I don't know if there's already a thread like this somewhere. But I think I've seen several of us on here writing about having a problem with binge eating, or emotional eating, from time to time. I know I have that problem. I don't really relate to the Eating Disorders thread as this isn't a problem that dominates my life. But I do have my moments, like...oh like right now, where something disappointing happened and I opened a box of crackers and just started shoveling them in.

This is something that I would like to work on, and I know from reading previous posts that there are others out there with the same issues. Maybe we can all come forward and support each other, and try to figure out how to help ourselves and each other!

<---Raises hand. And then goes to bake cookies for the furniture delivery guys that are coming today.

I've been known to polish off an entire box of mac & cheese. :o

<---Raises hand. And then goes to bake cookies for the furniture delivery guys that are coming today.

just so long as you don't eat them all before they come! ;)

I finally put away the box of crackers. There were 3 left. I bought them for my son for his snacktimes. At least he will have some snack this afternoon.

I've been known to polish off an entire box of mac & cheese. :o

Hmmm, I just did this about an hour ago. :brood:

I have been guilty of emotional eating myself. What helps (at least when it comes to baking) is to bake and then share or give at least 3/4th of it away - like Rin is doing. That's what I do. And then, to be sure I won't just say forget it and eat all of them, I'll tell the ppl (whether co-workers, family or friends) that I'm baking for them so I know they'll be expecting it and I have to give it to them. I'm usually to lazy to make a whole nother batch just for myself so that cancels that out too.

All right, now that I know I have a group of you here to listen...

Today I was supposed to start a new infant class co-op that meets at the community college. I was so excited about it since we didn't have one for a month. I had glanced at the paperwork and thought the class started at 11:30 so I figured out what bus to take, packed a lunch for my son, and was ready to head out the door. I decided to grab the paperwork again, and I looked more closely and it said that the class meets from 9:30 - 11:30! I had just seen the 11:30. I was so bummed, and Lucas had been screaming because he hadn't had his morning nap, and I was keeping him up to go to the class. I put Lucas down in his crib, and then you know what I did? I grabbed the almond-butter bagel I had packed for his lunch and I ate it. Then I went to the cupboard, grabbed a box of crackers, and ate tons of them. All of this before lunch. ugh...I was so upset because this class is something that I had to pay for, and we don't have a lot of money, and I had looked forward to it all week. And now I am sitting here, so disappointed in myself for binge eating when I had planned to walk to the bus stop and socialize with friends I hadn't seen for a month. My day turned sour, and I made it worse by eating too much. Now I just feel gross.

*running in* whew...sorry i'm late. Can I join? :)

I've been known to polish off an entire box of mac & cheese. :o
And you stop at just that? :-/ (sorry! Just couldn't resist..)

Yes I have issues. The thing is though, how do you know if you have binging issues cause by an eating disorder, or are you eating too much due to depression? Is there a difference really? I swear I like binge every single day. I feel so uncontrolable. I've gained 10lbs over what my normal weight is, and I feel so crappy about it.

*running in* whew...sorry i'm late. Can I join? :)

of course!

Yes I have issues. The thing is though, how do you know if you have binging issues cause by an eating disorder, or are you eating too much due to depression? Is there a difference really? I swear I like binge every single day. I feel so uncontrolable. I've gained 10lbs over what my normal weight is, and I feel so crappy about it.

I kind of wonder about this as well. I've checked out the Eating Disorders support thread and I don't really feel like I belong there...maybe I have a milder case of an eating disorder? I read this book, oh I wish I remembered what it was called, that said if you ever overeat emotionally, it is an eating disorder and needs to be treated as such.

What I hate most is that out-of-control feeling when a binge is in progress.

I'm not a binger exactly, but emotional eating is *the* major nutrition trap for me. Just a couple of weeks ago, I had a really stressful day and on my way home, I stopped off for some fries/Coke. Not a huge amount of food, but lots of crap going into my body when I wasn't even hungry.

The hard part is that to stop the eating, you have to do the work and deal with whatever the real problem is.

<<<deals with many kinds of EDs, including binging :-/

I binge, it's my way of procrastination from work. Whenever I get a lot of work from school, instead of doing it when I get home, I eat. I go into the kitchen and I eat everything, pasta, chips, pretzels, veggies, mustard (plain), PB (plain). You name it I'll eat it. And the thing is, I'll still be hungry when I'm done.

Sign me up, too. After a stressful day at work, its not uncommon for me to come home and eat 4-5pcs of deep dish pizza and then a dozen medium size cookies. An hour later, I'll be 'hungry' again. I've also noticed that I eat out of anxiety, boredom, or just to procrastinate. I've suffered from a variety of eating issues, but binge eating was the worst thus far. At my worst, I gained 40lbs in six months. My body fat went from 20% to 35%. My poor heart! It was the worst time in my life. Thankfully, I was able to pull myself back into a fairly 'normal' realm of eating.

Coloful, my best advice to you is to forgive yourself. Forgive yourself for missing the class. Forgive yourself for eating out of frustration. It will lift the incredible burden of guilt. The less you dwell on mistakes, the less stress you'll carry. Besides being a benefit to overall emotional health, letting go of that stress will diminish the anxiety driven desire to eat.

Binging and compulsive overeating are eating disorders. Although they do not have the same ramifications as other eating disorders, they are still emotionally and physically damaging .
I have dealt with disordered eating in a variety of manifestations, including binging, compulsive overeating, eating too little, overexercising, and using laxatives to purge. My personal experience with all of this is that it truly gets better with effort. Start examining what causes you to binge, what foods are triggering, what behaviors are triggering, and start managing these situations. For awhile while I was in treatment, I kept a journal everytime I wanted to eat something. This entailed sitting down in the kitchen with a notebook and discussing my feelings before/after eating. Sometimes I still binged, but this journal helped me discover why I was doing it and helped me discover new ways to deal with my feelings.
Just my two cents, hey...
love,
Linz

I've been keeping a food journal this week. I was eating great until yesterday, the day that all seemed to go wrong! I really didn't want to write down what I ate yesterday. I didn't want to admit it to myself. But I forced myself to...and amazingly, it made me feel better. It is over, it's on paper, it's behind me. Today is a fresh new start.

I wonder if eating disorders are a little bit like addictions such as alcoholism? You can't start to fix it until you admit that you have a problem...

I wonder if eating disorders are a little bit like addictions such as alcoholism? You can't start to fix it until you admit that you have a problem...

:yes: I think so. I have been telling myself I am going to eat less / better for three years now. I just ate a whole tub of hummus. I don't know why I do these things...I have depression, yes. I am overweight which leads to bad feelings which leads to more bingeing. *sigh*

:yes: I think so. I have been telling myself I am going to eat less / better for three years now. I just ate a whole tub of hummus. I don't know why I do these things...I have depression, yes. I am overweight which leads to bad feelings which leads to more bingeing. *sigh*

:hug:

brush your teeth. That always makes me feel a little bit more in control after a binge.

Wow. Serendipity. or irony, or something...
I was feeling sorry for myself, stuffing my face with a luna bar (after a full lunch) , sat down at the computer and this is the 1st thread that pops up!

I think I need to hang out with you guys. Binge (and secretive) eating is something I have been stuggling with my whole life. It's been better since I went veg for some reason, and even better as a (aspiring) vegan, but sometimes I just start eating, when I'm not hungry... just eating and eating... it's like I'm in a trance or something and then when I'm done my last bite, I snap out of it... and feel ashamed.

Awesome idea for a thread. Just writting about it has made me feel I can resist the urge to go to the fridge/pantry right now :up:

I tend not to eat a LOT (or binge) all in one sitting, but I have lots of sittings. Sittings add up.

I'm a compulsive eater, emotional eater, secretive eater. I eat tons of junk in the car, so that nobody will see me. Candy bars, cookies, donuts, chips...something like that almost every day.

Also, food is how I deal with my feelings. Feeling sad? Ice cream will fix that. Angry? Let's get that bag of chips. Bored? Well, a snack ought to do the trick!

When my brother & I were very little, we had to go stay with my grandparents a couple of times, because my mom had a debilitating illness & couldn't take care of us for several months at a time. I can remember crying, and my grandmother saying to me, "Don't cry, honey, have a cookie." There's a recipe for emotional eating.

I do the same thing with eating in private, where no one can see the JUNK I eat... or the quantites... it gets real bad at times...

I tend not to eat a LOT (or binge) all in one sitting, but I have lots of sittings. Sittings add up.

:yes: I tend to just have a really bad day sometimes. I'll eat a big snack in the morning, then I'm not hungry for lunch, but I eat it anyway...a few hours later I am reaching for food again. By the end of the day I look like I'm 5 months pregnant and I feel sick.

This is something I struggle with too. I eat a lot when I feel sad - ie today I have eaten a whole pack of tim tams because I am feeling a bit depressed. Now I feel guilty and like I should go exercise, but I am so tired :( I feel like I have lost all my ability to control myself with certain "trigger" foods - which is basically anything that is a treat food that contains more than 1 portion in the package. Once I start eating them I feel like I've wrecked my "healthy eating" for the day so I may as well finish the pack. Its a hard cycle for me to stop. I was tempted to keep binging after the biscuits (I had a pita with hummus and alfalfa, and was about to raid the fridge for something else), but now I realise I'll just feel worse if I do so I am making myself stop. I still feel guilty though. Does any one have ideas on how to stop this?