Before we discuss what you should do after you binge eat, we need to first clarify what exactly binge eating means. Understanding this is important in helping you recognize your own eating behaviour.
So, let’s talk about what binge eating means.
Binge eating can be usefully defined as “eating uncontrollably”. The definition extends a little beyond this, in that it can be defined as eating a large amount of food in a short period of time accompanied by a sense of loss of control 1Fairburn, C. G. (2013). Overcoming binge eating. London, UK, Guilford Press.
We can distinguish between two types of binge eating episodes:
The first is objective binge eating – this is when a person eats a very large amount of food (usually around 2,000 calories) in a period of ~2 hours or so, accompanied by a sense of loss of control.
The second is subjective binge eating – this is when a person eats an amount of food that isn’t perceived by others as large but is also accompanied by a sense of loss of control.
There is also a wide range of features that accompany both types of binge eating. These include:
- Eating at an unusually quick rate
- Eating until feeling uncomfortably full
- Eating in the absence of hunger
- Eating in secret due to feelings of embarrassment
- Feeling disgusted and ashamed after the episode
I’ve binged – what do I do now?
We’ve discussed a range of strategies you could implement to prevent binge eating. Now, let’s turn our attention toward what you can and should do after an episode of binge eating. These strategies will not only be useful for preventing further binge eating episodes but may also be useful for helping you deal with the emotions and thoughts experienced after an episode.
Let’s break these techniques up into the “do’s” and “don’ts”
What to do after a binge
1. Stick to the plan
Two fundamental strategies needed to break binge eating are self-monitoring and eating at regular, flexible intervals.
Recall that self-monitoring (if done properly and thoroughly) is useful because it provides important information about the nature of your binge eating while regular eating (i.e., eating 3 meals and 3 snacks, spaced 3-4 hours apart) is important for addressing the rigid dietary restraint behaviours that are causing you to binge2Fairburn, C. G. (2008). Cognitive behavior therapy and eating disorders. New York, NY, Guilford Press..
So, if you’ve had a binge, then you need to ensure you stick to the plan. That is, continue monitoring – write down why you binged, what you were thinking and feeling before and after the episode, what you ate, and where you were. This will help you give that vital information needed to move forward, prevent any future set-backs, and break the cycle.
But more importantly, stick to the regular eating schedule. If you’ve binged sometime during the day, then that shouldn’t mean that you’ve finished eating for that day. You may feel guilt or shame. This is normal. But you need to plan your next meal or snack in around 3-4 hours’ time and you need to eat again at that time.
The reason for this is that if you were to restrict yourself for the rest of the day (because of the guilt you’re experiencing), there’s a good chance that you’ll binge again later that night.
Sticking to the plan and not “giving up” for that day is pivotal for preventing any further binges on that same day. And yes, you’re probably not going to be hungry a few hours after your episode. That’s fine. Still eat a small snack. Remember, you’re not eating for hunger purposes – you’re eating this snack to prevent any future binge eating occurrences!
2. Be present and productive
When people binge, they experience a whole host of negative thoughts and emotions. The worst thing to do is to be passive. By that, I mean sitting in your guilt, shame, and despair.
Sitting in it will likely give you an urge to either binge again or to compensate.
You need to be active and do something about it. This is the secret to recovering from your binge.
Doing something that is independent of food and eating that will occupy your attention and will allow you to drown out those negative thoughts, emotions, and urges. Eventually, enough time will pass where you’re ready to move on from the episode and instead focus on other important things that in life.
Some nice distracting tasks could be:
- Drawing
- Gaming
- Journal writing
- Walking
- Calling a friend
- Catching up on emails
- Meditation
- Go to sleep
What not to do after a binge
1. Diet harder
People usually consume a lot of calories during a binge eating episode.
This causes people to feel incredibly guilty about their behaviour and there is often an immediate fear of weight gain.
Because of this, it’s very common for people to commit to going on an even stricter diet after the episode is finished. For example, after a binge on the weekend, someone may feel that in the coming weeks they need to either eliminate carbohydrates, eat at a much lower calorie deficit, detox, or ramp up any other self-imposed diet rules to undo the effects of the binge.
This is the worst possible solution.
Why?
Because you’re setting yourself up for another episode in the future, then another commitment to diet, and then even more binge eating. The cycle never ends if dieting harder is your solution.
So, rather than committing to another diet, it would be much more beneficial to take a more flexible or intuitive approach to eating, where you remove any diet rules you have and include as many food types (in moderation) into your diet as possible. This will allow you to remove the “on and off” nature of your eating behaviour, avoid typical weight fluctuations, and enable a healthier relationship with food.
2. Catastrophize
After a binge, people tend to think in all-or-none terms.
They think that they’re a failure, that their day’s ruined, and that there’s no hope for change.
This couldn’t be further from the truth.
You need to take a balanced approach to this situation. Recognise and acknowledge any slip-ups. If you acknowledge your behaviour and own it, then you can move on more adaptively. Doing so will also prevent you from feeling the need to “start fresh on Monday”.
Take action immediately after that episode. Move on. Be strong. Use positive self affirmations.
Your hard work hasn’t been undone by one minor episode.
3. Compensate
There’s no good reason to engage in compensatory behaviours (e.g., taking laxatives, self-induced vomiting) after a binge. Compensatory behaviours are ineffective methods to undo the effects of a binge3Kaye, W. H., et al. (1993). “Amount of calories retained after binge eating and vomiting.” American Journal of Psychiatry 150: 969-969..
Practising these behaviours can only be negative. For example, not only are they physically damaging, but they tend to just add fuel to your weight and shape concerns and desire to diet (the factors causing you to binge in the first place).
In addition, some compensatory behaviours like self-induced vomiting leave you feeling very hungry. Being hungry after you’ve binged is a major problem when your eating behaviour is so chaotic. This is because there’s a high probability of you starting a new binge eating episode.
If you’ve got an urge to compensate, just ride it out. Urges disappear over a short period of time. If you’re able to ride it out, then the urge should dissipate. Engaging in some of these activities mentioned above should help you get rid of the urge. Again, it comes back to being proactive.
Experiencing an episode of binge eating isn’t pleasant. It can cause a range of negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. You can implement some of these techniques to mitigate the perceived damage of your prior episode and prevent the onset of future episodes.
As always, this takes practice and patience. Be kind to yourself and acknowledge that it will take some work.
Let me know in the comments how you dealt with your last binge eating episode.
You can also check out my recent guest blog post detailing 4 evidence-based tips for managing binge eating over the holiday season.
References
Thank you for theses tips and the explanations that go along with them. I forgave myself and looked
Back on why I did this. I was out and about too long without a meal/snack and became ravenous. I’m learning and trying not to throw in the towel.
Love the attitude Julie!
I don’t know what to do. I’ve gained so much weight because of the bingeing. Sometimes I don’t even have a reason for doing it. I just do it. And the weight gain fuels then because I don’t recognise and can’t accept this bigger person. I was once big, lost it all in a healthy way and realised how athletic I am. Now I’m back to where I started. It makes me feel hopeless because I don’t want to binge, but deep down I do. I just want to carry on and on eating certain foods. And I live with my parents so a lot of it are usually hear. In the past I was super self controlled. Would barely touch it. Now it’s literally 25 pounds later. I never imagined leaving school and three months later looking like this. Now all I do is cry and am semi depressed most of the day and my parents don’t know what to do so they either scold me or leave me alone.
Hello Charis,
I can understand the difficult situation you see yourself in. It is definitely tough, but do know that you’re not alone in this journey. It might be very important to seek professional help from a mental health expert via face-to-face sessions.
As a starting point, please visit the “get help” page on this website.
Regards,
Jake
Hey Charis, I’m legit struggling with the same exact thing. If you want, feel free to text me and maybe we can be accountability partners and just support each other. 484-280-3627.
I have struggled with binge eating and have big digestive issues that have cause me to be hospitalised
I know why I binge finacial stress, being bored and home alone. I’m also in a relationship that is not healthy.
My binging has kept my weight over 200 pounds since I was 14. I don’t know what to do. My ideal weight is 130 and it feels like I will never achieve a normal body. I feel like more and more of a failure each day. It doesn’t help that I have multiple deformities. Obesity on top of tbd, wide feet, obvious fetal alcohol syndrome, among many other things just serve to lower my self esteem more. The torment for all of this has only worsened my binge eating. I stay home out of fear of being around people. I can’t be in public. I can’t be seen. It’s all too difficult now.
Thank you for sharing your story. I can appreciate the difficulty you are facing. Do try to implement some of the evidence-based strategies discussed throughout this website. They may be very helpful for the situations you are describing.
Hi Starla,
I want to start by saying i am not a medical professional, just a person who cares. I just wanted to reach out because I could feel your pain through your words. I believe that we look and feel the most beautiful when we find peace within ourselves. It really helps to find a therapist you connect with and trust. I also believe getting touch with your spiritual self can help too. Do more things you love and that make you happy. I think we look and feel like the most beautiful versions of ourselves when we do things that make us the happiest and that we’re passionate about .
Remember, sometimes we think we’ll find peace and happiness once we finally achieve our goals and look the way we want on the outside… but it’s the other way around. You can and will achieve your goals and feel beautiful inside and out once you find peace and harmony within yourself. Walking, yoga, meditation, doing hobbies that make you happy, music, spending time with people you love, finding spirituality, volunteering to help others and working with a great therapist are just a few things that could help. Starla you are beautiful and worthy and deserving of all of the best things in life. Don’t give up. Work on the things that matter like finding inner peace and happiness first. Everything else will fall in to place after that. Sending you love, strength and healing.
Hi Starla,
I want to start by saying I am not a medical professional, just a person who cares. I just wanted to reach out because I could feel your pain through your words. I believe that we look and feel the most beautiful when we find peace within ourselves. It really helps to find a therapist you connect with and trust. It was life changing for me. I also believe getting touch with your spiritual self can help too. Do more things you love and that make you happy. I think we look and feel like the most beautiful versions of ourselves when we do things that make us the happiest and that we’re passionate about .
Remember, sometimes we think we’ll find peace and happiness once we finally achieve our goals and look the way we want on the outside… but it’s the other way around. You can and will achieve your goals and feel beautiful inside and out once you find peace and harmony within yourself. Walking, yoga, meditation, doing hobbies that make you happy, music, spending time with people you love, finding spirituality, energy healing, volunteering to help others and working with a great therapist are just a few things that could help. Starla you are beautiful and worthy and deserving of all of the best things in life. Don’t give up. Work on the things that matter like finding inner peace and happiness first. Everything else will fall in to place after that. Sending you love, strength and healing.
Thanks Jake,
I just realised today that I have binge eating disorder. I knew my relationship to food was messed up and I don’t think anyone knows. I can see this has affected a lot of other bings in my life- intimacy, self esteem, being preoccupied and not being free to fully enjoy my life. I’m 53 and this has been going on since I was a teenager. It’s a terrible waste of a lot of my life. I hope your advise can help me, good luck also to your other readers. Liz.
Thank you for sharing Liz. I do hope that you benefit from the content presented at Break Binge Eating.
Thank you for this article. What do you think about planned binges? The binges aren’t so much big calorie binges, but they take the place of a regular meal. For example, I have a bad habit of eating a block of chocolate/packet of TimTams etc for dinner when my husband is on night shift. I used to have dinner and have the chocolate or whatever else afterwards, but now I figure I might as well skip the dinner if I’m going to get so many kj from the chocolate. There are foods I enjoy eating and crave a lot, so I give in to them and skip most of my other normal meals and just have the fun food instead. I’ve looked into macro nutrients and tried to follow levels for my height/weight/activity, but that involves tracking everything on an app, analysing food and trying to follow special recipes and I’m a time poor over-analyser if there ever was one. Sorry, just complaining a lot here, but it’s nice to get it off my chest.
Thank you.
Hello,
Planned binges are common. We typically see these among people who have “cheat meals”. It’s not recommended to plan a binge because it can turn into a habit that persists over long periods. Skipping meals or counting calories can be red flags. It might be worth slowly weaning off these techniques to see if that positively impacts your susceptibility to your binge episodes.
I’ve been bulimic since I was 17 and a partner cheating on me triggered a lot of dormant relationship trauma I witnessed between my parents as a kid. For some reason I took it out on my body. I’m 28 now and feel more on top of it than ever but holy sh*t sometimes disordered eating overtakes me. Like tonight. I feel pinned to the couch, I’ve eaten everything in a friends fridge in a total state of out of control dissociative panic . I came on here to try to cultivate some self forgiveness & I think I have. Some days are so beautiful I can’t believe that just days before I could have been questioning whether anything was worthwhile, so I know to just wait it out. I want to send everyone on here some love.
Thank you for sharing this story, Lana. I am pleased to hear that you started to practice some self-forgiveness and love. I also hope that other people benefit from the story that yo just shared.