Anyone who was or is a Binge Eater?

I'm a recovering binge eater. I still have setbacks once in a while, but it's nothing like it was in my 20s. You kind of have to get to the root of WHY you're doing it. I was doing it because I was terribly unhappy with my life. Eating made me feel "full," something I wasn't getting from anywhere else.

It has to be a conscious decision every day. You have to make life choices. When I find myself about to shovel more food in my mouth, I get up and play with our kitty, or walk outside to let the air blow on my face, or sometimes even just sit and look at silly YouTube videos until I calm down. I make a list of all the things I'm happy about, or I talk to friends online. All I need is that moment of distraction, you know?

Much much luck and good wishes to you!

Hey, I'm Melissa and I'm a Binge eater. There are periods where I, too, live to eat. I used to feel like there was something wrong with me because I couldn't control it. So, you are not alone.

Finally, somehow at age 50, I have finally overcome alot of that stuff. But it still rears it's ugly head and sneaks up on me.

So, trigger foods - I just don't keep them in the house. I don't know if I can control myself. Another thing, I exercise hard at least 4x a week to reverse the damage from when I do binge.

Been logging my food on MFP for over a year. That has helped me alot. I tend not to binge so bad when I know I have to log it. I also keep my diary open. Weigh myself every day too.

Something else that works well for me - start the day off with a very low sugar type of small meal. Seriously, I eat a single egg - no toast or anything else. It's nutritious and satisfies me until about 11 am - then it's about lunch time. If I eat something like cereal, or waffles, or pastries - I'm in trouble. The sugar sets me off and I'm craving the rest of the day and I may as well give it up.

Good luck!

I'm an emotional binge eater. Nothing severe enough to be counted as a disorder. I improved a lot when I started calorie cycling to allow myself days of higher calories, taking away some of the urge to binge. A friend of mine passed away on Monday and I've been binging on and off all week as a result, but my binges are much reduced compared to what they used to be.

I used to be... Had to get drastic and have Gastric bypass. I also DO NOT buy my binge trigger foods anymore, or ask my family to purchase them for me. Very hard to change!

I love food. I do very good through the day but starting MFP has helped me to see where I was eating non needed calories. I don't understand it, I am strong enough if my family goes out to eat, I eat the salad bar and stay strong but when night time comes I find myself thinking of things I can eat. I bought some cheese sticks and will just nibble on one if the urge gets too strong sometimes I even have to go to bed or I know I will find something else. I see now where I put on my extra pounds. Now I have to find something else to do to take the place of eating at night.

Last night all night as a matter of fact. ARG! But I can't change what I ate last night but I can refocus and change what I eat today. I can't have anything in the house that is sweet or salty and then when I can't find those I eat whatever else isn't nailed down. Although I am getting much better thanks for many friends here on MFP. Good luck!

I have a really weird strategy to stop me binge eating...
I found that even though I stopped buying bad foods in my weekly shopping, it just encouraged me to run out to the shop up the road and buy 3 bars of galaxy or whatnot.

So.. to stop this I developed a weekend fund which is basically a jar in my kitchen.. everytime I find myself giving in and wanting to go and buy something unhealthy (in a large quantity) I either limit myself to 1 small item and calculate how much money I've saved by not buying the multiple items or just don't buy anything at all and calculate how much money I've saved myself to put in the jar...

for example if I had a craving for a tub of ben and jerrys cookie dough ice cream.. I would stop myself from buying it, look for a low cal alternative and use the money it would've cost me (£5) - put it in my jar and then use it at the weekend to buy clothes,make up, anything I wanted to treat myself

might not be practical for everybody but it works for a shopaholic like me

Things that have helped me:

1) Know your limits and 'make trades'. If I really want fries at lunch, I'll order the sandwich without the bun or if it's a restaurant that brings bread before the meal, make sure to tell the server to NOT bring the bread. Don't avoid the carbs, just make sure you take control over how you have them.

2) Know you're going to journal EVERYTHING. 'nuf said.

3) don't buy stuff you can't not eat. If it's stuff the family really likes, have the family put it somewhere where you can't readily see it. Yes, have them hide the food. Or just make sure it isn't on the counters for you to see.

4) If you decide you're hungry and just have to have something to eat, have a protein or fruit or veggie FIRST. THEN have the handful of chips. You'll be less likely to over do it.

5) If you do buy bags of chips, invest in the small snack-size ziplock bags, and portion them out. Either that or buy the snack bags size from the store. It really does help! I have a "snack bag" that ONLY MINE! I have protein bars in it, snack size bags of pretzels, sometimes I'll even get the dove dark chocolate promises, but some in there, and have the husband hide the rest.

There are a lot of things I do to not keep things in the house. I love queso dip, but can't keep it in the house. BUT I can go to Don Pablo's for lunch every now and then and get a kids portion, count out 8 tortilla chips, and work it in without it killing my food journal for the day. And no leftovers!

I live near Indianapolis and Peapod is a grocery delivery service here. I LOVE IT. It has cut down on impule buying a LOT. If you're able to take advantage of such a thing in your area, then it's worth it. Walgreen's also has "Web Pickup" for a few miscellaneous things that Peapod may not carry, or I can't wait for the delivery date I've picked....it's a free service, AND they'll even bring it out to your car.

At work, I bought a small dorm fridge that's next to my desk. I got it so I wouldn't have to keep things in the office fridge and go in the kitchen where there's a constant supply of chips, cookies, cakes, whatever. Sometimes, I can't not partake. This way, I've got my water in the fridge, some yogurt, some light string cheese, grape tomatoes, and just had a chicken ceasar salad. If I get hungry and want a snack, there's plenty of things I like in my fridge and I don't have to be near or see the badness in the kitchen.

Increase fiber. Chocolite bars are great - my husband likes the cashew caramel, and cookies and cream. I like the triple chocolate ones. Meijer's carries them, or you can order them from Amazon or Healthsmart.com (the people who make them). They average about 100 calories-ish, about 9-10 grams of protein, and about 9-10 grams of fiber, and they actually taste good!

Absolutely DO NOT deprive yourself. That's only going to make you want something more. I used to LOVE Barq's red creme soda. Peapod doesn't carry it. BUT White Castle has it as a fountain drink. I konw that if I ever get a "weak moment" and want it, I can go drive through, get the smallest size they have, and "get it out of my system." I also found out they have a new dessert - cheesecake on a stick. It's AWESOME and it's tiny enough to not to a ton of damage to your day's food journal.

It's all about being creative and doing things that will give yourself any advantage possible. (I've lost 100 pounds doing this.)

One of the best things to do would be to discover the reasons why you binge eat. I'd suggest going to a therapist or counselor to see if you can find what triggers you.

I agree with this 100%. I don't know if ever had a binge eating disorder and I never purged BUT I definitely was an emotional eater. I was eat to calm down and while I was eating it would really become disassociative... I wasn't paying attention to what I was eating or how much of it I was eating... and that is where the bingeing came into play for me.

For me, the key to the emotional cause of binge eating involved many years in therapy. For the past 3 years or so I've focused a lot on being present when I eat, observing my behaviors and the feelings I'm having at the time and practicing intuitive eating. It helps.

As for the physical causes of bingeing... I have also found that eating more frequently does help me feel less deprived so I don't eat the first thing I see and/or everything I see. I also try to practice moderation.

Good luck, you'll figure this out!

Same story here. And the thing that helped me a LOT was keeping a journal not about food but about emotions that I had when I ended up fully drowning in binge eating episodes.
And Another important step was not to feel anymore guilty. So I was able to broke that circle. Now maybe it happens to me when I am very upset and maybe one every 3-4 months and for me it is more than ok.
I also had the support from my SO and a psich.

It was mostly about learning a different way to deal with emotions. Now I am pretty ok and finally enjoying my food and just love cooking. I prefer if I want some comfort food to cook it instead of having junk food at home. Yesterday I had to trow away half chocolate because was overdue of three months. I didn't touch it from I believe Easter.
Instead when I want it I like having a good icecream in good company.