For those people struggling with bingeing, here's how I am recovering from the problem with advice

Hello to all!

I binge. If you are reading this thread, you probably binge too. But I am overcoming this problem day by day, and I know you can too. So here I am to offer my advice and support for anyone and everyone who needs it, just as I have received endless support from you guys too.

Here's a short summary of my binge eating up until now:

My bingeing started in mid December last year. I ate extremely healthy, but was slightly underweight then and decided I needed to gain a little weight. Soon it all spun out of control. I gained the healthy weight back, but the out of control eating did not stop. I started having many family problems, as well as emotional issues to deal with. I would seek comfort in food. If I had just had a fight with my sister, I would reach out for the ice-cream and the PB, using digestives as a spoon and swallow it down, thinking it was comforting. It was the feelings that came afterwards that made it all worse, and to cope with those feelings I would binge again!

It was a horrible cycle and I wanted out.

When you're bingeing these thoughts probably run through your head,

"Oh what the hell, I've already stepped out of line, why not go all out?" *finishes the entire cake*

or "what is another 3 cookies if I've already had 5 which I wasn't supposed to?" *finishes box of cookies*

or "I have a few calories to spare, i'll have a little treat" and as soon as you taste something that tastes TOO good, something delicious, its the start of a binge.

I know that after a binge you make yourself promise that you will never do it again, that those feelings of guilt are not worth it. But right before a binge we magically seem to forget, or ignore, those promises.

I was hopeless, i thought I could never exit this problem. I would think, "tomorow is a new day, no more bingeing", but I would do it anyways. I was desperate as I saw the weight slowly creep on.

But I made a few changes (advice below) and now I'm slowly losing weight, am happy and cheerful, feel alive again and

I do have to point out, my bingeing problem is not cured. But hey, I come from bingeing on 4000-6000 calories worth of crappy unhealthy food EVERY DAY to maybe 2500 calorie binges worth of healthier food a couple times a week! I'm so proud of myself!

So here are the changes I made to my life:

1. First off, many people suggest clearing your house of binge foods. I was and am unable to due so as I live with my parents and sister (until August when I move out!). This was an extra challenge for me, but I think that therapeutically it is good to have some binge foods there, so you actually have to resist the temptation. You see, you are not going to live in a binge food-free household all your life, so you might as well learn to control your urges at the beginning.

2. That said, do substitute some of those binge foods for healthier alternatives! For example:

Phidadelphia cheese--> Light Phidadelphia Cheese

Apples (I binge on apples, lol)--> smaller apples

Whole milk--> Skim milk

White bread--> Brown bread

You get the idea!

3. DO NOT TRY TO COMPENSATE FOR A BINGE! my goodness, you have heard this before and probably felt that "yeah, I can restrict the next day", but believe me when I say that you will not have such strong will power the day after that! It's our body's way of telling us it does not want to starve, so please, my advice is, if you binge, eat your maintenance calories.

If your ultimate goal is to lose weight, you cannot afford to create a deficit if you are coping with a bingeing problem. You have to sort the bingeing out first. Eat maintenance calories until you yourself notice that the bingeing is getting better. Then create SMALL deficits, eg 100 cal deficit for a couple days, then 200 and so on, until you reach the required deficit. Then you will hopefully start shifting some of that weight!

4. IDENTIFY your trigger foods. Mine for example are:

- Chocolate-coated cereal

- Apples and apricots

- Cream cheese

- Jam

- Ice cream

- turkey (i know, i'm weird!)

Soooooo, what I did was substitute my chocolate-coated cereal for all bran, buy only 6 apples per week instead of 40 like I used to, and buy only SINGLE portions of the rest, so once I've binged on them (if I do), it will only escalate to a fraction of the calories.

5. Before I used to binge on chocolate, nuts, cookies, cookie dough, sweets (you get the idea), and I felt like my body needed to have them every day or I would die (exaggerating a little here...lol). But for 1 month i stopped buying chocolate and sweets. Your body gets used to it. It learns it doesn't need it. Now there is chocolate in my house, but when I'm bingeing I just don't go for it, i go grab a piece of toast instead.

Think GET HEALTHY not LOSE WEIGHT

6. IDENTIFY your trigger times! I binge around snack time and after dinner, so try not to feel hungry around those times. Do prepare yourself something sweet that feels like a cheat food, but doesn't ruin the waistline or cause a binge. For example, I like having a yogurt with a little honey, some strawberries and sprinkled chocolate chips and almonds. It is completely delicious and comes to about 200 calories. Experiment and create new combinations!

7. I LOVE and ADORE cooking. My mum is a chef, and so is my grandmother. The food in my house is always amazing, but most of all i love to BAKE. I'm sorry to say that in order to overcome my bingeing I had to stop baking for a month. It was horrible, it was, but for one month I didn't bake a single thing. You know it takes about 21 days to overcome a habit? its true!

Now I have started baking again, but making half the recipe instead. Sometimes I control myself, and others when I binge... well, at least its half the original calories!

I know for sure I have more tips and advice, but I'm running late and have to go now! I will come back and finish this. I just really hope you guys read this, I'm so sorry for making it long and boring, but I just want you to know (and I'm going to use capitals because my bold print-thing isn't working) THAT THERE IS A WAY OUT, THAT THING'S WILL GET SOLVED. NO, YOU ARE NOT DOOMED TO BINGE FOREVER, YOU WILL FEEL HEALTHY AND HAPPY AGAIN. I PROMISSE.

Note: I am not saying I have overcome bingeing (goodness gracious no) I binged on saturday for example, but the thing is, I don't feel guilty after a binge anymore. I aqknowledge the fact that I messed up, and move on. It's not the end of the world. Love yourself. Love life. It's worth it (this comes from someone who sadly fell into depression for a few months, so I know what I'm talking about).

I will be back a bit later to finish up, I hope this makes someone feel better, I really do. I am here if anyone needs to talk =)

Thanks for the advice.  My problem is vacation.  I need help with that.

This is very good advice, and I agree with a lot of what you said; like getting triggering foods out of your house. Sure, we'd all love to do that, but when you live with other people you can't make THEM suffer because of your own problem.

I also agree that when trying to overcome binging and breaking the habit, you really can't focus on keeping a deficit. Cuz that will cause you to keep restricting further to "undo any damage", and it starts an unhealthy binge/restrict cycle. And the reason why you're binging is because you're restricting too much in the first place! So yeah, definitely start decreasing the calories slowly.

I don't have any chefs in the family, but I love baking. I halve the recipes too... actually most of the time, I divide the ingredients all up and figure out a recipe for a single serving. I hate leftovers. They make me wanna pick and nibble blindly. lol

Love your advice

I told myself " this is the last time i binge" but it's never been the real last time

i learnt that I cant change my habit within a day.. but i can make it better bit by bit

=]

thanks for great adveice

Thanks for this, after waking up from an alcohol induced binge into feelings of guilt... this was exactly what I needed to read.

You're so right about not using the 'all-or-nothing' approach and try to change the habit right away. It's usually that attitude that continues a binge anyways. We've all just got to start with those baby steps.

Thanks once again C:

Thanks to you guys for all your nice replies :)

By the way, if any of you feels like bingeing, feel free to send me an inbox, just letting it all out and talking to a complete stranger (me) about how you feel. Perhaps that is a healthier way of dealing with our emotions, rather than hiding in food.

Glad I could help in the slightest!

This is great advice. Thank you!

I've curbed my own binging greatly by just eliminating my trigger foods, too. And I think I've just avoided a binge by coming on CC!

i may just take you up on this .. :/

and your advice is wonderful - thank you so much for taking the time to write all that out :)

Thanks pearsnapples (:

That's a fantastic post! it's informative, personal and super helpful.

I'm a bit of a binger... and have had some scary days :/ although I'm not too extreme, it's certainly something I am conscious of at the moment because as I am getting close to my goal weight, i've become a bit more lazy and flippant, and packing down 3,000 calories isn't as daunting as it once was... in fact this is my nemesis... my goal weight is on the horizon and i'm already feeling happy with my weight, so my binge days have sky rocketed.

I agree about the fact that, you cannot have an entirely sweet free/binge food free house, as it's not realistic, especially if you're with family or friends. To be able to acknowledge there are biscuits in the tin or, ice cream in the freezer but instead go for the healthier options and commend yourself for it, is the best sort of empowerment (:

That said, I did have to hide the pack of grapes behind a bunch of things in the fridge so I didn't shove my greedy fingers in there every time I passed the fridge (now I have to dig around and pull things out). I'm a keen baker too! although last week I made a batch of cookies.. the oven stopped working (long story) so instead of throw them out half cooked.. I uh, ate the whole lot off the tray in a matter of minutes. Shocker.

Another way to manage a binge day is to exercise. If you've overeaten, then get out and move your body... burn off 500 calories doing something and imagine in your head as you move 'this is what I must do to work off that muffin or slice of cake' .. and you can go to bed feeling a little less guilty.

all the best

the problem alot of us face is our hiding our binges because its so embarressing i finally told my boyfriend and we agreed togther that we just keep this stuff out of the house for a while,  he can get it at work if he wants it right.  i have a few things that i like at work because i work in an environment where i dont have time to binge.  so i still can fit in a cookie after lunch,  but if my preschoolers see me eat more than 1,  they are like....hey thats not healthy!!!  really try to be honest with people maybe they can feel stuff out of the house for a while,  but its funny for me and the original poster because we binge on healthy foods,  i eat apples like no tomorrow and its a bit odd not to keep apples in the house.

Thanks again for this post.  I had a binge last night and this is going to help me today. 

I'm also scared of binging on vacation, anyone have any ideas.  I'm going in a couple of weeks.  Thanks

Hi everyone!

It really makes me happy to see that this helped :)

Thank you for all the nice comments, as you yourselves said, we can't overcome this problem overnight, but by finding the correct support and making little changes, we will get there little by little. One day you will wake up and realise "I don't binge anymore, just overindulge and stop when I feel satisfied" (hope that day was tomorrow huh?)

lizzievarley- thanks for that advice too! 

Adding to that, yes, exercise does make one feel more positive and cheerful about life, so I encourage you to do some even if its just a walk around your neighborhood (wish I could but I have a broken leg unfortunately!)

bobo1- tell me about it! I binge on apples, apricots, broccoli.. hahaha good progress from what I binged on before, but odd progress nevertheless!

mechelle67- I'm really glad you feel positive today after last night's binge, that's one step closer! As for your holidays, where are you going? With family? Hotel? Another country? How long? (hope you have a great time btw!)

I'm going for almost 3 weeks camping in the mountains.  I always start out by buying healthy foods & snacks but my husband & son usually find their way to the junk food store for fudge, ice cream, candy, cookies, you name it.  I feel depressed just thinking about it.

Original Post by mechelle67:

I'm going for almost 3 weeks camping in the mountains.  I always start out by buying healthy foods & snacks but my husband & son usually find their way to the junk food store for fudge, ice cream, candy, cookies, you name it.  I feel depressed just thinking about it.

Hey that's awsome, I hope you have a great time!

First off, please don't have such a negative attitude! One thing that is surely helping me overcome my bingeing is thinking "I don't binge, never have. I don't have  that problem!" because before what I used to do when I overindulged was think "Oh, you are going to binge, might as well start now". You see, I used my problem of bingeing as an excuse to binge (I don't know if you know what I mean).

Next, maybe talk to your husband. Explain the situation and he'll understand. He probably knows you will go through a rough time if you see them eating those nasty (yet delicious!) foods, so maybe he could go and buy them with your son without you (you are meanwhile taking a walk or something), and then agree to eat them when you are not around?

An alternative would be to take your own little treats so that you don't feel like you're missing out on anything either, so your husband and son can sit down to enjoy a snickers bar whilst you sit with them to enjoy a healthier 60 calorie chocolate cupcake bar, for which I will give you the recipe if you are interested! (got that and a ton more!).

When they opt for ice cream, opt for a sorbet, or a popsicle.

When you guys are going to have a nice big sandwitch for lunch, just cut back a little on the mayo and cheese, but have that sandwich anyways!

Have fun and enjoy. Above all, if you feel like you are going to binge, don't buy food for a whole week and keep it near you guys. Maybe buy food for the day and that's it. Get your food for the day everyday?

I'll try to come up with some more advice, but I think all of us here support you and know that you will end up making the right choices in the end.

Please don't go with the "all or nothing" attitude that I used to have. If you do have a couple smores more than you wanted, just stop there, stop! I know its hard, but honestly *embarassed to say this*, when I started making a change, and wanted to stop mid-binge, I would put the food down and start dancing like a weirdo. My sister would laugh, I would laugh, and the urge to binge would subside. 

Find your own method (or try mine if you're not embarassed lol)

Take care xx.

You do not actually HAVE to substitute the snickers bar your husband and son may have; a low cal muffin still has sugar and bad stuff in it too, but you can have more of it then you can of the snickers, as the muffin is lower in calories.

Basically, some people can enjoy the “real” version of the food they want; some people in your position tend to feel happier if they just sit down and have a small, snack sized snickers bar with their family.

You CAN have that snickers bar if you want, but you either have to stick to a tiny portion, or, if you DO indulge in a large serving, then you will have to watch your fat and calories for the rest of the day; and watching your fat for the rest of the day can lead to a binge. So be careful!

The point is, some people can have a snickers bar if they want, and they can go camping with their family and enjoy the same junk that their family eats; you just need to know yourself well enough to know how to balance it all out. Eat what you want, but in the right portions and if you are not satisfied with only a SMALL snickers bar, and if you feel the compulsion to binge once you START ( and then cannot stop) then perhaps going cold turkey may be the best thing for you to do.

To the OP - great post! I have also pretty much stopped binging. I cannot actually remember the last time I “binged”

The weird thing was, yesterday in the morning, I just felt like having a few extra sliced of fresh rye bread with some organic coconut chocolate spread. I ate a normal serving, but then I just felt like over eating. I acknowledged the reasons (which I won’t go into here) and just let myself over eat. I do not do it every day, so I just told myself that it is OKAY to use food purely for the taste value/for emotional non physical reasons occasionally.

It felt OKAY that I actually sat down, ate the food at a normal speed, and enjoyed it. I knew I was eating too much but I just accepted it. It was not a binge.

My problem is that I cannot stop once I start.  I think "oh well I blew it anyway, go for it."

I have made some decisions for this vacation that are going to make it different..

I'm bringing my laptop so I can get on line and still keep track of calories & exercise.  I've not done that before because I always had a mindset that I'm on vacation and computer reminds me of work, but now I know that I must take it because it's like trying to treat a disease without the necessary medication.

I am bringing my food scale and my bathroom scale.  I need a visual!

I am going to ride my bike or walk every day I am gone.  Not to burn a lot of calories, but just to say I did something every day.

Even though I haven't lost my goal weight, I'm thinking "maintain" weight right now before I go and when I'm gone.

I'm going to make sure I have healthy foods in the freezer ready for when I return back from vacation so that I won't be tempted to make 2 pans of macaroni & cheese and eat it all myself.

The only person I can rely on to keep me motivated is my dad's wife who can eat one bite of smore and say she's full.  Ahhhhh!  How she does that I don't know!

My husband & son won't be helpful (Not negative, just the truth) so I'm just going to have to do something else while they are eating ice cream, etc.

Any other ideas?  Thanks to everyone who is giving me advice.  I have had a rough 3 days and I have followed what pearsnapples said to do about eating maintainence calories when I feel like binging.  It has helped.

Have a good day everyone.  God bless you all.

Interesting.

When you say that once you start you cannot stop, may I ask, how come you cannot stop after certain foods and CAN stop after other types?

For instance, would you not be able to stop at just a small snickers bar, yet be able to stop after a low cal muffin?

It sounds like it could be all in the mind - once you eat one high calorie food, you think you have blown it so may as well splurge, but when it is “low calorie” you feel in control and that you may as well keep up the good work (where as with the snickers you feel you have ruined the good work!)

It is good you are trying to keep accountable and that you are prepared to make the effort - well done!

Remember that in the future, you can learn to visualize serving sizes so you will not always have to bring a scale with you on vacation!

If you take scales every where with you for the rest of your life and have to count calories for ever then it might force you to think about food too much for your liking, which could make you rebel against it all and just eat everything in sight!

It is also a VERY good idea that you are buying food for when you get back from vacation - SO many people would just not bother, and come home and get take away or etc!

Once I start binging I can't stop eating in general.  Usually binging happens in the evening for me.

For instance Friday I ate well all day, I follow the DASH diet plan for each meal- lean meat, raw veg, whole grain serving, raw fruit and dairy serving. I also eat granola bars for snacks. I take my food to work in measured portions because if I take a package, it may all go in one sitting.  I seemed like I was ok but when I got home from work I wanted cereal for a snack and kept eating it for about 3 bowls, then said I'm still hungry then progressed to eating low fat creamsicles (improvement over my usual 1/2 of a carton of ice cream), then said to myself where is some chocolate and I found a chocolate bar, ate that & wanted more.  If there had been more chocolate in the house I would have eaten it. 

It is hard for me to predict when I may binge or not.  Sometimes  I go for a month, no problem then bam if we have a family function or get together (like vacation)  or for no reason I may start to binge and even though I may start out with healthy intentions suddenly I'm knee high in candy wrappers & an empty ceral box. 

also I have tried not using a food scale thinking I can eyeball that 2 ounces of ceral but I'm just fooling myself with a double portion.  (oh it can't be that many more calories to fill up this bowl all the way, I'll just use less milk).

It is all in my head I'm sure.  Thanks for the help.

I think you guys have hit a very important point here, and that is MIND OVER MATTER. 

If we can't control the food we put into our mouths, how can we control other issues in our lives?

Today is officially my binge-free day #10. This is the longest I've gone in the past 7 months without bingeing. Yesterday my family and I went out for Japanese. I ordered delicious makis, but when I started my bowl of white rice I felt like bingeing. I started to eat quite quickly, out of control, pouring soy sauce all over my food without thinkin about it, and then started thinking about getting some ice cream at haagen dazs on my way out. 

I stopped. I put the chopsticks down. I had a sip of my sake. "It's not worth it. Why not just enjoy what you are eating now and not feel guilty? Do you want to gobble down all that food, without even tasting it, to ruin 9 days of hard work and feel horrible about it? Wow.. 9 days? 9 days!"

I picked up my chopsticks and finished the rice. End of meal.

WELL DONE Pearsnapples!

I find that once I START any binge like behavior, such as eating faster, it is much harder to STOP a binge once you “start”

It tends to actually be much easier to not HAVE the food there, or to not even START to binge so that way you do not feel like you have done any damage and therefore the “ all or nothing, I have blown it I may as well keep going” mindset can be avoided.

There can be a lot of things going on in some ones head that will try to justify a binge; so once you START eating fast and once you THINK you want to binge, then as soon as you START the binge, the fact that you have already “ done some damage”, no matter how small the damage is, it can add enough weight to all the other ways your mind is trying to justify the binge.

Another thing I have learnt, is that over eating at times, or having a snack when your not totally hungry will NEVER feel as bad as binging. Always remember that people! Feel bad after an unnecessary snack, but know that you will feel MUCH BETTER if you DO NOT binge!

I agree completely.  It is hard to stop once you have started, but what pearsnaples told me about when I'm feeling binging coming on, to try and eat maintainence calories and not give myself a guilt trip about eating what I want.

That I think is going to help me a lot.  I just have to try to think about that rather than what can I eat next, and next and next....

Thanks everyone for helping.  God bless you all.