Ugh. Being out of town away from the comforts of home is terrible! 15K is impressive, would you say it was more of a constant grazing or a sit-down episode?

Gosh I think this thread may have some hope in it. Firstly when I "binge" on 2 tubes of smarties, a toffee crisp and a curly wurly just after my lunch is that not really a binge? Going by your ticker Jossfit, it looks like it is possible to lose and maintain whilst still going overboard occasionally! I always thought the maintainers were so strong willed and in control. It is really enlightening to hear other people's struggles.

Ok so last night wasn't a good as I wanted it to be.. I didn't binge like my normal binging but I did overeat.

I was feeling sorry for myself and just couldn't stop from going into the kitchen and eating. We had spaghetti for dinner yesterday and I went had had a bit of the leftovers.

Binging usually occurs late at night for me.. I'm fine during the day.. I'm able to avoid food. But late at night it's horrible.

Trigger/s: boredom, feeling sorry for myself.

I will do better today.

Keeping strong here!

Stimkovs, I am also very hungry after lunch --after beans, carrots, an egg, some whole-wheat bread and two tangerines!--, so I generally make myself some mate --a type of tea we drink a lot in South America, very healthy-- and sip till the hunger goes away. It is hard to struggle through the two hours after lunch for me, and it has always been. Precisely the beginning of my binges used to lie in not stopping after lunch, but nibbling and snacking all through the early afternoon, till I found myself in the middle of a full-blown binge. I hope that is history!

For me, i've decided to use a very narrow definition of a "binge"--because if i call a 2500 calorie day a binge, i'll feel like "hey i've already binged, i might as well make it 4000 calories." I know it doesn't make sense but that's what always happens. So from now on, i'm going to shoot for moderation, which even includes overeating on occasion. I KNOW with treats like cake, i can't just eat one slice, but my goal is to keep the overeating to a minimum--i.e. eat two slices and stop. Before, i would have cut sweets out of my diet for two weeks, and then all of a sudden get a massive craving and go to the store and buy a carrot cake and eat 4 slices of it. That is not healthy. That is what i am trying to overcome.

Surfergirl- oh you sound so much like me!! Im shooting for a similar goal of occasional indulgence without going insane.

Jossfit- good for you being able to move on. It happens... I'm glad you know the cause, that's a step in the right direction!

Milly1- I think we usually agree that it's not JUST the amount of food that constitutes a binge, but the mindset were in when it occurs.

I've been strong for 8 days so far and would LOVE to make it to my birthday (June 15). So, a little longer than 21 days but I feel like with the support here and with me discovering more about myself and what causes me to binge... I might make it!

Good luck and big hugs to everyone

LOL well it's not that I want to impress... haha. It may not have been quite that high, but it was basically an entire day of ice cream, doughnuts, chips, chocolates, fried chicken, french fries, granola mix, candy bars, cereal, cookies... yada yada. (Actually now that I think about it it probably WAS that high!)

Honestly I just had a pity party all day long. I am not really beating myself up over it because I know exactly why I did it, and I'm moving on. I know that any damage done will be gone quickly, and if nothing else it may have been a big old metabolism boost! I'm really not stressing it. I'll be back to in my happy weight range soon enough.

It just occurred to me that eating treats doesn't have to be either extreme--i.e. either eat a tiny portion of sweets every day (which to me is extremely unsatisfying, not to mention it's hard to limit myself to one small cookie etc.), or cut them out every day and then once every two weeks go on a sugar binge (planned or unplanned). I've tried both approaches and neither works for me. I think i will try an in between approach (i mentioned this on another thread). I'm going to try having a treat every 3 days or so. That way i can have a decent-sized portion (i.e. a decent sized slice of cake, or 2 poptarts, or something along those lines) and not feel like i need to binge because it will be another month before i'm allowed to have treats.

I hope I didn't give off the wrong impression like I was making fun of you or something! Pity parties are short-lived and you'll be fine.

I agree not binging is about control. For me the second serving is the start of a binge, and it's best to avoid that unless I plan it. A binge for me used to be an uncontrollable episode that ended in 5000 calories or more. And then I would purge. I stopped purging because it literally made my face ugly. So, instead I started to gain weight from the binges.

Joss, I echo you in your struggles. In the past month, I was binging on ice cream and cake and cookies and take out food like crazy. I know i was eating at least 3000 calories a day and binging on another 2000 in a sitting if I did binge.

Jossfit im sorry it happened, but it is absolutely fantastic that you are able to do it. realize why you did it. and then get up, and start over again, without having a continuous downward spiral. i used to be able to do that, but now i've been re-gaining and re-losing the same 6-7 lbs that are still 5 Lbs higher then where i stopped being diligent.

today. not so good. i didn't binge really, well "baby-binged". i deffinately over ate. probably 1000 over. ironically, i am at home, and this is causing my spiral of THERE IS STUFF IN THE FRIDGE THAT I DON'T WANT THERE. GRRRRRRRR

today was so weird. i woke up, had an appointment (had a healthy bfast before), came home at 10 30 (had a snack - greek yogurt+ raspberries+ flax), went to yoga, came home around 2. had lunch - cabbage soup, peice of chicken and some mushrooms, was still RAVENOUS, waited about half an hour, had a grapefruit, and decided that napping was going to hold me off until about 6 pm when i was having dinner, in order to go to another appointment at around 7.

i woke up from my nap at 4. then all went south. i hit the cold cuts, and the cheerios, and the granola, and crackers (see a theme???). positive note: i finished the cheerios, they were my cheerios, there will be no further cheerios purchased ahaha).

after that little episode, i decided that was dinner, and i was going to skip my planned dinner. fast foward an hour later: i needed. must have had. JUST WAAAAAANTED an apple. so i had the apple.

then i went to my other appointment, got home around 9 pm. i was not hungry. i made tea, then i hit the fridge for a little 1000 calorie snack.
yeah. i said it. 9 pm. 1000 calorie snack.

clearly im doing SO WELL.

episode 1: i was legitimately hungry. i was ravenous, and would have eaten absolutely anything.

episode 2: im not sure.

i do have 2 interviews tomorrow, which I am slightly nervous about.

tomorrow is also a "no-yoga" day. these are usually the days i end up over eating.

day 2, and it's not going so well already. AHHHH FRUSTRATION.

but tomorrow is a new day.

i will have a good breakfast. i will pack a snack for post interview as it might take some time. then i will come home and a have lunch, go to interview 2 (pack snack 2). come home have dinner and go to another appointment around 7. tomorrow will be a good, clean, healthful day.

stim, you pinned the reasons for the binge. So get back on the horse and realize next time you are faced with similar situations, that you are vulnerable to a binge, and stop it before it happens. Also what was in the fridge that was the 1000 calorie snack?

I hope you do well on your interviews tomorrow, I have a very important one next week, don't think I will get another opportunity like it.

This thread is totally for me. I always promise myself that I will not binge. I do great in the morning. Then I eat lunch and an hour later I find myself eating every snack I have in my house. Im thinking of getting rid of EVERY kind of junk food I have in my house. I see it and eat it. Tomorrow I am going to try and keep myself busy most of the day to see if it helps keep me away from wanting more to eat then planned. Hopefully I will be successful. My biggest problem is that I never feel full.

I have been doing Weight Watchers for 2 months now and it started off good. Unfortunatly after I did some calculating, I have found that I only eat 900-950 cals a day. I dont think this is too good. Does that seem too little to anyone else? Or is it just me? I think I am going to just start counting my calories and go for maybe 1300-1400 a day.

I do go to the gym most days of the week and burn a good amount of calories. Now that I think about it, thats when I really started to binge. Could it be my body is telling me it doesnt have enough food? :/

Alyssa, most probably it is not exercise that is making you binge. Besides, exercise does not make us burn as many calories and gym owners want us to believe. It is good for our hearts and for our muscles, but it is dieting that makes us lose more. Don't go under those cals... The less you eat, the more slowly your body will burn fat, because it will "understand" that there is not enough food around, and will try to store fat to compensate for what it believes to be a famine. So, eat healthy and be patient.
As to post-lunch binges --specialist here--, I found that it is possible to fight them. Once you realize that the feeling you get after lunch --the anxiety, the "hunger", etc.-- goes away after an hour or two and does not kill you, it is possible to "feel it" --to be aware of how you feel and accept it as part of your life-- and let it go slowly, as we let go of anger, frustration, boredom, exhaustion. The feeling will pass... and you will be there, healthy and self-confident, when it is over. Just relax and don't be afraid of that feeling of yours. Fight the reasons behind it, not the feeling itself. Tell us how you do today!

Krampus Oh I totally didn't think you were making fun! No worries. I was actually laughing and poking fun at myself. Honestly I know my body so well that I know this will have little effect on me if any. Was it how I intended to eat that day? Definitely not... but it's no biggie. Yesterday I was right back to it.

Oh, and I get to go home and take a vacation starting MONDAY!! Whoot! I'm so excited to have this stressful trip over with and get out of this trigger-filled environment. I know it's ultimately MY choice, but this place contributes a huge amount of the reason why I've made bad choices lately.

Surfergirl That sounds like a good plan! Let us know how it goes for you!

Jendiet although it's not fun gaining weight from binges, I'm soooo glad you stopped purging. That's just asking for so many more complications! I'm convinced you can get the binges under control too if you just keep working away at it. Just don't give up.

Stimkovs - I am glad that I made some bad choices and am not beating myself up over it. I know that I just need to eat in a bit of a deficit for a little while and then I'll be right as rain. As far as gaining and losing the same few pounds, I do that too... I just keep it in a small range. I see that as my "happy window" and it allows me to go all out on vacation (or even on a random Monday like I just did... oops!) without having to worry about it too much. The important thing is that you keep on going with the healthy choices afterward before it becomes a habit.

It sounds like yesterday was just a frustrating day for you overall... I hope today is better!

AlyssaNicole you DEFINITELY need to eat more! There are all kinds of non-hunger binge triggers out there for a lot of us (mine is boredom) but hunger is a HUGE one and one that's easy to fix. If you eat enough to satisfy yourself you won't get those crazy "have to eat now" urges because of low blood sugar.

Happy Humpday to everyone!