effects of binging?

i havent been able to stop binging for almost 3 weeks now. i wake up and eat half a box of waffles and (literally) a can of frosting. i've tried numerous times to stop. i've planned the next days meals... but i cant. im always too tempted by certain foods. and if those foods arent in the house, i'll always find a replacement.

i was wondering, what are detrimental health effects that binging brings? i've gained 15lbs in within the last three weeks (most days i've been eating between 4000-6000 calories.)

someone please help... anything to stop me from binging!

My heart goes out to you.  I can relate.  I even know about the well intended good food purchases, bringing them to lunch and then driving on lunch break to buy fast food.  I also would get obsessed with certain foods as well, I wasnt a random junk food eater. 

I was actually in a bad cycle like that when I got on my diet.  What worked for me was intervention - discussing it with someone who kept in touch.  Knowing she would be checking in and the accountability issue worked for me.

Also different diets work for different people but Im a carb freak so you waffle comment hit home!  Southbeach has allowed me to contain my food cravings, it was like detox.   

Just two things that got me off the binging.

i had a case of binging before... i found that theres triggers that cause it. try and find what your "trigger"is and try and work on that area. mine is a sharp intake of carbs at one time. so i try to spread my carbs out as much throgh the day as possible. another thing if your dieting make sure its within reason. most people binge cuz they starve themselves for awhile and then when they hit a point where they cant control there hunger they binge.... this is just my expereince with it. its difernt for everyone but dont let it rule your life. dont except that this is somthing uncontrolable cuz there are ways to at least minimize the effects. so dont give up

Chris

Could you get to an OA meeting - you might be surprised how everyone in the meeting will be telling your story - and don't be afraid of those people judging you - they've all been or are still are in the same situation - they are very nice and very helpful.  You can get some emails/phone numbers to help you out.

I agree with Chris that there are triggers, however, sometimes when you are in a cycle like that you just get so depressed that life is a trigger.  What works for me is to call out sick from work and take a day to sleep in, go to the gym, go food shopping and buy the right things and make a plan to stick to once I get back to work.  Nothing else has worked for me so far.

Try making a list of 10 things to do BEFORE running to the waffles. Post the list on the outside of your fridge and pantry. Kinda like someone may do when they are trying to quit smoking. One of the things on the list should def be to drink a glass of water. A lot of the time, when people think they are hungry, their body is actually trying to tell them to drink some water.

If you DO eat the waffle, try putting peanut butter and a sliced banana (delicious) on top of it and eat it slowly (with a glass of water). This may help your body become more satisfied before you go for another waffle. Also, heat one up at a time and put the box back in the freezer as soon as you take one out.

I know EXACTLY how you feel...what you can do though is before you eat, take a deep breath and think to yourself, "i don't need this" and REALIZE COMPLETELY that you don't need it...i've actually had mental battles with myself, saying, "whatever, i'll just end up eating it anyway..." but then i kinda fight with myself and after 3 minutes or so i put whatever it is away and just walk off...i know it sounds crazy, but it works for me...

that or gets some pictures of how you look now and tape them to the waffle boxes or frosting or whatever you eat...when you go to reach for it, you'll be like "ech..." and feel like "if i eat this, i'm just going to add on to what's there..." and then you'll put it down... it makes me depressed to see the picture, but then i feel really REALLY proud that i put the food down and walked away...

thanks, everyone! the battle in my head is getting pretty fierce. i try not to look at myself in the mirror anymore. hopefully these pounds won't be so stubborn.

i'm going to try and stick to my plan today. i used to be able to have a decent amount of carbs, but i've been horrible lately. i've been adding sugar to everything.

i know just one day of proper eating will set me on the right path. but latlely, i haven't been able to get one day in.

Well I have a problem with binging too. I try just not to buy much food at one time so if I do binge, I'm out of food before I get too out of hand. lol And I try not to buy things that I can just sit and eat and eat on like potato chips and candy and such. Or even grapes. I have a tendency to go overboard with even healthy things so if I buy something like grapes I buy a small amount at one time. I try to get things that come in single serving packages. My friend put all her junk food in one cabinet and put a lock on it. She then had her husband hide the key from her, so whenever she wanted something from that cabinet she'd end up burning calories tearing the house apart looking for the key. lol  Seemed to work for her. She lost almost 30 pounds.

I have a tendency to binge when I don't have healthy foods in the house.  So my goal is to keep them out of the house and to keep lots of fresh and healthy things IN the house. 

Fresh fruits and vegetables, yogurts, and such go bad quickly so I tend to eat them before something that might be processed... and they fill you up quickly, and aren't a likely binge food. 

Maybe it would work for you to keep healthier foods at hand?

since you're a teenager you are still growing and your body is telling you you need more calories.  Try, if possible, to substitute some healthy foods.

Yes, I think that not having my staple foods has stopped me from eating healthily. Or the healthier foods just don't seem very appetizing.

Also...

What are the effects of rapid weight gain on the body? Internally, what is happening from the consumption of all the fat (trans fat as well) too quickly? Is it any different than if I had gained the weight within a span of months?

one time i had a mental break down at a bus stop when i realized i was mindlessley eating a puffed wheat square. I've experienced some pretty serious side effects of bingeing.. rapid heart rate, restricted breathing, black outs, not to mention the emotional stress. It can lead to hospitilization and diabetes. I found that ridding my house of EVERYTHING that i binged on really helped. And if you live with others they will understand. I've thrown out numerous jars of peanut butter after attacking them with a spoon. I've had to pour dish soap and toilet cleaner on pasteries so that i wouldn't pick them out of the garbage. and i destroyed my mother's birthday cake so i wouldn't eat it.. but she understood.

do whatever you have to to stop. If i was in a bingeing mood (sometimes lasted for days), i would leave all sources of money at home, so that i couldn't purchase food. If you NEED to binge try to do it on fruits like melon which are mostly water and easily digested. It's going to be alot better for your body then a loaf of bread, half a tub of butter, and a dozen doughnuts.

My doctor also recomened eating very high fiber cereal as a way to fill up the emptiness. A huge bowl of bran flakes with skim milk usually tied me over for a few hours.

holy ***p. 15 lbs in 3 weeks is really bad.  Like amberrr said get rid of anything that you would like to binge. Do you have pictures of yourself overweight. Look at those and just remind yourself that if you don't stop you will get even larger than that., That is what I do and its pretty effective.

I can also definetely relate to you and to all of you who have had a problem with bingeing. I used to binge horribly throughout middle school and most of high school, and I don't just mean a few cookies and bacon strips now and then. I was tempted mostly by foods high in sugar, and I'd buy an entire package of peanut butter cups and eat them within minutes. The same thing would happen with one can of Nuttela or a box of Ice Cream bars.

The best advice I can give you is just hang in there. I know it is extremely difficult, but you are making the choice to eat this and you can get yourself out of it although it will not be easy because something is triggering you to do this.

Perhaps you should look for healthier alternatives to the foods you like? For example, maybe you can eat whole-wheat waffles low in fat. And instead of eating so many of them, maybe you could just take a 2 and put a bunch of fruit on them or something to fill you up? It's just a thought, but it's worth a try. Doing this has really helped me and made it easier to not binge on junk food when it is around.

Most people tend to overeat when they are bored. Maybe you can do some activity or hobby whenever you feel like bingeing? I don't know if this is any help, but these are just suggestions which I can tell you from experience that have helped me. In no way was it easy for me to stop bingeing. You just have to find what works for you and be persistent with it. It does take a lot of time and effort.

As far as the health risks go? It is not unlikely for people to feel extremely tired after bingeing, have increased heart rate, and in some cases even faint. Of course I'm sure you are aware of the fact that the long term consequences are far more severe.

I would like to thank everyone so much for their tips and input. I was actually able to resist binging today!

For those who have been able to stop binging, how long did it take to overcome, and how long have you been without binging? I have found that the longest I've gone without binging (since I've started about a year ago) was four weeks.

What I did (and I had a bad pattern of making a "treat" day into a binge weekend) is get ALL of the tempting food out of the house and load up on a variety of good foods, get yourself some light desserts (100 calorie ice cream cups, 100 calorie packs, yougurt and fruit), and I started planning everything I was going to eat for the day. If you can keep to a "menu" you'll learn to keep yourself disciplined again.

One thing  - no,  two things that have helped me a bunch are when I started logging my calories here on cc and seeing just exactly how much I was eating, I was totally shocked.  I really had no idea before that because you know how good we are at deceiving ourselves.  The other thing is that I found something I really wanted to do - even more than eat, and in fact it requires me to eat healthy and lose the weight (I have 90 pounds to go!) and that's to participate as a walker in a 1/2 marathon - and - I want to hike down into the Grand Canyon.  Both of those will require me to follow a healthy way of eating and when I'm tempted to binge (I have a very stressful job that makes me want to eat as a way to comfort myself) I know how uncomfortable it's going to be to carry all these pounds 13.1 miles!  Also I've told a bunch of people about my goals so now I have to live up to that.

Bingeing is a mental thing for me and I struggle with it about every other day, but I'm determined to outwit it.  Having a goal besides weight loss - something to work towards, an accomplishment, is the biggest motivator for me to be able to resist the cravings and binges.  You have to take it one day at a time - hard to do, I know.  I'm very impatient.  But don't give up.  Hope is not lost.  If you succeed 3 times in one week that's better than bingeing 7 times.  Before you know it, your new healthy eating will be a habit, you'll feel so much better physically and mentally, and you will be able to look at the waffles or frosting can and just not have a desire for it - or at least all of it.
Good luck to all of us with overcoming bingeing!

vitamin b12 sends me into binge mode often. since im vegan i take a supplement right after dinner on some nights, and usually right around the time the normal late night munchies would set in im plowing through a box of corn flakes, a half gallon on soy milk, and a pint og strawberries

why does vitamin b 12 make you binge?  i take that vitamini too, and i binge sometimes...right now i'm not though THANKGOD, but i do binge sometimes too...

it increases appetite in children or people still growing i guess, something like that