Since I started posting in this "Chicks in Control" forum, I've started to think of myself a binger. I never used to think of myself as a "binger" before, just an "overeater". And now I find that if I spend too much time here, I find myself rationalizing... "Oh, I'm a binger! Of course I'll binge once in a while!", or "Lots of other people binge, so it's not so bad that I do it." Crazy, I know.

This forum has actually been really helpful for me, because it's helped me realize that, yes, I do sometimes have an unhealthy relationship with food, and now I can work on changing it. It also makes me feel like I'm not alone, and helps me with keeping a binge-free day count.

But this label of "binger" ... and the more I read about others binging .. I feel like it makes me more likely to binge! Does anyone else experience this?

No, I'm the opposite. Realizing that what I was doing was "binging" and goes beyond over-eating and into the realm of dysfunctional behavior was a real wake-up call to me. BUT, I don't label myself a "Binger". I refuse to be that. Period.

I can totally see what you're saying. I've thought of myself as a binger for a long time, and that's how I would often justify my binges --"this is what I do, I can't help it".

Now that I'm working on it, I still think those things, but I guess it's different from you since this "label" is not at all new to me.

For me, I feel that identifying as a binger or an overeater or a food addict is empowering me to realize that it is not a personality fault. It doesn't give me carte blanche to just give into the eating disorder as they say, or to do it more because other people have the same issue. It just makes me feel like if I realize that I don't have control over certain foods, and that it is just best to avoid those foods for the time being, it gives me more freedom in that I am not constantly feeling like I am a bad person for not being able to eat like "normal" people do.

i completely understand... i needed this site to help me out in jan and feb as i was working at the 'early days' of not binging. i am now over 75 days and find that this site can sometimes make me want to binge because i read about things other people have done or eaten and it makes me think about food. i am trying to pull back a bit and not come here as much. and when i do come here i try to find someone i can tell my tale to in hopes of helping them on their journey. of course, i am not that far 'out of the woods yet' ....

I knew I had a problem with binging before I found this site, so I knew I had a problem and did label myself as a binger. Posting here everyday really helps to remind me that I am not alone, so many others are like me. It makes me realize that being a binger is not good and no one here wants to do it either or they wouldn't be here posting for help. It also makes me feel accountable for my actions and to express the feelings you have here, when there is no one else who cares or even knows what you go through, it is a great help. Hope this helps you.

What some sites do is ask that members post Trigger in their title in case what they are going to write has descriptions of food. That may help if it is too much of a trigger to binge.

I wouldn't leave this forum because of trigger issues----why not head over to another section that is more about camaraderie than actual food items.

this website is helping to keep me focused on not bingeing and being honest about my food issues.

No, it doesn't make me more likely to binge. If this makes sense, I think of it as being kind of like what sitting in on an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting would be (which I have never done, but keep seeing in movies & TV dramas, most recently in "Rachel Getting Married"). Here, I'm in the company of people who have been there. It's more about sitting out my feelings in that safe room, on a folding chair, with the coffee mug in my hand, than about binging.

(Speaking of which, I hate writing that word: Binging. It looks like a mistake, like "bringing" without the "r." But writing it as "bingeing" looks like a Chinese city. I hate doing it more than I hate writing it, though.)