A question for fellow binge eaters

metacognition

Well, my binge eating was caused by three issues: hunger, exhaustion, and stress.

My binges started whenever I cut calories. Small deficits resulted in major increases to hunger.

My body did not feel comfortable at maintenance.

So I gave up on the idea of weight loss.
I ate at maintenance for about six days. It felt like dieting at first, but my body got used to it by the end of the week. Going on maintenance for a week cut out most of the binges by leveling out the hormonal issues that accompany the diet / binge see - saw.

The second cause was physical exhaustion. I used to run up to 20 miles a week. It was too much endurance activity. My joints took wear and tear. I would go from these runs to an evening job, and binged when I finally got home.
It's just easier to eat less and do moderate exercise.

The last problem was stress. There was a lot of pressure to chase the "perfect size" and keep the weight off. I would lose a couple pounds in a month by dieting and running all the time, then binge it back in two or tree days.

I finally gave up on losing weight. I threw away the scale and tape measure. I try to stick to maintenance calories and to lift heavy weights to maintain a decent body composition.

swertyqwerty

Happy to find all these great tips. What works for me is to never have that first bite of something I will binge on. I never want to binge on salad, and I don't even binge on all rich desserts. Only a few ones are irresistible. I can treat myself with coconut macaroon treats without binging, but not nata coco pudding cups from chinatown (those I will eat 6-10 individual servings in one sitting).

JennyElRad

This is a great Board. There have been some great tips here!! All of the tips here are great, but I particularly like the ones that say do something else right away when wanting to binge (Much easier said than done) like taking off and going for a walk or some other self soothing activity.

I have created another board for another topic that some of the people on here might be interested in called "Ideas to REWARD Yourself After a Workout" Check it out and share your ideas. Thanks:happy:

zericaaaaa

thank you all so much for the feedback. yesterday i kinda binged on pizza hut after a fight with my boyfriend. but i logged every morsel and took a long walk by the river afterwards (i know i shoulda done this before eating everything lol.) and ended up burning 860 calories so there was no serious harm done. in the past, i would have chosen to binge all day and lay around cause i 'deserve it.' but after this particular binge i was left feeling so disgusting and i knew the only thing that would help would be working out. i had even asked my boyfriend to bring me home a big ol bacon cheeseburger to eat that night too. not only did i save the burger for today, i also took off the bread that i so desperately wanted to eat because its my favorite freakin part lol. so today i've managed to not binge on the endless bagels and cake that is in my office AND i made a smart decision with the burger. its all about the baby steps

JennyElRad

thank you all so much for the feedback. yesterday i kinda binged on pizza hut after a fight with my boyfriend. but i logged every morsel and took a long walk by the river afterwards (i know i shoulda done this before eating everything lol.) and ended up burning 860 calories so there was no serious harm done. in the past, i would have chosen to binge all day and lay around cause i 'deserve it.' but after this particular binge i was left feeling so disgusting and i knew the only thing that would help would be working out. i had even asked my boyfriend to bring me home a big ol bacon cheeseburger to eat that night too. not only did i save the burger for today, i also took off the bread that i so desperately wanted to eat because its my favorite freakin part lol. so today i've managed to not binge on the endless bagels and cake that is in my office AND i made a smart decision with the burger. its all about the baby steps

Congrats on a good day! Hope it's another day of great choices.

angelb1983

For me it's having a good support system. I would talk to my sister about having bad days and she would say "log it" There were days I was eating 3,500+ calories a day (That's at least 2 lbs gained a week at that rate!) after awhile I just realized what I was doing to myself.... and I said "No more." Now Before I eat anything I tell myself... do you want to be happy for 5 minutes or happy for years to come?

Ouch! I love this idea! It def would be humbling. I would be so ashamed to log some of my days....but I think that is exactly what I need to start doing.

emmaxbon

I read something a while ago which has helped me - the urge to binge is like a wave, it will get bigger and stronger until it reaches a peak but then it will go away. Although it can be hard to believe at the time, it is true. Now whenever I get an the urge to binge, I say to myself, not today but I will tomorrow if I feel the same. Since I usually binge in the evenings, this helps me a lot as the next morning I don't want to. I feel sorry for my poor husband though who has to put up with my bad mood in the evening though (what's that all about?!)

Apart from that, not restricting too much and having crisps or chocolate everyday but working it into my calories, logging it all when I do binge or binging but not eating everything that I bought (the whole not keeping stuff in the house doesn't work for me, I'll just go to the shops. My husband thinks that going and buying the stuff is actually part of the binge process / urge for me), going for a walk or a run to distract myself. And also realising that the urge to binge isn't that at all but is normal hunger and just eating a normal meal or snack will do just as well.

It's hard but I like to think I'm getting there. Nothing worse than "zombie eating mode".