i have been on a binge for about a week. a lot of starts and stops, and i'll go a few hours without anything crazy happening...but then BAM...that whole bag of granola is gone! or a giant pizza...or whatever

i know i've read so many times that you just have to STOP it. and resume PLAN right away.

what i don't get...and i'm so curious if anyone has the same feeling...is that right now, i am totally stuffed. it's 6pm, and i could definitely go until bedtime at midnight without another bite. but STILL even though i know i'm binging, even though i know i need to stop, even though i want to lose weight...i'm thinking about what and when to eat next!
WTFFFFF?!

This is gonna be hard to accept but you may not really have any control unless you force it upon yourself! I am a long time binge eater-altho during the last 10 or so years, they are smallish binges-because I know I do it now!
there may be any one of several reasons why you do this or it may be a combo. I wish that I'd known this stuff 20 years ago!

It may be:

1. Low seratonum levels (the "happy" chemical formed by exercise or eating certain foods)
2. You may be stressed out by something or bored.
3. If you are craving starches or sweets you may have some yeast issues and now the yeast wants more food (yep, it's gross).

Many times what starts all of this off is emotional, but after a while we get into a cycle "1" is a sort of chemical cycle, "2" is chemical or habitual (boredom) and "3" is physiological.


The best way to end it is to stop eating the stuff cold turkey and plan 3 healthy meals and a few healthy snacks! Stay away from the extra salty, sugary or starchy. Keep it out of the house if you can! Within a day or two the craves should pass. There is one additional factor which is that if we overeat long enough, our brain doesn't make enough of the enzyme that tells us when we've had enough! This is all real science, most of it was covered in my college nutrition course last year. The yeast info I verified with the web sites of some major hospital websites.

I had the yeast issue just recently and I went cold turkey. Good luck...I hope that you feel better!

I do the exact same thing. Once I fall off the wagon, I tell myself that I have to go right back to being good. So what do I do? I somehow convince myself that since I am already off the wagon, I need to hurry up and eat everything I can shove in my face because tomorrow I have to be good again.

That can go on for days. It really sucks. I wish I had more control than that, but I don't.

I just have to try to do the best I can. The most important part is getting back on the wagon. Once I'm back on for awhile, it's easier, but getting *back* on? Geez, that's some work.

Good luck!

Ah, I know that feeling all too well. I had a 3-day binge over the weekend while on vacation. I'd eat until my stomach was so full that my ribcage area (where I can normally feel my ribs) expanded and bloated and stuck out PAST my boobs, and then I'd eat some more and throw in a candy bar or two just because sweet and savory in my mind involve two different parts of the stomach.

You just have to force yourself to stop. It can and does happen. It's okay to have a few sloppy days between "binge" and "on plan" days as long as you work on one factor - e.g.

Day 1: TOTAL BINGE
Day 2: Overeat, but drastically cut calories
Day 3: On plan with calories but more of those calories come from junk food than you want
Day 4: On plan 90%

ugh I am totally going through the same thing. It is sooo frustrating. I feel so out of control. I totally do the lets fit it in before tomorrow. The problem is all the tomorrow/s are adding up/. sigh

For some reason I'm having the same problem right NOW. Starving. Fortunately, there is nothing in my house that is not allowed on Atkins. Found a 1/2 pork chop in fridge.

Krampus, this is such a good idea (I'm reading Day 2's "drastically cut calories" as "drastically below binge level," not "drastically low in general" right?). So many times I think, "oh I've binged, now i have to eat perfectly on plan every day for the rest of the month," and the pressure of that prolongs the binge. This step-down method kind of removes the fear of immediate deprivation and the threat of going cold-turkey. While I agree in general with the idea of detoxing from crap food, I think sometimes the fear of doing it makes me keep bingeing.

As for the OP's original question -- well, I think it is just proof that we are trying to satisfy an emotional hunger with food, not a physical hunger. And the problem that we all find is that no amount of food can fill an emotional need. We keep eating and eating thinking that the next thing is going to satisfy our hunger, but the hunger was never physical to begin with. Someone on 3FC has a tagline that reads, "If hunger is not the problem, food is not the answer."

Also, though, I think repeated bingeing does begin to have a physical effect, so that your body longs for it, almost like a cigarette. When I was bingeing a lot last month, I was almost jittery until I started, and then it calmed me. I don't know if it was psychological or physical, but it felt like my body had become accustomed to it and was wanting it -- but sometimes it is so hard to tell the body from the mind.

i have chills! you are so amazing, and i think everything you lovelies said is RIGHT IN THIS MOMENT keeping me from derailing completely!

amazing, really.

i'm at work, and there are 4 pieces of pizza in the fridge leftover from "lunch" yesterday. despite the fact that last night i swore up and down it's OVER...despite the fact that i got my butt out of bed at 5:45 and hit the gym for the first time in months...despite the fact that i ate a healthy, filling breakfast an hour ago.............i do not want to "waste" that food!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH! i think you saved me i need to re-read all you wrote because there is some gold in there for sure.

wow.

Agreed. This has helped me recover from binges a gazillion times. Only way for me to get back on track.

This is exactly why you still more! It is an addiction, once you start your head is in the next bite and your head tells you the next one (cookie, ice cream, whatever) will satisfy you and you eat it just to find out that the monster inside you is stronger and is eating your soul while you eat that food! STOP NOW just for a moment, and then the next moment and the monster will go weaker and go away. Trust me on that one. I have years of painful trial and error but I have some recovery now as well.