Binge eating

Does anyone else purposely plan binge eating meals? I have a habit of going to ayce places and binge eating until the point where I can't move or about to puke. I don't feel bad about it after do it like most people. I do this about once or twice a month. Is this considered an unhealthy relationship with food? Doing this doesn't affect my weight.
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Replies

  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    edited October 2020
    Age is a factor, how old are you. Right out of high school, early 20's. This is a cycle and yes, it leads to a poor relationship with food that could last you for the rest of your life. You want to break this cycle right now.

    Binge eating and diabetes go hand in hand. Binge eating is a precursor of the diabetes diagnosis to follow further on down the road. These eating excursions are giving you a blood sugar rollercoaster ride. After years or decades of riding this merry-go-round it will no longer be fun or enjoyable.

    Don't start none. Won't be none.

    You've got to get off this merry-go-round with food.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,094 Member
    For me binge eating has a connotation of losing control. So planning a binge seems... weird.
    But why do you do this, eating till you feel bad physically?
  • globalc00
    globalc00 Posts: 103 Member
    I'm early 40's. I don't plan on eating until I feel bad physically. It usually just happen because I feel like I can eat another plate or bowl of ice cream. But after eating for 90 minutes to 2 hours straight, it suddenly hits me that I am stuffed, and that last plate was a mistake.
  • globalc00
    globalc00 Posts: 103 Member
    For example, tomorrow lunch, I am going to an ayce. I know i am going to eat 10x more food than I should. What I hope don't happen is what happened last time. Last time, when I was done, I literally could not walk and had to sit outside on the sidewalk for 15 minutes.
  • globalc00
    globalc00 Posts: 103 Member
    Of course watching video's like this doesn't make me feel like I it's an issue.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmCAp4vJFkI
  • ALZ14
    ALZ14 Posts: 202 Member
    We all have meals where we eat more than we should but to plan meals where you fully expect to eat so much doesn’t sound normal to me. To eat so much you literally couldn’t walk afterwards is not good.
  • spyro88
    spyro88 Posts: 472 Member
    edited October 2020
    I mean, it's up to you if you want to do it, but just because it doesn't affect your weight doesn't mean it's not doing any damage to your body. It would be healthier if you didn't do it, but you already know that.

    As far as I go, sometimes I plan a higher calorie meal, like a trip to a restaurant or the drive-thru. But I don't eat until I feel sick or can't move. I have done that in the past (never planned to but sometimes I went too far and felt bad after), but I'm trying to address that relationship with food because I think it was an issue. I was in denial for a while because I got pleasure from it and I didn't want to stop.

    I think very few people would tell you that this is healthy. I watched the first few minutes of the video you posted, and it sounds like the guy is trying to say that if you do this, the damage isn't permanent and you can lose any weight you gain. That's probably true if you do it once (although, he is also young and looks in good shape, probably has a high metabolism). But if you do this regularly over a sustained period of time then your body is gonna struggle. Why put that additional pressure on your body?

    It sounds like it's something you are finding hard to give up and you are trying to justify it and tell yourself it's not all that bad - that's OK, I was the same too! And it's up to you if you carry on. But it probably is damaging if you keep doing it.
  • spyro88
    spyro88 Posts: 472 Member
    Another thing to think about is are you doing this by yourself? In secret? Or are you going with family or friends?

    Often there is a link with problematic eating and secret eating. When I did used to binge, I did it on my own, and I didn't tell anyone.
  • gallicinvasion
    gallicinvasion Posts: 1,015 Member
    spyro88 wrote: »
    Another thing to think about is are you doing this by yourself? In secret? Or are you going with family or friends?

    Often there is a link with problematic eating and secret eating. When I did used to binge, I did it on my own, and I didn't tell anyone.

    100%. When you said “I was in denial and I got pleasure from it and didn’t want to stop,” that really resonated with me.

    And I agree that a big indicator of a larger emotional/mental red flag is doing the overeating alone.
  • Ddsb11
    Ddsb11 Posts: 607 Member
    globalc00 wrote: »
    Of course watching video's like this doesn't make me feel like I it's an issue.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmCAp4vJFkI

    The psychological response is just as important, if not more, than the physical. This man doesn’t have a problem, he’s doing it on purpose. He has control. If you can help it, try to choose a restaurant where you can somewhat control portions. If you feel an irresistible urge to binge at an ayce, please consider help before it gets worse.
  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
    I don’t understand why you feel the need to LITERALLY eat all you can at these places??? Also, it seems like you lack self control and even IF it isn’t affecting your weight right now, I would expect that it WILL if you are trying to lose weight. Most people here ARE trying to lose weight.

    Also, maybe consider a mental health professional. It isn’t normal to repeatedly eat until you feel ill. That speaks of an underlying mental health issue that you should get addressed ASAP.

    Best of luck
  • Lastchancetochange
    Lastchancetochange Posts: 146 Member
    I kind of do it. Subtly different. So I don't plan to get filled up, rather I just eat until I get that feeling and them I'm bloated. As Will Tenny says my stomach is a blackhole.

    In my house I can prevent most of the time but in restaurants seldomly.
  • globalc00
    globalc00 Posts: 103 Member
    Wow. Not exactly the response I was expecting. I just saw it as a cheat meal that is almost universally accepted by people as something that everyone will do. I do this with family and friends, so also see it as flexible dieting in some aspects. Eating out is one of the few things I enjoy so is the activity of choice when we get together. I have always been a quantity over quality person and since aye eat places are ridiculously cheap, that’s where we end up going. I used to avoid some of the more high calorie foods at those places like dessert, but the “there is no bad food idea” has shifted my mindset on that recently. So when I start trying all the food I see and getting seconds and 3rds of things I liked, I guess that’s when I go from stuffed to ill. I have never saw it as something I need to be concerned with as I feel I have pretty good control of my diet when I’m not at these places. I just feel like I need to find where my limit is. Ideally stopping a few plates before I feel ill.

    Some of my friends don’t understand this behavior either and think if I didn’t diet as strict as I do at other times, I wouldn’t feel the need to do this. However I know that is not true as I have always stuffed my self every time I was at an Ayce place since I was in my early 20.

    There is also the aspect of calories in calories out every one talks about. If my goal is to maintain and I am maintaining then does it matter how I get there? While I have no desire to be a YouTuber like the person in the video I posted above, there are plenty of others like beardmeetsfood and Eric the electric that probably take it to a whole other level on a much more consistent basis and are still in phenomenal shape.

    Maybe I have been brain washed and justifying what I do with all the “health” content out there. CICO, flexible dieting, dieting and maintaining social life, do something that is sustainable for you, day to day weight fluctuation isn’t what matters, cheat days happen, refeed days, carb loading and many other ideas and theory.
    Maybe I’ll try to limit my intake when I’m at the restaurant later today. We shall see.
  • Dante_80
    Dante_80 Posts: 479 Member
    edited October 2020
    globalc00 wrote: »
    Maybe I’ll try to limit my intake when I’m at the restaurant later today. We shall see.

    Try it out, you may find that you can still become satiated and have fun eating different things without necessarily having to become ill while doing it.

    The response you got has to do with the fact that you yourself said you were becoming ill by said behavior. Think about it for a second..whether you are maintaining your weight or not is irrelevant, isn't it?

    I mean, one could choose to follow CICO and maintain his weight via a combination of restaurant garbage, landfill diving, roadkill boiling, pica and coprophagy. From a nutritional standpoint, It's still calories in, calories out, right? Wouldn't you think that this behavior is a little weird though?

    There are people out there that can do this.

    https://youtu.be/ChevXpoCXuU?t=114

    Or this.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gok-gkH4bwA&

    And it is their job to do that. Do you see them wanting to get ill on purpose?

    I'm not saying that you are doing something even remotely similar. But it seems that eating to the point of puking or being unable to move anymore is a little extreme..right?


  • globalc00
    globalc00 Posts: 103 Member
    To be clear, I am not force feeding my self at these meals. I am simply eating until I feel satisfied. I guess when all the food finally expands in my stomach, that is when I feel like I overdid it.