A question for fellow binge eaters

I try not to have stuff in the house I cant handle like chocolate cake. I bring me one piece home from the store. I buy chips in small bags and seem to do ok with this. I tell myself I have to take care of myself, this sometimes works. I also try to distract myself with other stuff, going bike riding, gym, shopping. When I want ice cream, I go buy one cone.

Don't buy binge-worthy food. If you want to binge on something you have to go to the trouble of going to the store and buying it, or making it from scratch.

Eat protein (the energy is slow to come on but lasts longer than carbs and doesn't put you on a glucose/insulin roller coaster).

Identify any patterns or triggers to your binging and avoid or disrupt those patterns. Eg if you are always ravenous at 8 pm eat a bunch of protein at 6 pm and no carbs after. If fights with your significant other drive you to chocolate, figure out an alternative stress relief such as 200 calories on a treadmill (or punching sandbags?) before you are allowed to have it.

add: if you are craving a specific food, have that food, don't try to substitute other things first. You'll just eat the other things, be unsatisfied, and wind up eating the craved food at the end anyway.

I ask myself this every day. I pre-portion my food if it isn't already. If i buy something loose, I will put each serving into little individual bags inside the box so I process just how much I'm eating. If you have your day of food portioned from the night before it helps soooooooo much.

Buy only individually wrapped desserts/bakery item once or twice a week as treats; they can be fancy and a bit pricier. The point is to focus and appreciate foods that are higher in quality, not quantity.
Don't buy or keep around any processed snack foods at all.
Eat mostly whole unprocessed foods.
Typical sweet desserts are only for special occasions; daily desserts are fruits.
It's okay to indulge a bit at celebrations, parties, potlucks, or similar event but outside of those events, eat primarily main large meals (with lots of vegetables and fruits and fats and proteins to keep full) with no snacking in between.

Those are the rules I follow. I don't binge anymore and I don't feel the need to binge either.

I started by not buying my trigger foods anymore. And I've also noticed since I stopped drinking diet pop and incorporated more fruits and vegetables in my diet that I don't get the cravings anymore. Plus I can actually stop eating because I'm satisfied with a portion of the trigger foods. And I logged what I ate when I binged. It is hard and it takes time, but it is totally possible to stop binging and still enjoy the foods you want. I could seriously go to the store and buy $50 worth of food and eat it in one sitting. Which adds, think of the money you'll save lol.

I put my "trigger" foods (lookin' at you, peanut butter) in another room - just having out out of the kitchen was really helpful. I stock the kitchen full of easy-to-reach-for fruits and raw veggies so I won't be tempted by "there's nothing else to munch on". Celery is really helpful for me. Iced coffee too.

Also I ask myself "am I hungry enough to eat _________", usually a food I'm not crazy about. If the answer is no, I'm not hungry. If the answer is yes, I need to make a snack or have some iced coffee.

I also don't purchase snacks that are going to be binge foods - cereal, chips, etc. Other people might be able to "moderate", but I know myself well enough to know that it's all going to be gone in one sitting - and there goes $6 for that box of cereal. I allow myself one day a week to have a "treat" - like a big box of Mike and Ikes or something, but otherwise, it doesn't come in the house.

I find myself bingeing when i'm alone in the house.... which as a teacher... I can be home during the day sometimes for a whole month at a time...^^

So what I do is if I find myself eating too many chocolate covered almonds or some other snack food my wife decided to keep in the house.... I first put it out of reach.....however, if that doesn't work...

What I have found myself doing is destroying the food... I know it kind of sad... but more then one cake has gone under water..... in my house...

--ms

Haha, I do this too. The way I look at it, it's either wasted in the trash or wasted on my *kitten*.

I never broke the binge habit entirely, but I think I've retrained myself after so long to only want to binge on healthy foods. I always have fruit and Skinnypop popcorn and homemade almond butter in the house.

I find it harder to overeat healthier food than junk.

I'm trying to drink tea or coffee whenever I feel like rifling through the cabinets.

Eliminating the junk from your house is a perfect method, too.

I've found that eating more nutritious food and drinking a ****load of water helps tremendously. I'm not saying that you can't eat junk food ever again, because I do that regularly (as long as it fits my calories). But I'm sure you know how easy it is to get ahold of a trigger food and binge on the whole thing. Well, I've noticed that when I eat things with enough protein/fat/complex carbs/fiber, I stay full for longer. I want to binge when I get hungry. If I'm not super hungry, then I don't want to binge. And staying hydrated helps my body not confuse thirst with hunger.

And staying busy has helped. It just becomes a habit to *not* binge.

It's all about small successes.

For example, when I was in my eating disorder days, I would fast for a few days a week (0-100 calories), eat very low other days of the week (400-600 calories) and then once/twice a week, I would have a ridiculous binge day that would make me feel awful/sick/guilty/worthless/anynegativeadjectiveyoucanthinkof. I think I consumed anywhere between 5,000 and 7,000 calories on those binge days, and sometimes I would throw up afterwards (not from purging, but because my stomach couldn't take it).

I haven't had a binge day like that in months, I don't even remember the last time. So, there's a small success for me.

On occasion, since I exercise a lot and my caloric intake is still set to lose weight, I'll feel the urge to binge on organic homemade almond butter. I'll try to satisfy this craving with maybe a tablespoon with a banana, or a skimpy sandwich (one slice of bread) with one tablespoon of almond butter and one tablespoon of organic jam. No dice. It doesn't work for me. I wish I could handle that kind of moderation, but I haven't mastered it yet.

So now, if I really feel the need to eat almond butter, I do it the full-calorie, full-fat way. I take two slices of Ezekiel bread (160 calories) two tablespoons of almond butter (160 calories) and two tablespoons of jam (100 calories) and it feels like a real treat, something I wouldn't allow often, and it satisfies the craving for me. It's not the lower calorie sandwich I mentioned earlier, but it greatly decreases the chances that I'll end up swallowing a ton of almond butter via spoonfuls. And it only costs me 420 calories.

for me i write down all my calories throughout the day no matter how much i eat, so that way i hold my self accountable.

I've struggled with this for a long time now. I have it under control at this point but it's been really bad in the past. Here's some tips.

- Therapy. Yes, it's expensive. Yes, it's a pain in the *kitten*. But it helps.
- Educate yourself, read books, research online - I'd recommend Overcoming Binge Eating (the author escapes me right now)
- Try and reduce your stress (Take relaxing baths, Meditate, Go for walks)
- EXERCISE! Nothing too crazy but a little every day helps.
- I've been taking supplements (mostly stress relieving ones) Lately a mix of Ashwaganda, Rhodiola & L-Glutamine (to help with my sugar cravings). It's been helping a lot.

Great post! I agree!

I haven't read through everyone's comments, so this might have already been said (in so many words...)

When I was a patient in the ED program (anorexia - though I did not binge) we all ate 'mechanically':
three meals and three snacks.

Most of the 'Bingers' in the group were so conflicted by this, they would binge for days at a time...

However, so many of them would comment on how eating all 'necessary' meals - including snacks
really helped them.
We of course, went through lots of psychotherapy too...living in each moment - being fully conscious - self talk, etc.,

Good luck to you...
p.s. now that I am trying to eat more, I am finding that 'binging' is something I have contemplated but yet to do...eating more (even though it's a normal amount of food to consume) makes me feel as though I AM binging.

Anyways, good luck to you...