huge binge, help please...

californiagirl2012

I've only binged once in my life and it was when I got down to 10% body fat and was eating too low. But I went through all of the horrible emotions, cried, felt guilty, sick, exhausted. But now I understand that I can't eat that low anymore because my BF is too low.

What you have is the same thing but it's more emotional and I have friends who have the same issue. Most of them say writing and keeping a journal of your feelings when you have those cravings. There is usually something emotional unresolved and you try to fill it with food. There are apparently a lot of good books out there.

All I can say is I know it's hard. I don't have binge issues but I still have to keep certain foods out of the house, mainly because I maintain at a low body fat level (under 12%) and so my hunger hormones act differently now compared to when I had higher body fat and it's a lot harder to keep control.

ChapinaGrande

Everyone has left you some pretty good advice. I hope you can find some peace in this. In my life, I used to binge a LOT and, as you said, I'd pick up a good extra few thousand calories in an hour or two a few nights a week. Some people on here suggested therapy, and I would like to put in my vote for that as well. I have been seeing a counselor for some time--just a regular counselor, not an ED specialist. We haven't even touched on eating or binging yet, but we have spent a LOT of time talking about my past, my depression, and my generalized anxiety. Just improving these few things have helped me get my binging under control immensely because I am more clear-headed to control myself. When the time comes to bring up my eating, I feel like that "discussion" will be a lot shorter than it would have been this time last year. Good luck with this. Message or add me if you like. Sending you some positive thoughts.

kiachu

Maybe you need to take a diet break and just eat? Your profile says you've been yoyo dieting since 13 years old.

traceybarbour

To stop mine in its tracks I go brush my teeth and rinse with the strongest mouthwash I can find. The taste afterwards kind of makes me think to my self what in the world am I doing.. Some times after I eat my meals I will have a spoonful of natural peanut butter and I doesn't make me crave the sugar as much. Just watch the cals.. And last but not least I keep a unpleasant pic of me at my highest weight near the kitchen or fridge door and its a mental reminder that that makes me unhappy when I see myself like that.. Just some of my tricks.. best wishes to you!!

emancipateurself

Hey are we twins? Had a binge of that magnitude last night too. It just happens....what I have been doing is asking myself what was going on for me? Typically it is something emotionally rather then physical and it occurs even if I'm eaten all day and am not hungry. Also it's about forgiving yourself when it happens and being able to move on from it. If you suffer from binge eating and have lived that way for most of your life it's not something you can just STOP all at once. It takes time and patience and a deep internal awarness of what is happening.
So learn from this, remember how physically sick it makes you feel and try to figure out what is going on for you inside.
And FORGIVE. Today is a new day.

mvasallo

I've only binged once in my life and it was when I got down to 10% body fat and was eating too low. But I went through all of the horrible emotions, cried, felt guilty, sick, exhausted. But now I understand that I can't eat that low anymore because my BF is too low.

What you have is the same thing but it's more emotional and I have friends who have the same issue. Most of them say writing and keeping a journal of your feelings when you have those cravings. There is usually something emotional unresolved and you try to fill it with food. There are apparently a lot of good books out there.

^I agree with this & not having it in the house. I get like this but with carbs. I just restrict my carbs because they are my "addiction" & when I feel that urge to binge & the food isn't available to I do throw sort of a tantrum. It's usually because I'm really upset about something & trying to stuff it down with food that comforts me. I let myslef cry, get mad, whatever..it is how I am feeling & then I journal. Hope that helps.

kw85296

I have been a binge eater in the past too and still have an occasional day. One of the things for me is that I really feel I have a refined sugar addiction. I could not just stop at one. What helped me get through the first week or so was I did not buy any sweet stuff for my house, but I made sure I had plenty of fruits and veggies and I told myself that I could eat all I wanted of the fruits and veggies--that way I did not feel deprived and once I got over the hump I did not crave it so much. I do still feel that I need to be very careful of refined sugars because it would not take much for me to be back to bingeing on it. It does suck though that someone that is addicted to cigarettes or alcohol can just not have them in the house for temptation, but obviously it's impossible to not have any food.

doodles80

Don't buy it! When you feel like buying it, put the money you would have spent in a jar and then go treat yourself to a massage or perfume or an expensive lipstick or something else which is nice!

This is actually a great idea. Might consider doing something like this for myself.

Yey! If I've helped one person then that's my tick in the box for the day!

Lipstickcherry

The post about having very lean body fat and not feeling like binging makes sense to me since I have insulin resistance and it is the fat in my body that is driving that. Insulin resistance is actually pretty common. It tends to happen in overweight people. It happened to me early on during puberty since I got PCOS.

I couldn't figure out for years why I was driven to binge eat at times. I would get the shakes and feel sick. People around me freaked out, seeing a fat girl guzzle a bunch of cookies. One time at a bible study, I wolfed down 4 oreos in a row. As I tried to reach for 1 more, an older lady moved my hand with a disapproving look on her face. She must have thought "she's binge eating only from gluttony". Now I know better. There is a love of eating I have (trust me, I have my issues, I write in a journal to deal and process them as much as possible) however...it really became much more simple after I was treated with metformin and avandia. My endocrinologist got my TSH under control with me taking those meds. Apparently, in a way I don't understand, everything is connected. I was way off the charts. Once that became normal, I felt better. I went off the drugs and now eat more natural foods. I tend to eat the whites (sugar, white rice, white bread and other very refined carbs) sparingly. This helps me immensely. I sleep at night now more.

I hardly ever binge now. I still have some insulin resistance. I feel it whenever I eat things I shouldn't as I get extremely hungry and feel like I just can't stop.

In insulin resistance, the cells that let in insulin can change shape when you are overweight. The insulin has trouble getting in. It floats around in your bloodstream. You body doesn't "sense" the insulin, so it adds more and more. Your blood sugar plumments. You feel famished. You binge on sugar or simple carbs. Your sugar spikes and you feel relief. Then the cycle repeats. If you break this cycle eating something like a peanut butter sandwich on wheat bread (protein+carbs), your may not get that drop.

How do those mis-shapen cells get back to normal? By you losing weight. Nobody knows why. If you want to see a doctor talk about this, click on my profile and look for the youtube link.

Short story of my post: The Opening Poster may have insulin resistance going on.

jacannon1234

Brush your teeth! You don't want to eat sweets or anything after that.

Rodap9631

for a while i made sure every day i ate 4 large carrots and 4 tomatoes, before anything else ie i sometimes ate them for breakfast and lunch. You are so full you dont have as much room in your stomach for the sweet foods so even if you do eat them you dont eat as much, try giving that a go.

taylorwaylor

ahhh I got the same problem! I just help control it by not having any junk food in the house... eat reeeeally healthy and your taste buds will crave more healthy stuff! promise! my diet used to be terrible... it consisted of chocolate, McDonald's, and buffalo wild wings.... an I've for the most part flipped that lifestyle around! it's hard at first but you have to slowly ween yourself off of the junk. it's hard, ik! it just take time patience and perservirence. don't have any junk food or binge food in your house! save the treats for when you know you won't binge...such as going to the ice cream store with people.. you'd only get one serving and then leave most likely. an then you'll enjoy the junk more when it's occasional. gooood luck.. also, your probably just an emotional eater. I find that when I've had a bad day I tend to make bad food decisions and lose self control..it's just hard to say no. add me if you'd like! we can battle this together! I need help just as much as you.

randysbombshellgirl

This helps me whenever I go over my daily total I hop on the tread & burn whatever I'm over. It slaps me in the face so I don't do it again. I realize with a 4000 day that's probably not feasable maybe you could calculate what it would take to burn what you went over just to see how hard it is to burn it off.

gazelleintraining

How do all of you prevent a binge or even stop it in it's tracks? How do you stay motivated? How do you keep your focus and stay on the right path? Any tips or personal stories/support would be greatly appreciated I'm just really not sure what else to do? I feel exhausted from battling myself constantly over this. Thank you for listening to me.

I have had similar behavior since I was 5 years old (really!). Now at 37, I can tell you some things that help me. I'm not perfect by any means, but now when I slip, I have a greater understanding of what's really happening and how to get back up again quickly.

1. It's all about stress (possibly depression) and chilling yourself out with food; usually the sugar-fat-salt combination because it releases the most natural opiates in the brain. Don't feel bad about it; many people are like this.

2. You can't change a lot of the stress, but you can change your response. It's about stimulus and conditioned response. When you feel a trigger, don't do your usual response (overeating); over time it will become easier to resist, but you have to put in the work in the beginning of saying no, pushing through the bad feelings that come up, and replacing the activity. I suggest exercise. Not only is it good for you, but it reduces your appetite and release similar endorphin chemicals as overeating does.

3. You can also set yourself up to have greater defenses against the urge. Eat, evenly spaced out meals that each have a protein component of some kind to stabilize your blood sugar fluctuations.

4. The best time to stop a binge is right now (no matter where you are in the process). Because binging is a conditioned response to the stimulus of stress/depression/etc., the moment you stop doing the usual response and replace it with something more productive and less unhealthy the sooner you're working on actually breaking a habit. Doing this repetitively over time means that when you feel stressed or depressed (whether from emotional or biochemical causes, or both), you will have other equally pleasant options to choose from to deflate that cause.

So, I would stop right now--not tomorrow, not next Monday, not next month--right this very moment. Make yourself a cup of herbal tea, brush your teeth, and declare it behind you. And the next time you feel that urge, pay attention to that delicious little moment right before you give in when you know you could stop it dead in its tracks. Take advantage of that moment and get through the fire because the next time will be even easier.

Good luck!

sarah1334

I totally know that "I am going to throw a fit if I don't have something sweet RIGHT NOW" feeling! Ugh! I struggled with it for a long time... the only thing that worked for me was to really cut back (almost eliminate) sugar and refined flour from my diet. It was AWFUL for about two weeks... and then one day I realized I hadn't had cravings in awhile! It was so freeing. But, different things work for different people. I sincerely wish you the best of luck... I know it can be hard!

khadeejah1

Thank you so much to everyone who replied, I really appreciate the support. Lots of great ideas too, I forgot about the strong mouthwash and just stopping or at least delaying the binge that way. I also really like the idea of saving the money I would spend on a binge (usually a significant amount!) and buying something I really want, I did that at one point and I want to start doing that again. The gum one is a good too and I think if I find that even with the mouthwash that I still need something maybe I could try sipping hot chocolate, something comforting. I think that's the big thing is the comfort, the bingeing is absolutely something that is linked to my emotions. The worst is now that when I eat I just pass out for hours and wake up dehydrated and groggy from the binge and waste my day, so I think I just need to find more things to fill my evenings with so I don't end up bingeing out of being alone with my thoughts for too long. I think that's part of it too is that I'm incredibly critical of myself and being alone for too long with my thoughts is unbearable and I know that if I'm eating all of a sudden I get a quick jolt and feel temporarily really good but that's always followed by the crash and feeling the exact opposite. Also a number of people suggested therapy or the possibility of depression and this is something I've struggled with since I was a teenager, I'll be fine for years and then it comes back with a vengence, it's something that is a daily battle, not to sound dramatic, but it's something that I work on with a dr regularly I'm actually much better than I used to be, I think the binge eating is just the one thing that is taking the longest to work through. Thank you again everyone for the suggestions and support I really do appreciate it, hopefully one of these things will work for me

waronmyfat

you dont have to deprive yourself of sweet foods... moderation is the key and usually smaller portions of it... going on a binge eating like you did you wont lose weight if anything you'll stick back on what you've lost... sit down write out a food diary for the week and in that week include 1 cheat day which will have a sweet treat in it.. weather it be a mini mars bar .. or a chocolate pudding something that you enjoy.. it doesnt have to be hard you just need to learn to control it

keeponsteppin

I buy frozen fruit throw in blender add a little sweetener to it maybe a splash of o.j and you have a sorbet only like 70 cal for like half a blender

buckeye86

I've had the same problem the last few days. Somehow my stomach never felt full and I've just felt ravenously hungry. Then I realized what time of the month it is (stupid hormones)... It always happens around now, just usually not this bad. Unless it's psychological, it'll probably pass as long as you try to get back into things mentally. Just know that a few days might throw your week off, but it won't throw off your whole goal. Most of us have missteps, but they can always be reversed as long as you keep a positive mindset.

l_nelson20

Also consider buying single portions of sweets at a time--that way you can have something and not feel "punished" without sabotaging your weight-loss. Also, check out http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/ and see if there is an eating disorder support group in your area or if they have tips for you. Finally, in addition to logging your food, try logging your stress/moods for awhile and see if there are any patterns. Is it a too low fat/low calorie day that seems to trigger the binging? or is it days when you have a deadline or get criticized in some fashion. Figuring out what your trigger is will help you focus on the underlying problem in a more constructive and lower calorie way. Good luck