Before I go, I have a few questions for everyone here:
1. At what point, in your opinion, does snacking become binging?
2. What triggers you to binge, and how can you find out what it is?
3. Do you believe it's beneficial to "treat" yourself every now and then like most people suggest, or do you find yourself having to go cold turkey on junk food to avoid binges?
1. For me, I knew I was a binger when I would eat like a zombie ~ I would grab chocolate, cupcakes, anything sweet in my house (even ladyfingers with marscapone cheese spread all over them) and gorge on them all while screaming in my head "STOP!!!!"....and I couldn't. It was like I was in a daze and outside of my body when I would binge.
2. Anything sweet triggers me to binge, so I have to be very careful what I surround myself with at home. I never binge at work or anywhere else but home.
3. I've been able to eat chocolate and cake here and there because I am now counting calories and I make sure have room for them in my calorie intake for the day. For some reason, counting calories has really changed the way I think about food, and I'm very lucky I haven't binged in over a month. Giving in to "treats" might not work for everyone, though. It might lead someone to spiral out of control.
My sister was visiting the other day and she was talking about sheet cake eating contests that she and her friends used to do for fun...it sounded like heaven to me. Sad.
1. At what point, in your opinion, does snacking become binging?
2. What triggers you to binge, and how can you find out what it is?
3. Do you believe it's beneficial to "treat" yourself every now and then like most people suggest, or do you find yourself having to go cold turkey on junk food to avoid binges?
Welcome aboard, Nuclear!!!
1. Binging to me is the out of control feeling that I get when I start to shove food in my face and cannot stop. No matter how much I am protesting in my head, I can't stop shoveling it in. Binging for me also would be going to the store and buying roughly 3000 calories of PURE junk, coming home and inhaling it as fast as I could. Followed by the feelings of shame.
2. Triggers come in many different shapes and sizes for me. Sometimes it used to be just seeing some candy or something sweet would send me into the abyss. More often than not, for me, it was emotions. I was trying to block my emotions and I would eat them away. Also, boredom and stress all have been my triggers at one time or another.
3. Only now am I able to have a little bite of this or a sample of that. In the beginning of my binge free journey, I swore off any and ALL junk food....candy, cakes, soda, chips, fast food, all of it. I had to detox from all of the junk and then start to feel how my body reacts to good, healthy foods to be able to see the difference. Only after that was I able to have a little something here and there. For the most part, I don't WANT the junk anymore. When TOM comes, I start to feel snackier but I can control that. for the most part, being a part of the binge free challenge has helped me to change how I LOOKED at food. How I felt about it. This challenge has helped me to find other answers to my questions rather than food always being the answer.
feeling dizzy whirling around this site.i think this group is a good fit.just joined and my only goal right now is to eat healthy and be binge free .i have alot more to lose than 15 lbs but will take it in doable steps (avoiding the whole feeling overwhelmed ...so far to go thing).take care everyone peggy
Welcome aboard, Peggy.
This site is great for support. We are glad you joined our challenge to stay binge free!! Depending on what plan you're doing, you may want to join other sub forums. I belong to 2 others.
19 days on plan here. I am trying to practice intuitive eating, and it's going surprisingly easy this time because I WANT this so badly and I am so SICK and TIRED of feeling crappy and out of control.
day 33 nearly over and pleased that I went out for lunch and ate sensibly. I dont know what has happened to the old me but I'm glad that she's not here!!
LovePurple - It's NEVER too late to join! WELCOME!
I'm coming here instead of eating more - ate a bagel/almond butter as a snack and I want to keep eating. Definitely not hungry, but I am tired and avoiding doing school work. And it's been hard to stop thinking about calories the past couple of days - obsessing counting/tallying and re-counting/tallying in my head even though I have a fitday account that does it for me.
I think part of me is worried that I'm not going to get "enough" food - That I'll still be hungry after I finish eating - Trying to be gentle with myself and realize that I'm really tired from waking up so early, I do have enough food planned for dinner and if I'm really hungry after I finish then I'll let myself eat more food.
Ugh, horrible day at the office. Got fully berated by the boss. I was sure that immediately after work I would binge my face off; at the time I so wanted to! But I held it together for the rest of the day, came home and, somehow, just finished a healthy, reasonable meal. Yaay! I'm amazed. And kinda shocked. Definitely surprised.
Still a few hours in the night to go, but I feel pretty confident that the worst is over and I can say Day 5 down. Yessssss!
thesame7lbs - I live in San Diego. Weather is awesome! Although it did rain today...
SarahinBalance - I get worried about being too hungry later on too. I think that's why I keep pushing dinner close to bedtime. I don't want to deal with that uncomfortable feeling of being hungry while awake. Of course, it's pretty absurd when I think about it logically - my body has plenty of "reserves" to use if famished.
caligirl9 - good job not eating your emotions!
3 days down for me. I overate yesterday but didn't let it spiral out of control. This was really tough! I wanted so badly to start eating massive quantities of food. Today was also tough since whenever I go off-plan, I seem to give myself license to eat junk for a couple of days before snapping out of it. However, I stuck to the plan today and was successful. This was big for me.
