How do YOU define a binge?

Is there a chance that your being too restrictive and that's what's causing you to graze at night? I eat the foods I love, but in moderation. So if I want ice cream,I have a portion within my calories. That way I don't feel deprived and restricted. For me, this is a life style change. I know I couldn't go my whole life with just eating carrots and lettuce every day. In the real world, there's snacks and goodies. So I allow myself to have these treats within moderation.
I don't think 2,000 is bad anyway though. I eat around that every day and wear a size 4 . So don't beat yourself up over this at all. Just log it and move forward.

You finished the night with 2,000 calories from the binge or including your regular meals, too? If the latter, then I hardly consider that any real damage!
I've gone about a year now without binging which I'm super excited about, but when I had binged, it was pretty bad.
It started off innocent enough, a tub of Ben & Jerry's or several packages of Reese's.
Then as I began to binge more, the cycle was getting much worse and my binges were completely redefined.
My binge episodes escalated into days, and I would consume over five pounds easily (not water weight). I once ate an entire 3-course meal from Olive Garden, then went home and had a pint of Ben & Jerry's. Another time I had THREE boxes of Girl Scout cookies to myself. I've also demolished those pound packages of Reese's with two half pound cups per pack. Not to mention the all day grazing and eating until I could hardly breathe. Snack after snack I would eat to my heart's desire, because I "wasn't allowed" the food tomorrow. The next day, I felt miserable, guilty, weak, selfish, and experienced the worst PAIN. I felt hungry yet stuffed, and when I pressed against my skin I felt as if there was a layer of water beneath my skin, with a layer of fat accumulating underneath that. It was bizarre.
Do I ever have urges to binge? Absolutely. But just remembering how I felt afterwards... it truly makes me want to avoid ever getting that bad again. I recovered all on my own without therapy, just accountability and a more healthful approach to dieting (no more extremes)!
Everyone may have their own definition on what makes a binge, but I wish everyone luck in controlling it before it becomes worse, a binge is never worth it and will never make you happy in the long run! Five minutes of snacking pleasure just isn't worth it, no matter how much every part of your body lies to you in the moment.

I find my binging isnt from hunger its from emotional triggers ...

king042 wrote: »

binge eating for me is eating a whole pizza.

mmmm pizza ... a small, large or family size pizza? lol id eat a whole pizza but thats just coz its pizza so i tend to just get a small one or share one amungst the fam lol

I would call it a binge when your eating feels out of control. When it's no longer for hunger or pleasure and has become compulsion.

diannethegeek wrote: »

Binging, for me, has an element of self-harm to it. For me, binging is eating beyond just discomfort. It's emotional, it's not a conscious decision, and it's sometimes painful. Binging, again for me, comes with a little voice at the back of my head begging me to stop. It's like watching someone else take control of my body and start eating. It's an all-consuming need to find more food, to make more food, to fit more food inside of me. I'm bloated and uncomfortable and I wish I could stop, but I can't. It's something that's hard to explain unless someone has experienced it. It's me, in the kitchen, making eggs at 10 pm while eating a box of Fiber One bars (though I know I'll regret it in the morning) dipped in peanut butter because I'm waiting for the popcorn in the microwave to finish popping and looking around the kitchen while I try to talk myself into salsa on the eggs instead of peanut butter and oh man do I have any cheese because I could make nachos.

For me, binges tend to run 2000-3000 calories just during the binge. If you finished your day out at 2,000 calories total, that sounds like a decent maintenance number. Whether or not you personally consider yours a binge, it's worthwhile to consider why it happened and look at steps (both emotional and not) that you can take to prevent it.

Exactly that. Luckily I've gotten to the point where I am more conscious of what's happening and can now stop it before it starts. Every now and then I allow myself to go over my calories for a particurly good "cheat" meal, but it's not the same at all to me as a binge, because it's usually premeditated and isn't followed or ruled by emotions.

A binge to me is uncontrollable eating, usually a horrible an stressful experience, calories anywhere above 3000 in the space of 1-3hours. I personally think the term binge is over used sometimes, it can be used in too many ways.

(Thankfully I've not binged in several years since my late teens, July 2006 was my last but I still remeber the horror of realising I'd just eaten a entire families worth of calories and the discomfort.)

Eating and eating and eating in a relatively short time without feeling full.

I am unable to do it now. I have times where I eat a larger volume of food, but I get full much sooner than I used to. Maybe I've successfully fixed my hunger/full switch. Don't know. Not complaining

Uncontrolled eating.

A binge for me is: unaware uncontrolled eating. I "gap out" to disconnect and shove my face.

A binge for me might be 4 pieces of cheesecake plus other stuff in an evening. It might be eating a 100 g choc bar, pecan pie, some chips etc. A binge for me would be 3+ serving sizes of things (3 pieces of pie plus other stuff, etc), a full meal plus hamburger and dessert...(fast food) or a pack of 6 strawberry strudels...some times way more than this.

A binge would not feel like meh, not so great....it would feel like shame, and embarassment and very poor self-esteem afterwards. Grazing I can do in front of someone, binging I make sure I am alone.

Also a binge leaves me feeling very sick. I never vomit, but I am at that point that it would be easy to. I eat until I am gross feeling like I might get sick.

Last night I ate 65g of popcorn and butter which was like more than 10 cups of popcorn...but it was within my calorie allowance, and I planned it, and was "conscious" during eating it so I don't consider that "binging"...although technically I consumed a large amount of food at that time. Binging is me disconnected from food, and using it for pleasure instead of fuel.