When I was overweight, I just ate what I wanted whenever I wanted and never gave much of a thought about it. I never thought of myself as someone who binged because I never really "binged", at least not on purpose. I never got urges to eat and eat and eat continuously for any reason -- I just ate what I wanted, ate my fill, and that was it. Sure I would succumb to mindless eating and eat way too much because of that, but I never set out to do it. I never ate too much on purpose.

But for some reason, since I went into maintenance mode and started losing weight again, I have had that exact urge, about once a month or so, I guess around my period. Its always around my period!! (Just had a "A-ha!" moment, lol) I never had this problem before. And I guess because it's usually only once a month, I just let myself have it. But it's weird that all of a sudden I get the urge now when I never did before.

Did this randomly start happening to anyone else after weight loss?

I don't know if I've necessarily just had the urge to binge lately since I've lost a lot of weight, but I have been way more conscious that I have been doing it. I used to just eat whatever, whenever (basically day long binges). I never considered that a binge. It was just the way I ate.

Now that I pay close attention to what I eat, I realize that my old day long eating stints were actually binging. I always want to eat, but have to stop myself now. Every now and then I will go on an all out binge, even while my mind tells me to stop over and over.

I don't know if I am properly conveying what I'm trying to say, or if I'm just ranting >.< Basically, I used to binge all day, but I wouldn't call it a binge. Now that I am more conscious of my decisions, I call it a binge and still want to fall back to old eating habits. I hope this makes sense!

Perhaps your hormones are functioning more strongly now that you're at a better weight?

I used to have that at pretty much any weight, the period hunger where there just wasn't enough food in the world. My younger sister that is very slim size 0-2 had that when she was pregnant, got to 150# and freaked out. And finally when I was put on an estrogen patch after my hysterectomy I got that period type of hunger again but even worse so I stopped the patch after most of the healing was done.

Depending on how you handle it, I never had weight gain because of those ravenous times. I went right to the source, usually chocolate and ate what I thought I wanted. I would very much suggest that this is hormonally driven "hunger" event.

I had never in my life binge ate before getting into fitness and nutrition. As you say, I would eat my fill of whatever I wanted, maybe go back to the fridge for a few more cookies once in a while but I never ate until I was physically uncomfortable and past the point where the food even tastes good as I do now.

Now, instead of overeating and then going to watch TV, not thinking much of it, I overate and then think 'Oh, I'm BINGING again!' and then proceed to actually binge and ponder over the act for hours after the fact.

So yeah, you're not alone in starting to binge after dieting, it's very common. Just try to recognize and deal with your triggers early; I used to binge once a month too and now it's a struggle to get through a week. Once you institutionalize overeating as therapy it becomes very difficult to stop, like a drug that you can't avoid or even practice in moderation.

It's been said that deprivation leads to binging, and it seems to be the case for some people. So I suggest you make sure you're not depriving yourself TOO much as you alter your eating habits.

F.

In maintenance, never. I sometimes decide "I feel like eating a ridiculous amount of XYZ" but it's never a compulsive way of acting out anxiety like diet mode binges were.

Maintenance PMS overeating: go out for ice cream and order a big sundae, have a gigantic Italian hot sub for lunch, eat 2-3 servings of a snack food or an extra quesadilla before bed, gain 1-3 pounds overnight

Diet mode binge: spend 2 hours at the store picking out the "perfect" combination of foods, worry myself sick that it won't be enough, eat it all really fast while watching TV, feel nauseous, want more, gain 5 pounds overnight