Thread: Bingeing... Why?!!?

Why do I do it? I went out for a meal with a friend last Friday. We usually go to one of the pubs and have a sandwich with a side salad etc (according to my eating out book the whole meal isn't usually more then 6 points).

Unfortunately on Friday the kitchen was closed for refurbishment, so we ended up going to Pizza Express. Stupidly I didn't think the meal would be quite as high in points as it is at Pizza Hut because the bases are a lot thinner, and it wasn't greasy or anything. Only when I got home and looked in my eating out book did I realised I'd had more then the days points for dinner!!

I actually felt quite 'positive' about it "Oh well I know not to go there again" etc, and didn't binge... But every day since then - so 5 days now - I've not been able to stick to the plan!! I've picked on biscuits when I'm not hungry, I've had deserts after dinner (when I never have them and am not hungry). I'm eating cakes and biscuits and just too much food in general throughout the day... and I'm not even enjoying it!!!!

I don't savour it and make the most of it, I don't enjoy it when I'm eating it, and I feel sick when I have finished - So why on earth have I done it every day!?? Why did I do it less then an hour ago??

I hate myself for it, and want to stop, but I don't seem to think or care when I'm doing it!

Can anyone help?? Do you have any tips of advice? I am very stressed at work at the minute, but that feels like a cop out, just an excuse. I really don't know what to do to 'fix' myself!! I need to get back on the plan! I love it when I'm on it, and feel so good!

Hi Sparkle,

I binge too. Quite alot. In fact, only when I read your post, I sat down and thought about what I actually eat. Far too much rubbish and not enough veg and fruit, etc.

For example, if I weigh myself and I am a pound up or the same weight, it's a case of "I might as well have the choccie biscuit now" then after that it's "I fancy a packet of crisps, bar of chocolate, greasy chips, etc.etc.etc." it's like "Sure I'm up a pound, so might as well eat even more" Ridiculous thought pattern I know and I can't understand it either.

I did very well 2 weeks ago on the "3 day diet" lost 5.5lbs in 3 days. then thought "ah sure I'll eat normally now", but of course normally for me is binge eating. Now 2 weeks later it's a case of "I'll eat everything I like today and give it all up tomorrow",but of course I don't give up.

I am disgusted with myself too. I was 6lb from my target at Xmas last year, I am now 3 stone from my target. No one to blame but myself, but it is so hard to get out of that bleeding cycle. I took out a photo of myself today, that was taken last Christmas and my god did I look good (I have never said that about myself). I squeezed into the same clothes I had on in that photo (well I pulled up the trousers as far as they would go - not even over my bum, and stretched the top down just to cover the "gap', crouched down so no skin showed and took a photo. What a difference ,I have now put them up on my press (sort of a before/after) and I want to get back to the "before" (last Christmas photo) weight ASAP.

I know I am going to find it hard to break this binge eating cycle. For me I think it's got to do with "time on my hands" I mind kids, so I am at home all the time, they are eating, I am picking. My daughter is in bed at 7.30 in the evening and that leaves me sitting on the couch thinking "hmmmmm what can I eat now" even when I am not the slightest bit hungry, just like you. It's boredom. I am a single parent, so I can't go for a walk, or get out after she goes to bed. Sorry for the rambling. (Another one of my problems).

So if you don't mind, I will check-in on your thread to see what advice any successful eaters will post.

Good Luck! You have done extremely well with your weight loss so far. Be very proud of that!!!

Sparkle,

I posted the paragraph on Celtic Chicks Thread a few minutes ago. Any advice on the soup?

"I had a question if you don't mind. I noticed in a few posts that you mentioned that you were making pot loads of the No Point Soup. Do you eat this all day (for all your meals) or just as 1 of the meals in the day? If you don't eat just the soup, I wonder could you. I remember trying the soup before and it was lovely, loads of veg, I didn't blend it and eat it with the veg chunky. Would the weight loss be good by just eating the soup and drinking loads of water, maybe adding a piece of chicken for one of the meals? Thanks for any help"

I think there are a fair few bingers on this board. I'm not sure why we do it.

Of course, there are theories, and things to help.

Mine is the attack of the chatterbox who spends much too much time telling me all sorts of whopping lies like 'I deserve it'. Huh?? I deserve to be overweight?? Is that what he says?

Blast the chatterbox.

Then of course...one thing leads to another. Think some of that is to do with chemicals sending 'more' signals.

You'll notice from the above that none of this is my fault

I think I might have cracked it now...but who knows. Keep on it's case. You'll get there as long as you believe you will.

Hope you guys don't mind but I'm gonna move this to the Bring Your Head Inside Forum so that others on other plans can participate as well....


Also, when it comes to eating for any reason other than hunger it is always because of an emotional need that is not being taken care of.

Consciously, its very simple to say what you want and don't want but if your subconscious has other ideas then any results will be shortlived. That is why it is so important to deal with what is really going on....beating yourself up about it also will not help because that is only reinforcing the bad feelings.

To do something different you need to change the pattern...be kind to yourself and spend some quiet time - usually meditative - to allow your mind to relax and let you know what is really happening.

Nine times out of ten we know exactly what is going on but choose not to accept or listen....

Eating any kind of foods, whether low cal or not, is not the answer! I know this is the bit that people run from but its the bit that helps and works...there has to be a worthwhile alternative to the bingeing such as some kind of caretaking...

Originally Posted by Diva

Hope you guys don't mind but I'm gonna move this to the Bring Your Head Inside Forum so that others on other plans can participate as well....


Also, when it comes to eating for any reason other than hunger it is always because of an emotional need that is not being taken care of.

Consciously, its very simple to say what you want and don't want but if your subconscious has other ideas then any results will be shortlived. That is why it is so important to deal with what is really going on....beating yourself up about it also will not help because that is only reinforcing the bad feelings.

To do something different you need to change the pattern...be kind to yourself and spend some quiet time - usually meditative - to allow your mind to relax and let you know what is really happening.

Nine times out of ten we know exactly what is going on but choose not to accept or listen....

Eating any kind of foods, whether low cal or not, is not the answer! I know this is the bit that people run from but its the bit that helps and works...there has to be a worthwhile alternative to the bingeing such as some kind of caretaking...

Thank you for moving this Diva... I didn't even think of posting in here! lol

Thanks for this reply... it's really made me think. I need to sort out what's going on with work.. also how I feel about myself (I've been reading your self awareness/acceptance thread).

You've given me a lot to think about.

Hi - ive done lots of reading on this as ive been a control/binge eater for about 20 years- keep losing and gaining the same stone n a half! There are two main schools of thought really; 1. We take comfort in food when something upsets us (even if we don't consciously know what that is) and 2 it's learned behaviour. Both schools tell us to be kind to ourselves and stop punishing ourselves as that's reinforcing negative thoughts and behaviour. I'd recommend the book 'eating less say goodbye to overeating' by Gillian Riley. It doesn't have all the answers but it does help. Ironically all these types of books state that diets are the worse thing you can do!

I struggle too, quite a lot, with controlled eating and bingeing episodes. At the moment its bingeing. I was on target, now I am 3 stones (almost) away from it.

I need help, I know I do. It sounds like lots of us are in the same position. How do you stop the cycling?

i really do symphatise as i am so greedy. i really struggle. i try and not listen to the excuses such as "oh i ate a chocolate so i might as well eat what i want and start tommorrow" or "if the food isn't eaten it will end up in the bin so i have to eat it" or "i am stressed i need a treat" or "i deserve it when blooming well don't"[as i am a bad person.] but i really really struggle

Part of me regrets dieting so much when I was a teenager. I think if I didnt do it then I wouldn't be in this situation now. Binge/restrict/binge. Its awful. August 14th I was 7 stone, now I am just over 10 stone.

well i can relate. something similar happened to me. i got down to 7 stone[but i am only 4 ft 8] went back up to over eight stone though bingeing and bulimia, then dieted back down to just over 6 stone[at most 6 stone 4 a bmi of 19.2] and then through bulima returning and having to take zyprexa for stress i went up to 10 stone or near it. i went off the zyprexa and got counselling for the bulimia and got down to 8stone 7 but have being stuck at 8 stone 4 to 8 stone 7ish for years

best advice i can give is to go to your dr for advice

i have lots to add to this thread but its a bit late for me to type coherently so i shall return tomorrow

Binging, that's a familiar thing, I don't know why the desire to eat that packet of crisps seems to overpower the desire to lose the weight....but it does. I suppose it's the human need for gratification and if we feel empty emotionally, life isn't going as we quite hoped. Then some little voice tells us that the plate of chips, piece of cake, bar of chocolate...whatever, is going to fill the void (for a moment) But does it, no it doesn't. We just end up hating ourselves, feeling guilty, and the cycle breeds more comfort eating.

I put a great deal of effort into weight-loss before. Losing a significant amount of weight. During the course of last year, it all went back on. It took half the time to put it on than it did to lose it all, and now I start again.

I've decided this time though to get food therapy from an eating disorders service in my area. I think sometimes going on a diet isn't the answer, it's rewiring ourselves psychologically so that eating "right" becomes a natural habit, rather than a chore.

way back in october i was at the lowest point i had been in a long time, here is a few words from my blog entitled diary of a sugar addict......

Why do I self-medicate with junk food, because it is filled with sugar and for a brief moment it helps me to feel good. I try to fill the growing well of emptiness inside my heart with bread, chips and chocolate but it does not work. Even though I cram tens of pounds worth of food down my throat in a week, I never experience the taste of the thick greasy mass on my tongue, only the momentary feeling of release from the thoughts and feelings that have been plaguing my mind on an hourly basis. Binging provides me with a temporary release from the pain I am feeling inside, but the feeling of guilt I get when I come down off the sugar high, leaves me exhausted, drained and full of self-loathing.

I wake up in the morning tired and lethargic almost as if I hadn't slept at all. the craving for sugar is instant as soon as I realise that I am actually awake and not in a living nightmare. Untill I get my fix i am like a lion stalking its prey . I get my hands on what i need and the effect is instant I feel the sugar coursing through my veins like hot molten lava. This morning i tried desperatly to resist, started out with a yoghurt, but no tea and within an hour i had crammed in a turkish delight, a pork pie, chocolate cheese cake, ice and spiced bun and clotted cream and strawberry milkshake !! things got progressively worse through out the day, the lower my mood the more i ate. At one point i was knelt on the floor in the toilet pushing chocolate cake down my neck, unable to tell where the crumbs stopped and the tears started all i kept thinking was "thats it cram it in it will make you feel better, but of course it never ever does ".

thankfully at the moment im back in control and also have an appointment with the local eating disorders clinic on march 3rd but for te time being im feeling good

Originally Posted by Stupid

i really do symphatise as i am so greedy. i really struggle. i try and not listen to the excuses such as "oh i ate a chocolate so i might as well eat what i want and start tommorrow" or "if the food isn't eaten it will end up in the bin so i have to eat it" or "i am stressed i need a treat" or "i deserve it when blooming well don't"[as i am a bad person.] but i really really struggle

Hi, I don't know what to call you, I can't call you Stupid,

I am sad to see you identify yourself as a bad person. You mentioned councelling for the Bulimia, any chance of getting it extended for self-esteem work?

You also mention that thing of eating food rather than see it go in the bin. I've struggled with that as I was bought up to believe that wasting food was one of the worst sins ever.

Now, I see it as just as much a waste if I eat something I don't need. It passes through me into the sewers and gives me no benefit. The opposite in fact. So now I do my very best not to treat myself as a rubbish bin. It is a struggle though - I'm just feeling rather positive today.

I've been binging a lot over the last year and deeply deeply regret it. But I've come to understand that there was a reason for it.

Perhaps other bingers could give time to themselves to think and meditate on this. We are rational beings and don't do things to injure ourselves deliberately unless in a pretty bad way emotionally so at some level we are benefitting, or trying to benefit from what on the surface looks like pretty destructive behaviour.