mini rant for those of you who "binge"

myfitnessval

its the emotion and the compulsion that makes it a binge, not the quantity. its the loss of control. not the number of calories. i think a lot of people do mistake over eating and feeling guilty with a binge though. but i dont see how the amount of calories you eat determines weather its a binge or not.

this. i have binged both large and small for the same emotional reasons and i felt equally awful after both times. if people binging bothers you then delete them off your friends. simple as that.

gogojodee

its the emotion and the compulsion that makes it a binge, not the quantity. its the loss of control. not the number of calories. i think a lot of people do mistake over eating and feeling guilty with a binge though. but i dont see how the amount of calories you eat determines weather its a binge or not.

Very well said. How are we to know what their psychological state is or what they are feeling inside during and after a binge.

Also, for a lot of people, binge is just a generic term for overeating at that one point in time, it doesn't have the same clinical meaning that it does to others.

!!!

TurnLeftNow

You know, if you don't agree with the OP then don't post! There is NO reason to attack the OP. Seriously. She is asking for people who relate to her, not for people to call her stupid and rude for "owning binging" or whatever.

I get it. I completely agree. My binges are 2-3000 calories. I'd give anything to be upset over only a few hundred. Yes it is all the same. But the other person is only over eating by a few hundred whereas I am overeating by a few thousand. It makes me feel completely and totally alone. It makes me feel horrible and stupid and disgusting when I say I binged and it was 3000 calories and I am embarrassed. When someone says "I have a problem with binging too" I feel a little less alone and then they say "yeah I binged and ate over by 300 calories" it makes me feel like crawling into a hole and dying.

cheesy_blasters

I think the issue raised by a few people here, who feel that others misrepresent binges or depression...is interesting. But here's the thing: you don't know what other people are going through. Just because you may have an ED or mental illness, or a broken leg, doesn't diminish someone else's experience or pain.

If you feel they are co-opting your terminology or language, that's a problem you'll have to deal with, because no one has control over other people. And, to assume that someone else doesn't qualify to be in the same category as you, for whatever reason, may just turn out to be wrong.

You NEVER know what's going on with someone else.

While I agree with *what* you're saying, I think it's a HUGE problem to tell people with mental illnesses that it's their problem that society has a major stigma against mental illnesses and that they need to get over feeling ignored or alienated or diminished because people treat mental illness like a joke. I understand what you mean and while I agree a lot of people are calling for help, people DO treat depression or anorexia or binge eating along with other issues too lightly. People who AREN'T suffering from them do use those words. I think people who have lived through mental illness are in one of the best positions to recognize it but it's very difficult to be understanding when you're also told to "just get over it" or "I was depressed once but I'm fine now, you just need to want to get better" by others. If people would stop using serious words to describe their not so serious behaviour, people who really did need help would be much more likely to get it, because people would finally be able to hear them.

I think it takes understanding from all sides. People who use these words lightly need to realize that they could be hurting someone who really does desperately need help. People who have survived mental illnesses need to ask more questions and share their experiences.

I'm basing this not only on my personal experience but also my experience working in a college residence. One of my jobs was to keep an eye open for students who were displaying "warning" behaviour. The number of times I heard ridiculous stuff would blow your mind ("i only had a coffee this morning, so ana", "I hate taking the bus. It makes me want kill myself" etc etc.when you actually went to talk to them about what was going on they wouldn't be having these serious problems. They just didn't have the vocabulary to communicate what they were actually feeling). It means that 80% of your time is spent watching behaviour and 20% actually helping rather than the other way around.

Obviously I don't know what the OP is referring to specifically I'm just clarifying what *I* wrote, personally.

(Sorry if anyone feels like I'm trying to speak for them or something. This is how I feel about it, I'm sure there are other people with mental illnesses who disagree me).

weightingtobloom

I agree that binges are more about loss of control than calories consumed.

MissMdM

A subjective (small amount of calories) binge is small in comparison to objective binges (large amount of calories consumed in a short amount of time). However both have the classic feelings of intense cravings, loss of control and feelings of guilt and shame.

Both are distressing. The amount of calories consumed does not directly show the depth of despair of the person binging.