Hi everyone, I'm new here

I'm 16, and I've been struggling with food since I was 11. I didn't think I was that young, but I just found some notebooks I wrote in that make it unmistakable. I was anorexic, mentally for a little over three years, and clinically for one year. I still have bouts of out of control restriction, but none recently. Now I've turned to binging and overeating. So I really haven't had a healthy "relationship" with food for a good portion of my life. But Today was my 3rd binge-free day--the longest time I've gone since before I can remember.

So my question to you ladies and gents is: What do you consider a binge? I've seen on these boards references to "overeating," "eating when not hungry," and "binging." What's the difference? What do you consider a binge-free day?

In return for your response I offer


Thank you all for this great atmosphere of support.

To me...overeating is when you begin to eat while you're hungry, and continue eating after you're full. Eating when not hungry...basically boredom eating. Binging is where your eating gets out of control.

Well, those are my interpretations of it. I consider a binge-free day to be...well, a day where I don't binge! During a binge-free day I'll have three healthy meals (when I'm HUNGRY!) and two small snacks (when I'm hungry between meals.).

And an ED is and ED. It's no surprise that you switched from one to the other. Put a Binger in a room with an anorexic, and switch the lights off...it'd be hard to tell them apart. It's all about control, lack of it, and obsession withi food. At least you know that you need to get yourself straight and develop healthy eating habits...that's a great start!

Wow, I feel like I am reading my own life. I am also 16 and have been dealing with eating disorders since I was 11. First anorexia, now binge-eating. In the past 5 years, my weight has varied from 70 lbs - 170... Congrats on making it 3 days =)... That is great! My longest is 2 weeks, I am trying to surpass that, but it is difficult. Best of luck!

_knot, that's such a good question, because many of define a binge differently. I think mine are as AmberKay described hers. Eating out of boredom. Eating because I'm feeling "emotional".
And this is something I only learned this year... that often when I binge, it's because I'm just plain hungry. I haven't eaten properly earlier in the day, and so I haven't "fueled" my body sufficiently, you know?

Okay I'm a psychologist so I'm going to take a slightly different view

Eating out of boredom...

Psychologists would describe this as unrestrained eating. That is not the same as a binge althought it can lead to bingeing. Lots of people eat simply because the food is there, because they are bored, because it's lunchtime so they "should" eat. Many will eat past full because they have been brought up to believe they should "clean their plate". All of this is unrestrained eating. Bingeing is a subset of unrestrained eating. ie a more severe form of unrestrained eating

Emotional eating is definitely a whole big ball of wax. A type of unrestrained eating and can be a trigger for binge eating

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Definition of bingeing
In lay terms it's simply an overindulgence. An extra helping of dessert or going silly at an all you can eat buffet.

In eating disorder speak it's unrestrained eating taken to another level. It goes beyond simply eating because the food is there, or because you're bored or disappointed. When you're talking about ED binge eating is a compulsion and it is extreme.

If you were talking about calories it could be eating 2,000 calories in under 2 hours. It's beyond eating past being full. A binge is when you eat until you're full. then you keep eating until you feel like you're bursting. then you might eat some more. you may feel physically sick but you don't stop eating. Binges in ED-speak are uncontrollable urges to stuff yourself.

ED bingeing is characterised by 2 main things:

• a feeling of lack of control or out of control eating, or the feeling that you "have to" eat
• excessive eating that is considerably more than most other people would eat in the same amount of time. it's hard to define this maybe it's only 50% more but it could be 3, 4 or 5 times more and it's usually over a short period of time. so if you graze all day it's probably not a binge. but if you're good for most of the day and then go mad and eat a pizza large enough for 2 or more people and then a huge tub of ice cream then that's probably a binge

Obviously it's not an exact science...

I agree that it's not an exact science. And I think that whatever definition people here use to personally define a "binge" is acceptable.

When I said that I "binge" when I'm angry, unhappy, etc, I'm not just eating a donut or a couple of cookies. I'm eating a big bag of chips, maybe a couple of dozen cookies, four chocolate bars... Or I'm lying in bed; unable to stop thinking about the leftovers from dinner, finally giving in to my desire to eat half of a casserole.
To me, that's a binge, regardless of what anyone else may call it.

sorry i knew when i quoted someone that it might be taken out of context because of course i have no way of knowing what you eat at the time!!

emotional eating can be binge eating. i was trying to differentiate the "textbook" definition from the lay definition.

it's definitely a personal thing but because the original poster was talking about EDs I wanted to let her know about the distinction made with EDs as EDs may require other intervention such as therapy or doctors or other professionals.

i definitely did not want to diminish your own eating experience or suggest in any way it's not a binge. i think i will go back and edit the post to take out your quotes so as not to confuse anyone

but having said that there are a lot of people who think they have a problem with bingeing which probably doesn't have the same psychological underpinnings of compulsion or out of control behaviour. hmmm probably just digging a deeper hole for myself. i guess i just don't want people to think they have an ED when they don't. but by the same token someone who does have an ED should be aware that they probably need professional help from a doctor or therapist or dietitian or whatever

my own binges are doozies... i remember one time i had my food diary and was going over it with a friend. she was looking up the food points in her WW guide so we could see how i was doing. we're part way through the first day and she goes, "this is for a week, right?" i almost killed myself laughing. we were over 40 points and i hadn't even got to my dinner time meal!!!

I know you didn't hon. I wrote my first post in a hurry, and I thought afterwards, "That was a lousy post and it wasn't specific." I was too darned lazy to go back and edit it, and I just wanted to explain myself.

Oh, I can relate to that, Sweet_pea!

MMmmmh, for me itīs that way:

OVEREATING: Starting to eat because I am hungry, not stopping after I am satisfied. Mostly connected with tasty foods...Overeating "can be made in public".

EMOTIONAL EATING: Eating something because of emotional issues (haha), I am not hungry and make wrong food choices.

BINGE: Eating a huge amount of food (a few thousand calories worth) in a short amount of time (like 4.000 cal in one hour).
Feeling "passed out" and numb while doing it, like a junkie who needs a fix. Feeling ashamed afterwards.
On a binge, I pretty much eat everything in sight- no matter if itīs raw, frozen, in the garbage or I normally donīt like it.
Feeling physically bad afterwards.
Probably horrible to watch for another person.

In my opinion 10 out of 10 people have overeaten or eating because of emotional issues from time to time. What defines a ED for me is the binges.

I guess you pretty much said that as well....


Kate

this sounds horrible, but im so glad you admitted you eat things from the garbage (or at least that you have in the past). I do that too when im bingeing.

This is a great thread.
I have had eatting disorders in the past
and am just now at 40 being able to tell when I am really hungry or just 'wanting' . That's how I describe it anyway .

right now i'm living a superstructured life, three square meals a day, and that's it. i can't even snack. i want to be at the point eventually where i can eat when i'm hungry and only then.
generally overeating or bored eating turns into bingeing for me--it's like the compulsion is so strong that there's no minor mistakes.

This is it for me.

If you asked me five minutes after one to make a list of what I ate, I wouldn't be able to tell you because *I* am not there when it happens.

Thanks for this post. It clarified a lot for me. I have had a lot of times that I started eating because I was hungry and just couldn't stop. I see now that it was over-eating. I wondered if I had a problem with bingeing, but from all that has been written, it wasn't. I appreciate this learning opportunity.

that's a good point, kateful -- looking back on binges, i can't remember what i ate or how much. my mind is somewhere else while my body is stuffing itself.

did any of you start with emotional eating or overeating and somehow that snowballed into binge-eating disorder?