Binging

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graceanli
graceanli Posts: 16 Member
Binge (noun)
a short period devoted to indulging in an activity to excess, especially drinking alcohol or eating. I wish I could understand why I binge. What void does food fill inside of me that I can't seem to fill with anything else? Why is it the first that I turn to? Maybe if I can figure out why, I can figure out how to stop it. But right now, as much a s I hate myself for doing it, nothing feels and satisfies in the moment of it. It's a long road ahead.

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  • mweckler
    mweckler Posts: 623 Member
    edited April 2016
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    Hello I have Binge Eating Disorder, so I am learning about controlling binges, and trying to figure out the causes, and all other things binge related.How many times do you find yourself binging? Is it a daily occurrence? Can you figure out a pattern, something that happens to trigger a binge?

    I actually started a group on here for people with Binge Eating.
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/112095-binge-eating-disorder
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited April 2016
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    Maybe there is no void. Have you dieted before? Severely restricted food intake deliberately to lose weight?

    ETA "severely".
  • graceanli
    graceanli Posts: 16 Member
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    Hmmmm. It's hard to say. It depends. I find myself wanting to binge almost everyday but sometimes I can control it. I def binge out of stress, but I also binge when I feel overwhelmed emotionally. Honestly I use the word control, but there is absolutely no feeling of control ever assossiated with binging. I always feel out of control.
  • graceanli
    graceanli Posts: 16 Member
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    I have always dieted. Being a professional ballet dancer I have been told that I needed to be on a diet since I was six. Now that I'm older, I try to think about it less as dieting and deprivation, but more that I am choosing to eat a very healthy variety of food.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    graceanli wrote: »
    I have always dieted. Being a professional ballet dancer I have been told that I needed to be on a diet since I was six. Now that I'm older, I try to think about it less as dieting and deprivation, but more that I am choosing to eat a very healthy variety of food.

    There you have it. You are hungry.
  • ubermofish
    ubermofish Posts: 102 Member
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    graceanli wrote: »
    I have always dieted. Being a professional ballet dancer I have been told that I needed to be on a diet since I was six. Now that I'm older, I try to think about it less as dieting and deprivation, but more that I am choosing to eat a very healthy variety of food.

    There you have it. You are hungry.

    Possibly, how many calories are you eating per day OP?
  • mweckler
    mweckler Posts: 623 Member
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    Before I know what Binge Eating Disorder I would describe how I would get this "urge" and then I would just start to eat like a fiend with no control, I felt like I was powerless, and out of control. I would eat in secret shame, I would hide food and lie about it to my family. I would steal my kids snacks and eat them all and lie to them about it. I would buy big bags of candy or snacks and eat them in the 2 minute car ride to get home. I would buy doughnuts and ny that I mean 2-5 doughnuts and eat them all and destroy the evidence out of shame for what I had done. As an outsider looking in and if you has seen me, I just looked like someone who lacked self control and ate what I wanted. The truth though is as much as I did not want to be eating like that I could not stop myself. I would be able to hold the urges off for a while, I would diet and goto the gym but once the urge hit, the longer I fought it, the worse the binge got when it finally took over.

    For my stress, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed are triggers for my binges. I have been trying to track what happens before I feel the urge to binge come over me. I did seek professional help, and got on a medication and treatment plan to help me because I was at the point where I was honestly no longer able to do it on my own.
  • graceanli
    graceanli Posts: 16 Member
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    Thank you! Your reply sounds most like me. Than you for your honesty. This is something that I have been battling as long as I can remember. It's not pretty. I am very blessed to have an extremely supportive mother. I just want to beat this thing. However, I am aware that this is probably something that's always going to be a problem for me. Thank you for your input.
  • mweckler
    mweckler Posts: 623 Member
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    You are welcome, there are a few different treatments out there for B.E.D that have had success in helping people overcome this. I currently am on a medication called Vyvanse which was an ADHD drug that was approved to also treat B.E.D.
  • Lotusgirlruns
    Lotusgirlruns Posts: 15 Member
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    Hi mwreckler - I just started Vyvanse a few weeks ago. How are you doing with it? Do you find it effective?
  • WendyLaubach
    WendyLaubach Posts: 518 Member
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    If only we could understand more of the primal urges that overtake us! It's as if we were getting a message, "Something's wrong, I don't know what, I think this might mysteriously make me feel better." It's coming from a primitive part of the brain: a part that's really good at detecting "something's wrong," but has terrible ideas about how to fix it. Sometimes you can hijack the urge by substituting a less harmful activity. I used to scrub floors when my feelings overwhelmed me: some kind of useful, mechanical, somewhat tiring action seems to help. In the end, of course, we all have to figure out what's missing in our lives and deal with it. Not easy!
  • mweckler
    mweckler Posts: 623 Member
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    Hi mwreckler - I just started Vyvanse a few weeks ago. How are you doing with it? Do you find it effective?

    I have been taking it for about 3 months at 70 mg for about a month and a half. I have lost 26 pounds without changing too much, just shows how much the binging was actually adding to my daily life. I am much more motivated and clear headed, I am doing a ton of projects around my house which have been neglected for the last few years. The initial rush I got when I first started taking it has gone away at the 3 month mark, and I am learning to use the new focus to aid in my daily life. When I first took the medication I was automatically doing things but after a while and I began to adapt to the new way of life I have had to turn my focus to the tasks I need to accomplish.