Bingers..

ruikoh

It is so nice to find out that I'm not alone. I feel so guilty every time I binge. I've been eating and living healthily for the past 2.5 years but there are still times that I get weak and give in. I eat anything and everything that looks good and that I can get my hands on. I keep on eating until there is still something to eat or until I almost puke. God knows how bad I feel afterwards! I feel like crying but no tears ever fell. It feels like I just sucked the life out of me. I worked so hard to keep my will together and it just got defeated by a couple of cookies and cake.

I do a lot of self talk afterwards. Tell myself to do better next time. Compensate for that unwanted calories on the next few days, weeks, months. I thank God I'm still on track. But the self forgiveness required after a binge is just damn too painful. It's so hard to give. No matter how many times I go through this process. It is still damn painful when you just finished a binge and snapped out of your hypnosis.

lighteningjeanne855

I love binging because I love that overstuffed feeling.

I'm glad that i can stuff myself on lowcarb...but I don't even want to.

I have a binging trait that one of my friends noticed and pointed out:
when she put out a bowl of snack food, I would eat it mindlessly
until the container was EMPTY!
I think somewhere in my psyche, I'm being told,
"The only good plate is an EMPTY plate!"
I think that that's an echo of being admonished to
"Clean your plate! There are children starving in {some Asian Country}!

Even on Low-Carb/High Fat, if I'm upset or frustrated,
I can EMPTY a jar of honey, a bottle of maple syrup, or jar of cashew butter!
I keep those items in my home to make some of the Low-carb recipes
I've found. As yet, I hardly DARE to make any!
So, I need to obsess just a little about 'portion control'.

HFLC has greatly eased my need to overeat.
Avoiding simple starches/carbs--bread, baked goods pasta, rice, potatoes, etc.,
mean that my blood glucose doesn't spike and make me go on the prowl
for another snack.
I can get that nice 'overstuffed feeling' by eating meat fried in oil, with vegetables,
and add BUTTER, too. I still clean my plate...but that's because I'll put
half of it away for another meal.

I'm working on portion control, even with the vegetables.
I keep careful watch throughout the day with MFP.

I want to be able to make a recipe of low-carb goodies, eat one serving,
and then refrigerate or freeze the rest for another day.

I want to this ability and thought process to sink INTO my bones,
because I do NOT want to obliterate the hard work I've done
to lose weight---fifty pounds so far.

jennyharland1

Im a binger too. Ive decided not let it conquer me though. If and when it happens again, I will acknowledge it on my diary and move on. Brooding about it or feeling guilty about it just triggers more binges.

PaintedImage

thanks, good info, I have been on this yo- yo cycle it seems for 30 years. I always start out great in the morning, thru lunch and then invaraibly, by the time I get home (I work west coast hours and live on the east coast) I am starving and then say to myself, well, you have been soo good today, eat what ever! 45 mins later I am so pissed at myself!! Being tired is definately a trigger for me too.

rupert651

I am a binger and have been since I started college. I'm sick of feeling out of control and self-conscious about my disgusting eating habits. I hate feeling so lethargic after overeating. But I hope that joining MFP will help me stay more accountable to achieving my goals and kick this unhealthy lifestyle!

sugoober

Seriously?!? Does it make YOU feel like a jerk for making mean comments to someone just looking for support.


I would think yes.

elly19872014

I'm not sure if people could help me, as I am new to this.
I think I've admitted to myself in the last couple of weeks that I am a binger.
I think I have been one for years but it has got increasingly worse of the past couple of months.
I exercise daily.... Unless away on holiday etc, and watch what I eat, trying to eat clean as much as possible.
However sometimes I just crave something sweet, and because I don't eat it often I get hooked and just continue to eat that item. The problem is sometimes I don't even realise how much I've eaten, or even while I'm eating it I get into a zombie state and just eat and eat until I feel. I get awfully bloated and can hardly move and then the terrible guilty feelings come. I become angry with myself, for letting myself go and having no self control as I want to lead a healthy lifestyle.
I understand I may have this for life but I want to know how deal with it. I'm fr England!
Thanks

ek0513

I was a binge eater for as long as I can remeber. So once I started my lifestyle change I vowed to never let myself binge again.. obviously I still have moments where I want to dive in to a jumbo plate of pasta, but I have these things that I do to control myself. One thing is obviously thinking of my goal when I feel a binge coming on, another, which is helpful is to visualize myself eating what im about to eat. Having the image in my head of stuffing my face with food is often enough to calm the urge to binge. Last thing I do is to walk away, and just get myself as far from possible away from the food.. little things do help, and I think binging is something ive learned to control. I use to binge eat almost everyday before, and now I havent since january, and if I did, It was only half as bad binging as it use to be.

tennispolly

looking at this topic makes me realize that i am not alone

elly19872014

That's a great idea.... I've given myself a goal as I am going on holiday so obviously want to look and feel confident.
Is there any more advise to give to stopping to binge?

craziedazie

You can add me if you want. I binge and I also log it with no guilt and try to do better the next day.
I used to beat myself up a lot over it. I don't anymore.

xPeacefulx

Hello ive come to notice im a binge eater :ohwell: ive slowed down alot on logging all my foods because of this lol but im slowly working on it.... I was told acouple days ago by someone who goes to OA meetings ( overeaters anonymous) that wearing a rubber band on your wrist and snapping it whenever you get a urge to binge that it does something and resets your brain to not want to over eat or something along those lines. Thought id share hope it helps someone I hear that OA meetings are alot of fun ive yet to check one out i plan on it though just to see what there all about. If anyones intrested maybe check out if theirs any in your area. :flowerforyou:

Windynovember

I have found a book, 'Brain Over BInge' that really helped me to understand that binge eating is a a habit that gets wired into the brain. The urge to binge gets set up in the brain in a vulnerable body, often a dieting teenage body, because the brain over -reactics when it thinks the body is starving. This then turns into a habit.

But the book shows the brain is more plastic than people realise and that it is possible to change the hard wiring to binge by refusing to use it. Eventually the binge circuitry dies off and is replaced by a normal one. This way the binge trigger reaction stops.

The book shows all the writer went through before reaching this understanding, so everyone who has gone through years of binging will find a lot to relate to.

This book has helped me a lot and I don't have binges anymore.

I have also helped myself a lot by using Emotional Freedom Technique on myself. I think this works by interrupting automatic brain reactions. I try to do some every morning, working on each sad thought as it came up, and when I was binging I tried to do it about four times a day. This technique also helps release hidden emotions in a gentle way so I do not have to try to use food to blank myself out.

The one thing anyone who suffers from binge eating has to realise is that you have to eat real food often so the brain never gets the idea the body is hungry. You can eat a thousands of calories of sweet things but the brain will think the body is starved if it hasn't had real food. I try to eat enough protein to feed my body (not Atkins, just enough protein say 60 grams day), some good oil like olive oils, some nuts and seeds, plenty of vegetables, and a little brown rice or brown bread. I reckon that no matter what sort of binge has happened the only way out of the vicious circle is not to try to overcompensate, but go straight back to real food and always try to eat before getting hungry. I have found that this way I don't want so much sugar and don't feel so hungry.

I think there can be hope.

stewartk2005

I've realized I'm a binge eater as well. I get so stressed with work that I want to eat unhealthy and stuff myself once I get home. Like others have stated, I get so disgusted with myself afterwards. I am relieved to know others are trying to work through the same issue.

woolspinner65

This post was very helpful.
Thank you.

layniebird

I have found a book, 'Brain Over BInge' that really helped me to understand that binge eating is a a habit that gets wired into the brain. The urge to binge gets set up in the brain in a vulnerable body, often a dieting teenage body, because the brain over -reactics when it thinks the body is starving. This then turns into a habit.

But the book shows the brain is more plastic than people realise and that it is possible to change the hard wiring to binge by refusing to use it. Eventually the binge circuitry dies off and is replaced by a normal one. This way the binge trigger reaction stops.

The book shows all the writer went through before reaching this understanding, so everyone who has gone through years of binging will find a lot to relate to.

Yes. Yessss. Thank you. I'm going to get this book.

I have the feeling that it also has a lot to do with distress tolerance. There exists inside that little child that wants what it wants and wants it NOW! so we have to keep that in mind as well. I'm working on getting in touch with that part of myself and learning how to work with her instead of forcing her to do something she doesn't want to do.

Thank you lovely women for being so vulnerable!