I do it mostly when I am stressed and alone. I also fool myself into the all or nothing and tomorrow traps. Like, "Oh I've already ruined today, I might as well have ___ , and start again tomorrow". And "tomorrow" just never comes. I'm trying to figure out how to change this, so I thank everyone for their helpful tips and hopefully I'll find something that works for me.

For me, it's:

*Feeling fat. I know: a strange cycle. But when I feel gross I either binge or starve. It was more binging up to a month ago than starving, though.

*Feeling angry, overwhelmed, or depressed.

To prevent it in the past I used to just avoid food. And that wasn't the answer, of course, so I've learned to channel it into positive energy and busy myself by writing or taking care of myself. It makes me feel a lot better than just stuffing my face. I stop, realize why I'm about to binge, and fix it.

For me it's one of three things: my time of the month, getting into that really sucky mood where I think I have so far to go that it doesn't even matter, or getting super upset & stressed about.. well, anything. Normally the only thing that can stop me is if I convince myself that I deserve better for myself than that. But lately, every time I binge I want to less and less because mixed in with the healthy eating, it REALLY messes with my body. This morning I ate two big chocolate glazed donuts () and until just a few hours ago I felt like I would vomit or crash at any second. Why would I want to eat food that makes me feel that way? I don't, and I think holding onto that feeling is going to help me prevent even eating it in the first place it in the future.

I usually do it because of stress and boredom. Stress is the worst trigger. I find doing a lot of exercise (mainly cardio) really helps with stress, and stops me from binging.

For me, one part is just this nasty habit: I have done so as long as I have been feeding myself. Once I'm on my own and don't have much to do, I binge. So yes, boredom is a big one for me as well. So are the emotional triggers (stress, feeling fat, feeling lonely or sad and being frustrated).

If I exercise, I'm less likely to binge because I know how hard I worked to destroy 500 calories. The idea of voiding all this effort by munching on thousands of calories stops me.
Stepping on the scales everyday helps too: It forces me to face the immediate results of my binges.
Most importantly, I avoid having trigger foods at home and stopped cooking enough for the family to eat leftovers the next day: this never worked out as I would eat everything before that next day.

I don't binge all that often anymore, and I think my binges have gone down considerably in size (at my heaviest my binges were BAD). I still have one particular trigger-- relationship stress. Work stress? Not hungry. Lose weight even. Super busy? Not hungry, again. Having a fight with my fiance/mom/dad/friend? BINGE. It's so weird, and I think it's because I'm not much of a people person, so that kind of issue really gets to me. Also seems to have to be someone I'm at least sort of close with. A stranger yelling at me or a coworker I don't really get along with doesn't do it. I was at my heaviest during my most stressful and hurtful romantic relationship, as well as having a few toxic friends during that time.

I can avoid wanting to binge by working out. I formally work out once a day, but even if I just go take a walk or scrub the toilet I can avoid the binge. Something physical to get my mind off of the food. And I'm super focused, so I'll get a really clean toilet or even a vigorous second workout!

I have been bingeing for over 30 years now and have spent countless hours trying to figure out why and how I could stop. I also spent years hating myself for doing it, but the first thing I realized was that I couldn't be healed if I was full of self-hatred. I began trying to change the way I think and was able to finally think of eating in a more neutral way--I wasn't bad if I binged. I just hadn't learned how to cope with life's problems in a healthy way. It was a very long process, and I still binge but not as often or as badly as I used to. I would love to be cured, but I honestly don't think there is a cure. Once you develop that behavior, it seems like it is imprinted on the deepest levels of your brain, and it's always lurking there to re-emerge under the right circumstances. I have noticed that trying to be too strict with my diet is a trigger for bingeing and also times when my life feels out of control. Exercise or some type of physical activity helps as does meditation. Being out in Nature is probably the best thing I've found--as long as I can slow down, breathe and notice how beautiful it is.

I didn't think of this one, but now that you mention it, this is very true. If I cook a "treat", like mango sticky rice, well, it never makes sense to make 1 serving. And you no I don't wrap those extras up. I guess that's why currently getting premade meals is working well for me. No extras of my favorites in the house.

For me:

1. Deluding myself into thinking if a food is healthy, I can eat tons of it.
2. Skipping breakfast (can't eat til lunch, at which point I'm starving)
3. Work stress. If I have a bad day I feel like I "deserve" it. I feel bad for not having more self-control to tell myself no. This is the only one that my food plan doesn't solve nicely. It's hard to come home late, hungry, angry, etc.. and feed myself a salad. What I'm trying is finding an alternate non-food reward, or balance the occasional stress binge out with extra exercise.

Very interesting thread… I can really relate to what has already been said here.

I can't say I know what causes me to binge all the time, but over the years I think I've found a few factors.

1) Letting my guard down, and giving in all too easily.
2) Eating sugary and fatty foods.
3) Certain advertising often triggers my hunger responses.
4) Being bored or doing certain activities that I associate with food (Watching movies, etc).
5) Not having proper food to snack on in the house.
6) Family members having lots of junk food in the house, and eating it in front of me.
7) Not eating regularly, which causes me to be ravenous later on in the day.


There's probably a few more too, most have been said by the other posters too. I'm glad I don't have to do this alone.

Quick edit: 8) Also not following a proper game plan or direction when I try and be healthy.

I end up bingeing when I have a longing for a certain food, resist it for a while, but after it keeps staring me in the face I think "I'm fat anyways. It's not like it'll ruin my figure."
And then I'll justify it by saying "I'll just not eat my nutritious dinner; that'll make up for the calories"

Some things that I realized cause my binges... I have trigger foods (like all of us do) and they usually consist of sweet foods - honey especially. Or better yet, a combination of fat+sugar = almond butter and honey, for me. I simply cannot have the combo, it tastes way too good but I can't have enough of it. So I just learned to never have it. Gotta make sacrifices.

I tend to binge more when I'm sleep deprived, hungover, stressed. I try to get enough sleep and don't drink as often as I used to. Also being lonely is a factor but that's a different issue entirely that I'm still working on.

I TOTALLY feel you on these! I have a bit too much self love sometime too, I'd think "but I don't need to lose weight, I should be happy with who I am - it's who I AM! People should accept that" but then other days I'll get depressed and feel gross and jealous as **** of other girls. It's such a rollercoaster.

I have many triggers. Feeling sad, depressed, angry, etc. Eating out tends to trigger a binge. Self hating moments or as some of you have said to much self love. Lack of sleep. People criticizing my eating habits (Seeing me eating a candy bar doesn't mean that's the only thing I ever eat. In fact I go months without even thinking of eating one.). Boredom. Being a cashier doesn't help at times either. I have had people come through my lane with all my trigger foods. On those days I avoid going anywhere near the food area of the store I work at and quickly go to the break room where I have my packed lunch at and find someone to talk to about anything so I won't be tempted to get up and go get the binge food. I find the best way to stop it from happening is to keep my trigger foods out of the house and if I do bring it into the house get the smallest size of it that I can get my hands on and make sure I can only get it from the grocery store (I live 13 1/2 miles away from the nearest grocery store, half hour drive). Go for a walk to get away from food. Now where I use to live at going for a walk wouldn't work cause I was in a city so there was gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants everywhere. But I now live in the country and the closest store (a gas station) is 4 miles away. By the time I get there I'm over the moment and just want a bottle of water and to walk back home.

1. Strong negative emotions: anger, sadness, frustration. I use food to "nurture" and make myself feel better. Sugar stimulates the pleasure center of my brain.
2. Strong positive emotions: happiness. Yay! Let's celebrate a victory! Simultaneously this is a punishment because I feel, under everything, I don't really deserve good things happening to me, regardless of how hard I work or how perfect the results.
3. Boredom.
4. Lack of sleep.
5. PMS/Perimenaupause symptoms: rapid mood swings triggered by hormone shifts make me feel like I'm crazy. My personal control over food is weakest during this time. I just want everything to stop, darn it!
6. Sugar. A little sugar causes me to crave a lot of sugar.

I tend to fixate my binges on a particular food or food group. You know those awful cracker 'bread sticks' and cheese snacks? One winter I obsessively ate cases of those things.

Since I'm currently in the middle of the week prior to my period, I am at an emotional low and a eating high. My moods are very erratic and I'm finding it nearly impossible to move out of "emotional mind" into "wise mind." I feel like electricity is bouncing around inside me and I need to figure out a way to take it to ground. It makes me feel like I'm nuts or something. It only lasts a few days each month but I'm an emotional mess while it lasts.

I laugh at this beacuse I have often binged on frozen waffles when there was nothing else "sweet" in the house.

Stress and procrastination are HUGE triggers for me, as is the carb/sugar thing. I never thought of myself as a person who has an emotional eating problem, or who binge eats, until I joined this website and started reading the threads. Then I realized that eating 75% of an entire loaf of Italian Bread in one sitting, or an ENTIRE package of Chewy Chips O'Hoy cookies just isn't normal. Or healthy. I think it is so much easier to identify those times when I am tempted to start heading down a dangerous path though. It isn't always perfect, and I still slip up.

I try to prevent it by being more conscious and aware every time I eat, always looking at portion sizes, and faithfully recording my calories. If I am afraid to record my calories, I know I probably went too far. Kickboxing classes have also been helpful because they have helped me relieve stress and excess energy, which reduces my tendency towards emotional eating.

I love reading everyone's posts! Isn't it great to know we aren't alone!?!?!