BINGE EATING!!!!!

sabolfitwife
sabolfitwife Posts: 423 Member
in Motivation and Support
I know I'm not the only one who has this problem, and it is a SERIOUS problem! I can be sooooo good all day long, and then after dinner I just want to eat everything in sight. I'm not even hungry, I just feel like I HAVE to eat. I know it's all in my head, and I've tried every trick in the book. It doesn't matter if I go brush my teeth and use mouthwash. It doesn't matter if I write down in a journal what my trigger is, what I'm thinking, how I'm feeling about a binge, etc. I still do it!! And to top it off, I have zero self control. We went to the store yesterday and my boyfriend bought some candy and of course because he was getting some I had to get some too. Instead of saying, "No, I don't need those sweets. I can go without them" I caved and bought some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (my favorite) and ate the whole bag last night! Almost 500 calories in less than twenty minutes.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?! Are there any methods you MFP'ers have tried and found helpful to help cope with binge eating? Any good groups I should look into joining on here?? I'm fifteen months into my journey and fifty pounds lighter. It is getting harder and harder to lose the weight as my body is starting to get used to where it is now, so I know a strict heatlhy eating lifestyle is what I need to embrace. My diary is open, you all can see what I eat. While I do eat a lot of processed foods, I still feel I eat healthy compared to most. I am slowly getting my boyfriend to eat healthier with me, which has been a big struggle, but he is trying his best to be very supportive.

Any help or encouraging words would be greatly appreciated.
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Replies

  • rosered93
    rosered93 Posts: 69 Member
    I really really encourage you to read through this forum: http://happyeaters.net/forums/?page=post&id=DDC1BBFF-9CDA-4620-A6AF-704D5706C0CD and the book it discusses: Ditching Diets by Gillian Riley. As in really encourage. They're not about dieting per se, they're about the /why/ of binges and how to shift your thinking to prevent future ones. There's A LOT of psychology underlying how and why we binge--of course it's more complicated than that, but the concept of authoritarian/authoritative/permissive perspectives on food is quite a powerful one.
  • starrisonmclennon
    starrisonmclennon Posts: 64 Member
    if i'm not in a binge eating state of mind (feeling out of control), i go and drink lots of water so i feel sick but usually i'm out of control and there's nothing i can do
  • vanderlogt17
    vanderlogt17 Posts: 5
    I`m really awful about this too! I tend to do it differently than you though! I tend to eat well every day for about a week, then spend a day not giving a damn about counting calories, or entering it in myfitnesspal. So far, I've still maintained a fairly decent loss per week, but I know how difficult it can be to feel like you "failed" or whatnot.

    All this aside, you've clearly lost a lot of weight and have gotten much healthier in the process, so try to give yourself a break, and realize that this happens, and try your best next time!
  • piexcore
    piexcore Posts: 85 Member
    Aw man I binged this morning, I ate four peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. For like a weird brunch at my desk. ugh. It was my first one in a while so it but me in an awful mood.

    I used to binge a hellll of allot and I've found that if you feel one coming on its hard to stop it, but you can figure out ways to avoid them. Binges are usually keyed into some kind of routine. For example, I was a hardcore walk in the door binger. I'd walk in the door right after work and just graze around the kitchen for about 1500 calories or so. Fixed it by going in the door that didn't lead to the kitchen, and forbidding myself kitchen access till dinner. I also got in the habit of being a food leach. If my boyfriend (who is of course rail thin and lives on candy and big macs) buys something delicious that I want , I girlfriend tax him. Then I still get some, but I cant eat it all. I also find that not keeping ready made food (cookies, peanutbutter ect.) in convenient places helps. Top shelf that peanutbutter. In your garage. I also don't really keep food in my house, which your mileage may vary on.

    Another thing is, when you feel it coming on, go hang out with someone. Nobody wants to binge in front of somebody else, amIright?
  • marlysgirl
    marlysgirl Posts: 16 Member
    I go to a burger place and get a totally fattening lettuce wrapped burger. Sometimes, you need the calories, but keep down the carbs.
  • noelie365
    noelie365 Posts: 13
    I do the exact same thing! When I'm bad, I'm REALLY bad because I figure there's no way my body can process 4000 calories in one sitting. So it's different that eating an additional 4000 cals over the course of a week. I like to binge on chips, pasta with sriracha sauce, chocolate (and I mean boxES of it), donuts, and candy. Le sigh! I wish there were a magic cure for this, but I think the best you can do is try to stay strong, make a motivation board, and just don't give up after a binge. I'm not saying it's good for you, but I am saying that I still lose weight even with an occasional binge.
  • gpizzy
    gpizzy Posts: 171
    I like the water idea - or I will sometimes chew some flavourful gum. It doesn't always work, but it's so worth it for the times that it does.
  • workingoutforpeanutbutter
    workingoutforpeanutbutter Posts: 32
    Have you tried chewing a piece of sugar free gum? I do it when watching TV, it tricks my mind into thinking that I'm eating something!

    I've done it for the last 6 years (I'm now 31) and it still works! :-)
  • PauliePCC
    PauliePCC Posts: 32 Member
    I know your pain. Just last night I ordered two boxes on Papa John's medium pizza and ate like 10 slices lol However, these binges are becoming less frequent for myself. What I found that works is a glass of cold water or two when you have the urge to binge. It fills you up a bit and help curves the hunger. You might have to use the bathroom more frequently, but it's worth it. Remember, it's mind over matter. Be mentally strong and keep your eyes on your goal and nothing will stop you. Good luck!
  • KenosFeoh
    KenosFeoh Posts: 1,837 Member
    The thing that helps the most is to get away from the kitchen and get busy with something that occupies both my mind and my hands. I've been sewing lately after 25-30 years of no-sewing. There's a lot to relearn. I completely forget about eating.
  • dianamatienzo
    dianamatienzo Posts: 127
    You're not alone, and it's DEFINITELY not easy. I always just tell myself to suck it up and do what's good to reach my goals. As soon as I'm about to grab something I don't need, I tell myself "You don't need this! This won't make you look good in a bathing suit. It won't make you feel good about yourself. Save it for another day when it'll fit into your macros." I also think that no matter what, I'll have to tell my boyfriend what I ate, and that helps motivate me because I want him to be proud of me :)

    That's the only advice I can give because it's the only thing that's works for me. Stay strong! Don't let your mind control you; you have all the self control you need, it just takes motivation and strength :)
  • KenosFeoh
    KenosFeoh Posts: 1,837 Member
    help curves the hunger.

    I think the phrase you're looking for is "helps curb the hunger". (I'm trying to be helpful here, not a smartass.)
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,839 Member
    I'm an all-evening-long-snacker. What starts as a snack turns into a long series of snacks! I'm relatively new to MFP but I've decided to keep my eating schedule but make sure that I save a bunch of calories for the evening snacks. Last night between supper and bed, I had raisins, a whole head of romaine turned into a salad, Crispbreads with melted cheddar and I still was under calories for the day. And it wasn't half a loaf of bread and a stick of butter!

    I will snack at night. The other problem, however, is my evening diet coke. Recent research on diet drinks indicates that the sweetness of the drink triggers our bodies to prepare to digest sugars that the drink then doesn't provide. I find this to be a real hunger trigger for me. If I have a diet coke in the evening, I'm soon ravenous! I've switched to sweetener-free flavored seltzers (without aspartame or other sweetener) to take care of the soda-in-front-of-the-TV feeling.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,839 Member
    help curves the hunger.

    I think the phrase you're looking for is "helps curb the hunger". (I'm trying to be helpful here, not a smartass.)

    Both are apt. :wink:
  • sabolfitwife
    sabolfitwife Posts: 423 Member
    I`m really awful about this too! I tend to do it differently than you though! I tend to eat well every day for about a week, then spend a day not giving a damn about counting calories, or entering it in myfitnesspal. So far, I've still maintained a fairly decent loss per week, but I know how difficult it can be to feel like you "failed" or whatnot.

    All this aside, you've clearly lost a lot of weight and have gotten much healthier in the process, so try to give yourself a break, and realize that this happens, and try your best next time!

    This happens to me as well. I'll do really well for a few weeks, then just go to the way side for about a week straight.
  • sabolfitwife
    sabolfitwife Posts: 423 Member
    Have you tried chewing a piece of sugar free gum? I do it when watching TV, it tricks my mind into thinking that I'm eating something!

    I've done it for the last 6 years (I'm now 31) and it still works! :-)

    The gum thing has never worked for me. If anything I think it backfires on me completely! It fills my stomach up with gas and just leaves me feeling gross. I don't even remember the last time I had a piece of gum!
  • Sandreeuhh
    Sandreeuhh Posts: 39
    A lot of time when I binge...I don't know when it's coming and I don't even think about it... I just do it.. like.. a bad habit -.- I've been trying to stop. Definitely hard.
  • Chriztii
    Chriztii Posts: 94
    I don't even know i am binging until i feel guilty afterwards, my minds so clever it convinces itself i need whateva i am eating until it's too late :(
  • superbeacon
    superbeacon Posts: 24
    I am a recovering binge eater, too. I send love and support to all of you who struggle with this. It is so difficult to break, and the guilt after a binge is terrible. Tyhe thing that we need to remember is that it isn't about food. Ok, we might reach for that first cookie or slice of pizza because we are hungry, but we CONTINUE to eat until we are at bursting point/ill/crying or whatever. You cannot tackle an emotional problem the same way you would a dietary one.

    I have an excellent counselor who asked me what I was feeling when I binge. My answer was "stress." He said that stress was a response, and for me to dig deeper. "Anger" surfaced next. Deeper we went... turns out I was angry at a specific person. I was not controlling my anger, and I was using food as a temporary filler to mask the hurt that it caused. Once I realized that, I was able to carve that anger out of me and replace it with something more satisfying and permanent (in my case, God).

    So, truly facing your binge demons can be harder than you anticipated, but victory is possible! Just try not to address it as a food issue, and be willing to ask yourself the tough questions: why do you do it, when do you do it, what are you trying to mask or change by your behavior. Good luck and blessings to you. Feel free to add me if you like!
  • tabik30
    tabik30 Posts: 443
    I have to keep busy of an evening because snacking is my favorite form of entertainment! If it's every once in awhile Id say no biggie because from the looks of your ticker, you are doing something right!
  • glenner
    glenner Posts: 160 Member
    We need a whole group on binge eating! I have the same problem. Two key times- when I walk in the door- I also will graze while getting supper ready, end up eating tons and still eat full supper. I am also bad an hour or so after supper. Sometimes I will say to myself "I'm just going to eat one thing then I will stop" - I really intend to but once I have one bite or one cookie or one spoonful of icing (please tell me other people have eaten a whole can of icing at some point in their lives!) then WHAM- it's like a dam has broken and my will power rushes away. I try to reason with myself and try to listen to my body and how uncomfortable it feels when I start to get full but I just can't stop when I am in the binge mode. I am also like you- teeth brushing, gum, water- nothing seems to help. Well maybe we can figure it out together!
  • EllaPaigeNora
    EllaPaigeNora Posts: 26
    I was never a consistent binger, but I've definitley had some bad binge episodes in the past (over christmas, I went CRAZY and gained three pounds, thankfully i was able to lose it again). Anyways, whenever I feel myself reaching for a cookie, or that piece of cheesecake, or a box of cereal (reese's puffs...oh dear lord) I make myself sit for five minutes before I eat it. I just sit, don't move, and think. And almost what always happens is I realize I don't really want it, or I know the guilt afterwards isn't worth it. If you can just make yourself STOP for one moment, and make yourself wait a certain amount of time, you can internalize that you don't really want it. Or, at least, start training yourself to do this, because it really helps.

    Another thing, for the people that eat or binge a ton at night, I'm assuming, eat really well during the day, so they feel free reign at night or feel really deprived throughout the day. Dessert used to be my absolute favorite part of the day and I would go crazy with it (eating multiple servings of ice cream, spoonfuls of nutella, etc) until I realized that the seconds of happiness it left me were great, but gone just as quickly as I scarfed that food down my throat. Now, if I feel the desire to eat at night, I remind myself I get coffee and cereal in the morning (my two favorite things!). I shifted my desires of food to more attainable things, more reasonable, and I sort of trained myself to come up with solutions to when I want to pig out. Come up with distractions, give yourself a different a food (hopefully more healthy) that you can look forward to the next day. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't work all the time, but it's definitely helped a ton.
  • AmberJoy19882
    AmberJoy19882 Posts: 2
    I find that not depriving myself helps! I eat very healthy most of the time but my boyfriend does not, so if he snacks on a bagel, ill ask him for a tiny piece, just enough to taste it, or if he has reeses minis ill have 1 mini or like 5 M&Ms, only do this once every other day or so so the weight is still falling off yet I still get the taste without the binge!
  • vtmoon
    vtmoon Posts: 3,436 Member
    I write everything down so looking at it later makes me feel bad about it. It helped reduce the over the top binges when I was first starting, now I just like the results I got so far, therefore I view binging as separating my farther from those results. So, I almost never binge now.
  • jennontheroad
    jennontheroad Posts: 142 Member
    I used to binge eat, especially in the evenings. Not to the point of pain, but I'd eat a few pieces of toast with peanut butter, then I'd want chips, then something sweet, then back to the salty.

    First off- get the junk out of the house. If it's not there you can't eat it. However, it is still easy and enjoyable to binge on healthy food, or bread and butter. I know I cannot have a baguette in the house, I will eat it all.

    What changed for me? I don't even have the desire to do it anymore. I'm a more fulfilled person in my life, I think this has made a difference. I also just made the rule for myself to not eat in the evenings, just to have tea and a small piece of chocolate. And I;ve stuck to it.

    Also, realising how physically terrible I felt in the morning.

    But- don't deprive yourself during the day. This will lead to binging.
    Another thing I tell myself- there will be other times you can enjoy this food. As I mentioned, I often want to eat bread with butter/PB at night- and if I start it will be hard to stop. I tell myself- wait until morning, you can have it for breakfast.
    And in the morning, I don't want to binge, and if I overeat a bit, it's ok cause I have the whole day to expend my energy.

    So- know your triggers!
  • lizziep890
    lizziep890 Posts: 7
    I binged this morning! I had three jumbo raisin bran muffins and a small one. I think my problem is that I sometimes get into biking for 100 minutes and longer; sometimes I burn over a 1000 calories and feel super hungry afterwards.
  • sabolfitwife
    sabolfitwife Posts: 423 Member
    We need a whole group on binge eating! I have the same problem. Two key times- when I walk in the door- I also will graze while getting supper ready, end up eating tons and still eat full supper. I am also bad an hour or so after supper. Sometimes I will say to myself "I'm just going to eat one thing then I will stop" - I really intend to but once I have one bite or one cookie or one spoonful of icing (please tell me other people have eaten a whole can of icing at some point in their lives!) then WHAM- it's like a dam has broken and my will power rushes away. I try to reason with myself and try to listen to my body and how uncomfortable it feels when I start to get full but I just can't stop when I am in the binge mode. I am also like you- teeth brushing, gum, water- nothing seems to help. Well maybe we can figure it out together!

    Amen sister! Of course ive eaten straight out of the icing jar!!! Although as I type that I am not proud of that at all! I made sugar cookies for my boyfriend the other night and I frosted them. I threw away half a jar of of icing just so I wouldn't eat it!!
  • Emtabo01
    Emtabo01 Posts: 672
    There's a group that's a 50 day binge free challenge.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/12145-50-day-binge-free-challenge

    Everyone's on a different day, anyone can join, a question for each day you don't binge, another way to help keep you accountable, learn some new habits in the process hopefully.
  • mattschwartz01
    mattschwartz01 Posts: 566 Member
    I understand about binge eating when not hungry because I've done it too. To combat this urge, I'm thinking of doing something to keep my mind occupied like learning a new skill or doing something educational.
  • scjl132
    scjl132 Posts: 85 Member
    If I don't get enough protein, eat too much sugar (even if it's within calorie guidelines) and don't work out I can set myself up for a binge. Learning about leptin and how it affects the body was extremely helpful to me.

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