[mamatoni]

I know that many of you on this forum have experience with binging, do any of you have experiences with purging? Successes with stopping, ideas to use...I don't know....

When I was in college I was bulimic and anorexic (largely bulimic). I was in therapy for it and was "discharged", the therapy was helpful with self-image issues and helping me understand that my self image shouldn't be tied to my weight...BUT I was still an emotional eater (using food for all the wrong reasons), so during a particularly bad time in my life I gained about 40 lbs over a few months Pregnancies added more and brought me to my highest weight. Throughout all this time I would purge occasionally after a bad binge.

I started exercising and eating healthier (controlling binges, less comfort eating, etc.) and have lost 30 lbs. BUT I still do occasionally purge when I go off plan or binge. (It goes in spurts - I won't for months, then will a couple of times in one week) I know it is super-unhealthy and I want to stop completely. Does anybody out there have success with or advice for this sort of thing?

[SoulBliss]

Therapy is my suggestion.

[Mrs Snark]

I hate to think of you doing that to yourself. I have no experience with purging, so no good advice to offer, I wish I did. As SoulBliss says, maybe getting back into therapy will help you nip this in the bud?

[bargoo]

I agree that therapy is a good idea.

[katewillbehappier]

i had a big problem with purging too - i also had a big thing with emotional eating as i learned the endorphins you get from eating are also released by starving yourself, so you can get a real high from it! I used to be underweight from not eating enough to get this high, but then it flipped and suddenly i was stuffing myself to get a high and put on 25 lbs!

The ironic thing with me is that when i put on weight, that was when i began purging, though i was eating so much that even with purging i was still gaining! But this often happens and i had to teach myself that. Besides from all the health reasons to stop, just think that it actually IS NOT WORTH IT as it genuinely is not a method for your weight loss!! What used to happen with me is that i would binge and purge..only to feel hungry again a short while later and actually eat more than i had initially done! Not to mention that the proportion of calories you retain is very high.

All in all it is really very damaging, not productive, and really not worth the awful feeling it gives you! It was a horrible time in my life, and its all about self-control.

Best of luck xx

[mamatoni]

thanks for the suggestions. I feel like because I do it so rarely that I can kick it without therapy. I have gone as much as a year without purging, so I know I can do it. Maybe that is what it will take. Just the control to say "no, purging not an option for me". I always feel like a coward afterward, like I am not willing to accept the consequences of being weak and eating that piece of cake (or whatever). I know that I can do it.

Kate - it is so funny that it certainly doesn't make you lose weight, but I do it anyway.