bingeing

I did have an issue with binging, it's the reason I gained the weight, I was an emotional eater and any upset would have me turning to food. I've got myself in the mindset now that when I want to eat something I ask myself is that worth that amount of calories, I also remind myself of my goal and question if I really want to undo the work I've done by binging. I am also not eating trigger foods, instead of normal chocolate, sweets, crisps I'm eating low calorie versions, when I've eaten my portion I'm done I don't go back for more. With me it's all about, determination, willpower and being in the right mindset, if I'm not in the right mindset I binge and I'm trying to reset myself to no longer use food for comfort if that makes sense. Also drink lots of water, the more you drink the less you'll eat.

Some things, if it's in the house I will eat all of it; crisps, chocolate, cookies, cheese, pasta, breakfast cereal. These are my most triggering foods. So, I haven't bought them, or when I've bought them it's been outside of the house or one tiny portion bag. I binge after a hard day at work or when idle in the afternoon. So I make sure not to be as idle, and trying to find better coping mechanisms for bad days.

The last binge was breakfast cereal, I had one sensible portion and was happy about it. And then over the span of an hour I had eaten the entire box, a good 1000 calories + the bottle of chocolate milk I had with it.

I don't think bingeing is immature, but rather just a maladaptive behavior to some kind of stress or other emotion (even hunger or feeling (even not eating enough or enough of the right kinds of foods). The key to overcoming it, I think, is really digging deep and finding out *why* you binge. Are you restricting yourself too much? Are you telling yourself you just "can't" have some foods. Are there other things going on in your life that are stressful, and how do deal with stress?

I used to really struggle with bingeing, from the time I was 15 and had put myself on a very restrictive diet, until maybe my mid-late 20's (now 44). Even now I can start to slip into a binge (vs. just overeating because it "tastes good"), but am way more mindful now and can stop myself.

My bingeing originated from months of restricting myself too severely to lose weight as a teenager. Because of that, often times when I would start to try to lose weight and restrict calories (especially too severely), I'd inevitably end up bingeing out of control. The more I binged, the worse I felt about myself. The worse I felt about myself, the more the anxiety crept up, so I binged even more to "stuff" those feelings.

I was able to lose some weight successfully at times through various programs, but inevitably would gain it back. When I began to shift my focus from choosing more of the right kinds and right amounts of foods for health instead of weight loss, it lessened my anxiety around food. I also have had to tell myself that absolutely nothing is off limits for me, but it is all about my own priorities and choices, and facing those consequences. At one point, even the thought of restricting myself and logging/tracking food could get trigger anxiety. Thankfully, I was able to lose weight after my 2nd baby back in 2012 using MFP and keep it off.

Last April, I decided to see if I could lose about 8 pounds to get to my "ultimate" goal. I hadn't tracked food in quite some time, and again, the thought started to trigger some anxiety. So, I decided to just track without restricting to make myself more mindful of what I was eating. After I felt okay with that, I ate in a slight deficit, while trying to get more activity throughout the day outside of the exercise I was already doing. The big shift, though, was telling myself that I could be a person who didn't binge anymore, and if I did, I could stop it. I have had to learn to sit with uncomfortable feelings more and work through them more productively ( I also have anxiety).

There are still a few foods that can be triggering for me, but again, I'm much better at controlling it and stopping myself. I also tell myself if I DO slip up, it's not the end of the world, I can reset myself.