Binge Eating... Do you Own up?

Donna6017

If your spouse is around, will you not binge?
Do you hide your food packaging?
Does your spouse know about it?
Do you talk about it? To who? Therapist?
Just Curious

Yes, I binge in secret
Yes
I don't think so, but he probably does
No

Flossie1981

I have binge eaten since I was in my teens. I used to spend a lot of money on excess food even when I lived at home with my parents. I used to hide food wrappers under my bed and then every now and again I would have a mass clear out and pretend I was just having a major room tidy. I still have bad times but they are less often and not quite as bad as then. I don't need to hide a cheesecake under my bed!! But I do still have times when I just eat crap. Last week I stopped at the bakers on my way to work and bought a cornish pasty, chocolate muffin and a ham and cheese roll and had eaten them all by 10.30am. Does my partner know? No, he doesn't. The only person who knows is my mum and I did see a therapist but it wasn't t he most useful thing in the world. I think it definately relates to my emotional management, when I am struggling and feeling happy or sad then I turn to food. I have a lot of issues around trust and rejection due to being bullied at school but I think I have slowly got them under control.

McCelmer

binging is in the eye of the beholder....its all very personal.

Well-said.

sbbhbm

My food issues go back decades, literally, but I gave it some real thought over Christmas and did manage to get a handle on what's prompted me to stack on most of my excess weight and what I've been doing to encourage it. Six years back, I was a single parent and was so broke that there was one time when me and the kids spent two weeks living on not much more than slowly rotting peaches and the half a dozen ready meals that I'd had stashed away in the freezer for emergencies. I'll never forget how the baby cried because all I had to give her was a pre-packed chili that was too spicy for her, and how soul-destroyingly bad I felt about it. .... As long as food was coming into the house, I didn't care. I didn't tell anyone, much less my husband. It's only recently that I've realised that a lot of it was down to an unacknowledged dread of being left to feed the kids rotten peaches again.

Thank you for your honesty and I have to say I identified with your feeling of desperation of being hungry and not having enough. I do get very panic-y when I fear my need to eat will not be met. Thinking out loud here, but for me, maybe the memories of starving when poor and the memories of starving when dieting somehow get all mixed together in my head. I really hate to be hungry and I have to promise myself that I'll eat, that I won't go back into the starvation mode super low calorie diets I've endured in the past.

Wow! I'm surprised at my emotional response to what you wrote and the feelings it stirred up in me.

Ditto. This made me cry. I remember nights going to bed hungry because all the four of us (me, mom, dad & sis) had for dinner was one can of tomato soup, watered down till it was almost clear, split between the four of us. Once my dad got a better job, we all started eating like we were making up for lost time. I lived for a long time eating like there might not be food tomorrow. One of my biggest fears as a mother is that my daughter will be hungry and I won't be able to feed her.

osmom3kids

I absolutely do it in secret. I do it alone when I am stressed. If someone else is there, it keeps me from doing it out of sheer embarrassment. I guess I never realized that before though...

Me too.

MightyDomo

I absolutely own up to it and try to fight it. I had a hard time last week... a few days nearly off the wagon but I manage to keep myself on it.

It helps me feel the need to be more committed to finding control over my eating habits.

AmandaWalt628

I usually do it when I'm PMSing as well (which is also now). But I've grown to realize it and do my best to stop it.

Funny though because I was talking to a co-worker yesterday about a recent (and BAD) binge. She said that she couldn't believe I was telling her about it like I was...that she always denies eating the bad food. It actually made me realize that I'm finally at a point where I'm not ashamed of my choices. I also feel more accountable when I tell other people since I'm not going to weight watchers anymore so no one else sees the numbers on the scale but me.

svelte4summer13

I definitely don't own up to my binges.
If I binge, I erase my entire day because I'd rather see nothing than face the truth.
My 2013 started with a lot of drama and I've put on 10lbs since January 1.
Definitely not something I'm proud of.
I've gotten the urges under control in the past and I know I can get them under control again.
It's just a matter of determination and dedication.

Micahroni84

I havent binge eaten in years but when i did i would go until i threw up either voluntarily or not or until i passed out from the pain of my full stomach. Binging to me is, well it was, entire boxes of little debbie goodies, 2 lb bags of skittles or a dozen large donuts plus whatever else would fill the volume until it felt like my stomach was splitting. I would never do it in front of anyone but when i had an urge and couldnt get alone time to binge it made the binge even worse when i finally could get alone. I was confronted by my dad about it when i was 16 when he found dozens of empty 2lb bags of candy in my car. I stopped binging about six years ago after i talked with my family and husband openly about it. ive only done it a handful of times up until 3 years ago. Binge free since then.

juliekins64

I'm curious as to what people consider to be binge eating. How many calories in a day, for instance? I've always thought of binge eating as stuffing down five or ten thousand calories at a sitting (not a secret trip to McDonald's for the #8 and a milkshake) but I'd like to know what it means on MFP. Thanks!

Enough to nealy throw up. It's hard to count the calories because I don't look down into my hands to see how many are there, I take fistful of food and put it into my mouth. When I binge it will be something like an entire dozen muffins with several glasses of milk, an entire box of ceral (min wheats), the entire bag of raisins or seeds....

Cheri_Moves

Reading through these has given me a sense of belonging... well, at least that I am not alone in this. Becuse I do it and dont talk about it, or do it alone and feel bad about it, I always feel like I AM alone in it... BUT IM NOT! Ive come to realize that *one day* gaining control over this will be the most challanging part of my journey, because It goes WAAAAY back to my childhood.

Thank you all for being so brave. :flowerforyou:

jennaworksout

yes, I own up everything I eat, my binges are not what they used to be like, but when I do have a binge...usually PMS one..its may be 500 cals or so , maybe 750.cals ...not like back when I could eat a whole large pizza to myself. then a carton of icecream...but my binges tend to be more healthier choices now ike veggie sticks, nut butters, etc....so I guess thats the good thing

metacognition

I used to binge eat, and I found it almost unavoidable when I dropped my calories around the holidays. It was not something I planned for, but usually happened at the end of the day when I was tired or craving sugar. I would start with something sweet, like melon or a fiber one bar. It would then progress to lunchables, easy mac with tuna, whatever flavor I craved at the moment

I would go to over 3,000 calories on some days and honestly did not feel full. That's why I think hunger hormones and my deficit had something to do with these binges. I usually stopped at less than 3000 calories because I know that it sucks to spend the whole week working off one mistake. I logged all of these binges, too.

allymacary

I am really struggling with this myself. I want to stop so badly, I know it is extremely unhealthy and I know I don't want to do it anymore. I definitely learned it from my mother and I refuse to pass it on to my children. I have no shame, I'll do it in front of people, I can't control it! I hate to admit this but I easily do it one to two times a week. It totally ruins all my work out efforts and makes me feel like I have to work out as opposed to wanting to work out. I just finished reading David Kessler's book "The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite" it was extremely insightful and I would suggest it to anyone with a binging problem.

God, that felt good to at least tell someone.

musycnlyrics

Yes, I own up. usually only to myself or thru a crying/snotting/wailing vent to hubby. He knows that I have issues and we talk about them openly and honestly and he supports me.
I don't like to acknowledge weakness in myself, so me logging or journalling about binge episodes lessens their frequency.
I'm less likely to binge if others are around so I spend a lot of time with my kids and husband. It helps, even though i truly enjoy my moments of solitude...

keentaylor

I have told people that I binge but I am generally alone when it happens and it is over before I know what hit me. I know I am lonely at those times and I guess I am trying to fill a void.

washybosh

Im on a very low calorie diet at the moment and boy oh boy when the deadly curse appears once a month, theres no stopping me.
i can eat a whole load of crap and not even think about it!
Yeah probably do it alone when my little boy is in bed...but don't hide the wrappers or feel guilty..i just move on and work harder then next day.
I just except the fact that i've just eaten 4 packets of crisps, a ton of Maltesers,Cheese, etc and don't beat myself up about it.....

shygur

I'm curious as to what people consider to be binge eating. How many calories in a day, for instance? I've always thought of binge eating as stuffing down five or ten thousand calories at a sitting (not a secret trip to McDonald's for the #8 and a milkshake) but I'd like to know what it means on MFP. Thanks!

I don't think there is a specific calorie definition to a binge, but what defines it is a feeling of lack of control. When you start and can't stop.

This! Out of control eating. Yes, I do it alone. Yes, I spent years in therapy for this eating disorder and rarely if ever do I binge anymore, but it could happen. Guilt and shame are often the results which cause more binging, vicious circle.

mn145

I binge eat. When I do it, I do it alone. However, I no longer hide that I do binge eat. I talk about it. I log my binge caloires and items into MFP and I discuss why I did it, what caused it, and what I am trying to do to not do it in the future. Since I have been more open about my binges, I have done it much less. I have stopped denying myself food in terms of making certain foods off limits. That seems to help me from doing it as often as I did in the past. I have had a couple of bad weeks with bingeing due to stress and being ticked off that I have been unable to exercise for the past month due to my health. It's something that I struggle with every day, but letting other people in on it really does help.

Timshel_

I do binge around the holidays, to the point of just making myself mentally sick of eating. It's the one time of year I don't moderate myself too much, but even then I ionly gain 5 to 10 pounds over the 3 months I relax my regiment. Otherwise, I am pretty stable and if I binge I try to compensate some other way (eat less another meal or exercise more).

Good luck