Binge Eating... Do you Own up?

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...

If your spouse is around, will you not binge? When I was married, no I tried to not binge around him. Overeat yes but binge no.

Do you hide your food packaging? I'd eat multiple candy bars and throw away the wrappers so no one saw. I'd eat 2 sandwiches from McDs on the way to work cuz I was alone.

Does your spouse know about it? My fiancee knows I used to have a problem and I can still slip (hubby and I divorced) and since my lifestyle change I'm really open about the fact that I am/have been a binge eater. Talking about it helps me stop the cycle and I hope it helps others too.

Do you talk about it? To who? Therapist? No therapist, but before i got on here and started changing, I did consider overeaters anonomous. Now I talk to friends that are on this journey with me.

I live alone so my binges are usually alone though if there's a party, it's easy to do it then as well. But I won't record it all on MFP. As soon as I go over my limit, I stop tracking, but I know it's a lot. I usually try to make up for it the next day by working out extra hard.

For me it means eating until I'm so full I feel sick then a few hours later doing it again. I definately have done it alone.

When I binge I eat a normal amount of food, then a normal amount of another food, then another food. For example, I might have a bowl of salad, then 2 cookies, then a bowl of soup, then carrot sticks, then a zuchinni, maybe a bowl of chips. Just keep going back for more.

To me, this doesn't REALLY seem like a true binge. None of the foods you listed are complete meals on their own (unless it's a hearty soup/salad) so maybe you could try eating fewer and bigger meals throughout the day? I find that I don't eat like that if I have decent sized meals with an adequate amount of fat. Dietary fat is like my anti-binge, anti-snack secret weapon.

Still, if you are hiding food wrappers and keeping it a secret and just feel out of control and reckless when you eat, you definitely need to face that you have disordered eating habits and seek help for it.

I'm keeping myself accountable and logging all of my food when I do binge. I've just moved to a new place where the pantry is in the lounge (where my housemates hang out) which makes things easier as I wouldn't want them to see me overreat. I try to keep only fruit and almonds in my bedroom (which I've never binged on).

As someone else said - eating dietary fat certainly lessens the urge to snack/overeat/binge.

Funny you should ask this tonight...

- I binged tonight.
- I used to binge upwards of 2K or more, mostly junk food
- today my binges are around 500, usually healthy-type food and happen once a month to once a week
- I usually log them, but I didnt tonight... I have a special section in my diary for these occurrences and only a few of my friends on here know exactly why this section exists, besides the funny title.
-I struggle with the thought of purging, and I resist it 99% of the time.

there, ugh... confession made. :ohwell:

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!

IMO, it is anything above my normal intake, usually when I am not truly hungry... but the biggest factor is that when i binge, I just start shoveling food in, with total reckless abandonment. I typically count every bite I take, and calculate precisely... when I binge, I DO NOT care... until I am done.

There seems to be a strong component here related to guilty eating.
How many of you feel guilty about eating food you shouldn't even when you are either within your calories or just slightly above.

I'm not trying to be reductive, but am trying to understand the thinking that goes on during a binge.

I coulda sworn you were talking about PMS in the first paragraph. I was wondering like.. wtf

But yeah. I actually had my first binge after a very long time yesterday. Like after 6 months or so. I logged it. My family knew about it. My sister in law is an amazing person and she knows (even though she never talks about it) that I try and control myself etc so yesterday when I told her "I have no idea why I am so hungry" she didn't said a word and anytime I'd ask for some grub, she's grab me something.

The rest of my family isn't very supportive but, since this isn't about them, I don't really care. I logged my food in the diary, it was close to 4,000 calories and I am sure I can get to that much today too. Its fine. I don't feel ashamed of my food. Log it, ask your supporters (mine would be my MFPers) and keep moving. Tomorrow is another days.

I have owned up to eating 6500 calories before joining MFP. I logged my 4500 calories binges. Nobody said anything but supportive. Own up to it. You will feel AMAZING! I promise.

Good luck

Normally I do it in secret, but I can binge while standing right beside him and he'd wouldn't notice. I know, I have sat right beside him and eaten a whole large pizza and then icecream and more stuff. He doesn't say anything if he does notice. Normally it's in secret and I take a bag up to my room and throw all the trash in it and hide it till i can sneak it to the trashcan.

No we don't talk about it. I have a few people on here I talk to about it. No one I know in real life.

If your spouse is around, will you not binge?
No, when my partners are around, i tend to go the other way. They are convinced i 'eat like a bird'. but i make a conscious effort to eat what i consider 'normal'. But there have been times when i fantasise about what I'll binge in after they're gone or what I'll stop for when I'm driving home.

Do you hide your food packaging?
Yep, even though I live alone, so won't get 'caught', i still put the rubbish straight out in the outside bins, so i can't see it. I am very much a 'secret eater' though. I have anxieties about eating in front of people i don't know very well (like at work) so i'll just nibble, then stuff my face as soon as I get home.

Does your spouse know about it?
No, noone in my life knows except my MFPs and my personal trainer. I'm too ashamed to admit it to people who know me for real, I think it will change how they think about me. After all, how hard is it not to put food in your mouth?

Do you talk about it? To who? Therapist?
No, i don't talk about it. I'm on the waiting list for therapy, still got about 6 months to wait. My GP is not very understanding on this issue.

Since joining MFP I am more aware of my binge eating behaviour. I am an emotional eater, I eat when happy/sad/stressed/angry/tired. So now i try not to have junk food in the house so if i feel a binge coming on, the food is healthier. But there are occasions when they need for junk is so overwhelming that I have to go out to the shop and buy chocolate/ice cream/crisps whatever I'm craving.

For me, binging isn't so much about the food being eaten but the complete loss of control. Even though my brain is telling me I'm full and not hungry, i can't stop myself eating, just shovelling in, fast. I don't even taste it. Its just got to be in mouth as fast as possible.

I can't have a packet of biscuits in the house. If i eat one, i have to eat the whole packet. They call to me. My whole brain is focused on the packet in the cupboard. I can't concentrate on anything until they're gone. Sometimes i just take the packet to the outside bin. Sometimes, i eat them all. Its like an obsession If I'm at work and I hear there's cake somewhere, my brain can;t think of anything else and it takes every ounce of willpower not to go get some. Sometimes i win, sometimes cake wins.

When I binge I eat a normal amount of food, then a normal amount of another food, then another food. For example, I might have a bowl of salad, then 2 cookies, then a bowl of soup, then carrot sticks, then a zuchinni, maybe a bowl of chips. Just keep going back for more.

That is exactly what I do when I binge; I don't have the excuse of PMS as I am postmenopausal. I think for me it is a habit when I am bored, lonely or upset and there is no one at home to stop me. And yes I used to hide what I ate from others frequently..
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This is me!! I am post menepausal and binge when bored and lonely. My hubby travels and works a lot so... sometimes around 4:00 I am done with everything for the day, and it starts. I eat until I am sick - I know it is over 5000 calories!!! I get depressed and want to go to bed. I wish I did not do this as it takes 3 days to feel good again.

I used to be incredibly secretive about it, and still am sometimes. But now, I have a very supportive boyfriend who understands, but at the same time doesn’t baby me for it. Now, if I binge, I force myself to log it all on here, and I text him to tell him. He gives me back the perspective on the situation which helps in a huge way, as otherwise I tend to wallow in it and it turns into self pity. I’ve been having therapy for 12 months for another issue, but the binge eating has come up and I understand it a lot more now.