A significant part of society functions by comparing things to similiar things and when you are on a binge eating disorder journey, you quickly become aware just how incomparable these journeys are (Binge Eating Disorder Recovery Is A Personal Journey). Sometimes your recovery is going extremely well and sometimes you have a relapse. Regardless of how your recovery is going, it's completely unhelpful to be informed how someone else is doing better or worse than you are. My binge eating disorder recovery journey is not comparable to others.
Binge Eating
It's a common joke that people, particularly women, who go to college gain 15 pounds their first year (or semester, depending on who you're listening to), but when you have binge eating disorder and you go to college, the weight changes you could experience are nothing to joke about (Make Time For Binge Eating Disorder In College). Nothing is quite like the stress of college. When stress triggers your binge eating disorder at college, binges and weight gain can collide.
Spring holidays are coming up fast and when you have binge eating disorder (BED), it can be a difficult time to survive. Parties and social gatherings can trigger your binge eating disorder, relatives and friends can play any variety of roles, including food police and concern troll, and beyond all of that, there's seasonal foods that can lead to overeating or binging. Here are some tips on surviving the spring holidays with binge eating disorder.
Recent studies have revealed that people with eating disorders often engage in self-harm.1 Self-harm is defined as non-lethal harm done to the self. It can include minor burns, cutting the skin, or even knowingly engaging in the symptoms of the eating disorder. People with binge eating disorder might engage in self-harm.
There are plenty of people who don't understand binge eating disorder (BED). Whether their misunderstanding is due to social and cultural conditioning or outright refusal to acknowledge information set in front of them, it can be difficult to navigate social situations with BED (Surviving Mental Illness Stigma in A Judgmental World). It's important to remember that it's not your job to educate anyone and sometimes, no matter what you do, people are not going to understand binge eating disorder.
When you have an eating disorder which can make you gain weight, a lot of people assume weight los is the answer to binge eating disorder (BED). As if you reach your goal weight and then you're in recovery. However, it's not that simple. Weight loss isn't the answer to binge eating disorder.
When binge eating is your coping mechanism, suffering trauma can trigger devastating binges. Although the conclusion to binge eat following upsetting events might follow naturally to someone who suffers from binge eating disorder, this is not a viable coping skill and will only lead to more problems.
People with binge eating disorder are prone to dieting, fad dieting, and even yo-yo dieting. A yo-yo diet, also known as weight cycling, is when a person loses and regains weight. This person's weight swings back and forth like a yo-yo. Medical experts have shown this rapid weight loss and gain can cause health problems and health-related risks. Although more research is needed, what is currently known about yo-yo dieting is that it doesn't lead to better health and weight management.
One question I get asked frequently about my binge eating disorder boils down to, what is a binge like? The word "binge" is used exceedingly hyperbolically and often leads to confusion both from the person using the term and the person hearing it. What does it mean to binge? How is it different from average behavior? What is it like to binge?
When you have binge eating disorder, one of the ways your disorder manifests might be through keeping binge eating disorder a secret. Sometimes it's keeping your eating hidden, other times it might take more deceptive forms, including outright lying about what you've eaten, when or how much. It's important to realize that keeping secrets can be part of binge eating disorder and needs to be addressed with a medical professional.