I binge on parts of foods (which is very costly as well as caloric!) And, somehow, I'm able to fully convince myself that these binges don't have calories. I know that probably sounds silly, but I really need someone to yell at me to get my butt in gear. In addition to all the calories, binging this way has become very shameful. I end up hiding garbage bags of half eaten food in my room to sneak past the roomies to the trash. It's embarassing and shameful =[

Examples of past binges: (combination or.. all.. of the below)
-LOTS of soft baked oatmeal rasin cookies... but just the rasins (but cookies inevitably get ingested althought I take care to break and seperate...)
-Just the almonds of special K vanilla almond cereal...
-licking the "flavor" off chips esp. pringels..
-Just the chocolate chip parts out of a whole box of chips ahoy
-Just the nuts/apples/rasins, ect out of any baked good
-the edges of tortillas, bagles, ect.
- and (on really bad days) the chocolate off whole bags of fun sized butterfinger bars

You get the idea. Is this really as strange as my roomies think? Is this normal with binges?
And on a side note, I love this forum. This is the first post after lurking for quite sometime and, hopefully, not the last

Wow. After years and years of reading about and researching eating disorders, this is one I have definitely never came across. To answer your question, it's not normal eating behavior to have secret binge eating sessions of any sort. But as I have seen, disordered eating manifests itself in many ways and many sufferers can develop their little own idiosyncrasies. I'm sure if I think hard enough, I can come up with something odd I've done with food before. There's a whole group of EDs that are unclassified -- they are called ED-NOS (not otherwise specified). It may be helpful to you to do some research on them.

And to the forum!

it sounds a little strange just because you could just go out and buy almonds or pure chocolate bars, or raisins

I guess that's the thing. If you buy chocolate bars or nuts the caloric information is plain on the box. If you rip apart the food it seems as though you aren't eating as much/enough to count and therefor eat wayyyyy more. I don't know, maybe I'm just really weird/have a strange relationship with food. In my teens I was hospitolized for anorexia with a low weight of 83 lbs at 5'7"
I no longer think/identify in that way at all but I suppose my views of food are still skewed slightly. But I'm here to talk about it and figure things out a bit

I sort-of understand that mentality! lol
I do similar things like pick certain pieces out of cereal and then now count it as a whole serving (even though it prob was). or not eating a 100cal pack b/c i think 'oh i just want a couple, not a whole pack' and then prob eating twice as much out of a box...

I would suggest journaling if you want to try to stop the habit...
for example keep a tally of all of them that you are eating.
This way there is no way you can tell yourself "oh im not really eating any"
For example: count the number of raisins you eat, then look up the calorie count

i am exactly the same, exactly. I binge on half the packet, then throw the other half out. Then i'll move on to a rice cake or something, then throw a quater of it out. And so on and so on. I didn't know there was anyone else like that, so thanks for sharing. I guess the only thing to actually do is to stop buying the things that we partly binge on. I believe buying actual proper meals for me is the way forward, because i don't eat proper meals right now, only little bits here and there, which add up to more than if i'd have had a meal!

I agree with vdaybaby in that you should keep a food journal. You could also write about what you're feeling when you eat. Good luck, good luck, and more good luck!

I can't say I've done that exactly - but I do have a theory as to how it may have developed.
When you were anorexic, (as I was, also hospitalized in my teens) did you overcompensate in terms of calorie counting, in order to be 'on the safe side'? Say, if you were made to eat a cereal bar, and managed to break and crumble most of it around the plate, you would count the calories as though you'd eaten the whole bar? Or if you nibbled an apple, leaving most on the core, count the whole thing and a few more for good measure?
Most recovered anorexics go through a time of absolute frustration with their former selves and everything related to weight loss/diet. One feels: 'God, it's all so stupid!' and starts to eat carelessly - for me that was picking at bits of food I didn't need in a kind of defiance against the inner demon. It's possible this phase, if you went through it, caused a mental disconnect between picked-at food items and calories. The solution, in theory, is to find a middle ground wherein one is aware of what one eats, no more, no less. Journalling may help with this, if you feel you can do it in a non-obsessive manner. I do it only when i'm trying to lose a few pounds - when I'm not, I fear it would become too rigid.
Well, hope you found some of that helpful. Anyway, as I'm sure you know, we're better off now than we once were! Take care x

Thanks so much for the replies everyone. It really helps to know there are others out there with similar issues. I'll be sure to start journaling.
Me23, that's a very interesting theory and the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. It's strange how food can become so involved with the mental aspect of so many peoples development. Does anyone know why that is? Or is that another thread for another topic..

I know what you mean. If you eat just a little, it doesn't count, right? But then those "just a little"s add up and it becomes a lot. I do this sometimes and I find that I have to track those little calories anyway so I can get back into the mentality that it DOES add up and that those little amounts ARE food. Sometimes it's hard to find a caloric amount for bits of a serving, but I just guesstimate and it works fine. The principle is what counts.

I do this as well - I buy boxes of cranberry cookies and just pick out the dried cranberries

Thought I was the only one, it's such a waste of the cookies as well!