thats me-eating
 

oh my gosh i read about the things you eat at one time
i can def do that
do'nt know how not to eat
this morning i had a bowl of carmel without the apples to dip and a piece of cin toast
i/ve only been up 3 hrs
i could eat now

Wow this thread hits so close to home. There's been so many times that I have been from drive-through to drive through. Or I'll make my boyfriend dinner and we'll eat and I'll say I'm full but offer to go get him more food and while I'm in the kitchen I eat more (just so that he can't see me eating it).

A binge to me is something I tend to do over a period of time when I'm going through a bingeing phase: I dont tend to eat a massive amount in one go but graze all day. Every time I walk into the kitchen something else goes into my mouth .. a couple of biscuits (cookies), some nuts, a yoghurt etc.

It can be junk - it can be healthy food ... it's just anything that's to hand and in a constant trickle. Consequently it's usually 'hand to mouth' food i.e it doesn't have to be 'prepared'. Another thing is HOW I eat it. Usually furtively, standing (usually in the kitchen) .. wrappers thrown instantly into the bin.

I used to do the fast-food drive through thing: ordering for a family when it was just for me. I also used to go into a sweet shop and pick up several chocolate bars and mutter just loud enugh for the assistant to hear 'Umm - a kit-kat for ***, a snickers bar for ***, a mars bar for me,' etc etc so they'd think I was buying for a bunch of people. Of course, I wasn't.
The good news is that I never do either of those things now so that's a positive step in the right direction! :D


I don't know what the answer is but having at least ONE area under control (the outside bingeing) gives me hope that the other areas can, in time, be beaten too.

when i hide it from my husband, it's a binge. sometimes while i'm waiting at the mall for my connection bus to go home, i'll go in and hit the food court. then come home and make dinner and act like it never happened.

i have no problem binging in front of my husband because he does it right along with me. i can eat a whole bag of tostitos and cheese and then a pint of ice cream or go to a resturant and eat a salad breradsticks a meal and desert and later have hubby go to the gas station for more food. my binges can last from one meal to a week of horrid eating. i am really working hard on controlling it.

My binges are always things I try to justify to myself. Like, if all I have in one day is a gallon of ice cream, and then have a small salad later, I'm still okay. But I always feel gross afterwards. And I've definitely played the 'I'm buying this for another person' game! I'll go in and get a couple slices of pizza from my nearest pizzeria and will be on the 'phone' with someone and come up with a line like, "oh, you wanted the pepperoni? Okay, can I have one pepperoni and one cheese. Yeah, I'll see you in a couple of minutes" before hanging up.

I really thought I was the only person crazy enough to do this - glad to know I'm not alone!

Originally Posted by jennyplain:
And I've definitely played the 'I'm buying this for another person' game! I'll go in and get a couple slices of pizza from my nearest pizzeria and will be on the 'phone' with someone and come up with a line like, "oh, you wanted the pepperoni? Okay, can I have one pepperoni and one cheese. Yeah, I'll see you in a couple of minutes" before hanging up.

Hahaha oh wow, I used to do that all the time! My favorite binge was McDonald's.. it was enough food to feed 4 adults and 8 small children. (all for moi, of course)

So I would "call" someone and verify the orders with them.. I was addicted to sweet and sour so while on the "phone" I would say.. "Please extra sweet&sour or I'll get sent back" (chuckle)

wow.. those days are hopefully NO MORE.

oh and I'm from Staten Island! it's nice seeing someone kind of local here!

Originally Posted by lizziness:
when i hide it from my husband, it's a binge.

Yes, thats my definition as well. I can eat a lot (like I did over Christmas) but its not really a binge.

Bingeing, to me, is something completely uncontrollable - never pre-planned and (in hindsight) it was always related to having low blood sugar. About an hour or two after eating I'd start to feel a little giddy, slightly nauseus, maybe feel like I was going to pass out - and then I'd start to gorge. I'd eat and EAT for about 20 minutes until my brain recognised that it had gotten the glucose it needed, then the binge would be over and I'd be left feeling very ashamed and shocked at the amount I'd eaten.

Of course I'd then try and eat less or even skip the next meal and an hour or two later the cycle would start all over again. I thought it was just lack of self-control - the sugar connection never occurred to me. I'm now on a low GI diet and I've got it under control.

I can remember hiding behind a McDonalds eating three big Macs and three large fries and three large shakes - having made out that I was collecting the other two meals for other people. :o

Hooray New York, the land of cheap bagels and pizza, but expensive everything else. Although once that trans fat ban kicks in we may see some gradual improvements.

On topic, I haven't gone on a real binge in over a week. The last time I thought I just had to eat something or I would die, I went straight for the celery and hummus. I still felt guilty, though - I think those old feelings are going to be hard to get rid of.

Originally Posted by jaceycat28:
i have no problem binging in front of my husband because he does it right along with me. i can eat a whole bag of tostitos and cheese and then a pint of ice cream or go to a resturant and eat a salad breradsticks a meal and desert and later have hubby go to the gas station for more food. my binges can last from one meal to a week of horrid eating. i am really working hard on controlling it.

See with me it's kind of the same. . . kind of. While a lot of the time I feel the need to hide it, I've gotten more and more comortable binging (so to speak) in front of my boyfriend. Although there are times when he'll eat a pizza and a half and he STILL doesn't get any fatter.


And I definiately have done the ordering food while I'm "talking to someone on the phone"!!!!!

Oh my gosh! I almost had tears in my eyes when I realized how many other people do the same things I do... I thought I was alone.

Hm... my girlfriend is thin as a rail (weighs LESS THAN HALF what I do) and that girl can EAT! But she's a very slow eater.. and I shove food in my mouth like there's no tomorrow. She's definitely seen me eat a lot, but she has never seen me binge.. and I hope she won't anytime soon.

For me, a typical binge starts when I am either nevous, lonely, or upset. I start "grazing" on everything in the kitchen. I will sometimes shove things into my mouth that I don't even enjoy, and I do it too quickly to enjoy it anyhow. I can easily eat an entire quart of ice cream, block of cheese, and two huge muffins in one sitting.

Oh my goodness...
Well I can totally relate to the hiding food/lying scenarios, although a binge isn't exactly a lot of food for me, it's more the type of food I am eating. I am a small eater and always have been. Therefore, a binge to me, is eating a regular #2 from McDonalds, or a personal sized pizza from the local pizza place. I eat about 1,000 calories a day (Dr. Supervised, no worries) , so if I use those calories for pizza or mc'ds I feel disgusted.
Yesterday was a total binge day for me, and I was super upset about it. I have been very dilligently counting calories and eating the right foods, but yesterday I was upset because although I was so strict, I weighed in and the scale hadn't moved ((TOM)) so, I ate pizza for lunch and a burger and fries for dinner! YUCK-O!

Wow... I don't know whether to laugh or cry from reading these replies... I can relate to every single one of them!

My worst binge "crime" is buying a bag of candy - usually gummy bears or gummy lifesavers - and eating them all in the 5 MINUTE trip from Target to my house. Then I bury the evidence in the trash can in the garage so my hubby won't find the bag.

I have totally done the order the large pizza, the cheesesticks, the 2 litre of soda and dessert FOR MYSELF when my husband is out of town. Then, I can barely eat any of it because my stomach is just not that big, and I end up tossing a lot of it in the garbage. Does anyone have any idea how much money we would actually save if we didn't spend it on binge food???

Seriously though, I knew that I really, seriously had a problem when I would lie to my husband about what I ate. :(

For me a binge can be relatively small or huge. It is eating food when I deliberately am doing to self sabotage or AS I am eating going "you dont need this, you dont even WANT it, why are you EATING it" but eating it anyway. And then going and getting another. ...and another.

Its the self sabotaging aspect of it that makes it a binge for me. I can eat a lot of food and not consider it a binge if it wasnt intentionally self destructive.

Usually there is a huge quantity involved but sometimes its just eating because I feel COMPELLED to eat this junk that I dont want.

Lets see in recent memory...
All the truffles I got as a gift in one sitting (what a waste, after the 2nd who even tasted it)
An entire pumpkin pie with almost an entire can of reddi-whip (reddiwhip as it turns out is a trigger food for me - when you are raiding the pantry to figure out what other kinds of foods you can put reddi-whip ON you know you have a problem. Especially when it ends up being just a bowl of rw)
and my most recent newyears eve fiasco
- 3 slices of pizza
- 2 bowls of nacho cheese/sausage/rotel cheese dip with lots of chips
- ~1/2 cup of m& m's "because sweet cuts the spice"
- Can of guinness "to cut the sweet"
- Ice cream
- cookies - 4 really rich shortbread/nut/jam things

- and of course champagne.

I think overall it was a 2800 calorie binge - but I am actually kind of proud that I went back and documented every single bit of it in fitday....for me that was a really good therapy.

Originally Posted by ennay:
I think overall it was a 2800 calorie binge - but I am actually kind of proud that I went back and documented every single bit of it in fitday....for me that was a really good therapy.

I know what you mean. Last week I had a "regular" meal from McDonald's - 10 piece chicken nuggets, large fries and Dr Pepper, and I put it into fitday. That meal alone was worth all the calories I should have consumed in the entire day.

I'm trying something new this year, and so far it's working very well for me. I've stopped thinking of any food eaten as forbidden or even "off-program." My goal is to eat more whole (natural/unprocessed) foods, more fiber, less fat, lower glycemic index (I'm insulin resistance). I've stopped defining "binges" too, though I am keeping a very detailed food journal.

I write down what I eat and when, and how I feel - both about what I've eaten and why I may have made the choices I did. The rule I've given myself is that I have to write down both positives and negtives about the experience. So even when I ate 9 chocolate kisses when I'd planned to eat 3, I wrote down both the good and bad things about my choice.

I am noticing things, like the less startch/sugar content, the less likely I am to eat more than I wanted, or foods I hadn't planned on, and the more frequent mini-meals I eat, the less I'm likely to lose control. Also, the more I write positively about the choices I make, the less deprived I feel, which for me is very important. I get really discouraged if I don't feel like I am enjoying what I'm eating.

Really, a binge for me may be anywheres from a box of fig newtons to a near whole thin crust pizza.
A binge for me is either when I:
1. eat with the intention of purging it, no matter how little/much I eat.
2. eat to the point of pain or intense fullness whether or not I purge afterwards.
3. eat whatever amount of something without feeling in control of the situation.........when the food is "controlling" me. Even if it is one cookie.

A binge for me is when i can't stop eating. No matter what i tell myself, i continue to eat and eat and eat.

I can stop now, it's a miracle. If i start to eat faster i realize a binge is about to come and i just put down the food and walk away.

But really my binging is when i can't stop and when i get a huge stomach ache. My worst binge hurt my stomach so bad that i crawled into my bed and cried myself to sleep. I woke up six hours later... yah binging sucks!

For me the biggest danger is always in cooking a whole box of something, telling myself I'll just eat half, even putting the rest away in the fridge, and still ending up eating the whole thing, plus (since at that point I'm likely to purge anyway) whatever else I lay hands on, melted chocolate chips are a particular danger, or more leftovers. Its been a while since my last binge, and I'm hoping to keep it that way - but I notice it when I shop, like I did today - I only bought one thing I had to cook all at once, everything else was either single serving or cook as much as you want at one time. My worst trigger foods though, in no particular order - Stovetop stuffing (bought some today but I WONT CAVE), annie's mac and cheese with corn, broccoli cheese rice, melted chocolate chips, spaghetti bolognese if I make too much (and because you have to buy the meat in minimum half pound packages, I ALWAYS make too much.) Going out hasn't been TOO terrible for me, my dangers are 1000 calorie qdoba burritos, 500 calorie DD bacon egg and cheese on a bagel, and 800 calorie sbarro's chicken and spaghetti - I get them all on a regular basis, which is OK as long as I keep track and compensate elsewhere. Its the watching it that's hard!

To me a binge is when I go out and buy several junk food items and eat them all at once or when I just keep eating and eating even if I'm full (like if I make lasagna or something really yummy).

I tend to binge when I cook. I LOVE to cook, and have been doing all the cooking in my house since I was about 10. You know how it is... you want to take a taste to see how it's going.. then another and another. Since I'm living with my boyfriend, it's been getting better.. but it's still something I work on every day.

Other times I would binge would be when i still lived with my mom, and I would eat a frozen meal as a snack. or if there was no food in the house, I would get a huge bag of chips, some dip, and a 2-liter bottle of soda and have that for dinner.

Really though, it's when I start eating and I don't think I can stop. it's when I'm looking around for what else to have. Rice, leftovers, cheese (a BIG thing for me), etc... all these things I could sit down and eat all off.

Before I moved down here, I worked as a short-order cook in a pizza place. So if the bakers screwed up a pizza, the workers got to eat it. I'd eat a slice or two every day. I'd steal spagetti, meatballs, fries, pickles, chicken tenders, onion rings, soup, cheese, garlic cheesebread, chicken wings.. anything and everything I could get my hands on, I would have during the course of my shift. Now, I work at an office supply store. And although I would love to work as a cook again (I really enjoyed working there!) I won't.. I don't trust myself around all that food, and my new lifestyle is more important to me!

For me, eating and feeling totally out of control. Can be any food. Just that feeling of not being able to stop when you want. It scares me. Last Friday I drank a massive amount of alcohol and then binged on three different boxes of cereal. It was awful.

For a long time I denied I had a problem because my weight stayed pretty static...I would go up maybe 5-8 pounds, then I would knock off the binging for a while and the weight would come off. But in the last couple years I have packed on 30lbs (give or take approx 15 lbs a year!) The binging is more frequent because I gained a partner (my H). We had taken to having going out eat-athons on the weekends.

I used to like to plan my binges for afterwork where I would be alone for at least a few hours. I'd stop by the store and get my favorite treats. Before my weight got out of control I would binge once or twice a month. Lately it had become one or twice a week. Usually my afterwork binge would be one of these:

family size box of tastykakes
box of poptarts
bag of cookies and pint of haagan daz
bag of doritos and jar of spicy salsa
a pie or cake from the grocery store bakery
box of entemann's pastery (cheese buns or rasberry twist)

I have a problem with sweets. One taste and it sends me off the wagon and over the edge. If there is b-day cake at work I can't have any or I will be obsessed with eating cake the rest of the day and I won't be satisfied until I stop by the store and eat a whole cake or a box of tastykakes by myself.

I used to make bargains with myself. Like "okay I will eat this cake today and then tomorrow I will juice fast and it will be ok".

This last month though I have gotten better. I have only binged twice and at least they are better less harmful choices (baby steps), and I don't consider them "true" binges....but after reading thru this thread maybe I'm wrong. The 2 times this month were:

one large bag of cheese popcorn
3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on whole wheat light bread

Both times I didn't feel that bloated stuffed to the gills feeling afterwards. So maybe it's a little better.

I would binge on chinese food. I remember getting a family deal...two combos of sesame chicken...and two combos of beef and broccoli...three orders of wontons..6 eggrolls..and a huge container of yumyum sauce. Melody would have her beef and broccoli..some wontons..and no egg rolls...and it would last her for three or four meals..and my half would last me two meals..and many a small mini meal. I would eat a whole combo in one sitting, a bag of wontons with 8 of them in there..and three eggrolls...and then about two hours later go back for more...

I don't get chinese that much anymore, but when I do I order smart. I get something on the diet menu, usually chicken and broccoli or with mixed veggies.eat a cup of that, a cup of rice...no oil and no salt..and only eat one egg roll. nothing else.

I don't ever want to get to that point again where I will eat that much in one sitting again. Who knows HOW many calories that all equals up to. I probably gained 2 pounds in one sitting from all of that...

Originally Posted by telemetrynurse:
To me, a binge is not WHAT I eat, but HOW I eat.
Am I eating to nourish my body because I am hungry? Or am I eating in a frantic manner and feeling "out of control"? Do I remember what I ate---that is usually a HUGE clue to me. Am I mindful of the food I eat or mindless?

Of course quantity does count! Eating a "family fun pack" of ANYTHING at one time, is not fun. Eating until I am physically uncomfortable is also a binge.

I fully agree with you. Sometimes I can eat heaps and not feel like I've binged, and I'm fine with that. It's usually really nourishing food.

A binge for me is when I know I 'shouldn't' be eating this and that it's not to fulfil hunger or because it's lunchtime, it's because I want to eat and keep eating and I have this uncontrollable, unstoppable desire to eat everything I can get my hands on.

It's either when I bake and I'll eat nearly the entire batch by myself, or when I'm alone and I'll pick at a little of everything in the house.

And the final thing that characterises a binge for me is that feeling I'm sure we are all too familiar with of being way too full, bloated and about to burst.

I am late coming into this thread, and I don't post in here nearly as often as I should. My weight problems come from emotional eating-stress and boredome are huge triggers for me.

I am definitely a binge eater. I can go for days, weeks, and months at times doing perfectly on plan with diet and exercise...and then I binge. Sometimes, the binging behavior lasts a few days at a time, before I can get back on track.

I agree with some of the other posters...sometimes I just eat too much, like at Thanksgiving...but I consider a "binge" when I eat and "can't stop". It is more frantic...hurried...and you exhibit some of the signs that others have mentioned-binging when others are not around, hiding wrappers and evidence of the binging behavior, and I have also been familiar with the drive thru things you have all mentioned-ordering like you are ordering for two people so the kid at the window doesn't think it is all for you, going to multiple drive thrus for different things, etc.

So, I think I will make myself home here, too. At least here, we can get it off our chests and know that we are not alone. :)

xoxo
Aphil