Help! Binge/ Overeating

I'm usually pretty bad when it comes to binging.  I mean, I don't have an eating disorder, I just... there's some times when I'm stressed or feeling angry (angry's a big one) that I just say 'screw this, i don't care' and go and eat... well, take this morning. already (i've been up since 615, but still) ive eaten my way through 1600 calories. and it's not even 9am. 

i feel guilty, ashamed, but not while i'm doing it. i just say 'god i really have wanted to eat... a cup of granola with soymilk for the past week, i should have it'.

i wish i could exercise, but i'm not in a gym and it's POURING outside.

this morning i have had, so far,

oatmeal with apple: 240
homemade muffin: 125
banana w/ pb: 190
6 grahm crackers: 370
cup of cereal: 120
tofutti cutie: 130
granola: 400
soymilk: 50

sooooo ... god! I just don't know how to stop when I do this.  I'm not hungry at all.  I just feel the urge to eat.  I can even be stuffed full and still want to - need to! binge.  I tried reading, but I coudlnt' concentrate on my book, just about how good some grahm crackers would taste right now.

Any help, motivation, whatever would be appreciated.  I DON'T want today to become a 3000 calorie day.  I mean, I'm already at 1600 and I'm going to need sustinance later today, but I figure if I can keep it to some salad, I can curb this beast at around 2000.

Thanks.

have you ever evaluated what your emotions are before a binge and during it? 

for people who have problems with binging (me) a lot of the time it is a way to try and stuff down our emotions.. it's not about the eating it's more about not wanting to deal with life in general. 

when you figure out what emotions you are having that trigger a binge you are more in tune with yourself and you can find another activity to replace the eating with.. like going for a walk, riding a bike, doing a craft,

i've struggled with this my whole life.. weight and binge eating.  changing your lifestyle and getting healthy is less about finding out how many calories you need and sticking with it... and more about finding out the WHY behind the over eating and binging..

eating less and exercising more is the easy part.. putting emotional demons to rest and learning to deal with them in a different way is the hard part. 

if you want to talk some more with me.. you can email if you want.. or i have im.. it's all in my profile.. :)  

I agree with obsidyan.  I have struggled with an eating disorder for over 17 years (has it really been that long???) and I still struggle daily.

All of my bingeing is based on emotions and the inability to control/deal with them.  You have to forgive yourself when you do binge and just try to move forward and not dwell on the actual act of bingeing.  Then figure out what your emotional triggers are and start trying to learn coping mechanisms for them.

Honestly, I found that a really good therapist has helped me to find the roots of my emotional issues and has helped me to deal with them.  She also took away some of my denial over my eating issues and has given me a greater sense of accountability.  I have had my coach from this website recommend Overeater's Anonymous and I'm definitely going to check that out as well.  I'll let you know how it works!

Feel free to email me:  jhumphrey@gapublicdefender.org

Also, go to the help when you feel discouraged forum and check out post #13!  It had some fantastic tips for dealing with emotional eating.  I'm going to print them out and memorize them!

You've been given some pretty good information in this thread, I hope you do something with it.

I think a good way to avoid binging is to not buy all those food.  I wouldn't buy anything that might make me binge. I do need to buy those junk (bagels, rice krispy, cookies) unfortunately because my family needs them so I'm prone to binge as well.

alright, guys.

the binge has stopped (ermmm i hope).

i don't feel the need to binge anymore. i started doing something productive, interesting, and frankly fun : P (my boyfriend and i are going to search for engagement rings this weekend, i need to scout out jewelers who will explain what all the 4c's of a diamond mean...)

PLUS it mostly stopped raining. which means now its time for my daily bikeride. i think i'll go on it twice, if i can handle it.  i'm up for a challenge.

i'm not going to beat myself up about this morning.  but i won't eat as if today had been a normal day (ie probably soup& salad for both lunch and dinner... stressing on the salad :D). 

ok, i've got my plan, i'm out. i'll be back in like, two hours!

Have a great time and enjoy doing something positive.  Keep on track for the rest of the day and know that you can start over again tomorrow with a fresh start.

I have really worked on putting my children on a more healthy diet with me and I don't buy all of the high-carb snack foods for them that usually lead me to rummage the cabinets at 3am.  They are getting the benefit of better food choices and a good start at a healthy lifestyle and I don't have to worry that I'm going to binge.  Somehow, flax and millet wraps don't have the same appeal.....

i can't believe i made it twice around my normal bikeride! woo go biking 16 miles (i did suffer an injury- glass shards to the leg! damn you litter-ers!).  really, i feel... well i have the 'exercise high', you know?

this ... i should do this EVERY time i binge-eat.  god, just drop what i'm doing (err... eating!) and go and exercise.

my stomach did hurt (it was like 'wtf mate, first you STUFF ME FULL then you ride me out!'), and i was kinda .. burping things up. it almost felt like i was going to throw up- in a my stomach is WAY too full of stuff kinda of way, not in a GOD I FEEL SICK kind of way.  but i didn't, and i just kinda breathed when that happened.

i think maybe, just maybe, i might go for another bikeride after lunch.  just once more around (another 8 miles). 

thanks for all your support... i'll have to bookmark this for when i feel like binging again, and know that by the end, it'll be all good.

Good for you!  I still have problems exercising - more mental than the physical limitations.  I just haven't found anything I like to do!  If you can get that exercise rush and find a way to recreate it next time you feel like bingeing then you are way ahead of the game!

Wow...that's what binging is?  That means I must be a non-stop binger!  It feels like you're doing good if you're eating things like granola, soy milk, bananas...all "healthy" foods, right?  So...if we're still not eating right with that stuff, then when we eat stuff like a Wendy's Big Bacon classic, its like we're giving ourselves and instant heart attack!  Its a cruel cruel world I tell ya.

applejunkie, i know this thread is kinda over but i just wanted to add something.  i read a great suggestion the other day about emotional eating.  it went something like this: when you feel like eating even though you're not hungry, stop for just a moment and ask yourself "what do i really want to feel right now?".  For example, if you binge when you're angry, the feeling you might be looking for is happy.  Maybe that's what you're hoping the food will do...make you happy.  Once you know the feeling you're aiming at, you can ask yourself is the food really going to do that for me? If the answer is no, you can find an alterative way to get that feeling. 

haha thin2be, i'm strict vegetarian (almost vegan), so no meat or cheese for me. i'd hardly call a cuppa granola the best thing in the world for my diet (or the margarine on toast with sugar and 2oz of peanuts that came after the post)!

but i do feel really good about my total calorie input/output today.  i exercised my normal route 3 times, so i biked 24 miles and burned 1400 calories!  I'm actually at a deficit of 500 for the day :D.

mostly my binging happens at night, when i feel like i can't do anythign about it (too late to exercise, already eaten all other meals, etc).  i'm glad that, at the end of the day, this one was 'under control'.  (and i had a salad for lunch and a salad and some veggie/tofu risotto for dinner).

next time, though, i'm gonna take everyone's advice, and really think about how i'm feeling. write it down or something. just deal with feelings rather than drown them in food :-/.

thanks for being supportive and offering advice.