Binge Eating

I think it may be a struggle of a lifetime. When I wasn't binging, there was no real cause for actually being able to stop myself. It just...seemed like I was stronger. The only times I have been able to not binge/have control is when I desperately wanted to be healthy again. I have thought about how helpful it would be to remove myself from the environment that causes me to binge. My house. I can't leave though, I live with my family as I am a student. And they aren't very helpful/supportive. My family likes to buy a ton of treats and junk food, and they judge me as I try to eat healthy. I've thought about maybe staying at my friend's for a week to regain control, but that really would be imposing. So my advice for not binging is to:
1.) not buy any of the binging trigger foods
2.) Take notice when binging seems to happen and when you see the pattern (mine TENDS to be at night, after 9pm, not always, but for the most part). And make sure you're NO WHERE NEAR a binging environment. Remove yourself from wherever a binge tends to happen for that period of time.
3.) Think. REALLY just take a second to THINK about it. I know that binging beast hardly allows for ANY thought at ALL, but if you can slip in even just a SECOND to try and question yourself - try to really get your mind thinking about long-term damage.
4.) Some people say that eating something really, really spicy works for them...like red pepper flakes or a handful of hot fresh/canned jalepenos.

Honestly...my biggest advice (if you really can't control youself) is to run away from that binging environment. I think a lot of people will say, "well that's just running away from your problems", which it kinda is, but if you can remove yourself from the binging environment and put it to good (say, get out of the house or wherever and take a walk, do some sort of recreational activity), then it's better than trying to work with other methods that just aren't cutting it for you for the time being - at least till you find what works best for you.

I have recently being binge eating more than 1500 calories a day (that means around 3500cal/day) for almost 2 weeks during the christmas holidays. I believe I have Binge Eating Disorder. I always eat until I am uncomfortably full and I indulge in mostly sweets (all sorts of dessert). It has been a consistent pattern and I really want to stop it now. It is seriously affecting my emotions and of course, my physique. In the past, I have been dieting and staying hungry for quite some time, so now every time I see food I mindlessly try to stuff myself as much as I can. Furthermore, I have recently entered university and I guess the stress of the transition somehow contributes to the causes of it. Please, someone just let me know how I can recover or what I can do now. I am really tired of this...

'Starving' yourself will only give you a higher chance to 'binge' imo.

You can starve and feel hungry for 7 days and hold back every time you see a slice of pizza or candy, but eventually you will 'binge' because you can't stand it any longer.

I say if you wan to eat more, exercise. I'm not talking about just cardio, but strength train.

You won't get 'bulky' muscle like men since you're a lady. With proper strength training and cardio sessions, you will

a) build more lean muscle thus and look better

b) You will not want to 'binge' if you workout hard because you will lose your gains. It'll give you extra motivation NOT to binge.

When I binge I need to go drastic and stop eating like that...cold turkey....it takes me about 4 days to stop the craving for eating like crazy. It's hard

if she still logged her intake it will still be a binge. I find it hard every Christmas time. what helps me is seeing old photos of myself and photos of how I look now. what also helps me is my love of horses and riding. if I get too big I cant ride the horse I love so I have photos of him everywhere and it spurs me on to not binge. I also didn't buy as much food in as I normally would this Christmas and I told my husband, family and friends how important it is for me to lose the weight I gained through meds so they are all being really supportive. I also have weight watchers scales and measure out all my food and log literally everything I eat. you have to have a strong motivation to keep you going. I really hope this helps. you CAN do this

I think actor Dennis Quaid suffers from an eating disorder

I am male btw...thats why i was somehow reluctant to see a doctor at first. Guys do not usually suffer from binge eating disorder and I somehow feel embarassed...

It is incredibly common in athletes and weight lifters, regardless of sex. No worries there.

I have been binge eating for the past six months or so, since I got a bad case of the flu and went through a break up. It's not that I stopped worrying about weight - in fact I'm obsessed with numbers, calorie counting, and exercise. It's just that I found it surprisingly easy to eat a lot of sugary sweet things when I got home from a long day at work. At first it was those small, dense Clif bars saved for post-exercise recovery. I'd go through a whole box - 6 bars at 240 calories a bar - in the space of a few hours.

I think the binges are a coping mechanism. I guess I'd rather give into an impulse and worry about the effects later than think about how my life sucks working the night shift at a job that aggravates the wear and tear to my shoulder. At the end of the day I come home tired, hungry, achy, and utterly alone. But at least there is something sweet and satiating on the cupboard.

Even though I calorie counted, I gained about a pound a week, sometimes two if I didn't try to control it, with fewer and fewer physical side effects as the binges continued. My hunger levels stabilized to accommodate the excess. Only binges in excess of 3,000 calories would dampen my usual cravings on the following day. And it got harder to drop down to normal maintenance calories; any attempt to cut calories would send my body into a tailspin: headaches, cravings, tiredness, weakness. It was like the first week of dieting when I was obese. The body resists change and I had put it back on the path of excess.

A few days ago I had a nasty sobering moment on the scale, after hiding it under the sink three months ago. I really am going to end up fat if I continue to wing it on the calorie thing. Running 20 miles a week isn't going to erase the binges.

As of Jan 1 I started eating less and eased up on the exercise. Overexercising already causing trigger finger, a rotary cuff tear, and pain in my hips and feet that worsen with changes to the weather, something my older colleagues tell me is similar to arthritis. I'm not even 30! Exercise is a medicine, but too much medicine is a bad thing. Each pound added to my frame causes more wear and tear to the knees, too little risks bone loss. There's a moderate path somewhere in this madness. And there s no binge eating in normal, moderate diets.

Since the first I've had success in not binge eating or going over maintenance calories. I think the dramatic weight gain over the holidays has dampened my appetite, as I feel almost no hunger so far. It will kick in soon, I'm sure.

Good luck with controlling your binges, it really is a mental game and as soon as I saw the scale hit just under the "overweight" range, I had a flash back from my fat days and sobered up quite fast.

I have five months of moderate dieting ahead to reach my previous weight before I let myself binge. Losing weight isn't an exercise in virtue; it's an exercise in math. Good health isn't about doing plyometrics an hour a day, it's about taking a walk every now and then.

I have EDNOS and Binge eating disorder, diagnosed and treated by medical prefessionals, not random Internet gurus.

intermittent Fasting is just about the opposite of what you are going to need to do to recover.

Please get help. Message boards are only going to provide you with terrible and, at best, inefective, and at worst, dangerous, "advice".

Seconding this advice as there is some terrible advice floating around, even just on this thread. Please seek proper help for this.

go and see a counselor and don't see advice on a forum like this. This is a serious ED. Most colleges offer free nutrition/dietician appointments as well as therapy and med mgmt...I had an active ED for over 20 years and thought going on the internet and reading book would help..sites like this just made me obsess more and made it worse. Please seek professional tx.:flowerforyou:

I experience the same symptoms as you. I binge and feel horribly guilty afterwards. For me a binge is usually triggered by alcohol too, one too many drinks and calories cease to matter... like magic! Then the next day I tally up the calories and feel horrible about what I have done to my body.

I've started reading a book about compulsive overeating called "Food, the Good Girl's Drug." I really like it so far... There are anecdotes, explanations, and questions to do that help you process through your behavior and emotions. I like it anyway. Got it from the library.

Feel free to add me if you are going through the same thing. I think a support network would be really helpful.