Hello! I somehow stumbled upon this forum and couldn't believe what I had found... It is sooo cool to know that I am not alone. I can't believe how many posts there already are on the subject of binge eating. I've been bingeing since I was a teenager and I want a change in my life, but i'm not sure how to go about it. I've read books out there, but haven't found anything that has totally addressed and helped me. Also, what things have y'all tried that you found helped when you've wanted to binge? Any information would be so helpful.

This looks like a wonderful place to find support

Welcome to 3FC! We're glad to have you join us.
When do you binge? Is it an emotional thing?
You are most definitely not alone. And I wish I had the answer for you, but I'm still working on finding it myself.
I DO find that I'm less inclined to binge when I'm exercising regularly. I feel good about myself (particularly mentally), then. When I'm physically active, I feel very powerful and capable of almost anything. Even curbing my binging.

It's the same with me. Exercise is crucial.

Speaking just for myself, I've found that binging is how I react when all of life seems overwhelming, when every problem seems unsolvable because it's tightly bound up in every other problem. My solutions to keep from binging include things you wouldn't expect, like avoiding credit card debt (it's a biiiig stressor, when a card gets to the point where I can't pay it all off that month), not procrastinating important tasks, and learning to speak up when people are treating me unfairly, instead of putting on my "nice girl" mask. Keeping a daily food log is also a big help; it keeps me honest about what I'm eating.

I don't know if any of my solutions "speak" to your problems or not, but my point is that the stress that makes me overeat comes from many sources, so I have to deal with each source individually. But exercise is the one thing that helps me feel focused and energized to do that.

Hello and welcome!!

It's great having you here, and I hope you find support and encouragement like so many of us do.

One thing that really helps me with binging is to remember to take VERY tiny bites and chew and savor them... most people take huge bites of food and scarf it down so they don't get the benefits or feel the enjoyment.

Another thing which helps... I keep lots of fresh fruit and veggies around and have a "rule" that I can eat all I want of it. So if I am really hungry I can eat something but if I am just wanting junk it causes me to THINK about it and say "no."

Also... I find that after the first month or two of eating only healthful foods, the cravings for the junk go away and it does not even look appealing because I know what it does to my body.

Dance

! I'm so glad you found 3FC! This is such a great community, so supportive, so knowledgeable... I learn something new every time I sign on!

Yah it is great! What I especially like about is that I personally don't want a "diet" or to join some type of program. I want to develop my own plan for healthful eating and lifestyle. Here I can do that and find the support I need to do it MY way... and everyone else can do the same!!

I learn a lot too! In fact at this very moment my crockpot is full of the most mouthwatering thing imaginable... the idea for which I found right here!!!

Wow! I'm so glad to see that people responded. I'm so glad that I posted a thread. It's tough when you admit that something is wrong, and now that I am talking to people about it - well, that's just crazy. But I am ready for a change so thank you for your suggestions.

Right now I exercise off and on. I find that when I exercise, I eat better and I do not binge that much. I don't know why I can't be consistent with exercising though. It's so frustrating.

Yes, I binge for emotional reasons. Strange because it isn't even about the food that I put in my mouth, but how it makes me feel at the beginning of it. My life isn't bad at all, but if there is something going on, it's so much easier to handle it with a binge.

I am thinking about finding a therapist to talk to. I'm not sure when I started bingeing, but I'm so tired of this secret life. I pretend to be someone when I'm around people, and then I let my true self out alone. Why can't I just be the same 24/7?

I am determined to figure out myself and then to eventually quit this stupid cycle of bingeing.

Thanks again for responding back so quickly... It's just so nice to hear similiar stories to my own.

Oh I am sure most of us understand all too well about pretending to be one thing around people and something else alone, especially when it comes to eating. LOL I am sure it would come as no shock to most of us here to know that someone else ate a polite little meal in public and then went home and shoveled in the junk food! We are all different in our approaches, of course, but we are all in it together.

Have you thought about joining one of the threads for challenges? There are threads for weight loss challenges, walking and other exercise challenges... all kinds of different stuff. It does help to know if we succeed at something we can go on and share with our cyberfriends. You will see "NSV" topics posted in the Support section... that means a "Non-Scale Victory" and no matter how big or small we feel it is (there IS no such thing as a small one) often it can motivate us to keep at something so we know we can go post an NSV!!

We are glad you are here!!

My dear, please share! What are you making?

need2changenow, I know what you mean about a "secret life". When I'm around other people, I eat healthy and sparingly. And I can't wait to get home so I can chow down on junk.
I hope you can find a good therapist... we're so glad you posted here.

One of the best pieces of advice I have gotten about exercise from these wonderful people is to learn to think of exercise the same way you do your job. It isn't fun and you may never love it but you have go anyway, or eventually you'll get fired. You don't think about it and you might whine about it (like I do), but you still do it. Exercise is the same... if you don't do it, you'll get fired... from life. I don't want to die just yet (I am "morbidly obese") so I keep "showing up for work."

Anyway, welcome here, these are the best people I've ever found for support. I think you'll like it.

-Lala

Hi There

Hi everyone... Ellis, I found the recipe at the link here that someone posted

http://saksfamily.no-ip.com/crockpot.html

It is called Burger Heaven. However, mine just vaguely resembles the original recipe LOL. I had thought of posting it but hadn't because I don't measure but just kind of throw stuff in. But here is how I made it

Burger Heaven - Sue's Version

All my veggies were chopped up pretty small; and I don’t measure. <G> I like a taste of vinegar and mustard so that is optional; also next time I will add fresh asparagus and some broccoli and fresh tomatoes. (Actually I used up some of the stuff I had in the refrigerator)

Two cans of Del Monte basil/garlic/oregano stewed tomatoes

1 can Healthy Request tomato soup

1 really big (light colored) sweet potato

small pieces of cauliflower

1 red pepper

frozen mixed veggies

1 red onion

1 small bag tiny baby carrots (next time I will cook these a bit first and they didn’t get done as fast as other stuff)

3 or 4 stalks chopped celery

handful chopped parsley

1 pound ground beef (rinsed in hot water both before and after cooking to get rid of grease)

Gulden’s spicy brown mustard

Big splash balsamic vinegar

Lowery’s seasoned salt, salt, pepper

Dance, thank you so much for typing all that out! I'm getting my crock pot out right now!!

Lala, I love what you said about the exercise. I am so with you.

LOL Ellis, actually I lucked out! My best friend in Florida had just asked me for it so I had typed it in an email to her... so for here I just had to go cut and paste it in!!!

We actually just bought a treadmill and some other equipment, and finally took it out the box and set it up. (We have only had it a couple of days...)

I am going to start walking/running tomorrow. I have made a list of goals for this week and I'm going to try really hard to stick to it.

Quick ?: Do most of y'all eat when you are sad or angry or do you do it sometimes when you are happy? I find that I do it for any reason... Yuck.