Support group for bingers. Anyone interested?

I need some motivation to stop my binge eating, which is happening on average 3 times a week. I am in therapy for exercise bulimia. I think that once my eating is under control, my exercise will be less intense since I won't need to burn all those extra calories. I need extra support from people that might be experiencing similar binging issues.

I will commit to check in every day to let you know how I did in terms of my eating. Since my binges occur after dinner, my check-ins will be either before going to bed or the next morning to report on how I did that day.

Is anyone else intersted in joining a small support group?

I think that if I obligate myself to tell someone else how I did, I might be more inclined to eat better because I know that others will be counting on me. Also we could exchange tips on how we prevented our binges and what we did to cope when we happened to have a binge episode.

I am recovering from anorexia and exercise bulimia as well.  I am definently interested, considering I binge a lot as of late and just binged today.  We can hold each other accountable.  Sounds like a fantastic idea.

My binge trigger times are right after school and after dinner.

Great that sounds like a plan. I also suffered from anorexia when I was 14 (until 16) . I am now 28 and I still don't have a healthy relationship with food. I binge like 1000 calories at a time and feel like crap and fat all the time. I'm 5"4' and 125lbs. I know that's not fat, but I've gained 8lbs since the summer of 2006. I hope to lose it again before the summer. I also binged today: a box of crackers, a wrap with 3 chocolate squares melted in it and a cookie. And that was after dinner! I hate myself for having done that. Now I will force myself to wake up at 5am tomorrow to go for an hour run to burn it all off. ARGH!!! I hate this cycle. I just want to be normal. I want to eat like everyone else and not obsess over every single calorie that I put in my mouth.

Sorry, I just had to vent!

Original Post by avl:

Great that sounds like a plan. I also suffered from anorexia when I was 14 (until 16) . I am now 28 and I still don't have a healthy relationship with food. I binge like 1000 calories at a time and feel like crap and fat all the time. I'm 5"4' and 125lbs. I know that's not fat, but I've gained 8lbs since the summer of 2006. I hope to lose it again before the summer. I also binged today: a box of crackers, a wrap with 3 chocolate squares melted in it and a cookie. And that was after dinner! I hate myself for having done that. Now I will force myself to wake up at 5am tomorrow to go for an hour run to burn it all off. ARGH!!! I hate this cycle. I just want to be normal. I want to eat like everyone else and not obsess over every single calorie that I put in my mouth.

Sorry, I just had to vent!

I know it may be hard to believe and what-not, but that doesn't sound too bad.  If you are trying to recover from exercise bulimia I wouldn't recommend that hour run, it sounds like its for the wrong reasons.  Exercise, but to feel good about yourself and feel better.  I am trying to learn that myself, and enjoy what exercise I am allowed as a priveledge and something good for my body.

Just take a deep breath and know that tomorrow will be a new start and a better day.  Check in with me if you need.  You can control those urges, you can do it ^^

I'm finding this interesting because I think that my binge eating is related to exercise. I've been is this bad cycle since Christmas time. All of a sudden, I have a terrible relationship with food.

I eat junk, feel bad so I hit the gym. I've added a day and started burning 2 X the amount of calories that I used to before. I have not added any additional food to my diet. About every four days, I go on a binge. I eat THOUSANDS of calories at a time. Cereal, chocolate, crackers mini muffins and maybe some ice cream. Once it starts...I'm off and running. The next day is terrible. I feel aweful. I've gained 5 pounds since this started.

I am in a terrible cycle. Anyone suggest what I should do?? I desided to skip the gym today. Will it solve my problem to cut back at the gym?? Days I go and amount that I do??

Otherwise, I am a real healthy eater and a very active person.

I have found myself bingeing lately too - uncharacteristic of me. And I've been working out more recently. So, I believe it has to do with burning extra calories with exercising, and my body trying to compensate by taking in more food when I do "give myself access to it". I believe that by not increasing my normal daily caloric intake enough over the course of the day, the bingeing occurs. I feel your pain. It doesn't help that the family has a bunch of junk food I can easily get my hands on.

Ok so I am here to update how my day has been so far. So far so good.

But I just got home from work and obviously I went straight to the kitchen. I started eating some grapes and then I saw the jar of jam in the fridge. I scooped out a big chunk of strawberry using my finger (I know it sounds gross). Then I stopped myself realizing what I was doing. I don't want to do this anymore. So I left the kitchen and went dowstairs to write to you guys in order to prevent another binge.

I haven't had dinner yet. I will do some of my marking (I'm a teacher) until it's time to eat and I will continue to work after dinner and stay out of the kitchen.

paulamcd: I have also found that ever since I've started to work out more I eat and binge more. I've tried cutting back on my exercise but it doesn't seem to help with my binges. I think that it has just become a bad habit that I need to break.

I'll report on the rest of my evening later. I am crossing my fingers for a successful night!

Original Post by sherea:

I'm finding this interesting because I think that my binge eating is related to exercise. I've been is this bad cycle since Christmas time. All of a sudden, I have a terrible relationship with food.

I eat junk, feel bad so I hit the gym. I've added a day and started burning 2 X the amount of calories that I used to before. I have not added any additional food to my diet. About every four days, I go on a binge. I eat THOUSANDS of calories at a time. Cereal, chocolate, crackers mini muffins and maybe some ice cream. Once it starts...I'm off and running. The next day is terrible. I feel aweful. I've gained 5 pounds since this started.

I am in a terrible cycle. Anyone suggest what I should do?? I desided to skip the gym today. Will it solve my problem to cut back at the gym?? Days I go and amount that I do??

Otherwise, I am a real healthy eater and a very active person.

Cutting back and avoiding excessive exercise sounds like a good idea.  You sound like a healthy eater and exercise is good in moderation, but these binges might actually be triggered from your body craving more calories that it needs when you work out extra.  I would recommend eating enough to meet your calorie needs and as far as forging a better relationship with food, I need to work on that too >.<

Original Post by avl:

Ok so I am here to update how my day has been so far. So far so good.

But I just got home from work and obviously I went straight to the kitchen. I started eating some grapes and then I saw the jar of jam in the fridge. I scooped out a big chunk of strawberry using my finger (I know it sounds gross). Then I stopped myself realizing what I was doing. I don't want to do this anymore. So I left the kitchen and went dowstairs to write to you guys in order to prevent another binge.

I haven't had dinner yet. I will do some of my marking (I'm a teacher) until it's time to eat and I will continue to work after dinner and stay out of the kitchen.

paulamcd: I have also found that ever since I've started to work out more I eat and binge more. I've tried cutting back on my exercise but it doesn't seem to help with my binges. I think that it has just become a bad habit that I need to break.

I'll report on the rest of my evening later. I am crossing my fingers for a successful night!

Congrats!  It sounds like you are doing really well for today.  I also have taken steps to prevent binging by snacking periodically and avoiding the kitchen completely since I have gotten home.  I hope dinner goes well and expecially after.  I'll check in later.  and I'm anxious to hear how you'll do - great I'm sure ^^

Ok so now it's 9:10pm and I'm in my pj's and I've brushed my teeth. I do not need to go back in the kitchen for anything tonight. So I know that I don't have a reason to eat anymore today.

For dinner I had 1 cup of rice, about 4oz of chicken, spinach, tomato sauce and 1/2 pudding (60 calories). I usually only eat 1/2 cup of rice but I thought that if I increased my portion size it would prevent me from being hungry and binging later on. After dinner I was nibbling on grapes, which I probably could have avoided. Also I had a small piece of a wrap and some jam on hit (and on my fingers).

I would not say that I binged today...more like I ate extra unecessary calories. I am a little disappointed because I wanted my eating to be perfect. But I guess I still had less to eat than what I would normally have when I binge.

Good luck to you too soulmaiden, and also to anyone else trying to resist the after dinner binges!

I've had issues with binge/purging. I've decided to stop purging once and for all. I hate it so much(and miss it at the same time). Now that I've stopped puring, I will hopefully be able to resist binging. I used to tell myself it was ok to binge because i could just puke it up later, but now there is no compensation if I binge.

Yesterday I did good(no binge or purging)! Today I ate too much, but no binges. It's SUCH a temptation. My body is used to consuming SO much food that I just want to eat a whole tub of ice cream. But I can't.

Hopefully this forum will keep me accountable 

Ok so here I go for a second day. Hopefully no extra unecessary calories today. I m going to be even more conscious about what I put in my mouth. Also I have therapy this afternoon, so we'll see what my therapist has to say about my poor eating habits that I had in the last week. I'll report back later. Good luck to everyone today. It's a new day, make it a good one!

I can completely relate.  I've been on a binge, restrict, and workout cycle for over a year now, but in the past two months it has really gotten out of control.  I've been having binges that contain 5,000+ calories and they were happening about 5 times a week.  My eating habits have also gotten strange because I'm so ashamed of my binging. 

 Lately I have been doing better.  Today makes two weeks from my last massive, 5,000 calorie binge and since the last time I ate ice cream (my favorite binge food).  Now I haven't been a complete angel; I've had mini binges (500-1000 calories), but it is an improvement because I've been stopping myself early in the binge. 

This weekend will be a test though.  Tonight I'm going out and I know I'll be drinking, so even though the drinks will be fit into my calorie count, my loss of inhibitions may lead me to binge.  Plus my roommate is gone all weekend so I have the place all to myself.  I only binge when I know she won't catch me, so this could be dangerous. 

I (we) need to remember how horrible we feel after binging...its not worth it!

Allyferr, you sound a lot like me...and many others too.

I've been in "control" since Tuesday night. I'm feeling pretty good right now. I've decided to not go to the gym until Monday. Then start back SLOWLY, only three days a week.

Today might be a bit of a challenge but I'm going to try my hardest. I'm stuck in the house with a crappy snow storm.

Sign me up!  I've been a binger/overeater for as long as I can remember.  When I was a child I'd "steal" food from the fridge and hide in my closet to binge.  During my early teenage years my binging was somewhat controlled, just because I could only eat what was in the house.  Once I got a job and a car, however, things blew out of control. 

One semester in college I sarted going on hardcore binges, driving around town and hitting 2-4 fast food stores or groceries (it was too embarrasing to buy large amounts at one place.)   Although I occasionally would purge through vomiting or laxatives, I normally just let it go and somehow I managed to keep my weight at a normal, if slightly overweight level.  I was a steady size 10 for most of that semester, although I had a few size 12s.  

Once I got my own  apartment after college the binges got bad again.  I tried not to keep any food in my apartment, but I'd end up binging on horrible, nasty things that didn't even taste good.  (for example, a few times I made a batter out of flour, skim milk and seasonings and fried chunks of it.  Dipped it in mustard.  )   Other times I'd hit the grocery and drop 30 bucks on binge foods and laxatives. 

I've been living with a roommate for a month and that's helped stop the binging,  since I can't do it in front of people.  There have been 2 or 3 times when she was gone or when I've done it in my car, but for the most part I've kept it down.

This weekend she's going to be gone for a day and I'm scared spitless.  I REALLY need some help this Saturday to keep from binging.  I'll be at home working all day (I have a part-time job that I do at home) and in close proximity to a lot of food.  I'm terrified.   

I would recommed Overeaters Annonymous.  Several of the people in my group are also binge eaters.

I am really overweight (296) but I don't binge eat frequently.  Maybe 3-4 times a year.   I just eat enough bad stuff consistently to be overweight.

I actually thought of OA before I joined this board. CC has made me realize what are my triggers. Also, it helps that I am not alone. I was feeling like pretty much of a FREAK for my "food" issues.

Just curious, are there any thinnish people in your group?? I'm only a few pounds off my goal weight. I thought people would look at me stupid if I went to a meeting. For me, it's not so much the weight as it is the bad realtionship with food and the loss for any control once a binge starts.

I have not been to the gym since Tuesday. I've been doing really well since by last workout/binge.

I've been stuck in the house all day and have not even been tempted. Back to my healthy ways and boy do I feel good :) Hopefully I can keep this going.

     Hello, I love your idea of having a group for people who binge.  I have been suffering with eating issues since I was sixteen and this binging thing is new for me.  I began binging in August after restricting my calories and exercising compulsively for the last three years.  I began with the occasional binge but my body was not able to handle this increase in food.  I began to gain weight very fast because my metabolism had slowed down drastically when I was restricting my calories.  A long story short I have not been able to loose the weight I have gained from my binges even thought I have limited my calories to 800-1000 a day and exercise almost every day.  I only binge about twice a month at night, but every time I do it my body does not bounce back.

      I guess it is just frustrating for me because I am around girls who are able to eat anything they want and not gain an inch.  But if I even think about eating like them I instantly gain one or two pounds.  I know I binge because my body is so desperate to eat the foods that everyone else eats.  I really just hope that I can get this eating under control!!

I would say to get yourself on a constant calorie intake (reasonable for your height-activity level, age). Then, take off from the gym for a week. Getting the calories under control first. This has worked for me so far. Then go back to the gym with less intensive work outs. I have not gone back to the gym yet. I'm still working on making my eating stable. I have not even me tempted to binge yet, even being stuck in the house all day, yesterday.

I'm planning to go back to the gym (light work outs) next week. I'll let you know how it goes.