I hope it helps just to know that you're not alone (none of us are!).

And thank you for bringing up this subject, as its very near & dear to my heart too. I love what someone said about getting it out in the open & not letting it have power over you.

Its so seldom what we eat - as much as what happens next...... so make sure that you do something positive to get all that bad stuff out of your head!!!

I actually didn't develop this horrible habit until after I had my baby (he's now 18 months old) and I really started trying to lose weight. I just couldn't do it. I would buy bags of chips and cookies and eat them all by myself. I would keep them in my room on my side of the bed, scarf them down and throw away the evidence. I told myself I'd had enough of the self-sabotage and stopped "dieting." When I was finally ready to move on, I changed strategies. I plan my meals and snacks. Sometimes it's junk. (Shoot we're having frito chili pies for dinner one day this week) Most times it's healthy. I try to watch my hunger cues and I'm trying to retrain myself to eat slower and remind myself that just because it tastes awesome doesn't mean I need to eat a ton of it. So far I haven't had any binges in a long time.

This was a very powerful thread for me to read......
 

I went to my first Overeaters Anonymous meeting for this very reason: secret and binge eating. It is almost thirteen years later and I want you to know, you will move beyond this. Becoming aware of it is the first step forward. Thank you for sharing this.

I also want to thank all the rest of you who shared about your secret and binge eating. I have done all of the same things you ladies have done and more. One of my lowest moments was throwing a bunch of leftovers from other people's plates on top of some creme puffs and then when people weren't looking I dug under all that grose stuff and ate the creme puffs (one of my favorite previous "sins")!! I once ate a half-eaten candybar that I saw discarded on a city street! Someone could have had a disease who tossed that or it could have been peed on by a dog walking by. Worst yet, I didn't care. It was a candybar and I wanted it irregardless of its past "history". Can you imagine that?

I still have slips on occasion. When I identify a "trigger" food, I put it on my mental check list and it doesn't come through the door. However, when my DH goes to one of his many meetings and there are leftovers, he knows I will ask if he brought any home. Sometimes, he will bring me home the healthy stuff but then I see the old me trying to get him to be an "enabler" too. Just last night, I asked didn't they have any cookies? He feels embarassed when he forgets... I feel so sorry for him when I do that. I consider it the grace of God when he has moments where he forgets.

I can usually be strong but I have now come to believe that there are good days and then there are not so good days.... Here's to as many good days as we can take!!:carrot:

Thanks for sharing this, it is a powerful reminder for all of us that we are indeed human....lest we forget.....

I also have this addiction. I always thought it was depression when my husband was gone. He is in the military and recently got back from Iraq. I had plans to lose all my weight in the 18 months he was gone. I actually was 15 pounds heavier when he got back. I was so mortified because I had these dreams of him seeing me skinny and him not even knowing I was dieting. So, when he got home I started my diet. It is so much easier with him home. Well, now the weekend drills have started back up and this weekend I was eating like a hog! I feel so guilty and really sick to my stomach when I do this. Why do we do this to our bodies when it makes us feel so awful and drained.

I have this same problem! I'll wait until the family I work for is gone then rush upstairs and eat something that I wasn't hungry for and that I shouldn't be eating. I've done it since I was a kid, so it is hard to break. I remember hiding bowls of cereal in my room and cramming it into the time I got home from school and when my mom got home from work. My mom to this day does not know about my secret eating habit. It is hard to break, and you may need to start out small. I've stopped having food in my room, which is where I normally binge, instead I only keep fruit down here. It's a mental thing that needs to be worked out, it may take time. Trying talking with the people in your life, you should never feel that you have to eat in secret. If you want something you should eat it, out in the open.

Ok i admit it also. I do it after we eat dinner and will pick up the last peice of meat and eat it . Meat seems to be what i crave most. I will have my serving with dinner and then eat another few bites in the kitchen. I use to pick off my kids plates before scrapping them also. NOw my kids are grown. I notice I dont do this if anyone else is in the kitchen with me

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with this problem. I ended up having another episode last night involving chinese food. My bf had ordered chicken fingers and General Tsao's chicken the other night and has been sick, so he hasn't eaten it. I scarfed down a couple of pieces of General Tsao's and chicken tenders last night and ended up almost making myself sick. I haven't had fried food in two months, so it caused an immediate upset stomach. Worse part, is that I still wanted more. So, I need to figure out how to convince my bf that leftovers are just a bad idea.

I am right there with the rest of you. I have done my fair share of secret binge eating. I would find myself being mad at my BF is he was home when I thought he wouldn't be and had planned on eating certain things. I would hide the wrappers for things I ate at the bottom of the trash can so no one would see.
One thing that helped me (eventhough I still struggle with it) is doing calorie counting instead of a plan with "forbidden" foods. I think part of the reason I was binging was to rebel against myself saying I can't eat certain things. With calorie counting nothing is off limits, and that helps me a lot.