Do any of you still have a problem with binging? I was thinking how this is the one single eating behavior that I still have trouble with, even three years into maintenance. I'd love to hear your strategies for dealing with/preventing binging. Maybe we can put our heads together and brainstorm ...

I don't really try to prevent it altogether. I chew gum to occupy my mouth at times. But if I'm gonna eat, I'm just gonna eat. I just make sure that if I'm binging, it will be on healthy foods.

Hi:
I still deal with binge eating. It happens less frequently and less intensely than in the past. Things that help me are my journal, trying to figure out what is causing this reaction. Accepting the fact that overeating, happens even "normal people" overeat at times. Realizing that overeating and binges are not the same and not letting overeating lead to a binge. TLC, tender loving care of me, at this time I need extra care. BFFL: Best friend for life thats what I am to myself and to treat myself when in need like a best friend. Accountablity, write the binge down and forgive myself. I tend to have a binge episode after a stressful event, so now I attempt to prepare for this post tramatic event before it happens. I don't always suceed. My manta to get through not matter what happens is: A lapse is not a relapse and I can keep it from becoming a collapse.
Eager to here other idea's.

I noticed that I tend to ringe when I am hungry and exhausted and stressed. Most of the time it happening when I rush from work without visiting washroom, get stuck in traffic, rush into day cares to pick up kids who had hard day today, rush home and try to listen to their stories and cook dinner. Well, smells are everywhere and I still did not make it to the washroom! That is when binging kicks in. Recently I know about it and I am prepared. I have a small pice of sausage or cheese (I generally love sandwiches without bread) and eat it. Bad days is when I do not have my favourite sausage or it is too late or something goes wrong even more, anyways = my rule is = be prepared. It happens (sh* happens and we know it) and prepare for it. Often enough I have to hide the rest of sausage, often I binge too much and suffer thrut he night, but most of the time I am doing fine and I win!!!

Yes, I still "binge." But, what exactly is a binge? I would define it as eating more than necessary to satisfy physical hunger. Sometimes this happens because we inhale a lot of food in a short period of time so that our bodies don't have time to send the "enough!" signal. Or sometimes it's about eating high-density, low-bulk food so that the actual calorie intake is out of synch with the amount of room it takes up.

As a compulsive overeater, I think that is a behavior that will always be with me. Being binge-free is a concept I gave up a while back. I have finally come to understand that the voice saying, "Eat, eat, eat more," are ALWAYS going to be with me. However, I've gotten a lot better at saying, "Don't be silly." But, I do still listen sometimes. The thing is, the size of the binge has dwindled drastically. Now a binge might constitute two bowls of cereal as a nighttime snack instead of one. Previously it would have been a pint of Haagen-Dazs or 1/2 pound buttered & cheese'd pasta. Also, in my previous life I binged daily, even more than once per day. So ...

I've just made peace with the fact that my brain will never NOT want to binge, at least on occasion. The trick is, as Sandy described, recognizing triggers, planning, and having the most supportive, binge-deterring environment possible. I look at it as MANAGEMENT, not a cure.

"I look at it as MANAGEMENT, not a cure." Very powerful statement FG, I'll try to remember that.

I typically binge in response to stress and/or fatigue. Watch out if I'm tired and upset.

Keeping trigger foods out of the house is my best tool but can't always be done since I'm not the only person living there. However, I have been known to tell my DD to put her snacks in her closet unless she wants me to help her eat them and my DH to lock his up in the gun safe. This doesn't protect me 100% but it does help.

If I'm really having a hard time really focusing on just making it from one meal/snack to the next is a technique I use. I don't even try to make it through the day eating clean, just the next 2 hours. There are times I literally watch the clock to see if 2 hours have passed yet.

And lastly I will take a little time to pamper myself. For me lately it is a trip to the tanning salon for 15 minutes (a healthy tan sure makes the gray hair look less old) , a little pampering makes me feel a little more attractive. If I’m feeling good about myself I’m less likely to start doing something harmful, like binging. For someone else it might be a manicure or a massage or even giving yourself a hot oil treatment or facial.

Obviously I have to work on binging alot.

I've discovered that I tend to binge when I'm stressed or tired as well. But I keep lots of apples, cantaloupe, watermelon, or grapes on hand for just such occasions.

I like FunnieGirl's phrasing, too. Management is my key. I still hear the voices, but give into them less and less. Now a binge is 3 tablespoons of natural peanut butter rather than a large bag of m&m's and 2 bags of popcorn. Now it happens once every 3 weeks instead of once every couple of days. I know the triggers, and sometimes I think it's really just plain hunger and having eaten too clean and low fat for too long, or an extra hard workout. I don't live in a trigger-free environment, either. My son and husband have "their" food in the house, readily accessible. Not too much outright junk food, because nobody eats it, but in the bad old days I would have been happy to binge on just about anything. Now I can stop and think about the aftermath: eating salty, greasy, carby food or just too much food leaves me in physical pain, and mental anguish for days. I know that a 3 pound bump on the scale will take 2 weeks to get off. I'm much more rational about it than I used to be.

Oddly, I sort of miss the "highs" and the "lows" of the behavior. I don't want the lows, but I do mentally probe at myself every once in a while, trying to decide if the "high" is worth it. It hasn't been for a long time.

Mel

oh dear. what a loaded question!!!! as we know, binge eating is painful with the surgery, BUT that doesn't mean the desire goes away!!! and it IS possible to out-eat this - and binging can take the form of all-day munching rather than cramming large amounts of food in at one sitting or in the space of a few hours.

it's all psychological for me, and the longer i'm on this path, the more i realize what the dangerous emotional and physical combination is: physical exhaustion and emotional exhaustion coupled with nastiness and judgment from my family, lack of contact with my friends, no down time from stressful job/stressful home life, too tired to exercise, and craving comfort from somewhere - ANYWHERE!!!!!

so i'm focusing on PREVENTION. comfort in the form of regular massages, journaling or other forms of writing [even long emails to friends!!!!], making sure i get to see my friends, making time to knit, spending time with the dog, no contact with my family [i know, not always practical!]

when prevention doesn't work, and i'm starting to think of FOOD rather than what's
REALLY going on, i get sad. unhappy. frustrated. all those negative emotions happen, and i know i have to deal with THEM in some way other than swallowing them. because that's what i'm doing: swallowing them to make them numb so i can ignore them. and the whole time they're being fueled because i'm not doing what i need to.

i feel your pain, meg, and everyone else who has to deal with this. i realize that what i've described probably doesn't apply to everyone, but it's ME - and maybe someone else will recognize the same thing.. bottom line: I DON'T LIKE FEELING THESE NEGATIVE THINGS!!!!

and sometimes i have a wee bit of scotch. i've figured that if my goal is to numb my emotions, and there's absolutely no other way to do it, i might as well take about 100 calories of scotch rather than 500 calories or more of chocolate. it's working!!!

Still dealing with binges here, too. I can never anticipate when a binge will happen because they're brought on by about every emotion there is. It's really bad when AF is coming. For me, a binge is multiple trips to the cupboard, grabbing a sugary or salty carb of some sort and eating it way too fast. I almost always end up with a stomach ache. Before I lost weight, I binged practically every day. Now, it's maybe once or twice a month.

I have two strategies that work pretty well:

1. When I'm feeling "iffy" (like a binge may be in my near future), around mid-day, I'll have a measured and logged portion of the sort of food that I tend to binge on. It could be an ounce of baked cheetos or a serving of light kettle popcorn. It's usually enough to keep my cravings under control.

2. Like Mel, it helps if I stop for a moment and visualize how I will feel AFTER a binge. I picture waking up the next morning with that icky carb hangover and the burden of all the regret and self-loathing that comes after a binge. Then, I picture how I will feel waking up the next morning if I had NOT binged - that light, positive feeling that I normally have when I start my day. This really works for me!

But, of course, there are those dark days when no strategy is of any help. I get complete tunnel vision and I ignore any voice in my head that tries to stop me from scarfing down handfuls of cookies. I come up with every excuse there is and, for some reason, they sound very good to me at that moment. It mystifies me - I feel like I become a completely different person.

It is very comforting that I'm not alone when it comes to this challenge. You're so right about it being about management, not about a cure.

I want to amend/expand on what I said earlier ... of course, it's possible to binge on healthy food. Binge is a behavior and the substance we are stuffing in doesn't matter.

I distinctly remember an incident I had about 4 months into my program. It was January, which is the height of navel orange season. I ate my Jenny Craig meal and vegetables for lunch one day, and then I had an orange for dessert. Now, I've always liked fruit just fine, but had long gotten out of the habit of eating them on any regular basis. Why eat fruit when you could eat pastry/ice cream/etc., right? This particular orange was the world's most perfect orange -- fine-grained, deep orange, juicy beyond belief. The words "sweet as candy" appeared in my brain. When I was finished, my thoughts immediately went to the other oranges in the fridge. Mmmmm. Oranges are healthy, right? Sure it wasn't in my menu for the day, it might put me over a little calorie-wise, but I NEEDED another one of those oranges.

Luckily, I stopped dead-cold with the realization of what my brain was doing to me. I was content, I was full, there were no emotions raging, but the compulsive side of me was screaming, "If one is good, two is better!" This was the way my brain worked ALL THE TIME. And it is STILL the way it works. It's why I'm one of those people who cannot often have "just one bite" or have a small serving of something I'm craving to satisfy it. Sometimes I can, but sometimes it sets me up to want more. So, for me binges or binge urges don't have anything to do with negative emotions or need for comfort or reward -- they happen because I've had a taste of something really good, and the compulsion takes over.

I just hate it that this compulsion takes over. I binge mainly (a) when I'm stressed, (b) when I'm bored or (3) when I miss my "regular" mealtime. It's not that I don't know what I'm doing, just sometimes my brain says, "so, I just don't care right now." I have learned to forgive that brain, and try to recognize and redirect the feelings that are causing me to eat. Diverting the "missed eating at the regular time" is of course the easiest to redirect, because I can eat, it just takes the few minutes to fix what I had planned or similar. The stress and boredom factors are much harder to redirect. Sometimes in stress I don't even realize what I'm doing. I'm reading what the rest of you feel with interest. We certainly don't keep much snacky food in our house - just 2 adults trying to eat healthy - but work is another whole food landmine. 10 women who all like to cook and snack is a recipe for disaster!!

Bingeing is different than over eating. Almost everybody overeats sometimes. I used to be a hardcore binger in years past so I know. What stopped it was ferreting out the underlying issues that caused it, then dealing with those directly. In other words learning to deal with non eating issues with non eating solutions. I was using food to self medicate and to take myself away from painful feeling states I didnt even know were there. This is a common theme. And we have been doing it automatically for so many years, we dont even notice the transition anymore. I was totally oblivious of this, and when I first heard about it, I thought it was the craziest idea I had ever heard. It wasnt.

I had been indirectly taught so very young in a truly loving family that feeling sad or angry or afraid were not acceptable in my family. But in reality they are normal and natural feeling states. To push these away, I tried to use food, and it kept escalating for years till I was well over 200 pounds. Remember the gal Dip (dipthong) who used to post here months ago? Sh understood and was beginning to get in touch with her painful feeling states too.

In Thin for Life, Fletcher states a "striking 95%" of successful losers got in better touch with problem solving and facing their feelings directly instead of using food to dull them. That is how to do away with the tendency to binge -- accept you have painful feeling states, then experience them instead of using anything external (excessive shopping, drinking, food, exercise, etc) to push them away. Read that entire chapter carefully and see what she says. I would bet most people skip over that section thinking, ya, ya, I know all that stuff, and go right for physical things to do, either the exercise or food/eating facts.

Of course dealing with emotional issues is never a popular topic, but it really is a place to look if you do want to do away with the bingeing.

Jan

I'm so glad you started this thread, Meg. Binging seems to be my one still unresolved food issue. I educated msyelf about food and nutrition and I'm in shape and know how to exercise safely. Binging is an emotional part of the dieting process and I think it's incredibly difficult to grasp and get control of.

I've had two binges this week (one worse that the other ) and it was such a setback for me. I'm a weight now where I'd like to be a little more confortable. Since I've lost a large amount of weight and know what it takes to lose the weight, it makes these binges so frustrating.

Is there a certain thing people head for when they start to binge? I head for sugar. My weaknesses use to be more fatty stuff like chips and pizza so the new sugar cravings I have weird. After sugar I usually head for bread and cheese. After that? Well, it's a blur. We all know what binges are like. :P

I'm so glad I found this board for threads just like this. It's nice to know I'm not the only maintainer out there with this issue.

I've had a good victory over bingeing lately and I thought I'd share. I was having problems after supper, usually after I was cleaning up and putting things away in the pantry. I know I wasn't hungry, but then I'd just start eating granola bar after granola bar. No apparent reason. Was I tired, was I stressed, was I uncomfortable about something? The answer was, at least for the most part, no. So what the %#$@ was going on?

One weekend day, I opened up the pantry to remove trash, not the usual time, not the usual circumstances, happy fun day since there was no work, and yep, started eating granola bars for no apparent reason. So I moved the granola bars to another shelf in the pantry, harder to see harder to reach. Guess what? That mode of bingeing just stopped for me. That easy. I can now eat one granola bar again.

Do I still binge? Yes. Do I still eat inappropriately when I stressed, tired, bored, etc? Yes. Why I started bingeing on the granola bars that way, I'll probably never know, could very well have been an emotional trigger, or overtired or something. But after a while, it obviously became more of a habit, or behaviorally based thing--open pantry, see bars, eat eat eat. Break the chain, break the cycle.

Sometimes it's just that simple. The trick is SEEING it.

Anne