I've been struggling with binges and I sometimes wonder if I'll ever conquer this demon. I've never given myself a planned binge so I've decided to do just that. Every week, I'm going to have one meal (not an entire day) where I can eat whatever it is that I want. I'm not sure if this will curb my binges or not but I'm hoping that it will since it has worked for my friend. I figured it's not super healthy but neither are the unplanned binges that I have.....so it's worth an attempt. Do any of you do this? Does it work for you? Are you the kind of person who struggles with uncontrolled eating? Thanks for any info you can share.

ive been struggeling this last week to keep mine under control so i think im going to give this approach a go. the binging has been doing my head in and not been very good for my scales oh well heres to hving one controlled binge meal per week... hope it works.

I guess it all depends on what you consider a "binge". I consider a binge an all out stuff your face mindlessly on 1000's of calories on anything and everything for the sake of eating...until you feel you are going to pass out. If that is what you consider a binge, then, NO, I think it's a terrible idea. There are other ways to combat food than to give into it. That's just my humble opinion.

Now if you consider a binge a time where you might go over your calories by 500-600 and eat something sinfully delicious and savoring every bight....I say go for it and let us know how it feels.

Andynoo, good luck....I hope it works for us.

Lori Bell, good question. Usually, a binge for me is out of control stuff your face till you feel ill and have a food hangover the next day. With this new approach, I'm hoping to just have a very indulgent meal at a restaurant without any thought to calories but without the desperate attitude. So, I'm thinking that this weekend I'll go have some pizza and for desert, a small frozen yogurt with carmel cups (a chocolate topping I'd never normally get). I'm not sure if it'll work but it has helped me today when I wanted to go off plan. However, I'll be honest in saying that when I want to binge, there is no thought that has stopped me in the past....so if it works remains to be seen. I'll definitely keep you all posted.

My struggle, too. Food is my drug of choice. I always, ALWAYS feel better when I use my self control. That said, "binge" is no longer an option, but a cheat to enjoy a favorite food without gorging myself on it is perfectly fine. It's not often, but when I do, I don't have to feel guilty. Oh, my weight loss may slow down but it's a welcome exchange for guilt, shame, and humiliation.

Enjoy what you crave in moderation, mindfully, and with dignity.

For me a binge is eating everything in the house until I feel sick. It's going to 2 different grocery stores to buy junk so the checkout is less embarrasing. It's done in secret because I feel so embarrased and sickened by my lack of self-control. And it leaves me feeling sick for days afterwards.

I think an extravagant meal in a restaurant and a dessert is not a binge. It's a way to stop binges because you allow yourself something off plan without going "whole hog" . And while you might feel a bit bloated the next day you don't wind up with a huge sugar/carb hangover that distrubs your sleep and makes you feel icky for days.

Dagmar =

luckymommy, I'll be interested in hearing how this goes for you. I'm a little surprised that you're choosing pizza.

Well, good luck!
Jay

I'm not maintaining yet, but I hope you won't mind if I jump in here. I've had problems with binging on sweets in the past. It was... BAD. I've done a lot of overcome it but am still not there. I'm also seeing a nutritionist who has dealt with the same thing herself so we've had a lot of conversations about it.

Basically, she said to do exactly what you are thinking. ONCE a week I'm allowed pizza and one serving of some sort of decadent dessert. Usually, we plan this on the weekend and it really gives me something to look forward to. Just knowing that I will have something prevents me from buying a bunch of crap on the usual grocery runs (I still can't keep anything remotely dessert like in the house otherwise it will be eaten).


I agree with this. My binges used to be done in secret and were not at all planned, not at all controlled. I'd eat until I got sick.

Planning a decadent meal where you eat until your satisfied but not sick is very different but in a good way. It's really helped me knowing that I have that option.

[QUOTE=JayEll;4049986]luckymommy, I'll be interested in hearing how this goes for you. I'm a little surprised that you're choosing pizza.

That really cracked me up JayEll! Actually, I've really been having a hard time trying to figuring out which food wood be worthy of being my cheat meal and it has been so much harder than I thought! Nothing really seems good enough. When I binge nothing even seems to taste all that great after the first couple of bites...it's more of a stuffing and numbing type situation. It ain't pretty! I may go out and have my favorite sushi and then a decadent desert. Not sure. It's still up in the air but I'll let you know after the weekend.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I really appreciate it and find it fascinating. I'm SO hoping this will help me out because I'm SO beyond tired of having this problem. I have had it since I was 17 and I'm 40 now.

I don't think it's a good idea to call it a "binge." When maintaining, I go out to eat at a nice restaurant once a week. I order a reasonable entree maybe split an appetizer, definitely split a dessert and have a glass of wine. I might call it a treat meal or an indulgent meal to mentally separate it from the rest of the week, but it's not a binge. I don't go "all out".

I definitely think it works for me, it's easier to stick to my regular meals when I know I have something fabulous to look forward to. It helps me not feel deprived and more "normal."

Have you ever examined when the binges occur, what feelings you have before the binge? I mean, have you ever considered they may be a reaction or an acting-out to something other than food restriction?

I ask this because bingeing can be a form of self-expression.

If so, then giving yourself a planned treat (and I, too, prefer that, rather than a "planned binge" or session of gorging oneself) will not solve the issue because it isn't looking at WHY you do it, and WHEN you do it, or what causes it, only at WHAT you are eating.

If I were to do a treat meal, also, I would not be inclined to schedule it like a particular session. I would just see what life threw my way, in the form of a meal out with friends, and would maybe allow myself a little bit more at that meal. Life usually provides one with these occasions. Easing up the brakes a little on one such occasion may be a better way to go about it than some solitary pizza pig-out.

ETA: What I'm talking about is not making it about the food, so much as an occasion in your life that is also composed of other things, like companionship and trying something new & celebration. Say your friends want to try Ethiopian or someone still hasn't had Thai yet. And you have personal news to catch up on. That would be the time to eat a little, rather than sitting alone with that pizza. Just how I'd try to do it, anyway. For Glory, that weekly meal may also be date time with her husband or quality time with a friend, I don't know.

Ok, you're right, Glory and Saef (love your new photo, btw!)...I will not call it a binge....I will just have a treat meal. I am going to do it this Sunday because I have family coming over for a meal. I will eat the food and not gorge on it, but eat it with dignity. I do appreciate all of these comments because my thinking in this realm is quite warped and twisted so it's nice to have some proper guidance. The reason I'd like to know that it's once a week is because I'm hoping it will help me push through the urges to binge. If I just wait for an life occasion, there would be too many of those and I'd end up feeling lost and out of control.

As for the reasons.....I've thought about that a great deal. There were some times in my life when I felt very frightened about things and I began to comfort myself with food. I also suffer from chronic daily migraines so it's sometimes hard not to want to comfort myself....it just so happens that the feeling of fullness (extreme fullness) takes my mind off the pain and helps temporarily with the nausea. There's a whole lot more, but that's a lot of what's going on. I've tried therapy but it was just too much for me to handle so I'm just trying to fix the behavior rather than trying to tackle the cause.

I usually binge at night when I'm alone, but not exclusively. There are times I do it with others...although at that point, it's just mindless, numbing overeating. The mass quantities are consumed when I'm alone. I try to go upstairs, away from the kitchen which helps a lot, but sometimes I can't get myself to do that or I"ll come back downstairs and binge away. This is always followed by feelings of shame and guilt, along with bloating and repulsion.

When I hear Binge, I think of binge eating disorder, which several have described here.

I think it makes a lot of sense to sometimes have an "off-plan" or decadent meal sometimes. I have one 1-2 times a week. I don't even really consider this a "cheat" as it has always been part of my plan. I don't eat a sh*t-load of food or anything... maybe 3 pieces of pizza and a few glasses of wine or whatever. I think overeating to the point of feeling ill or overly-full is always negative, no matter how good the food tastes. Maybe because I have always allowed myself to keep eating the things I love- I've never felt the need to eat an entire family-size bag of potato chips like I used to. My eating hasn't been out of control once in over 2 years. Not even on Thanksgiving.

Anything that makes you feel horrible should be avoided if at all possible, IMO.

Try it out - maybe it will scratch the "want to eat everything" itch, or maybe you'll find it's hard to return to regularly scheduled programming. I don't know. Either way, I hope you find stability and something that works for you! You're doing great!

Hi Krampus! Thanks for that! I was actually thinking about you and wondering where you've been! It's nice to see you here.