How do I stop binge eating?

I think that binging is so much more likely when you're overrestricting - and that can be by consuming too few calories or by restricting the types of foods you're allowing yourself to eat.

I think the best way to avoid it (for me, anyway) is to have a reasonable calorie goal (only aim to lose 1-2lbs a week, depending on your starting weight) and allow yourself to eat whatever foods you want within that calorie allowance.

I also recommend only buying in single servings of foods you're more likely to binge on when you want them (e.g. a single packet of crisps rather than a multipack). You're less likely to binge if the high risk foods aren't easily accessible in large quantities.

I used to binge. Things that helped:

- stop seeing foods as "good" or "bad". It only sets up the "bad" ones on a pedestal and encourages you to think "I'd feel so much better if I could only have some of that". I gave myself permission to eat any kind of food and the "bad" ones lost their glamour.
- avoid restrictive food rules. Rules are there to be broken. It's just human nature. Instead of rules, have intentions. Sometimes you follow your intentions, sometimes you don't, and that's OK.
- stop beating yourself up over binges. This is a hard one, but it's so important. For me, binges are a mixture of genuine hunger, rebellion and a self-destructive impulse. Berating myself for them feeds the cycle. Instead, think "so I ate that. Tomorrow I will eat something else". Work on being neutral. It's like a child tantrumming - don't feed the drama.
- focus on enjoying everything you put in your mouth. Binges are not about enjoyment and this kind of positive attitude helped to weaken the cycle for me.
- make sure your diet has enough calories and is satisfying enough. If I started binging again now, I would look first to my diet, as they can genuinely just be to do with hunger and deprivation. My advice is to reduce your rate of loss to one pound or half a pound a week, at least until you have made a bit of progress with the binges - being on a low calorie allowance will make it much harder to tackle them effectively.

foen_i wrote: »

On the risk of sounding like an *kitten* once again: Disziplin. If you feel like eating once your calories are exhausted... just don't. Eating is nothing that happens to you.
If you really feel bad now, work it off again. Calculate the calories of your binging and put in an hour of daily cardio until you are back on track. That is how I deal with binge drinking nights. Take responsibility

Binge eating, especially to the extent described in the original post, has more nuanced causes than a night of binge drinking, and fixing the problem requires conscious work on the root of the problem, not "diszipline". Some things aren't so easily fixed.

Unfortunately I have a lot of experience with binging, and people that haven't ever had the issue don't understand how HARD it is to stop or redirect when the urge starts. It's not just a matter of self control.

I started out losing weight by only counting calories when I was 300 lbs, and I was eating 1500 calories a day. Then I moved to only counting calories and eating 1200 calories a day. Then I plateaued and added exercise. Eventually I moved to eating around 1000 calories and working out for around 3 hours a day when I could manage it. I thought, well, if a little exercise is good, more must be better. And if 1200 calories was good, less must be better. On top of that, I was eating very little fat. I was good for about a year, and ended up losing down to around 110. Then, out of nowhere, uncontrollable binges would start. I would go crazy with anything that contained carbs and fat. And then after my binges, I would go crazy again with over restricting and over exercising to "make up" for those binges. I got desperate because I was gaining weight back, and I just couldn't get out of the cycle, so I decided to get help (with the strong urging of several friends).

I ended up seeing a nutritionist that specialized in eating disorders. She taught me several things that were a BIG help. The first thing was that I was sleep deprived because I was getting up at 4 am to work out, but going to bed around midnight (I had just started dating my boyfriend). Being sleep deprived can make you crave carbs. The second was that my body was going crazy craving carbs and fat because I was expending energy like crazy, but never replenishing. I needed to start eating more, and working out less.

It's still hard to find a balance, but as long as I listened to her AND listen to my body, I have very little issues now. The below is what I try to keep in mind, and what I suggest for anyone else having problems:

1) Make sure you get enough sleep
2) Make sure you are eating enough (especially enough fat)
3) Don't over exercise, and make sure you eat enough for you level of activity
4) DON'T try to "make up" for binges.