How do you define "binge" for yourself?
 

I'm new hear and haven't posted a lot but am glad to find you all. :)

I'm interested in participating the Binge Free challenges but it made me wonder what you define as a binge? For instance, on Sunday I went "off plan" in that I didn't/couldn't count my calories because I was eating at someone else's house. In my mind I estimated my calories for the day to be around 2100. My goal each day is 1600, so that was much above my goal. However, it didn't have that out of control feeling that I traditionally feel that comes with a binge. So, would you guys consider it a binge, or just a high calorie day?

On the flip side, do you think of something as a "binge" if you have that out of control feeling but maybe don't go too far above your budget?

I'm just curious about the symantics and such, not looking to create a debate or anything. :) Obviously I know I can't have 2100 calorie days all that often regardless of if there is an emotional charge behind it or not. I'm just curious as to how you define it for yourself. Thanks for your input and support!! :) :) :)

For me, a high calorie day is when I am in control and go in knowing this is my high calorie day.
It feels like a binge to me when I don't feel in control. Even if I don't go way over my calorie budget I can't help but feel the guilt of a binge.
Which doesn't bother me, it keeps me in check a bit more.
However, that's a personal standard for myself only because I can't help the way I feel. If someone else was telling me they ate more cookies than they wanted but stay within range.. I don't consider it a binge.
So basically, I rambled into a loop and didn't answer your question...

I have no idea what a binge is! Lol

A binge for me is to eat a whole jar of peanut butter or a half a gallon of ice cream or both til your so stuffed and you keep eating til your ready to toss your cookies. You can't stop yourself once you get started and it just tastes so good you keep going. I eat sometimes 4000 cal. when I binge. I figure if I had that uncontrollable feeling and urge to eat like that and I did, then it was a binge, even if was only 1500 cal. I'd still call it a binge.

I agree with others that a binge is not necessarily about calories; it's about an out of control feeling and extreme guilt afterwards. If it's just eating more at a meal or through the day because you feel like it, it doesn't sound like a binge to me...

Fruitlady you hit the nail on the head! That is definitely what I would call a binge. Eating (ALOT) when you are not hungry generally in response to some type of emotion is also what I would call a binge. After I have reached that point of stuffed beyond belief I sometimes wonder if that is how bulemics feel all the time right before they actually do stuff their fingers down their throat.

This is what I wrote back in November when someone raised the question of the difference between overeating & binging:

I also want to add here that binging for me is a very, very private behavior. I will wait when I completely alone to do it. Woe to the person who happens me when I am about just about ready to do it. That's where the "furtive" thing I mentioned comes in. It's like I'm committing a crime & I want there to be no witnesses whatsoever.

onanotherquest- I'm never even hungry when I binge, I just feel like I need the pleasure of sitting down and just enjoying every bite. I'm a little different than others. I sit and relax to binge and I will do it in front of anyone who is there. I don't hide.

Thanks for your replies everyone. It sounds like we have similar definitions. I can just FEEL when the difference is there, sometimes I know it's going to happen and don't even do anything to try to stop it. Just let it happen and then feel horrible after. I think I need to join the BFCs to start having some accountability. There are some big things happening in my life and I know from experience that stress and emotional issues are triggers for me so maybe by having someone I can be accountable to, I can help keep it from happening.

Any time I know I'm not hungry, I don't need it, I've had enough, but I still cannot stop myself from reaching for it, I call it a binge.

Overeating is having and extra helping or a holiday meal or something high calorie, but all withing the context of normal eating. That means one stops when full and stops thinking about food.

For me a binge is a mindset of intentional eating that pushes the boundaries of normal eating. It's eating an entire bag of cookies instead of a serving or two. It is eating food because it is there and available and not stopping until nearly sick. It's planning to over-indulge by buying the foods I know I would not eat otherwise. I also think of bingeing as sneak eating, when I try and hide how much I really eat.

For me, bingeing had more to do with calming anxiety and repressing emotions. It was a used as a drug and because feeding myself to the point of obesity was a punishment for not being who I wanted to be.

It's definitely a binge when I uncontrollably eat anything I see and then feel guilty about it.

That REALLY hits the nail on the head for me. Sometimes it is planned (ie. buying foods I know I will not be able to control myself around). Sometimes I let myself get too hungry - not on purpose, just b/c I get too busy - and then my will power is weakened and the only thing that sounds like it will satiate my hunger is white, refined carbs with lots of cheese.

For me, it really is about that out of control feeling - the eating until I am so full I know I won't sleep well (for me binging ALWAYS happens in the evenings) - the eating like I am obsessed. I get obsessed with getting to the bottom of the bowl of cheese dip or the bottom of the bag of pirates booty. Social events - I feel like I have to try EVERY dessert (wouldn't want to miss something good!)

I third this. A binge is eating way more, 1000s of calories in a sitting. I'm usually aware of when I'm binging-emotional binges I don't even care if what I'm eating really tastes good or not, it's just the eating gets my mind off of whatever is going on at the moment. this is the kind that is hard for me to stop even when I start feeling stuffed and sick.

A binge for me is gorging myself until I feel like (and sometimes do) throw up, and then eating even more. Sometimes it is an out of control feeling, I don't sit down with the intention of binging, but I end up doing it. And other times it is planned. I go and buy "binge food" specifically to eat in one sitting. Both kinds for me are emotionally fueled, but the out of control kind are usually spurred on by depression, the planned ones are usually backed by anger. Not sure why that is, but it is.

For me (meaning what I do, not what I define a binge as)....it would be eating almost an entire box of cookies or ice cream in the later evening (when I always got intense sugar cravings). However, I never let it get to the point of wanting to throw up. I DID eat past the point of actually feeling hungry for them/it but not to the point of making myself that sick. I have rarely eaten what I would consider massive quantities of food....but have eaten a LOT of calories in one sitting, as those cookie calories can add up pretty darn fast.

However, on low carb WOE's, all the sugar cravings and eating of boxes of cookies and ice cream has been totally gone. Have had NO sugar since August and don't even miss it. And it's been in the house and I disregarded it without a problem. I feel I must physically be a true carb addict.

But, from an analytical perspective (worked as a nurse for years), because it's been extremely interesting reading everyone's different experiences here with this issue.....I have come to the conclusion that binge behavior is much like drug addiction. Both would be classified as obsessive-compulsive disorders....which can be extremely difficult to control. And ones who do not have this particular addiction can in no way comprehend it. It's extremely difficult to understand obsessive-compulsive disorders.

But like drug-addiction, I believe there is also a physical component involved. With drugs, the person increases (astronomically) their number of receptor so that the body actually craves the drugs. And with binge eating, I believe that carbs possibly play a huge role...probably to varying degrees (a great deal for me personally) but the combo of obsession/compulsion disorder and alteration in physiology caused by certain foods we eat....makes it EXTREMELY difficult to try and control and conquer this.

BUT....there are 1) lots of therapists who specialize in OCD disorders and can help a great deal with CBT (cognitive behavior therapy) and also, with drug addiction, the longer the person stays off drugs, the easier it becomes because the obsession/compulsion actually does fade and almost disappear with time....if you can allow enough time to pass without engaging in the behavior/activity.

I tend to feel very badly for those who seem to blame their binging on "eating their emotions" or on solely emotional reasons...because I think they're being too hard on themselves. Drug addicts are known for reaching for drugs during stress and becoming unable to deal with stress/emotions without them. But I suspect that this is a SYMPTOM of having the obsession/compulsion of the behavior.....not the actual cause of it. I think that spending time evaluating and thinking of ways to deal with stress/emotions would not be wasted by any means, but don't think it's the corner stone of effectively controlling this. I think that dealing with it from an OCD disorder perspective and also an actual physiologic perspective would be the best way to go.

Just my own thoughts.

deena :)