Hi guys,

Looking back, I can clearly see that I've been a binge eater since a very early age. I can remember binging since I was 10 at least and I'm 24 now and usually have a straight binge from Friday night to Sunday night.

However, it wasn't until last year that I actually realised that it had a name (binge eating) and was a recognised addiction. Up until a few weeks ago I still thought that I was being over-dramatic though, and it wasn't until I found this forum that I realised there are other people out there that have the same issues as me.

So, my questions for you guys is, when did you start binging and when did you realise that you were a binge eater?

I was a super-active kid, and still am
Abnormally active as an adult- which is what I think saved me from gaining a ton of weight- but that also masked my abnormal relationship with food because I didn't gain weight as a symptom... (I also watched what I ate for the *most* part)

I remember being 15 or so and coming home from school... I'd eat 3-4 bowls of cereal and up to 8 eggos with peanut butter in the hour I had between work and dance class. These "episodes" would happen every-so often, but I honestly never thought twice about it.

Fast forward to last year- I lost about 30 lbs, and noticed that about every 10 days or so I'd have an "episode" of eating. I think I was more aware of it because I was actively trying to lose weight.

The bingeing got pretty out of control last December- that's when I thought I had a real "problem"- some research led me to this site and now here I am!

So- I started bingeing probably when I was 12 or so- and realized what it was just last year! (I am now 22)

As far back as I can remember. My mom would fix huge meals for our family and we had to eat everything they put on our plates and drink the milk as well. Mom would tell us to say "whoa" when the glass was full enough, then when we said stop she would keep pouring until either the glass was full or we said literally "whoa". We had to drink it all even if she poured us 5 times what we wanted.
At meals we weren't allowed to not eat something, even if it made us gag, we had to eat it, "because we would grow to like it".
At grandma's house it was the same thing, I remember vomiting because the food she was serving made me sick but I had to eat it anyway, "to be polite".
After huge meals mom would make french fries or there would be chips and dip or ice cream or cookies, etc. etc. I just had such a huge volume of food forced down me from the very beginning I thought that was how you were supposed to eat.
When puberty hit I went from being chubby to being fat because I ate even more trying to hide my boobs.
I guess I feel like i was just taught that you had to eat constantly and if it tasted good you better eat even more. Writing that out made me feel kind of sad and mad at the same time remembering it.
I figured out it wasn't normal eating behavior in high school and started vomiting after I ate so at least it wasn't in me anymore. I quit doing that and gained weight. So i would exercise for at least 2 hours everyday on one small meal after a full day at work. Now here i am at over 200 pounds and I think I might finally have figured out enough to start losing weight for real this time.

I have thought about when I started binge eating, because I don't think it started til I was a teenager. I used to eat heaping plates if food for dinner and had seconds and dessert, but I don't remember being obsessed with food back then. I think it started when I was about sixteen.

First, I started staying up late to do homework. I ate dinner,and now that I think of it, I would sneak bites of the leftovers and if my mom had baked, I would sneak in a cookie. Or if she made a dessert, I would sneak over when she wasn't around and take little spoonfuls. I'm sure she noticed but didn't say anything. Anyway, when I was done with homework, I would go out to the freezer in the garage and grab the half gallon f ice cream. I would eat half of it. Literally. Once I could drive, I would buy another half gallon, out it on top of the freezer items and hide the half-eaten container. That way, it looked like I hadn't touched the half gallon.

Once I started driving and my parents thought I was ok staying at home alone while they went on vacation or out to dinner on their own, I would drive to McDonald's and get burgers, pies, shakes, you name it. My mom didn't let me eat McD's so I felt the need to buy everything I could because I wouldn't get another opportunity. I also started ordering Domino's delivery and could eat an entire medium pizza. I would hide the empty carton in my room.

In college, I would go buy big sandwiches for dinner, then eat tons of yogurt for dessert. And on the weekends, Chinese food and pizza. Lots.

It got worse as I got older. If I went out to buy lunch for my mom and me on a day off from work, I would eat a "pre-lunch": an extra sandwich that I would devour before getting home, or fast food at one restaurant then pick up lunch somewhere else. And for some reason, I can't just order one burger or combo meal. I have to order two or more. I don't always finish them but I will eat the meat out of the burgers, for example.

I don't know why I buy two lunches. I think I'm just indecisive and want to try two different items.

KittyKatFan - I'm exactly the same. When I know I have a big dinner or a big lunch coming up, such as when my mum cooks for the whole family or I'm going out for a fancy meal, I'll binge on something beforehand. Or, when I'm actually going to the supermarket to get supplies for a pre-planned binge, I'll buy like a footlong sub sandwich, a pack of ready-cooked pasta, some pies and a pack of biscuits, and will then proceed to eat all of them even into when I'm feeling like I'm going to throw up.

Yep, sounds like we are in the same bing-eater boat.

Last weekend, I had plans to go to a Brazilian churrascurria (sp?) where they bring skewers of meat to your table, plus all the sides and salad bar you can eat. The skinny friend I went with didn't eat that day so she could eat a lot at dinner. She ate two small plates from the salad bar, had about three of the different slices of meat, and fried polenta. She had three drinks but said she couldn't drink another because she was stuffed.

Contrast that with my behavior that day. I decided that I was going to blow it that day anyway, so why not just eat all day? And for the fun of it, how about not exercising either? So I got up early, skipped exercise, and went to a local fast food place and to a cinnamon roll and chicken biscuit. Then I went to another location of the same fast food restaurant and got another biscuit.

I snuck out at lunch and got a cheesesteak sandwich. Then I came back to work and ate a slice of pizza. And a piece of cake. Four hours before dinner.

Then at dinner, even though I was stuffed, I ate some salad, did ok staying away from the sides, but had at least six different pieces of meat. Bad, huh? Well, here's the kicker: after dinner, we went to a local arcade, and when she dropped me off at my car a few minutes before eleven, I remembered that the fast food place started serving breakfast at eleven. So I drove to the fast food place and had another chicken biscuit

I'm so bad. I don't know what is wrong with me...

Definitely all sounds very familiar. I especially get the feeling of 'today's going to be a big eat day anyway because of the meal later on, so I may as well go the whole hog and do it 'properly''. I know exactly what I'm doing as well, so there isn't really any excuse!

I started binging at a young age. I remember eating large meals when I was in elementary school, but the binging didn't pick up until junior high.

Junior high was one giant nightmare for me. Going home, turning on Toonami (Sailor Moon lol), and then cooking two potatoes in the microwave and slathering them with sour cream and hot sauce was heaven on earth. Or a big bowl of BBQ chips with hot sauce, or slices of meat dipped in sauce. Pretty much lots of proteins, carbs, and tons of fats.

In high school, it was the same ordeal, though to be honest, I don't remember much of high school (which probably means I've subconsciously blocked a lot of it out for some reason). Now, as an off-and-on college student, my binging has gotten worse. I'll binge on almost anything, as long as it's quick to cook or eat.

And I think what's bad about it is that I LOVE healthy foods, thus I'll tend to binge on them most when I have them. lol But then, at the end of the week (or half way through the week), I'll be like, "I just ate enough food for two weeks." Yeah... not good.

I began binge eating when I was 12 ish. Though, I never knew it was wrong to hide in my room and eat copious amount of food. I grew up thinking this was normal to do.

I binged because of anxiety.
I didn't even realized until recently there was a name for my behaviour.

For me, it's really been this last two years that I've noticed that I don't seem to have the same relationship with food that other people seem to have. I feel like I should hide my eating, and feel guilty when there are treats and I take a certain share. When there is food in the staff lounge, I feel an odd pressure all day and it is in the back of my mind to get "my share."

This is exacerbated by my low income level as a working grad school student, which makes free food more attractive from a financial level.

I also moved back home with my parents last year for about 8 months, and there were some strange food dynamics that I had forgotten about involving quantity of food consumed. My Mom puts pressure on to eat LESS and my Dad puts pressure on to eat MORE. One of them is disappointed when this dynamic pops up.