What do you consider a 'binge'?

bradXdale

Binging to me is where you know you should be making the healthy choices but are negligent and eat until you over filled.

Unless this is planned. I plan a cheat meal / day / eat whatever I want (within reason) every 25-30 days. I really try to plan them on days that I go out to a theme park or know that I will be getting an extra calorie burn that day. Yesterday my wife & I went to Animal Kingdom (since we live close to Orlando) and my pedometer tracked that I walked almost 20,000 steps which is quite a lot for me.

I didn't "binge out" but I did not track everything I ate. I had a cheesburger & fries, two slices of pizza, and a few bites of a cupcake without guilt. I don't feel bad about it this morning and I'm going to keep on trucking.

If you're good 95% of the time and diligent, focused and patient the other 5% will not make that much of a deficit in your results.

michellemybelll

I would consider a binge as maybe 500+ calories with in an hour or less.

LOL. no.

fairygirlpie9

Before I started seriously getting my weight/health under control I would consider a binge a day I would just eat/drink whatever with no care of what I was consuming. Now I would consider a binge- eating at a "maintaining" caloric intake for my current weight.

THIS.

red_road

At least 1000+ calories over maintenance.

action_man

For me the definition of binge is being out of control, compulsively eating or being in a trance with no consideration for taste, food quality or pleasure. I would say that mindset, combined with eating a comparatively large amount of food in a relatively short period of time, would constitute a binge.

Exactly this. I think a lot of people like to confuse binge eating and over-eating either to make their lives sound more dramatic or to punish themselves for accidentally eating too much. If you ate your maintenance calories, that's not a binge. You at a normal sustainable amount of food and the only thing wrong with that is you've stalled your weight loss for a day. Binge-ing implies a lack of control.

JMel86

I consider it a binge when I eat an entire something within a couple of hours that is meant to serve more than one person (large pizza, pan of lasagna, pie, etc.) Thankfully that doesn't happen much anymore.

Me too. I haven't had a day like this in a while but this is a binge for me.

lisalsd1

For me, binge is when I eat an "entire" something. I ate an entire box of chocolates the other night. There was definitely a compulsive component to it.

970Mikaela1

A dozen krispy kremes. A tray of baklava.

ab_1203

A binge for me is just not caring at all and just eating whatever comes to mind when you feel like it without thinking of the consequences. Ive been through it before, eating 5000 calories in a day and I dont think id be able to do it every day, it makes you feel very uncomfortable.

katielauren2001

Eating crisps without thinking of calories.

Or just eating bad foods all day, without thinking of any consequences.

chantels1

I may be out of the norm, but I think of weight loss and fitness as something I want to maintain, so I eat anything I want but I eat it in MODERATION! I also make sure to keep within my calorie goals. So a binge for me would be eating more than a serving size of something, but only if it put me over my day's calories. I regularly eat pizza, but it is not a binge for me unless I eat so much that I go over my goals.

knra_grl

eating excessive amounts of food that have little or no nutritional value - I used to do this frequently but now I find that I don't crave the junk anymore really - but some days there is just delicious food around so exceding my calorie goal is now considered a binge for me.

Soufre

I may be out of the norm, but I think of weight loss and fitness as something I want to maintain, so I eat anything I want but I eat it in MODERATION! I also make sure to keep within my calorie goals. So a binge for me would be eating more than a serving size of something, but only if it put me over my day's calories. I regularly eat pizza, but it is not a binge for me unless I eat so much that I go over my goals.

I feel the same way. I still eat pizza and burgers but I keep it within my calorie goals. Also, when I binge eat, I don't log and I don't care. Then I regret it later.

EvenThatNameIsTaken

Binging for me usually involves secrecy. Since joining MFP and making a general decision in my life to be smarter about food, I've avoided binging for the most part. I do enjoy myself at parties where there is an array of yummies, but I don't consider that a binge because I try to keep it moderate and don't eat to the point of guilt or sickness. I just like the foodz and don't want to be stuck thinking about that one thing I wanted to eat but didn't.. that is where my binges come from, wanting something and not giving it to myself, then something snaps and I go overboard after dreaming about it for several days.

An example of a binge for me would be buying a 2 pound bag of twizzlers, box of 12 peanut butter bars, or a huge costco bag of snap pea crisps, or getting not just one but a collection of candy bars, knowing full well I do not need or even necessarily want them (compulsive action) and just face-stuffing them over the course of a an hour or more (alone, of course) and then hiding the empty bag under other trash so no one will notice it, or walking down the street and disposing of the bag in a public trash can to entirely get rid of the "evidence." I would even mentally pretend as I went through the checkout lane that I'm getting all this stuff for other people since I already felt guilty/self-conscious.

I used to binge in this way a lot, especially when I lived alone, wasn't holding myself accountable, and didn't worry about people seeing my trash. Heh. Now I am my own witness (diary!) and this self-accountability/transparency helps tremendously. Even if I don't tell anyone about it, I will still put it in my diary if I eat it.

copselily

A binge for me usually involves feeling ashamed, keeping it a secret, but most importantly, feeling out of control. I don't think having a huge pizza on a night out with friends is a 'binge', binging is most like uncontrollable eating that makes you feel bloated and poorly afterwards.

GertrudeHorse

I would consider a binge as maybe 500+ calories with in an hour or less.

I hope you meant to add an extra zero in there because oif not that's really sad.

ajlandon

Eating so far past the point of satiety that my stomach hurts, feeling like I've lost control, usually triggered by emotional distress, usually ending with regret and shame. The content doesn't matter (I've binged on everything from cake to plain greek yogurt to sticks of butter to peanut butter to rice - I'm going for the full feeling). The calorie content tends to be 3500-6000 in an hour or two. Smaller binges of 700-1000 are basically 3500-6000 cal binges I've managed to interrupt.

RoseGoldDinosaur

When my stomach hurts, and I keep eating. Usually with absolutely no regard for how the food I'm shoveling in my mouth will affect my future self.

tula1980

Eating a calorie excess that is going to take me for than 3-4 days of eating at a moderate restriction to compensate for.

melmckay99

feeling like I can't stop eating, even past the point of fullness. Usually happens within a short time frame and usually trying to do so without anyone else seeing/knowing about it. It's emotional too, lots of anxiety leading up to the binge (will I, won't I? What will I eat?...), numbness during the binge, disregarding all consequences, and then severe guilt, shame, self hatred and depression afterwards (not to mention the physical sickness/pain from eating so much at once). Binges for me are usually in the 800+ calorie range (this is on top of my regular eating for the day). I've had binges well over 2000 cals before....these suck, though I know I am not the worst case out there. I've heard of people eating 5000+ cals in a binge.