i don't understand why i binge. basically, all i do is calorie-count and replace food items. for example, i absolutely LOVE pizza. it is my weakness. so, instead of take out, i make home made pizza. works out to my favor, and i don't feel like i'm punishing myself.

lately, i've been binging. it makes me feel like crap. the foods i binge on are low in nutrition quality and give me no stamina during my workouts. they're high calorie, meaning that i overeat, and all come with a side of regret.

so, why do i keep doing this? why do i keep sabotaging myself? i want to be fit so badly. i want to be in great shape, i want to look good in and out of my clothes, i want to feel good about myself and have confidence. so why do i keep doing things that cause me to regress?

when i binge, i gain weight, i lose progress and worst of all, i feel ashamed, guilty and like i have no control. why do i do something that hurts me so badly?

I feel like you've take the words right out of my mouth. I feel the same way you do. I've been working with my therapist on determining the root cause for why I binge and I've come to the conclusion that it has to do with my previous sexual abuse as a child; specifically, that I'm not worthy of being loved and being a "pretty woman" because I feel damaged. I've used food as comfort AND punishment for most of my life.

I haven't come up with the solution that works; however, I often come to 3FC forum as a virtual support group. It helps me to know that I'm not along with the battle of the bulge. PM me if you ever want to chat.

I've been struggling with binging a bit myself of late. I am very close to a healthy weight range so I don't have a lot of margin for error in my eating as I did when I was fatter. That means that an occasional binge (say, once every two weeks) is enough to derail any weight loss progress. It is pretty frustrating for sure.

I never worried much about the deep-seated psychological root causes for my overeating but at this level I think I finally have no choice. I've come to two conclusions about my binging:

(1) I am depressed (and I am, I am going through a difficult set of life changes right now and I am battling severe depression as a result of that), so my appetite for comfort eating is up and my discipline is weak.

(2) I am trying to restrict calories just a little bit too much, in my effort to get off these last few pounds, which is making me genuinely hungry, and that combined with the weakened discipline from (1) is causing the binging behavior.

I can't fix (1) very easily just now but I have been thinking about whether to address (2) by upping my daily calorie target a little bit for a while and seeing if it helps. It would be better for me to aim for 1/2 pound loss per week and actually achieve that calorie target most of the time, than to aim for 1 pound loss per week and consistently exceed that calorie target!

Today I will decide whether I want to reset my calorie target for the next month or two and see what happens. I think I am going to.

I think the reason why people binge is because they decide that's what they want and stuff the consequences. There is always tomorrow to deal with it, but for now I'm going to enjoy every bit of it...ect

You lose control and regret it later. I think the way to solve it is don't deny yourself, but make it a reward once a week for good work done during the week and don't make a massive meal. If it's a Pizza, just have a small to medium size pizza.

You have the control, you need to be in control for you to keep losing weight. Once you lose that control it takes over you.

(((hugs))) to everyone who has posted on this thread, binging resulting in emotional and physical results stink.

One way to help figure out your trigger is to read what other peoples triggers are and keep track of your food and feelings in a journal.

Everyone is different, but when I do not eat enough calories through out the day...like if I skip a meal...even if I am not hungry, I end up making unhealthy food choices. I actually feel like I can not control my food choices, which is a wrotten feeling.

Example: This past weekend, I worked 4 nights in a row and because the only food choices at my work are fried/fast foods, I bring protein shake. One night we were super busy and I was not hungry, so I did not eat and figured I would eat something healthy when I got home. What really happened is I made it home and my husband and kids had made brownies...I ate 3!

With me, I think I lowered my daily calories lower than I should have. So I've had more (almost always) evening moments when I just HAVE to have something to eat - NOW! I think that if I had eaten a bit more calories during the day I wouldn't have binged. So I'm adding 100 calories per day and will see how that goes.

So much of this is trial and error and learning from one's mistakes.

I have a problem with binging too, and I know it comes from being emotionally abused by my grandmother throughout my childhood and teens. How to "fix" it though? No clue. I think my calories during the week have been too low, so by the time the weekend arrives, I can hardly contain myself, I'm so excited to have a "cheat" day.
I *think* this might be contributing to my problem, so I've been doing a lot of thinking about revamping my plan...it's hard though.
Hugs to everyone!!

I found counseling to be useful in understanding why I binge. Now, I know myself well enough to realize that high fat and sugar (or things that break down easily into sugar, like white flour) will almost always trigger me, whether at that moment or a few days later.

I've had to cut out these items completely, sticking to healthier options. I know this isn't a sustainable attitude- I'll have to reintroduce a variety of foods eventually and in decent amounts- but for now am focusing on staying binge-free to improve my health and mental outlook.

My main goal this past year has been to stop doing things that make me feel bad about myself, and binging was pretty high on that list. I think I just got tired of hating myself for my crazy eating. My problem is that I start to obsess about something and then use food to turn off the obsessive thoughts. I've been trying to find other methods: hobbies, exercise, telling myself to just stop it, already! It's hard.

I agree with those of you who feel that being hungry from trying to get to a big deficit is a contributing factor. I feel less like overeating if I eat just a few hundred calories below maintenance.

One thing I firmly believe is that binging is a form of self-punishment, because we all feel like crap after we do it. And I'm pretty sure none of us deserves that, so let's all try to keep that in mind.