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Hi, my name is Allyson and I think I just recently realized that I am a binge eater. I exercise daily pretty much so people wouldn't really suspect it I think but all I want is to eat food all day long. I am constantly thinking about it, and if I have access to it I will just eat all day and I LOVE sweet stuff. I can eat 5 cupcakes in one sitting. I will hide food from my boyfriend, buy candy in secret and eat it away from him. I use to be bulimic also so of course if I binge...I purge. This is what I am most ashamed of. Here I am 25 years old resorting to the same childish, unhealthy behavior. When I was anorexic and bulimic I weighed all of 109lbs. When I was just a binge eater I got up to 240lbs. Now I have lost weight the healthy way and I am so proud of myself but then I have days like that. And it seems the more weight I lose the more I have this desire to just eat everything in sight. It's as if I feel like it's okay to stuff my face now because I am not "fat" anymore. I don't know ha anyway, I'm new.

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  • MaraDiaz
    MaraDiaz Posts: 4,604 Member
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    Welcome. This sounds pretty familiar. Instead of purging in my twenties I just wouldn't eat at all. I ate just enough to stay upright. And then sometimes I'd eat everything. What helps me is finding and eliminating food triggers plus maintaining a reasonable calorie deficit (although that part gets harder and harder as I get closer to goal and losing gets harder, but I'm doing it).

    Lots of people here understand where you're at and can help.
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
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    This can often happen for those who have had anorexia and dropped to unhealthy weights. I got down to 70Ibs when I was 18, at 5'11 and binged my way back to a more healthy weight. I have battled to find some sense of balance ever since, and I think that is key. Finding a way you can still enjoy those trigger foods, in moderation. I personally, am not an advocate of cutting things out, as I see that as an avoidance of the issue rather than confronting the issue and what underlies it. I, personally, buy in single portions of things if I want something sweet, at the time I crave it, rather than holding off. Of course, sometimes I do slip up, but I just get back to rhythm the next day(or I do right now, I did have a 6 week solid bender last year, lol, where I could not break free and didn't care enough to break free). An alternative is having a 's*d it' day, and allowing yourself to have a certain amount of the crave foods, and getting right back on track for the remainder of the week, if you can manage to just buy in a certain quantity and stick to that. It might not work for you, or the guilt might cause you to purge, I don't know. I am less prone to purge if it is planned as therefore it is controlled and I already know the sort of caloric intake I will end up at. You have to find your own key, in the end I think, as everyone will have different shaped keyhole.
  • purpleroxmysocks
    purpleroxmysocks Posts: 137 Member
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    Yeah, I don't like to remove things from my diet, but I'll have extreme days where I won't eat much if I think about it too much or I will over eat if I don't ha I was just upset that I had started purging and I wanted to vent :( but I am glad that I am not the only one