done alone (at my worst, I've eaten in bathrooms to avoid people, even if what I was eating wouldn't be seen as unusual)

    Overeating: Excited to eat
    Binge eating: Dreading it, but somehow I eat anyway

    I just told my therapist in my appointment this week that one of the worst feelings I've ever experienced was the feeling that would crop up while I was driving home with all of my binge food in the car with me. It was a feeling of dread that none of my anxiety-driven worries could hold a candle to. I don't think he understood until I mentioned that just how bad my binge eating had been.
  • Annie_01
    Annie_01 Posts: 3,096 Member
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    teranga79 wrote: »
    PAPYRUS3 wrote: »
    I wonder with all the responses from people on here 'what' in fact they understand as a 'binge'.

    In the true sense of a 'real' binge it could mean 5,000 - 15,000 calories consumed in a short amount of time. Overeating, however, is maybe 'just' a few extra pieces of pie or a super rich dinner, etc.,

    Just a thought...

    Interesting point. For me, the difference between a binge and overeating isn't so much the amount of calories (although that is undeniably part of it), but more the mindset in play at the time. In my experience, a binge is related to a loss of control, to a feeling that I'm not actually choosing to eat at that moment. I can end up binging on food I don't even like that much, just to get that momentary feeling of not giving a damn, of it being out of my hands. It's about hoovering up as much as possible without anyone finding out.

    On other occasions I will choose to eat a large meal, have a dessert that I don't calories left for, eat some chocolate that I know will put me over maintenance for the day etc..... but in those cases I'm weighing up the facts and making the choice that I'm happy to take on board the extra calories. It's a very different mindset to that of a binge, even though the calories may not actually end up that different.

    I agree with this.

    Informative reading from NEDA (National Eating Disorders Association).

    https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/learn/by-eating-disorder/bed

    Some of the diagnostic criteria...

    "DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA

    Recurrent episodes of binge eating. An episode of binge eating is characterized by both of the following:

    Eating, in a discrete period of time (e.g., within any 2-hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than what most people would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances.

    A sense of lack of control over eating during the episode (e.g., a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating).

    The binge eating episodes are associated with three (or more) of the following:

    Eating much more rapidly than normal.
    Eating until feeling uncomfortably full.
    Eating large amounts of food when not feeling physically hungry.
    Eating alone because of feeling embarrassed by how much one is eating.
    Feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or very guilty afterward."

    See site for more info.

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