Binge Eating

Abigaillee15
Abigaillee15 Posts: 100
in Motivation and Support
Last year I lost 20lbs. But recently I have just gained 10lbs back from weekend binge eating. I eat super healthy during the week and try not to deprive myself. If I crave chocolate, I eat a few squares of dark chocolate. If I'm craving something salty/nutty, I spread a little bit of peanut butter on whole wheat toast. I increased my calorie intake so it wasn't so drastic and even cut back on excessive exercising. My binge eating almost always occurs on Friday and Saturday nights, and I will consume an unhealthy amount of calories to the point where I feel sick to my stomach. I am in a rut because I refuse to go back to my old weight and I know binge eating is affecting my health in more than just weight gain.

Does anyone else have the same problem? What do you do to fix it? I'd appreciate anyone's advice!

Replies

  • gezman
    gezman Posts: 10
    I wish I knew how to fix it, but I try to do better than I have in the past. One thing that was suggested to me by my therapist was to not treat a binge as a failure, therefore an excuse to keep binge eating. If I would binge on a Friday or Saturday, I would also use that as an excuse to binge on Sunday, and tell myself I would start eating well again on Monday. The therapist suggested that I look at a binge as a single mistake, and not to give myself an excuse to continue it for the rest of the day/week/month and so on. I would like to say that this solved my problems, it didn't, but it did help me shorten the amount of time I would binge eat, and kept the binges farther apart. Just realizing what you are doing and wanting to change the behavior is a good first step, I tend to turn a weekend binge into the rest of the month binge, and I know how much weight can be put on in a short time, that weekend can easily undo a good week, I hope that just talking about it will help, best of luck to you.
  • riannenrings
    riannenrings Posts: 142 Member
    the weight will probably adjust itself. as for the problem of binge eating,especially on weekends...you are not alone. i cant stop. sometimes i will stop for awhile but i always start again.
    i did hear from someone, that she decided to try to control her out of control eating by allowing it, as long as it was under certain parameters,...
    it must only be on Sunday. eat whatever you want on Sunday, but the rest of the week must be on track. then you've only eating bad 4 days a month (which is better than i am doing now)

    it sounded interesting to me and i might try it. at least maybe i would be learning to control myself a little bit at a time?

    def interested in others' responses.
  • Mehagon
    Mehagon Posts: 83
    I wish there was an easy fix to binge eating. . . I've dealt with it too. I'm finally in a good frame of mind right now!

    Honestly, I think one of the secrets to not binging all comes down to feeling good about yourself and liking yourself. If you are happy with who you are and realize that you are worth being happy and healthy, it just seems a lot easier. I saw this on a documentary not too long ago called "Hungry for a Change". A doctor has her patients look in the mirror twice a day and say "I accept myself, as I am, right now." It actually does seem to help a little bit. Really try and stay positive and think about the things you like about yourself.

    Also, another thing that has helped me a little bit: think about what it is you want to eat. . . can you buy it in the store any time you want? Then it's probably not worth eating right now. Look at the ingredients. .. can you pronounce/define them all? Then it's probably not worth eating.

    Everyone has to find what helps them with the food mind games, because different things work for different people. :) I hope you find something that is helpful to you and that you are able to feel in control and happy. :)

    You are worth it.
  • Lyra89
    Lyra89 Posts: 674 Member
    I could be reading about myself in your post!

    That is me all over. I only just joined on here and I'm on my 9th day binge free, the longest I've gone since I started binging 2 years ago! My binging stemmed from a 50lb weightloss and I wasn't sure how to maintain, but I still had (and have) about ten pounds to lose!

    It takes me between 3-7 days to see my weight return to normal after a really bad weekend binge, but it always does.

    I'm recovered for the most part, my binges are NEVER like what they used to be, where I would eat until my stomach was so stuffed and I'd be crying with guilt, shame and physical pain. Now I guess I just 'over eat' the odd time like any normal human being!

    You have to educate yourself about all aspects of nutrition and discover that QUALITY of food is better than QUANTITY. You also have to figure out how to include one thing every single day that is a 'bad' food to keep you from feeling the need to binge...binge eaters often catagorize foods into GOOD and BAD lists, so if we have one thing from the BAD list we say '**** it, I've ruined my healthy eating, I might as well eat as much as I can stuff into my mouth for the rest of the day and start again tomorrow!'

    This mentality is what needs to change! And you CAN do it, I've done it, but it takes baby steps and patience.

    Be glad that you recognise you have disordered eating, that is the first step towards change.

    I aspire to eat like the French, who eat whatever they please...are the thinnest nation in the world, but the thing with them is they eat slowly and mindfully, each meal is an occasion, they sit down and chew and savour and top off their meals with a tea/coffeee/red wine or a piece of cheese or dark chocolate...I want to be an intuitive eater and not obsess over calories etc.

    Add me as a friend and we can help each other! :smile:
  • Abigaillee15
    Abigaillee15 Posts: 100
    Thank you everyone who has replied! Just knowing that there are others I can relate to makes me feel better about getting through this :-)
  • honestlysweet
    honestlysweet Posts: 221 Member
    I used to be a terrible binge eater. There is only one thing that helped me stop.

    Classes at the gym. I get up early and take the 6am classes at the gym monday thru friday. They last an hour, and let me tell you they will work you hard, even if you think you exercise now, once you take a cardio class or bodypump class or body combat, you are so tired but you feel totally amazing! And for some strange reason, from the day I started January 17, this year, I haven't binged once. There is something about hard exercise that about kills you that makes you not want to eat. Don't feel nervous about going. Everyone is a little nervous the first day, but you get to know people in the class and they know you are new and no one expects you to keep up with the ones who have been taking the class since forever. They will help you.

    It's great. I hope you try it.

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