How do you know when it's binge eating?

Okay folks -- I feel like one of those old Calgon -- Take Me Away commercials




but Calgon will NOT take me away from the job, the kids, the bills, the ... whatever!  So . . . last night I came home and made lasagna -- practically a slider food.  

I didn't do any serious damage dietarily -- the roux en y assured that -- but it occurred to me that it was binging when I downed an entire bowl in about two minutes.  At some point I wanted to eat more, but there was no more room in my pouch.  

But for me, it was both the speed and intensity of the eating (and the palpable anger I felt towards above-mentioned teenagers) that helped me realize what I was doing.

Realizing it, by the way, did not STOP me.

So ... how do YOU know when you're binging?  Do you feel it coming on?  Do you know it when it's happening?  Is it only after the fact?  Is it when you don't even have any idea what you're doing because you blank out?

I always know I'm about to do it because I plan my food and when I binge, it's not planned.  So in a way it is planned because I have to think about it.  Once the idea is in my head, I will continue to go back for more until my Sleevie hurts.  I have only done this a couple of times since surgery.  What I eat, and it may just be dinner, won't be the dense protein that I had planned.  That leaves me room for more sliders. 

I think that there is such an emotional component to binge eating.  You're right, we can't do much damage because of our Pouch/Sleeve/Band but we can still do the emotional damage.  For me, I feel bad about myself afterwards because it's not how I want to process/behave/react to my life/world etc. 

Off the top, maybe it's a way to feel bad about ourselves because we are powerless to really be angry/sad/blah blah blah about what's really going on?

Lisa, is this something that happens often or once in awhile.  I had my 2 ounce nut binge last weekend and I was able to let it go but I had to write about it, talk about it and make sure that it wasn't secret eating or I might keep doing it.

We're all human.  Some people drink/gamble/shop/eat/abuse others etc.  There's those times where we just want to escape and all those years of eating lead us back to our best escape friend.... food.  Don't beat yourself up over it.  Be forgiving and if you find it happening often, think about something like OA to help with the emotions behind the food.

Sending a big box of Calgon your way along with a nanny...........

I'm not beating myself up so much as I'm fascinated by the behavior LOL

What I'm finding is that my attitude is entirely different in those moments.  You're right, if it's not planned then, in my case, it is almost always binging.  But there's a weird feel to it, almost a mild mania about getting this other (mistaken) stuff into my body.  A strange dogged determination that is entirely beyond rational thought.

I can be standing at the cabinet, SAYING to myself, I want it but I'm not going to have it -- at the same time as I am shoveling bits and pieces of it into my mouth.  I'm telling you, the part of me that's eating is NOT the part of me that's thinking!!!

I totally agree with that.  For me it's walking back to the fridge and making a parmesean cheese cracker, after dinner is over, knowing that I don't need it but it's not my rational brain that's doing it, it's my "I WANNA EAT SOMETHING ELSE BECAUSE MAYBE IT WILL FIX HOW I'M FEELING" self.

It may only be 1 oz of cheese, but I didn't need it, nor had I planned it.

Since starting Atkins almost three weeks ago, I've been pretty good in my choices and aside from those 2 oz of almonds a week ago, I'm trying to be more aware of that sort of behaviour. 

My comfort type foods were not atkins friendly.  Even just a nice crunch fugi apple is not atkins friendly.  I haven't turned to low carb bars or anything like that but notice that sometimes I really want the crunch.  I have read that the need to crunch is activated by feelings of anger that we aren't letting out vocally so therefore look for something to do with it that is more socially acceptable.... EAT!

I think it's great that we're talking about this.  I have a huge huge overwhelming fear of not getting to goal, then starting to gain again.  My Kaiser keeps stressing that 1 in 3 gain their weight back.  I am so determined not to be that "1" so I think that talking about the emotional/behavioural side of all this is so important for me.  Thanks for raising issues and being willing to be vulnerable and letting me do the same.

Follow the links to Overeaters Anonymous in my siggy.  I've seen binge eating described as eating more than considered normal in a decreet time frame.  I think its far more complex than that. 

It sounds like you were there to me.  I always know when its happening because it has nothing to do with appetite or hunger.  Anger, avoidance, boredom, anything can be a trigger.  My binges are typically low cal veg with no cal dressing.  Fullness does not slow me down so thank God for my rny and this tiny pouch.  Fear of obesity leads me to cabbage and lettuce binges.  I am the queen of the low cal binge.