To all past bingers - does it ever get easier?
 

I am a bona fide binger. Yes, I emotionally eat, but in addition, I hide food, I hoard it, I eat mass quantities in secret and I would often go to a store/restaurant specifically to purchase binge food that I would consume quickly and in excess. At my highest (recorded) weight, I was exactly 230 lbs (at 5'6).

I've been working for over a year now and I've made it down to 159 lb. I have hovered at 160 since last November, not because my program isn't working but because I have struggled with binges. My weeks are normally a 50/50 split between eating on program and binging. Good thing - I've maintained! Bad thing - I am letting the binge cycle win at least 50% of the time. Binges are not as severe as they've been in the past -but the behavior still exists, so I am still concerned.

For those of you who were bingers and have reached your goal - does it get easier? I had many months where I had no binges at all and I felt great. Since last fall, I've tried to learn my lessons as they've come, examining the triggers and the binges, yet I am still struggling. I would like to lose 20 more, but at this rate, I never will. I'm very happy with 159, but I'd like to, at least, get below 155 and fall into a healthy BMI range.

Does it get easier with more practice? Does it ever just go away? I have come so very far and I'm not in danger of throwing it all away, I just feel like I am *THIS CLOSE* to being "normal" a majority of the time. Any thoughts?

C'mon - there have to be some success stories here? No compulsive eaters/bingers who feel that compulsion has quieted? Or they've gained control over it? No one? :(

It gets easier as time goes on.

I had a problem with alcohol when I was younger and quit drinking about 3 years ago.

I find the alcohol easier to manage. At least you can say no. You can't say no to food. So, as time goes on, you learn to cope. I have off days (nights, specifically) where I eat myself sick - and that is mindlessness. If I am unaware, I will do it.

It can take daily effort.

For me it is boredom eating and not emotional. If it's emotional, you might have to do more digging to find your root causes and work on that too.

Hey, I wanted to write, but I haven't reached goal. I did get to the farthest I have been able to in 4 years. I am getting better-being honest with myself.
I am working on eliminating grains because I am addicted to them, but I'll tell you about the sugar addiction. I used to eat a jar of Nutella a day, along with donuts and a whole pint of ice-cream. Now I never do. Haven't touched Nutella in...must be a year? I don't even remember. I don't even feel like I am fighting with myself when I stare at the bakery. I can't tell you the secret or whatever. I just know that I didn't wait for a moment or a spark. I just went up and told myself No one day, and the next day and the day after that. And after a week, I got better at it. After a month, it was easy.
Now, since New Year's I haven't had a piece of cake (every week there's cake at my workplace) nor do I want to. No candy, no...anything. I know that I can eat it anytime, there's no famine. And even if I can't get it - well I can't visit every country, own every dress, why should I have to have every single piece of cake?
With binging, I'm not sure, I am more of a binger of certain foods.
If it is a serious addiction, you can't have it in moderation. Yes, even a spoonful, its not a spoonful. Your mind will play tricks on you to keep eating. Just tell yourself you have to take it seriously and if you mess up, just forgive yourself and give yourself a moment to calm down. Panicking leads to brash decisions.

:wave: I actually consider myself a former binger; but I am still working towards my goal. My slip-ups are few and far between these days, but they are small. I do not binge like I use to at all -- thank you, GOD! Plus, I am able to make mistakes and still stay within my calorie goal of 1800 and my cap of 2000. Just took a lot of planning & strategies ...

Yes, it does get easier with time and practice, so I would say, just KEEP ON GOING ... I really think that you will get to where you want to, esp since you haven't that far to go -- 4 lbs isn't that much really. :D

Yes. It can get better.

1)I was an emotional eater from stress/anger. I spent a lot of time seeking the dx -- 10 yrs. Limbo land sucked, I was mad not to get answers faster, etc.

2) I was also struggling with great physical hunger binges. It made sense when I FINALLY got the full PCOS/IR dx -- like duh! Between the wacked hormones and the insulin resistance who wouldn't have crazy hunger?

What helped me the most was Linda Spangle's "Life is Hard, Food is Easy" for the first hunk. Understanding blood sugar and better managing my diet for the second hunk.

I am by no means perfect, and if I'm near a trigger food feeling all YAAARRGHHH! about something it is very very easy for me to slip.

But remember a setback slip is NOT utter ruin! It's a chance to reassess, figure out why that happened, and plan the strategy for next time. It doesn't mean you are all the way back to being an out of control binger at square 1!

If you slip and fall a step or two hiking, you don't give up and fling yourself off the whole darn mountain!

HTH!
A.

Does it ever go away? YES.

I used to share the common idea that bingeing was a disease. I do not believe that anymore. I believe it's a bad habit that can strike at any time because you have an urge to binge; and what does bingeing do? It turns off the urge of course! but you don't ever have to act on it. Don't act on binges enough times when the urge arises and guess what? The brain eventually stops sending binge signals. Without the urge, you will not binge. It's always your choice to binge and you are always capable of control. Turning it into a disease takes away personal responsibilty to quit on your own. Like smoking.

I used to binge. It started because I dieted and my body reacted. Eventually bingeing became a habit of my brain and I repeatedly acted upon it. At my highest weight I was 125lbs. That's a lot for my small frame and having never previously spent a day in my life over 110lbs. I was getting scared. I did lose 20lbs last year from Jan thru Aug despite bingeing occasionally - once every 2 or 3 weeks or so. But then it got worse and worse where it was becoming every other day and I was scared! I gained back some weight I had lost and was getting very depressed.

I accidentally stumbled upon a book that cured me (I NEVER EVER binge EVER), "Brain over Binge" by Kathryn Hansen. She's a fully recovered builimic and has been for 6 years now. She provides an alternative cure to therapy that is immediate and easy. No soul searching, just you and your brain.

I hope you, and anyone else who suffers with BED or bulimia reads it.

For me? NO, it's not easier. It's still hard to say no, and it's a struggle almost every single day. Right now, I would love a big spread of every food mentioned in this thread. But I won't. I will force myself to not binge today. I think I'll be fine today because I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow...but who knows what struggles I'll face and have to overcome tomorrow. I've been working my program for 4 years now, and today is harder than March 4th, 2008 was.

It does get better or at least you learn ways to limit or control the urge to binge. The two things that have really helped me have been making sure I don't let myself get too hungry and not bringing binge type foods home.

If I do slip up I make sure to get right back on track with the next meal.

LORI ~ I hear ya; while it is easier for me now (many years down the road), I didn't mean to imply that it is always easy. Like you, I still have to fight the battle; I still have to say "NO" to myself, esp on days when I feel very hungry.

I was/am still an emotional eater, and that triggered my binges; and I still find it easier to avoid trigger foods rather than fight them (like KAPLODS likes to say). That is one of my strategies to overcome them.

It took me a long while to practice strategies to deal with my emotions; and today, I still have to be ever mindful (and that will have to be so forever, I'm sure). I remind myself that binging is not an appropriate solution to my problems. Whenever I make a mistake, I forgive myself, and just keep on going ... :)

I can't say I've ever been as planful about bingeing as you, but it usually gets easier for me when I've been able to stay away from my "crave" foods for at least a couple of weeks.

For me it has definitely gotten easier. In my 20s and 30s I used to go on periodic "planned binges." I would spend several hours going to my favourite haunts (restaurants, bakeries, delis, etc.), buy all my favourite items, bring the food home, and eat it over a couple of hours. It easily amounted to four or five thousand calories.

I no longer do this, nor do I have the urge to do it. I can keep any food in my house without obsessing about it. I'm not sure what changed. Perhaps it's simply that, at age 55, I no longer see my health as an abstraction, but as something I could lose any day.

I still have trouble with self-control in fine restaurants, but since I don't go that often it's not a major problem.

Freelance

p.s. I TOTALLY agree with the poster who views binging as a habit rather than a disease.

I'm like Lori. I've been at this for a long time (though obviously not as successful at keeping it off as her) and I still find it really difficult to say no to the binge urge. If I catch myself thinking about something like, say, M&Ms, I think to myself, "Well, you can get one of those single servings out of the vending machine; 200 calories isn't so bad." And immediately a voice in my head says, "I don't WANT a serving. I want the entire big bag. And a pizza. If I can't have that, just forget it."

So I forget it, because I know a large bag of M&Ms and a pizza is a) going to make me gain back the weight, and b) probably kill me eventually. I don't have things like cookies or cake or whatever in my house because I can't just have one serving. I will *still* eat all of it, even though I'm not eating grains anymore so I don't really crave the stuff. Some food I will never be able to trust myself with.

Has it gotten easier to keep it out of the house? A little. But I don't know if the mental struggle will ever get easier, and that scares me.

We're almost exactly the same weight/height and the same distance from goal. ;)

However, I have to say that for me getting rid of the constant hunger helped the most in terms of binges. I absolutely need to eat a diet low in sugar, white flour, with regular meals to do this. Lately, my hunger levels have been pretty low and so even though I've definitely has some good binging opportunities, I haven't been tempted that much.

FWIW, I've been losing weight now for over 1.5 years so I've been at this awhile. Even just a year ago I still was struggling a lot more with binging so things definitely have improved with time.

I find if I fall off my new lifestyle if I don't exercise. The exercise keeps me accountable. I tend to binge....especially around TOM. But it has gotten easier mainly because I have recognized that I do actually HATE the feeling of being overstuffed when before I used to strive for that feeling....so weird. Almost like a self mutliation mind set I was in. If I do binge now I do it with healthy foods. Every one a in blue moon now I have binged on junk foods but I find I eat much less then I use to and then that sick feeling kicks in and I remind myself that I hate it. I now remember that feeling when I get the urge to do it. It just takes practice for me and staying away from high processed carbs and sugar foods. That makes me crave it more!

Looking at all the answers, some people still struggle, other people don't after a while and a lot of in between answers. So OP, you might struggle for years, you might not- but you have to decide if its worth it to take on that "risk."
I tell myself that I might be miserable either way, but I would rather be miserable and happier about my body than miserable and feeling guilty after a binge.

That's a good way to look at it.

For me, yes and no.

I simply cannot eat candy in a reasonable amount and in April 2005 went cold turkey. I see people that claim when they stop eating a trigger food, the urge passes after a few weeks. Not for me. I'd been eating up to a pound of candy daily for 20+ years and it took 4 years before I felt in control of the candy urge to attempt to lose weight.

So the primary binge pattern is gone. However, once I lost 100 lbs and felt I had to cut my calories further to get 20 more lbs off, I found myself falling into a diet-binge type cycle where every 3rd day I'd overeat enough to negate the calories I'd cut. I haven't gained or lost but the behaviour bothers me enough that I've moved my calories back up even if it means I'll remain 20 lbs heavier than I'd really like to be.

In the past I would diet and deny myself of everything I liked. After a couple weeks I would literally eat every single one of those things in huge amounts to account for it-then I'd develop the "oh well-I already messed it up, might as well keep eating" attitude. I've learned that for me, and most others I'd guess, diets do not work. This time around I've decided to alter my whole eating lifestyle. I can eat a piece of cake, I can eat a cheeseburger, however, I can't eat a whole cake, or 3 McDoubles from McDonalds. This time around it's been so much easier for me, and I don't feel at all deprived.

Just wanted to comment that this part of your post really stood out to me. It's such a mature, insightful view of the situation.

I have not lost my urges to binge. I have maintained a 100 lb. weight loss for over a year and I still have an internal dialogue going on in my head, with regard to food, almost constantly.

I have to keep all trigger food out of my house. This is admittedly much easier now that my children are all adults and have moved out. My hubby likes me to cook for him and will eat anything I make, so he's not an issue for me.

I closely watch what I eat during the week and allow myself more freedom on the weekends. I do always feel as though a binge could be right around the corner if I didn't reign myself in. In the past, I would read posts like this, and it would upset me greatly. I didn't want to think that maintenance was going to be this type of work for the rest of my life. Now I look at it as empowerment. I know what I'm up against, and I've managed to keep this weight off with smart choices and positive self-talk.

Same here. It has definitely gotten easier for me once I took the guilt out of food. My binging primarily resulted from overly restricting my diet. Now I can occasionally indulge and eat "normally" and know that it won't impact my weight as long as I get right back on track with healthier eating.

Any binges that I may do now (they are very sparse) are usually the result of an emotional trigger that thankfully I can get over quickly.

Thanks for all the thoughtful replies, I appreciate it.

I am of the same opinion as many here, that binging is not a "disease" but rather a habit (I think the same thing about all addictions) and I do not consider myself a victim in any way. I've never had, at any point of my "overweightness," continued success as I've had for the past year, so giving up is not an option, no worries there! I won't give up, I won't go back and I know it's all worth it; just wanted other peoples' perspectives on whether the addiction will ever be truly "defeated" and it sounds like it varies.

There are certain trigger foods that I haven't touched since I started this process in January 2011; however, I still crave them. So it's really not about the food, for me, it's about the behavior. I've worked to "restructure" the behavior into other habits, and I've been somewhat successful, but some days the urge is so overpowering! I hate fighting with myself! :D

Hey, I too am dealing with withdrawl from my trigger food - bread at this moment. Its crazy the emotions I feel, like you are taking away something reallyyyy important, but then I remembered that I felt the same about Nutella. When I think about how my cravings don't necessarily correlate with what my body needs-its just that I am so used to constantly eating refined carbs, to the point of crashing from the sugar high throughout the day-that now my body is probably wonder "WTF Is going on? Where is that bread?" So you are def def 100% not alone.
Happy to report that my eating has become a lot better since I cut out trigger foods.