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 =)

This is honestly some of the best advice I've seen on this site...about anything haha.  I especially agree with the part about not restricting after.  For the longest time I would binge on a weekend, and restrict more tha usual during the week to "undo" the binge, and then the weekend would come along, and a two day binge would ensue.  Vicious cycle.  Once I stopped trying to compensate, my binges became fewer and farther between, and were less extreme.

I also agree with being unable to eliminate trigger foods from a household.  I still live with my parents, and if they want to make some muffins, or keep cereal in the house, I have no control over that.  Although at first it was hard, I've found that by incorporating small portions of these foods into my diet, I've been able to lessen the control they had over me.

also (sorry this is getting out of hand :P)

"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)."

I totally know what you mean.  Before, when my binging was more frequent, I almost used the word "binge" as an excuse...like, in my mind, I'd think "It's a problem a lot of people have, I can't control it" and then go for that third bowl of cereal, which would lead to five and so on.  Now I think of it in terms of a binge is something that happens to everyone, but that I am not a binger.  I am pleased to say that I have lost count of the days since my last binge, thanks to this site and the wonderful people on here :)

Original Post by flightotc:

"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)."

I totally know what you mean.  Before, when my binging was more frequent, I almost used the word "binge" as an excuse...like, in my mind, I'd think "It's a problem a lot of people have, I can't control it" and then go for that third bowl of cereal, which would lead to five and so on.  Now I think of it in terms of a binge is something that happens to everyone, but that I am not a binger.  I am pleased to say that I have lost count of the days since my last binge, thanks to this site and the wonderful people on here :)

wow. exactly!

and the latter is very awesome as well :]

I am so sorry you guys... I blew it. Day #12 and I blew it 

I was dubious about whether I should post this or not, seeing all the positive energy (which I am SO glad about, you are all great, thanks for the nice comments!), but in the end I decided I should, just to let you guys know that I am not going to give up. Tomorrow is a new day. Today was a slip. A horrible one though...

I felt under pressure today. I hate it when people talk about my weight, and today various people thought it would be OK to come out and say I look too thin, that I should put on some weight. At first I was frustrated. I knew that putting on weight would possibly be a trigger for bingeing. Why could I just not stay at a normal weight?!

So I said, ok, lets have pizza today. And lunch was fine... but a couple of hours later it all started. Im not going to post what I ate, I dont want to make this a "omg I ate this and that and that..!!" thread. But I will say this.

People slip. They fall. They trip.

The only thing left to do is get back up, scrape the dust off your knees and keep moving forward.

Whats the point of lying on the floor saying "oh my, I fell. Lets feel bad about that!" 

No. I'm going to get up, heal my wound. Heal my health.

Tomorrow is a new day people!

Thank you 

PS. Here's a nice video..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MslbhDZoniY&am p;feature=related

*hugs*

you're still inspiring :]

Original Post by musicalfishmich:

*hugs*

 

you're still inspiring :]

Thank you you just brightened up my day!

Good for you, and thanks for starting this thread! 

My worst binge was just last night(!) -- DiGiorno stuffed crust pizza -- and I felt so sick this morning I actually called in to work.  I've NEVER done that before and I feel like a piece of @#$# for doing it. 

I've known my own triggers for a while -- cheese and chocolate -- and today while I was home I did some minor purging of the cabinets.  Fortunately (unfortunately?) there wasn't much left to get rid of.  But I did throw away the leftover pizza and promptly dumped cantaloupe guts over it so I wouldn't be tempted to retrieve the pizza out of the trash. 

Don't worry pearsnapples.  I really appreciate your honesty.  Part of any type of recovery is honesty with oneself and others.  How else can we be accountable?  I would be much worse if I weren' t able to talk about binging with other people around me. It's the only way I can keep my co-workers from leaving their bags of candy at work unattended.  They know that if they leave it there, it will either get thrown in the garbage or they will have an empty bag full of wrappers.

Keep on going.  It will be better tomorrow.  Thanks for sharing.

Your attitude AFTER a binge is JUST AS INSPIRING as the times where you manage to AVOID binging; it is harder to pick yourself up and eat normally AFTER a binge; it is MUCH EASIER to eat normally when you are already on a good roll

I had a similar type of experience when I was thinner! I am currently about 113 - 114 lbs (around 52 Kilo’s) at about 5 ‘ 5 ( or 167 cm) with BMI of 19.

I have small wrists and large breasts at this size, so I can get away with being lighter and still look “healthy”, and for a long time I WAS a few lbs smaller, 110, and still looked great.

The only problem was, although a healthy weight for my build, I did not have much weight to spare.

So, when my weight fluctuated (as every ones does) I dropped a tad below 110. Only by 1 lbs or so.

Every one still thought I looked perfectly healthy, but once when my weight dropped a little and I had a “thin” day, I asked ONE person weather I should gain a little weight and they said “ yes,”

Now. With binging, if our mind is in the right state then ANY excuse to JUSTIFY a binge can TRIGGER it; for us, it sounds like the “ skinny” comment caused us to justify enjoying the food in the binge.

One suggestion is to talk yourself through the situation LOGICALLY lol!

You could say “ yes, I am thin, but if I need to gain weight it is healthier for me to have one big meal now, and then continue to eat larger meals and more calories in a NORMAL pattern; I CAN gain weight in a normal way, without stuffing all the calories down RIGHT away; I can enjoy a normal meal AND look forward to enjoying MORE food soon after” ETC.

I have actually gained a little weight since my 110 lbs days, only 3 - 4 lbs or so, but I cannot use the “ I am skinny” excuse any more.

Here is an INTERESTING DISCOVERY I have found about myself: The times where I would have previously “binged” I now CONCIOUSLY let myself “ over eat”. not THOUSANDS of calories, but for example: I woke up at about 2 am. I have exams coming up, have been studying well, and obviously a part of me wanted to seek enjoyment from food.

So I went downstairs, and I let myself over eat a little. I had a around 2 - 3 extra servings of salt free/ rye essence bread ( it is like a cake/dense moist delicious bread, REAL COMFORT food loL!)

I also had a large handful of brazil nuts, which I dipped in raw honey.

I enjoyed each mouthful, but I was AWARE that I was not eating to satisfy hunger; I KNEW I was eating for the sake of it, for whatever reason.

After I finished, it COULD HAVE escalated into a BINGE. A part of thought “ you do not do it often so you may as well go all out and have some more rye bread with vegemite (an Australian spread)

However, I told myself “ I will FEEL WORSE if I keep going. No matter how I feel now, I will feel WORSE AFTER I have more.

So I went back to bed and actually slept well, despite that food in my stomach!

WOW that was SO cathartic to document my episode with you all!

LOL - I have heard A LOT of people dump something disgusting over a “binge” food to stop themselves from retrieving it from the bin!!!!!!! (myself included!)

I have opened my front door and thrown the items threw the air, onto my front garden to get them out of my site before haha!

the problem, personaltrainer, with trying to talk oneself logically through/out of a bingeing situation, is that when one is bingeing, the mind is usually the antithesis of logical. 

How's everybody doing today?  I hadn't seen any new posts and wondered how pearsnapples is doing.

ditto to mechelle's post...

yesterday and today, right smack dab in the middle of the afternoon i had such a crazy almost un-ignorable urge to binge. but i beat it. both days. (well, today's pretty much over..)

i hope ya'll are doing well.

You guys, hi!

Ok let's go in order, lol,

pompey- thanks to you guys for posting in it! argh, i don't know what it's like to binge on pizza, never done that before. But it must be better than bingeing on all sugary-stuff right?

I'm sorry to tell you that I've done that once too - call in sick. At the beginning though I did feel disgusting and full and bloated and lethargic after one of my sugary binges, but since they are becoming healthier (not in calories though!) lately, I don't feel so sick afterwards. Conclusion? Sugar and I are incompatible hahaha

mechelle67- Your words are always so nice :) It's nice you can talk to your co-workers about it! Things here are a little bit different, so consider yourself lucky!

personaltrainer87- Exact same thing happens here! I've got the typical Spanish build body with a small waist and larger bust and hips. When I drop 1kg below by weight, everyone notices, same goes for going above! You hit it spot on; before one of my excuses used to be "oh, I need to put on some weight, just finish bingeing". But whether it was an excuse or a real intention, I think we ALL know that that is NOT the right way to put on weight, even though our minds tell us otherwise during our binge episode.

I'm also in exam period right now :S

I find it that when I binge, i absolutely cannot, CANNOT study afterwards. I just fall asleep. So I try to use that as motivation to not binge- my exams are a few days away and I cannot afford that! But I do that too, I give myself little treats from time to time when studying. Our brains need fuel, did you know that our brain activity increases by up to 56% when studying, burning almost 100 extra calories an hour? I read that in a study some time back 

"I also had a large handful of brazil nuts, which I dipped in raw honey."

That sounds delicious!

And well done for not bingeing as well!!

musicalfishmich- my goodness, well done!! How did you beat that? finding something else to do? Or talking to yourself about it? (haha)

Update to all- I am going off to Uni in a different country next year. My halls are going to be full of hungry college students with crappy food all over the place. I thought that if I stood a mere chance of survival and of appearing a little bit normal to them (ie. not stuffing down all their food), I have to learn to discipline myself NOW.

So yesterday I wen't out for food with my sister (my parents are away for a couple of weeks). We bought trigger foods (my sister hasn't got any problem with food, and since these binge foods have been out of the house for the last couple of months, I thought she had done enough for me, and now it was time to grow up and stand up to the urges if they came- she had done enough for me, let's make her proud too!).

So for the first time in 2 months there are nuts, raisins, chips and crackers, a small packet of biscuits, onion bread (i looooooove this stuuf!), PB, my favourite cereal, some ice-cream (it is extremely hot here in Spain right now!) and chocolate milk. Its been 1 day and I have not binged. Too soon to call victory, but I want my parents to come back home in a week and a half, and see the house full of these normal foods, knowing that I wont go out running in the other direction.

I think (I hope) I can control the urges. I mentioned in my first post that it was unrealistic to eliminate all binge foods from ones house. Yes, they stop you from having the binge, put part of recovery is being able to say NO to a binge, not not-having-a-binge-because-there-is-no-other- option. Right?

Anyways, I am really proud of all you guys :) really, you guys motivate me too. I am so thankful there are people like you around that make everyday a bit less like a battle and a bit more like a learning experience. Thank you.

I will add an extra bit of advice (I cannot edit the first post for some reason!). This may not apply to all of you though;

- When eating a meal, do not get distracted by things around you, unless you are engaging in conversation with someone else. TV, reading... all these things make us tend to over-eat. Take your time and enjoy every bite. It's likely that if you don't and over-eat, those of us with the "all-or-nothing" attitude will end up bingeing.

I encourage you to not feel full at the end of every meal. Feel perfect; that feeling where you're not hungry, satisfied, enjoyed your meal- yes, there could be room for a little more food, but why? Reach your calorie target with foods you enjoy in moderation. There's some people that say "yes, but I prefer having a lot of food lower in calories than little food packed with them!". I'll admit, I used to be one of those people! But the fact that you are not treating your body makes us crave, and eventually binge.

Take care!

LOL - the brazil nuts and honey was typical of me - I am a hardcore 100% clean eater, and for me, it is not the calories but the way in which I DAMAGE my body through binging that affects me.

I would rather eat a thousand nuts then to eat lesser amounts of a processed, man made, artificial food/ combined with other unnatural stuff

It is the thought of ingesting a huge combination of different foods all in one sitting that puts me off - I think of what I put my body through.

So… after the tasty rye bread (it was all moist and …YUM ) I over did it, and I thought “ I may as well have a few slices of the OTHER type of rye bread with the vegemite spread) BUT, I told myself “ if you are going to eat MORE when you are not even hungry JUST because you want the taste, then you can ONLY have raw nuts, dipped in raw honey.. THAT or nothing…”

VERY delicious too! But it is such a “typical” thing for me to eat, seeing as I ONLY eat raw. unprocessed foods! (including cooked fish/chicken but It is a little inconvenient to binge/overeat them as I would have to go and cook them. I NEVER over eat on things I need to prepare, only ever raw nuts dipped in honey/ something instant!

Haha so when I “ over eat” it will always be on too much fruit, or one type of rye bread, raw nuts and honey, or organic raw sugar free chocolate….

It is funny that my episodes are so “healthy” hah. I also feel better now that my only concern is WHAT I am doing to my body, NOT the calories. That has helped me the most; if I am going to over eat I will do it in a way that will not damage my body, because that is the only thing I care about.

It did hinder me at first though - a fair while ago when I did binge a lot, I would eat HUGE AMOUNTS of nuts and fruit/dried fruit and felt less compelled to stop binging, as I would justify binging with “ the actual food will not damage my body, so eating far too much of it is fine for now”

is it just me, or does anyone else find personaltrainer87 to be a bit pretentious?

What do you mean by pretentious?

I am not sure what you mean, but I am 100% being myself. Is there anything wrong with that?

Should I not describe how I eat?

I was just having joking about how my binges are really healthy, due to being a clean eater.

I am young and open to being corrected and changing how I say things so by all means tell me how I can sound better in the future.

my apologies. just one person's interpretation. i took it, personally, as sounding pretentious - compared with my individiual situation and my eating/food/bingeing issues.

what can i say? i'm human.

Hey guys!  I don't know about pretentious, but I just downed a whole big bag of baked Lays while I was reading the new posts.  At least they were baked!

LOL. Well, did you sit down and enjoy them at least?!

Nothing pretentious about enjoying salty chips!

Even clean freaks like me have managed to find chips - there are a lot of brands in Australia that only contain potato’s/salt/oil. Nothing fake so yay for me!

And for the record, I do genuinely eat 100% like this all of the time. I was ill and recovered and changed my life through starting to eat this way, so I definitely do not mean to come across as “healthier” then I really am (in other words, “fake)

I do not think the way I eat is better then any one else’s way of eating - it is simply what works best for me.

Still not sure what you meant by pretentious! Every word I have said is 100% true lol!

I just think it is funny that even I have managed to find a “clean” version of foods to binge on in the past (such as baked beans that only contain salt/beans/ and tomato juice)

it is also very easy to binge on "natural" peanut butter.... lol. when I was lacking fats in my diet, I have HUGE urges to binge on thatm and al mond butter. I have binged on countless jars of almond butter (1 jar per binge usually) before.

I have stopped binging for a few months so I feel okay talking about it - I am not trying to brag, I just feel good  being able to joke about it a little, and have a laugh at the fact I was able to consume a jar of peanut butter.