Does the binging really stop?

Seems like there are lots of people who binge when trying to gain weight, myself included. However most of the replies say that this is normal when you're trying to re-feed your body.

Has anyone actually been in this position? What really happens afterwards? Do you just simply stop binging when you reach a normal/avg BMI again? Cause I doubt it....
I really don't think my binges are biological, they seem more cognitive/emotional/mental-issue.

I'm just heading off to bed right now.... after spending yet over another hour in front of the fridge, ate nearly 2000 calories (mainly sugar). Yeah, I feel guilty. Esp cause I had enough calories after dinner already. And to add another 2000 to it :\ urgh. Well, weight gain it is, I suppose!

i can't enlighten you but i can say that i'm going through the same thing...i feel like i always want to eat...even when i'm no longer physically hungry. it's like my mind and stomach aren't connected or something. how do i regain control? will i ever be able to stop when i'm full and eat when i'm hungry?

Yes, it does eventually stop. It's a response to your having been starved and your body wanting to get back to its natural set point. To a healthy weight. It stops as you consistently begin to feed yourself. If you're working out, I find this has always aggrivated my desire to binge, too.

Keep mechanically eating, as that form of eating is not only important for making sure you eat even when you don't feel hungry but getting around bingeing too. When you feel the urge to binge try coping methods like doing something with your hands, such as knitting or a crossword.

When i first got to college, heck... when the idea of going away first came up i remember thinking about getting fast food. Nothing but fast food. My parents had always restricted me from it, you see. So the thought f being on my own and having the freedom to get my Mickey D's whenever i wanted was almost too good to be true. Needless to say i gained like 20 pounds in that first semester from the Quarter Pounder diet i put myself on.

However, once the realiization sets in about it not going anywhere. That noboy was going to restrict it and take it away. That i didnt have to attack it like i stole something, i stopped and lost the weight i had gained and then some. The point? Your body is ALOT smarter than i will ever be, give yourself some time and know that it is normal in recovery.

*peae and love*

You are definitely NOT alone !

A LOT of anorexics tend to binge eat while recovering, it is hard to know how to handle food after you have restricted it for so long

I think it is a combination of many things, such as; your body WANTING to suddenly eat, you being unfamiliar with eating normal amounts of food, you not knowing how to handle feeling full, your desire to get well can actually justify the compulsion to binge because you figure that you need to gain weight so it is OKAY to give in to urges to eat an unhealthy amount of food in one sitting, and there are so many other cognitive, mental, physical, and emotional aspects that come into play for different people, based on who they are and what they have been through!

It is just complicated and while every one has different reasons contributing to binge eating after anorexia, ultimately it is very common in recovery and most people just find that once they start eating they do not want to stop, and then their desire to get well probably tells them that they are ALLOUD to catch up on all the tastes that they missed out on, perhaps?

I binged while recovering. I had never binged before my anorexia. Not at first, but a year or more after wards I had reached a BMI of 20 my weight dropped due to just not knowing how many calories I needed and I realized I needed to gain AGAIN, so I thoughts to myself that it would be a FUN EXUSE to have like, 3 energy bars in a row and I just saw it as a fun opportunity to enjoy some nice food… only it is not healthy to eat 3 bars in a row, and you will eventually learn that your next meal is not far away and there is no need to ingest all your calories now!

I binge even in normal weight and struggling to stop now..weirdly, though i binge in a lot, my weight drop fast and never seems to gain at times, not that I'm complaining though..I get full faster now since I been having more fats in my diet instead of the low-fat stuff.. I just read the Fat Fallacy book which wrote,

"Isn't it irony America has the highest obesity rate when it has the most low-fat food.."

Tada.. Not sure if its relevent to this topic but its just me..I often talk out of topic..Unfocus , some tend to say..

Anyway,I learn something.. Its ok to have those you want.. Don't care in big amount or small..Eat till you satisfies.. That would stop the binging.. Last just now, I hate a large cup(jumbo) of sweetened green tea and a pack of noodles, I still don't feel good.. Then 10 macadamia nuts, 1 large tuna in oil sandwich and some grapes.. In the end, i realise all i wanted was SNICKERS.. So i ate.. Miraculously, I actually able to stop eating after half of the snickers bar..

The point is, when you eat, try to recognise what you really want.. Don't care bout others.. Have more principle..

"Its my principle!" I stated when my cousin looked at me when I don't feel like eating.. I eat whatever I want.. Like a brat she would said. I must have what I want or I won't eat at all till I got it..haha..

The world most annoying brat...XD

I am sorry, weightconsious, but what was the relevance of that post? If you are actively trying to combat your habit, then good. It is also good to see you are introducing more fats - a lack of any food group can be a big trigger for bingeing. But this statement: "I must have what I want or I won't eat at all till I got it..." is extremely alarming. I apologise if I misinterpret but it sounds as though you are describing a sort of binge-restrict.

Bingeing is a serious and destructive habit and if you are regularly bingeing do not begin to flaunt that to others on the forum. Binge eating constantly can lead to elevated blood pressure, heart complications, slowed digestion, diabetes, and various other issues including emotional woes like anxiety and depression.

Please remember, Calorie Count aims to promote healthy and sustainable weight management and if this is not what you seek to achieve we cannot help you.

Posting Guidelines

Calorie Count's mission is to promote healthy and sustainable weight management. Please help our moderators follow this vision and respect the following guidelines.

• Your post is subject to modification or deletion by our moderators. Repetitive, off-topic, disruptive, and frivolous posts will be removed. We will take down any posts that violate either the letter or the spirit of any of these rules.
• Promotion of starvation diets or habits that exhibit signs of an eating disorder ("pro-ana", "pro-mia", etc.) is prohibited.

Ellie
Calorie Count Volunteer Moderator

I am dealing with this on a daily basis restrict during the day...easier not around food so much and makes me feel!strong! then eating a whole lot at night to make sure i get at least 2000 cals, but what i have worked on this week is not to be strict as much during the day and not allow myself for it to get till 6pm when i get home and still be at only 600cals,  i now try to eat at least 1000 during the day and then again 1000 at night,  this is working for me to stop the uncontroblable binges.  i am still typicaly eating "more than a normal person would consume in a short amount of time..." one of the statments about binging cause its like 1000 cals in 2 hrs but i feel much more in control and not just standing in front of the fridge grasping anything. also i am trying to think about my after dinner snacks make sure they have actual fat in them, fat helps to satisfy,   i am seeing that over this last week.  i fhave felt less nervous at night, and been not so obbsessed with binging and trying to stop it and it has been recovering itself.  i am aware i have a long way to go, but still happy with my progress.

lalabanana, so you're binging habits just stopped by itself when you were at a normal weight? 
and btw i don't think that was weightconscious' purpose of her post. i think she was basically trying to tell us to eat whatever you want and that'll crush cravings.
wish that would work for me. but nope. if i had the bar of snickers, id be looking for even more chocolate afterwards. i think sugar/chocolate is a real addiction.

bobo1, glad to hear you're getting better as well.

unfortunately im still at the stage where im standing in front of the fridge /kitchen for an hour grasping at everything until im sometimes sick/hurting to the pt where i cant have another bite.

i wish i could settle for one thing, sit down and truly enjoy it. but i just want to try everything.... and once i start, i have to finish it, so i end up eating way too much.

also unfortunately, i dont find fatty foods particularly filling. i can eat several larabars along with peanut butter, slim fast shakes, almonds and cereal all at once. ive eaten a jumbo box (nearly 1kg) of granola in one sitting before along with a whole bunch of other stuff.

but hopefully the binging does stop.... it feels more cognitive than biological at the moment. which is why im skeptical that returning to a healthy BMI would stop the binges.

I'm not at a normal weight. I'm still underweight. My initial refeeding bingeing habits stopped when I was eating enough and my body kicked in to realising that the food I was feeding it wasn't only going to be available short-term.

I still emotionally binge, sometimes, but I am an emotional eater and that is just that: related to emotion. But what you refer to, as far as I can tell, is not. Unless you find you are eating because you are bored, tired, angry, sad - or anything other related to an emotion. In which case you need to think beyond your anorexia.

The "binging" does stop. When I first started to recover, I would eat tons of sugary goodness - chocolate, brownies, ice cream etc - that I had restricted for so long. I too felt like it would never end but it did, once I got up to a healthy weight and MAINTAINED that weight. I found the second i even THOUGHT - oh no, I need to lose of couple of pounds - my body would automatically go into panic mode "no! not starvation again!!!" and I would feel the urge to go for the sugary snacks again.  I had never ever indulged in sugary snacks that way before (although dessert has always been my favourite part of any meal :).

As PersonalTrainer said above, it's a combination of so many things that is resulting in what is going on with your body now, so have a bit of patience with yourself and don't beat yourself up. The cycle will end once your body is confident that your food intake isn't just sporadic and that you will give it energy constantly.

Original Post by lalabanana:

I am sorry, weightconsious, but what was the relevance of that post? If you are actively trying to combat your habit, then good. It is also good to see you are introducing more fats - a lack of any food group can be a big trigger for bingeing. But this statement: "I must have what I want or I won't eat at all till I got it..." is extremely alarming. I apologise if I misinterpret but it sounds as though you are describing a sort of binge-restrict.

Bingeing is a serious and destructive habit and if you are regularly bingeing do not begin to flaunt that to others on the forum. Binge eating constantly can lead to elevated blood pressure, heart complications, slowed digestion, diabetes, and various other issues including emotional woes like anxiety and depression.

Please remember, Calorie Count aims to promote healthy and sustainable weight management and if this is not what you seek to achieve we cannot help you.

Posting Guidelines

Calorie Count's mission is to promote healthy and sustainable weight management. Please help our moderators follow this vision and respect the following guidelines.

• Your post is subject to modification or deletion by our moderators. Repetitive, off-topic, disruptive, and frivolous posts will be removed. We will take down any posts that violate either the letter or the spirit of any of these rules.
• Promotion of starvation diets or habits that exhibit signs of an eating disorder ("pro-ana", "pro-mia", etc.) is prohibited.

Ellie
Calorie Count Volunteer Moderator

o..nonono..What i mean was someting like a picky eater thing..Like if there's nothing that I fancy on the table, I won't eat it cause if I have no appetite for it I'd only feel nauseos (right spelling?) and if my mum won't buy me the Snickers bar I want, I won't eat dinner that day till she bought me the Snickers bar I want for dinner..haha..Like a brat right?

thanks for backing me up broom_closet..one thing though, what works for one might not works for the other..You have to try to find something that you really love and want..Besides if you want more chocolate,just have it.. Instead of binging in, why not have a 200 calories worth of chocolate..Just remember to let it MELT instead of biting it..More pleasure, more work, more tired to eat anymore..haha..its 6 am..and I'm crazy..always does in the morning.

THAT IS STILL A FORM OF RESTRICTION.

Goddamnit, I give up on this website.

k it's pretty simple:

1. food restriction - not healthy

2. bingeing - not healthy

3. eating well - healthy

if your goal is to be  _____ pounds and it takes x amount of calories to maintain this weight........than eat x + a bit of extra of calories everyday....eventually you'll reach that weight....and maintaining said weight will be very easy because you only have to cut your caloric intake by maybe 200 calories a day.  binging is not healthy....it is an unconcious intake of food and it will give you an unhealthy relationship with food....you can't beat yourself up if you binge...but you need to be control of your body and what you put in it.  this is your life....and you need to always be living a healthy lifestyle...if you are trying to gain aim for 1 pound a week.....it's so minimal you'll hardly notice and your weight gain will be easiy to maintain and that will lead to a healthy lifestyle.

i used to eat in excess...often at night...or when i wasn't hungry....for me i started channeling it into running....and writing (i know it seems kind of flakey but it really helps!!!)....whenever i'd want to go and eat something and i wasn't hungry i would write in a journal what i was feeling and why i wanted to.....for some ppl eating is to cope with emotions...for other ppl it's just a mechanical thing....you have to know what you are using food to cope with...

Original Post by weightconsious:

o..nonono..What i mean was someting like a picky eater thing..Like if there's nothing that I fancy on the table, I won't eat it cause if I have no appetite for it I'd only feel nauseos (right spelling?) and if my mum won't buy me the Snickers bar I want, I won't eat dinner that day till she bought me the Snickers bar I want for dinner..haha..Like a brat right?

 Yes, you're right, that is indeed acting like a brat. Nothing to be proud of, in my opinion. Actually, I think that's incredibly selfish, arrogant behaviour. Well done, I'm so glad it's working for you.

:-P