Can we please stop tossing this term around....

BINGING.

I'm not the type to rant, but I'm so frustrated with all the posts I see here about "binging". As someone who has suffered from this disorder in the past, and has occasional struggles with it still, I am absolutely horrified by what some people consider "binging".

A few slices of bread, a piece of cake, a couple of cookies, some peanut butter...this is slightly overeating, or indulging, NOT binging.

Those of you out there who actually suffer from this disorder will understand this: Binging is a mental health problem. Binging is when you start eating and don't stop. You feel SO full that you're actually physically ill, you have intense pain in your stomach b/c the amount of food that you've eaten is actually more than your stomach can hold. But you keep eating. Doesn't matter what, doesn't matter at all. It's an emotional problem, you know you should stop, but you CAN'T.

During and afterwards you feel awful. You cry. You get angry. You hate yourself for not being able to control this.

It is a very serious disorder that has been closely linked with depression and suicide, and I cannot stand the way that people throw the term around like it's nothing.

So, please the next time you eat a few extra cookies please do not call it a binge.

I know that some people might not know any better, and I don't mean to offend anyone...just have to get this out!

I understand your point. That's a total I've ate too much, and not a binge. A binge to me is. Going on a eating path with no thought to what you are eating. Just eating out of control. I understand you clearly, and then I thought. Have I done this.

I must say, I've ate too many cookies before and that isn't a binge-just eating too much.

I will not use this one any more. I've ate too much, because you are right. Binging is a word that is tossed around here over nothing.

Thanks for bring this up. Others may not follow, and I try to avoid those post anyway.

Yeah it's kind of the same thing as depression. People say "oh I am so depressed"...I am sure I have said it too...it's not to belittle the real kind of depression, it's just become a part of lingo.

But in a weight-loss culture, I have to agree, using the term binge to describe some over-indulging is wrong. It's not the same at all...as a former binger, I can recognize the difference. Binging was something secret and shameful and made me feel completely helpless and hopeless. So I try to remember that before I say "Oh man I totally binged last night, I had two cupcakes after dinner and it brought me up to maintenance calories" haha.

Another one that bugs me is "plateau". You are NOT on a plateau if you weren't watching your calories, or stopped giong to the gym, or have made some poor food choices. A plateau is NOT the same as falling off the wagon. A real plateau happens only when you are dilligent about your intake and exercise and the weight stops coming off for no apparent reason.

Victoriagirl, I agree with you 100%. "Plateau" I've hit those so called things, and all I have to do is re think what I am doing. Go back a few steps and see what I am doing wrong, or what I am not doing enough of. Like eating enough, water, eating too much, ect.... People freak out and don't back track.

I'm guilty for using the word binge in the wrong context. Therefore i am going to use the phrase "over indulged" from now on.

I hate it how people say "oh i havn't ate anything at all today....except some lollies, a biscuit and a chocolate bar". Thats still considered eating. Eating just that is probably worse than eating proper/healthy meals.

I'm sorry for using the word wrong and i will make sure i don't use it in future :)

THANK YOU

Sorry, but this is something that irritates me too. A few cookies? Not a binge. Eating to maintainance? Not a binge. A couple of drinks at a party? Not a binge.

Want to know a binge? Try eating a whole jar of pb, washing it down with milk and biscuits, fistfuls of raisins, blocks of cheese, half tubs of ice cream, quarters of a 12'' diameter cake at a time, boxes of cereal bars and half boxes of cereal... admittedly, not in one sitting, but I did this. I used to emotionally eat. I REALLY struggled. So seeing it thrown around like, "Oh my god, I ate a biscuit. BINGE OR WHAT!" can be upsetting and frustrating. Treating yourself once in a while is not a binge! Dx

Ha!

When I posted this I was fully bracing myself for an all out attack about being judgmental or mean!

THANK GOODNESS you all understand where I'm coming from! I didn't think I could possibly be the only "real" binger out there who had an issue with this!

I hate when ppl misuse that word too! I point out to them that it's not a binge, though. I'm actually surprised that so many ppl consider a little overeating to be binging. I mean, come on! You ate 2500 cals in 1 day, that's called maintenance eating.

This does not motivate me....

Original Post by jblarghp:

This does not motivate me....

Sorry, but the description of this forum says:

"Share your success, frustrations, and get motivated."

this is a definite frustration

I don't like the term, either.  Giving in to PMS cravings, is not binging.  I don't care if you had 2 candy bars and a piece of chocolate cake or a whole bag of potato chips.  Just because you went to a party or family BBQ and let yourself overeat that day (and enjoy it) is no cause for feeling guilty for going on a "binge."  Sure, you may have overdone it a bit, but who can resist homemade ice cream?  It wasn't a binge.  So, yes, I agree with you 100%. 

YES YES YES!!

Thank you so much for posting this! Man I just wish half the people on here actually know what bingeing is and feels like. I agree 100% with you!

I once had a black out binge.. My mind was gone, and I ate until I was sick as a dog. EVERY 15 to 20 mins, back into the kitchen eating some kind of crap. Trying to deal with an issue with food. I should have boxed it out, but I was trying to eat it away.. Not good. Binge eating is a mindless action to me. But then again. That's a damn lie.. I knew what I was doing. The "Y" of it all should have been a flag... EX husband, and all his BS. I can't let bad emotions control my eating habits.. I eat to live, and I never saw myself as a person eating to live. I lived to eat away the next stressful day. Then it went into........ I have nothing better to do so.. Why not eat us out of house and home.. My kids will understand why we don't have anymore fruit loops. They will understand why we don't have any P&J or bread left. It's a mindless action at times, and then their are times when you know you know better. I did it anyway... BINGE eating on this and that.... I've had it up to hear with that word BINGE!.

I ate 2 cookies and a coke. BOOWOO! Run a lap and get over it.

I like to use the word "gorged". It has all the colorful imagary without being technically incorrect. I've responded "that's not a binge.." to many posts in my day but I get the need to use big scary sounding words to express the magnitude of my horror at eating 6 cookies in a sitting. "I absolutely gorged myself on cookies" has such a nice ring to it.

Motivation to expand your vocabulary, check.

I'm new here and just reading through a few topics and wanted to say that I really appreciate what you wrote.  From the responses, it looks like there are many of us that feel the way you do.  Thanks for posting.

I totally agree! I think the word "binge" gets thrown around on here to define practically anything that is above weight loss calories or not "healthy," like cookies. I also see cheat days referred to as binge days. For me a cheat day is about eating something tasty that I would normally not have on my diet. It' not the same as eating that one thing, or many things, until you are absolutely sick and stuffed. Although maybe that is how some people define it?

Im not trying to say I have ever had a REAL-REAL binge, but... Sometimes when I eat, especially rice or pasta, I won't stop before all the food is gone, so I kinda consider them as binges. Even when they're something never going over 600 cals and never over my daily calories, and actually being real food, never pure crap (like yesterday I binged on ate lots of salmon and spagetti). For me, its losing control -not the calories eaten- that qualify a binge...

Im very glad I dont have a REAL problem with binging.

I'm so glad someone pointed this out bc everytime I fall on a "binge" post, I feel like the biggest cow ever.  People saying crap like "Once, I ate a WHOLE box of KD!!!" or "I ate 5 cookies, I a ROW!!!" and I'm thinking, I can do all these things, I don't feel great after, but I don't feel like I just binged.  Binging is serious, binging is dangerous, binging is emotional.  Eating a box of KD is....a lot of pasta....

I don't think that bingeing has as much to do with the quantity of food, as it does with the mental state I'm in while eating.

For me, bingeing means out of control eating.  When I can't control my eating, it's a binge... and sometimes I can reign it in before the 10,000 calorie mark (with a lot of mindfulness and a great many other techniques)... but sometimes I can't.

Hello!  I found this on dictionary.com.

1. a period or bout, usually brief, of excessive indulgence, as in eating, drinking alcoholic beverages, etc.; spree.

–verb (used without object)

2. to have a binge: to binge on junk food. [Origin: 1850–55; dial. (Lincolnshire) binge to soak < ?]

For some people to use the word, they are actually talking about their "brief excessive indulgence".  This can mean different things to different people.  Is it possible that saying that others shouldn't use the term just because they don't binge to the degree you do really fair?  I'm NOT attacking, just asking you to step back and look at this from another perspective.  Look at it this way.  A sin is a sin right?  Whether you sin by telling a "little white lie" or by murdering someone, it's still a sin.  There is certainly a difference in the level of those two sins, but my point is the definition is still the same.  A sin is a sin regardless of how big or small, and a binge is a binge regardless of how big or small.  Do you agree? 
I do acknowledge you are feeling a bit robbed of the seriousness of your own personal condition by the mediocrity of others, and I am so sorry you have had to go through such a traumatic experience. 
I hope you take this post for what it is and not as a personal attack.  I can't say I have ever used the word "binge" to describe the days I've overindulged, but I can say if I ever do use it, I would mean no disrespect to those who suffer from the illness you described as associated with the word.

I completely agree with the original poster. When I binge, I don't eat an extra serving of chips, or overindulge at a restaurant with my friends.

I eat thousands upon thousands of calories and can't stop. Then I cry, go into a food coma, wake up in the middle of the night unable to sleep, and feel like absolute $h!+  in the morning. My stomach is distended, my throat is sore from not chewing before I swallow, my face is puffy, and I am afraid to shower (because I don't want to see myself in the mirror) or change my clothes (for fear my next outfit will feel too tight).

That is binging. Not just eating, but the feelings, the inability to control, and the uncomfortable aftermath.