Overcoming binging

Healthiermum · Post by **Healthiermum** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 7:45 am

So I'm writing this after a binging episode this afternoon. I just don't know what to do to prevent this. I notice that my binges come after a time of restriction and I get a really bad hunger where I could eat a plate of food and be still completely hungry. I know that these binges are causing my weight gain but don't know what to do to prevent them. I was a good weight before I started restricting and binging. The funny thing is I rarely binge on s days because for me binging is not emotional I am truly hungry. After I finish the binge I don't feel overstuffed I just feel satisfied which makes me think it's my body telling me it needs more food. Any tips on preventing these binges

Ps these binges usually happen once every 1-2 weeks and last maybe half an hour

Imogen Morley · Post by **Imogen Morley** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 8:17 am

Don't have any advice, I'm afraid, but I can at least offer my sympathy and understanding, as I've been an epic overeater for 15 years. I'm struggling with the same problem, especially on S-days. Looking forward to insightful responses of the cleverer folk here.

NoSnacker · Post by **NoSnacker** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 10:11 am

Hi there, I can surely eat dinner and keep going non stop until I could bust. I'm at a point at this moment (for this moment) disordered eating (binge) free.

I don't know, have you asked yourself are you eating enough good fats? I read another No S has a tsp of peanut butter with her meals..

I have added an egg with whatever I'm having for breakfast. Fats and Proteins might help ward off the urge to binge.

I also have some sort of fruit with dinner, orange, applesauce anything that will end the meal. Or end you meal with a cup of hot chocolate from scratch, low fat milk, tbs of cocoa powder..and splenda or stevia whichever....to me this would count as a drink allowed..but I could be wrong...what do I know

Are you getting enough sleep?

So what might a typical plate be you are eating that you feel restricted, are you eating with dieting in mind?

Remember what Reinhard said "Strictness is important. But strictness does not mean punishment!

I can totally relate to you, I rebell to feeling deprived.....

Healthiermum · Post by **Healthiermum** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 10:34 am

Thanks for your reply. I have been thinking about it since I wrote this and I think it happens when I eat as u said with diet head in mind. I start eating on salad plates instead of normal plates to lose weight faster or if I try to have most my plate filled with Freggies and not much fat I've noticed it brings it on. For instance today i woke up feeling hungry but I had a a smoothie for breakfast telling myself don't eat too much (diet head) then had a salad wrap for lunch again trying to be 'healthy' but the wrap all wrapped up just filled a salad plate. I know I never binged before dieting and I know that this is a sane way of eating I think it's just the diet head that's keeping me back. I keep eating less volume/ less dense foods and then it backfires because I then get this enormous hunger and binge. The funny thing is though afterwards I don't feel overstuffed just satisfied.

I read in the don't go hungry diet that your body has a famine reaction(to stop you from wasting away) when you lose some weight and that causes the bad hunger to get you eat more to get back to your set weight which makes a lot of sense to me I just couldn't follow the plan as it's based on intuitive eating and that just had me thinking about food too much I find this a lot easier .

I just really need the binging to stop as I know that will make weight loss a lot easier

Ps sorry this got so long

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 2:15 pm

My advice would be to go back to the regular dinner plates and don't worry so much about the fat! Fat leads to satisfaction and helps delay hunger. oolala and I are both interested in how the French (and others) eat and they certainly aren't overly concerned with minimizing fat.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 12:40 am

I think you've hit the nail on the head: you never binged before dieting.

It is VERY hard to get over bingeing while also focusing on losing weight, which is the normal reason for dieting. The focus has to be on just normalizing your eating- eating at relatively regular times, eating a combination of light and dense foods you like, valuing legitimate hunger and satiety, and releasing a sense of panic or extreme self-criticism over weight. (If you have authentic health conditions, you may have to be stricter, but be honest.)

I gently suggest you can likely not call an eating episode a binge if you aren't particularly full when you're done. It might be compulsive, but bingeing is normally eating until uncomfortably full, and often much more than a person would normally eat in a day in just a short time.

I agree not to skimp on good fats at your meals.

Have real meals, have something you consider a little decadent (besides sweets) at most meals, and really savor your food. Then vow to fill the time in between meals with LIFE beyond concern with the appearance of the body. What would you do if you were already thin and peaceful with your eating? You can't spend all your time preening and gloating over it.

What used to be important to you before you decided you weren't slim enough?

Healthiermum · Post by **Healthiermum** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 7:08 am

Thanks everyone and I think I need to apply the advise by everyone and just eat normal meals and not skimp on the fat. I wish I could just get rid of this silly diet head.

Oolala I don't have any health concerns as I'm still within the normal weight range and was just trying to maintain the weight loss I had after giving birth to my daughter when I started dieting. With the dieting though the binging started and now I'm 5-6 kilos heavier. I don't mind if I stay here as the rest is just vanity weight I just want to stop these episodes of uncontrollable eating so I don't put any more weight on as I'm now on the higher side of a healthy bmi.

Ps I do eat about a days worth of calories during my episodes which normally last 30 min or so I just don't feel particularly overstuffed afterwards. For instance yesterday I had a yoghurt, 2 eggs with cheese, chocolates, potato chips, spoonfuls of peanut butter, some biscuits all in under 20 min

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 2:27 pm

You should do fine on Vanilla, especially after we get past the holidays. It sounds like you were a reasonable eater before your pregnancy. So this is your baby's first Christmas? Congrats!

Healthiermum · Post by **Healthiermum** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 6:27 pm

Thanks for your advice oolala I appreciate it and I think you and the others are right and I need to just stick with vanilla with no modifications for the time being and stop trying to eat as if I'm on a 'diet' as I think that's what causes a the issues

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 11:07 pm

What you describe as 'binges' sounds to me like hunger, pure & simple. There are foods that in my experience leave you more satisfied & less hungry--proteins & fats, usually but also (at least that's how it works for me) things like oats or nuts/seeds. There are other foods (like the choices you're making at the moment--smoothie for breakfast, salad wrap for lunch) that although healthy could very well lead to increased hunger which might be, simply, what's happening to you.

I agree with the others: try to eat what you want, 3 balanced meals that include & follow that for a while to see how you do.

I find sugary foods or foods high in processed carbs to make me VERY hungry, almost insatiable, soon after a meal. Very different to when e.g. I have porridge for breakfast with some fruit/nuts--I then can easily go to lunch without thinking about food once.

Do you have another explanation for the 'binges' you describe? Do you feel it's emotionally motivated in any way, or anxiety-driven? Or is it a response to increased hunger?

Healthiermum · Post by **Healthiermum** » Sun Dec 22, 2013 1:00 am

Thanks for your response. No no other signs apart from increased hunger.

MJ7910 · Post by **MJ7910** » Sun Dec 22, 2013 11:32 pm

Honestly, bingeing for me was just a matter of time and comfort with noS before it went away. I used to be very diet-head. I used calorie tracking website, was very restrictive, etc. So of course when I started noS, it was a lot of learning how "normal" people live. They are not fixated on food 24/7 or constantly thinking about calories. When given an S day, they don't view it as an opportunity to go crazy. Moderation is just normal for them. Not anything they get nervous about, if they are "doing it right". For me, it has taken a while to learn it is ok to not eat a lot on Sdays. I used to treat it like my last meal on death row. Now it is a lot better and I think a lot more on Sdays and can walk away and say truthfully that I am not hungry, move on. If it is happening on Ndays, maybe you feel rebellious against the system and need to adjust it a little. What works for me is now if I have a failure on an Nday, I rate it. Sometimes, the failure is minor, like 1 out of 10. That keeps me from feeling like just because I messed up that I don't have to make it full out overeating. Maybe experiment with that. Why do you just not want to follow the system sometimes, and what can you do to keep it from getting really bad?

Over43 · Post by **Over43** » Tue Dec 24, 2013 9:10 pm

I still binge, occasionally embarrassingly so.

Anais Nin quote = Excellent.