How does one figure out why they binge every single day of their life? How do we figure out why?

What are you trying NOT to feel by bingeing?

Possibly a mixture of numbing your feelings, trying to give yourself enough energy to power through the day, and deeply engrained habit coupled with living in a country that encourages unhealthy food?

that's exactly why i do it. i have a lot of anxiety issues and food calms and soothes me. it makes me feel comforted and like i am not alone (sad, i know). i just need to learn that food is not the answer to all my problems.

Im a comfort eater all the way. DH was griping about the house being a mess and it just made me a nervous wreck and since my disease is flared today and Im hutying and wore out I cant fix the messy house today I just downed two packs of snackwells (210 cals per pk) and some pringle minis
UGH I dont know why I do that but i do know why it made me feel better temporarly. I felt comforted and content and happy. Now I feel fat and stupid.

Definitely~
Food has been for me a socially acceptable, legal, convenient, drug of choice.
While prescription medication taken per direction is helpful, use and abuse of "street drugs" is dangerous. I've adopted the same view towards food. Good choices make me healthier, stronger, more confident. Bad choices are negative, self defeating and destructive.
Choose well today. It's worth it.

For me too--anxiety is related to my eating. The trick is trying to replace eating with something else. It could be working out, or calling a friend or whatever you want to put into it's place.

I had a true, I mean a TRUE binge on Monday. I am outing myself now.

I ate two thumbprint cookies, THREE slices of Tarimisu--big ones, two sweet rolls and then pizza. I drank water the rest of the day. I had some drama happen in my life on Sunday and I do think it was directly related to what I chose to eat that morning. The truth is the binge didn't even taste that good--and I knew it as I shoved food into my face in a dark room with a black and white movie playing. I just did it.

I binge when I'm lonely. I snuck food when I lived at home, then I had a relationship and was a healthy weight. When that ended I binged like crazy and now years later I'm in a different relationship and I rarely binge.

When my bf is out of town, I still want to binge. I don't even feel sad, it's so automatic... I'm alone and will be for awhile, therefore I binge.

I'm afraid it will never go away. I can lessen it, especially when I'm in a relationship but also when I'm single... but I think it's forever... as are most eating disorders.

i totally and completely binge for comfort. -- i will not binge in front of anyone. . it always happends when im alone, something about being alone makes me nervous, antsy, my mind wanders towards food and than gets stuck there and i cant stop obssesing over it till i ahve it. and it could be anything... as long as its not on my diet and is bad for me... lol

and i agree with Forme01 -- its my drug of choice. the only differance is that we HAVE to eat to live.. we cant give it up completely like most addicts.

re train my brain! thats my goal..

When I was alone, I binged to avoid the things I thought I ought to be doing. I rarely allowed myself to do things I enjoyed (because there was so much "work" to do), and used food to procrastinate. I also used it to deal with any anxiety or uncomfortable feelings. It was only when I started to allow myself to feel the anxiety, sadness, loneliness, happiness, etc. and just let it play out that I stopped having the urge to binge. You can never be at completely at peace -- that's just life. The key is to learn that feelings are transitional -- they come and go. Feeling bored or lonely or anxious will not last forever, even if you don't eat to cover them. They will go away by themselves. Choosing to feel your feelings is the hardest thing to do in recovery from binge eating, but until you do it, you won't recover. I haven't binged in almost a year but I still struggle with the desire sometimes. I just have to remind myself that I have a choice -- I am the one who chooses to eat -- and I am now choosing NOT to eat, but rather to feel my feelings.

You are all correct. Forme01 hit it right on, it is our "drug of choice". We are all just medicating whatever our psycological problem (and for some of us a phyisical problem) is. I guess we/I need to find a way to "heal" myself for good so this cycle will end.

Jo

Yes, bingeing is the drug of choice for me as well.
But I also wonder if there isn't also an element of punishing myself in it.
I often feel like I am such a worthless, useless waste of space that I don't deserve to take proper care of myself so I might as well binge.

gosh i feel like there are so many reasons i binge, but these are (i think) the things i feel most regularly

cause its like its my little late at night secret and i enjoy my special time by myself with the food
cause im anxious and i cant stop. if im eating and stressing about eating then i cant think about the rest of my life
cause i enjoy it?? i dont really get this one, but ive been struggling with it the past few days -- the whole toss your hands in the air "this is just who i AMMM" bit

its been rough lately :/ but hopefully ill be able to stay on track today

dutch girl, do you think that in fact you may be beating yourself down, just so you can have an excuse to binge? i don't know if it even helps in the long run to over analyze what's going on in our minds. but in know in the past, when my binging was at it's most out of control, my mind would come up with all sorts of excuses and twisting around of the situation just to justify binging.
and of course i would always plan to quit the next day...



partypants, i used to think that too, that i just LIKED to eat alot! I guess it's true on the one hand, but on the other hand, is that like saying an alchoholic just likes to drink? a druggie just likes heroine? smokers just like smoking? there is a truthfulness to it. I guess the reason people don't accept it as part of who they are is becuase of the undesirable consequenses.

I'd like to say that i'm just someone who likes to eat a ton of food, but to be happy with that, i would also have to accept the body that results from that. :(

when I feel alone and sad I binge... if I feel a binge coming on, I just do everything I can to leave my apartment so I won't be near the kitchen. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But I always binge when I'm sad/depressed... or otherwise feeling low. Never when I'm happy. When I'm happy I don't want to abuse my body, and I genuinely want to be healthy. When I'm sad I say "screw it, I don't care" and the rest is history...

dutchgirl and partypantalones,
i didn't mean to sound like i was judging or questioning your responces. I just re-read what i wrote yesterday. I guess i was just thinking out loud via my computer keyboard :)

I find i really interesting to read all these responses and to see how everyone situation is different.

but I have noticed underneath many of the reasons, the bottom line COULD be attributed to finding comfort....

I think of this alot when i am trying to fight off an urge. I'll ask myself "is there something else i REALLY want?" Like i'll know i feel unhappy and unsettled, but i don't understand why the only solution that seems like it will work is to eat. and eat. and eat. etc.
I'll start wondering if i just feel unsettled, unloved, unfillfilled, or suppressed in other aspects of my life. and i feel helpless to do anything about it, but one thing i can do is I can eat, and that will comfort me temporarily. Doesn't solve anything, but for a few short moments i can feel some semblance of happiness. fleeting though it may be.