Bulimia w/o purging?

I almost posted in the binge eating section ... because that is what i do. I binge eat. I don't purge. However, I do fast. 3 days is a norm for me. My fasts usually involve coffee and maybe a couple drinks in the evening. Sometimes I don't fast, but usually I do, because normally it's the only way I can end the binge. I'd rather end the binge by just going back to normal eating, but it doesn't work. It slips back into a binge. Only when I fast does the binge stop. And sometimes I feel like I am bingeing and not enjoying it ... I am just doing it to find an excuse to fast! Because when I fast I feel safe from food, but you can't fast indefinitely usually. I've made it 10 days before. Not so fun, and I am very athletic, so it harmed my competitive athletic endeavors.

The binges are usually 1-3 days, 1-3 times a month. So, I don't feel like they are ruining my life. But the fact that they are so regular ... it really gets my self-esteem down and makes me feel out of control ... and worse, like I NEED to binge and can't stop. It frustrates me that my weight stays the same always, too. I'm 125 lbs and 5'3". My body has fully adjusted to this sort of behavior it seems.

But anyway, there is so little literature on bingeing and fasting. Most is focused on purging (something I do not do and can't do). Does anybody else here use fasting or restricting instead of purging? How have to broken the pattern? Do you have any insights on it?

Hey,

The word 'purging' does not necessarily mean puking. A 'purge' is defined as any adverse reaction to a binge. So, you very much still have Bulimia here because your fasting in response to your binges IS, in fact, you purging. Other types of purging include rigorous exercising, abuse of laxatives, and drinking excessive amounts of water in an attempt to 'flush' the food out of the body.

Does that answer your question?

Take care,
Kevin

I am the same, I binge eating but I do not make myself sick afterwards.
You can still be bulimic, I guess its just not as bad that we dont throw up, but doesnt mean we are any better/worse off.

I have been battling this for 13 years (I am 27). I think there is no solution except find the best psychologist you can and get treatment pronto. it will not fix itself


good luck

Hey again CherryRipes, I didn't know that you are 27. I'm 25 at the moment, but have only had Bulimia for about 4 years now. I cannot imagine what I would be like now if I had it for as long as you. You must be a tough spirit!

Kevin

Thanks Kevin. I cant believe I have had it so long either.

Thats why I urge everyone to get professional help!

The reason I have let it carry on so long was that I thought I could make it go away by myself once i reached my perfect weight. Yeah right.

For people like us, the 'perfect weight' doesn't exist, right? You think you have it, but then you set a new target, and the cycle continues. I actually know another lady here who has had Bulimia for a few decades, so she 'beats' us both!

Kevin

Hi Sophie,

I have issues with purging too. For me, I only throw up on occasion, usually after I've eaten a very greasy meal or a weird combination of junk food that makes me feel so utterly disgusted that I just can't keep it in. I went through a period where I was purging quite regularly, or chewing-and-spitting food, and I became scared with what I was doing. I'm terrified of the side-effects purging can cause. I've been trying to stop it, but it's hard. I still can't hold back on getting something out of my stomach if I get it in my head that it really shouldn't be in there.

However, it can be difficult to purge if someone's around, and there's almost always someone around at dinner time, when I'm most prone to binging. If I can't get it up in a short amount of time, it drives me insane, but there's nothing I can do about it... so I take the next day to fast. I'll drink a lot of water whenever I get hungry, but the hunger pains can become so intense that I cave and eat something small, so I make up for it by working out. This usually turns into days of restricting; I ate too much the day prior, so I need to eat less the next.. but then it's still too much, so I just keep extending it.

I really feel like there's no cure for this, that'll I'll never be happy with being a normal weight. When I lose weight I feel so good. If I start gaining it again, I feel disgusting and hate myself. I'm currently 163cm at 108 lbs and I feel very 'fat-skinny'. Like my metabolism is so screwed up now that when I eat regularly, my body just stores it as fat around my stomach and thighs, and I feel flabby. So in my mind, there's no way I can go back to eating more than 900 calories a day and being ok with it, because it'll just make me incredibly fat and I've forever doomed myself from my extreme-restricting.

yeah i am the same. except i do purge by vomiting occasionally. i binge for a few days, starve for a few or a week, then repeat, then repeat, then repeat. add a few binge-purges in there every few weeks and there you go-thats my diet. i cant have moderation. it's so frustrating. at least my weight stays reasonably stable.

It does not qualify as bulimia if it does not include purging.

Yep, but a purge can be anything from drinking copious amounts of water, to exercising vigorously, to laxative abuse, and to vomitting.

sixty-six wrote:However, it can be difficult to purge if someone's around, and there's almost always someone around at dinner time, when I'm most prone to binging. If I can't get it up in a short amount of time, it drives me insane, but there's nothing I can do about it... so I take the next day to fast. I'll drink a lot of water whenever I get hungry, but the hunger pains can become so intense that I cave and eat something small, so I make up for it by working out. This usually turns into days of restricting; I ate too much the day prior, so I need to eat less the next.. but then it's still too much, so I just keep extending it.

Then you should try not to binge when people are around. If you pick a time when you know that no-one will be around, then 'look forward' to the time because you'll get to binge then. Otherwise, if people are around, try to just eat as normally as possible. Currently, this is the way that I am coping with my bulimia, and it has allowed me to just get on with my life and not allow the bulimia to ruin everything.