Binge eating

Well you look pretty thin if that is you in your profile pictures, and seem to be a pretty low weight too, so it doesn't look as if the binges are having an impact on your physical shape too much, although the emotional impact can be great.

I would disregard anyone who sluffs off the extreme impact and damages of binge eating disorder just because it may not show up in your weight. I struggled with BED for a long time and still do on occasion. It took a HUGE amount of personal work, trial and error, a therapist, and a lot of gaining and losing to really figure out what I wanted my path to recovery to look like.

I no longer have any restrictions on the foods that I eat (mentally, I mean), I eat when I'm hungry - meaning some days I will eat 900 calories and some days I will eat 2000, the key is that I really listen to my body. I also stopped religiously exercising and just started doing daily activities that felt good to my body, like riding my bike to places. The most important thing for me is recognizing that it is not the end of the world if I eat 3000 calories one day because I feel extra hungry or whatever it is. By not patronizing and punishing myself, I can much more easily move on to the next day and get back into a normal pattern of eating.

Binge eating and emotional eating are psychological problems. I am working on those myself. I would recommed a good therapist who specializes in food related issues.

I suffered hard from binge eating. It's pretty much the cause of me gaining weight in the first place. The only thing you can do is tell yourself no, and not give in to those cravings. When you feel like bingeing imagine how you'll feel afterwards. When I feel the need to binge, the first thing I say to myself is " Are these cookies worth the 5lb gain, feeling bad afterwards and the heartache? No, I think not!".

As crazy as this sounds the best known way to beat binge eating (other than psychological help) is to eat more often! Your body has an increadible memory and when you restrict what you eat it reaches a point where it feels starved and takes over and forces you to eat. As soon as it gets something close to a meal it kinda goes "quick here's our chance for food! go crazy!"

Unfortunetly that feeling of eating often brings on shame and and makes you want to restrict again to make up for it! Your body learns this process and each time you restrict it gets terrified that it will never get food again (like before) so it makes you binge again as soon as you eat or eat something triggering! and because it assumes you will restrict afterwards again it eats all that much more.


This is something I've struggled with since my weight loss last year and gained back all plus more of my weight loss The past few months I finally started listening to the advice and it does work!

So how to break the cycle? small managable frequent meals. (*edit: you say you eat when you are hungry - my suggestion is to eat at set times whether you are hungry or not. this was SO scary for me to start with but when I was open to it and commited to it it helped so much!! and my binges have reduced in frequency and intensity, even lost a bit of weight!)

The meal plan I have is

7am: Hot drink
8am: Breakfast
11am: Morning snack
1pm: Lunch
3pm: Afternoon snack
6pm: Dinner
8pm: supper
10pm: hot drink



the meals are smaller than they used to be but there is a lot more of them.

*edit there is a website somewhere (try a google search) that has 101 things to do instead of binging. When I started to make my meals more frequent (sometimes I'll chop up a carrot and literly eat one piece every 15 minutes all day long) I found that even a "normal" snack would trigger a binge so whilst adapting I would make sure that I had something to occupy me straight after - but distraction wont work without the frequent and timely meals.

Another thing I've found people to say is that binging for them is simply a repetative motion. So when eating try to do another repetative motion that has nothing to do with food , like knitting or pulling weeds in the garden

As crazy as this sounds the best known way to beat binge eating (other than psychological help) is to eat more often! Your body has an increadible memory and when you restrict what you eat it reaches a point where it feels starved and takes over and forces you to eat. As soon as it gets something close to a meal it kinda goes "quick here's our chance for food! go crazy!"

Unfortunetly that feeling of eating often brings on shame and and makes you want to restrict again to make up for it! Your body learns this process and each time you restrict it gets terrified that it will never get food again (like before) so it makes you binge again as soon as you eat or eat something triggering! and because it assumes you will restrict afterwards again it eats all that much more.


This is something I've struggled with since my weight loss last year and gained back all plus more of my weight loss The past few months I finally started listening to the advice and it does work!

So how to break the cycle? small managable frequent meals. (*edit: you say you eat when you are hungry - my suggestion is to eat at set times whether you are hungry or not. this was SO scary for me to start with but when I was open to it and commited to it it helped so much!! and my binges have reduced in frequency and intensity, even lost a bit of weight!)

The meal plan I have is

7am: Hot drink
8am: Breakfast
11am: Morning snack
1pm: Lunch
3pm: Afternoon snack
6pm: Dinner
8pm: supper
10pm: hot drink



the meals are smaller than they used to be but there is a lot more of them.

*edit there is a website somewhere (try a google search) that has 101 things to do instead of binging. When I started to make my meals more frequent (sometimes I'll chop up a carrot and literly eat one piece every 15 minutes all day long) I found that even a "normal" snack would trigger a binge so whilst adapting I would make sure that I had something to occupy me straight after - but distraction wont work without the frequent and timely meals.

Another thing I've found people to say is that binging for them is simply a repetative motion. So when eating try to do another repetative motion that has nothing to do with food , like knitting or pulling weeds in the garden

Great advise!