I have had eating disordered behavior for a few years now. It was never to a point where I was at a serious risk of doing permanent damage, but I have been hooked on both extremes. There have been times when I was eating just one small meal a day in a desperate attempt to lose weight, even though I was already small (though never underweight).
And then there have been times - and this was most recently - when I would literally eat until I was sick. Not until I was vomiting, I mean, but until all I could do was lay in bed and clutch my stomach helplessly... and then I'd shove in a few more Cheetos, anyway.
Thing is, I didn't even realize recently that binges are actually a... thing? That is, I didn't realize it was even considered a serious problem. But it was hard to take a good, hard look at myself and realize that eating until you are a bit past comfortably full is bad enough. Eating until you feel positively sick and hurt is even worse.
I've had to wean myself off by simply not keeping the foods I binge on around me. Right now, I would have all kinds of things with me (I won't list them in case any readers find that troublesome). Somehow, I'm hoping that when I hit goal, I'll miraculously be able to keep these foods again because I won't want to ruin all of my hard work.
How do you guys beat binging? How bad has your binging been? I feel like there's so much sympathy for the people who are troubled enough to starve themselves, but bingers are just 'pigs'. =/
I'm a binger too. I will eat until I feel sick and then some how cram a few more pieces in. it tends to happen when I am anxious or sad, or both. It happens more when I am stressed out. It's been as bad as every other day, but sometimes I will go months without binging. I'm trying to find a pattern but haven't yet.
I know the sick full stomach about to burst feeling you're talking about. I know limiting the foods that set it off has helped me too. I'm pretty new to acknowledging I have a problem and actually started counseling last week. Its one of the main reasons I started, but then I didn't bring it up.
I hear you. I guess this is sort of why I started on here. Hi! Nice to meet you.
Well I haven't beat binging (yet), but my binges have gotten less frequent since I started trying to be healthy. I also vacillate between binging (and in my case, purging) and restricting. I've been involved in this behavior since I was about 11 years old.
My binges used to be horrible, I would plan them out and shop for them and then execute them. Nowadays they are a bit less extreme (partly because I have no $$ for binge food). But the behavior is always lurking there in the back of my mind. Binge eating and compulsive overeating (COE) are two eating disorders that are slowly gaining awareness. But there are still a lot of people who just think that eating disorder means emaciated skeletons starving themselves or puking up everything they eat. It's sad really, that people accept (or at least recognize) one end of the spectrum without seeing the other one as legitimate.
Binges are definitely a "thing," and I have observed that they happen to a lot of people who lose a significant amount of weight with no prior history of eating disorders. I have a hard time going 2 weeks without a binge and have been dealing with it since winter. I've always been a big eater so it takes 5000+ calories before I actually feel sick...
Scouring the internet for blogs and advice sites etc has informed me but not really helped. I'm going to check out Overeaters Anonymous.
I echo so many of the statement above. For me it is completely emotional and honestly started when I stopped self-medicating with another substance which shall go unnamed... it seems that ever since I was in college and truly "out on my own" I started using substances (drugs, food etc.) to cover up whatever was bothering me. I have gone to counseling and have begun to uncover some of what my deeper issues are, but more importantly in the short term, I'm learning techniques to cope with my feelings instead of covering them up. It doesn't work every time and I resort to binging about twice a month, but I'm so much better than I used to be. I do my best to be patient with myself and not beat myself up if I slip up, it's all part of the journey of self-discovery and improvement.
Most recently I've been busting my butt at the gym (weights and cardio). When I can feel the "good" soreness from the weights it reminds me how binging will just undo most my hard work. It's a last-ditch effort in preventing a binge when all else fails... and even that doesn't work every time.
I had no idea so many other people alternated so much between restricting and binging. I kinda figured most people either ended up engaging in one or the other!
Something else I have noticed is that if I have a food craving that I deny, that can lead to a binge. Like if I think, oh, I want some chocolate ice cream. But then I tell myself no. If the craving persists, I'll eventually binge. If I just eat the damn chocolate ice cream, I can avoid binging, because I can remind myself that I satisfied that craving.
I just realized a couple months ago that I binge eat, and I am formulating this thought I type it, and I'm sure there a lot of other stuff going on besides just food cravings.
Something else I have noticed is that if I have a food craving that I deny, that can lead to a binge. Like if I think, oh, I want some chocolate ice cream. But then I tell myself no. If the craving persists, I'll eventually binge. If I just eat the damn chocolate ice cream, I can avoid binging, because I can remind myself that I satisfied that craving.
I just realized a couple months ago that I binge eat, and I am formulating this thought I type it, and I'm sure there a lot of other stuff going on besides just food cravings.
I do the same thing! I've been craving bread and gravy, but I wouldn't eat it because it was too much sodium. I finally gave in today, and I actually had a small portion and was fine. And I didn't binge! I'll call it a victory.
Chronicles of a Binger
