BINGING and the effects

Hi everyone. I have a question to ask and I dont know if any of you can answer but I will give it a go.

I am seriel binger. I sometimes get in under control for a few weeks, sometimes even a few months, but it always comes back to get me. Once I have a taste of anything sweet, I cant stop. In a binge I can eat up to 5000 calories and will eat an enormous amount of sugar.

So on a day when I binge I just blow it completely. But then the next day I will burn off around 800 calories with exercise (intense aerobics with a HRM) and will only eat about 700cals. So effectively eating nothing for the day after. So then the 5000 cals I have eaten the day before, and the "nothing" I have eaten the day after, works out at eating about 2500 cals per day over the 2 day period.Then will try and resume my normal 1100cals for a few days after (or until another binge).

I know this isnt ideal but it does kind of stop me from gaining too much weight. I find it hard to control my binging but this is one way. but does anyone here think that I could be doing a lot of damage to my body by doing this?

http://www.something-fishy.org/whatarethey/ex ercise.php

That website is good. Heck yes, you could be and probably are doing a lot of damage to your body by doing this.  Good for your for reflecting on that and asking the question.

This is a very interesting article. I have considered the fact that I am probably classed as a "compulsive over eater" but havent ever thought of myself as a compulsive exerciser. I think its because I only compulsively, and excessively, exercise when I have eaten vast quantities of food and need to find some way of "purging" the food without vomitting.

Soprano,

people binge for all different types of reasons.  But one thing that struck me was that you usually keep your calories around 1100.  This is a huge warning sign to me.  The minimum that a woman should ever be eating is 1200 calories.  And that is only for a very short, petite woman.  Most of us actually need MORE than that.  When we restrict too much, that can lead to the body going days, weeks or even months trying to make do with what we are feeding it.  But eventually things will catch up to us and lead to a major binge.

If I had to take a guess, I'd say THAT is why you have been bingeing.  Raise your calories and you have a good chance of cutting down your binges.

"but does anyone here think that I could be doing a lot of damage to my body by doing this?"

i don't think, i know.

Original Post by soprano_songstress:

This is a very interesting article. I have considered the fact that I am probably classed as a "compulsive over eater" but havent ever thought of myself as a compulsive exerciser. I think its because I only compulsively, and excessively, exercise when I have eaten vast quantities of food and need to find some way of "purging" the food without vomitting.

that's call exercise bulimia.  i would speak to a therapist.

one thing that stood out for me the most was that you say you consume 1100 calories on the other days. That is far too low and below the bare minimum of what a woman should consume! Eating this little is most likely the culprit as to why you eventually binge. Your body can only handle so much before it kind of explodes on you to consume as much food as possible, because it isn't getting enough of what it needs on the other days.

I complained about a similar issue to my nutritionist and doctor.  My nutritionist's "solution" was to follow a strict meal plan with adequate caloric intake including 3 meals and 3 snacks a day.  My doctor, on the other hand, asked me a very simple yet, difficult to answer question, "What are you starving for?  It isn't food, it's something deeper."  I talked about that with my therapist and we agreed that I'm not physically hungry when I binge, but hungry for something else like companionship, affection, attention, etc.  It's definitely something to think about!