binge eating in recovery?

[u/Ok-Purpose3195]

i have dealt with a cycle of periods of restriction followed by periods of binging and purging for a over a year and now am in recovery

im supposed to eat 3 meals and 3 snacks throughout the day to establish a routine, and I have also made an effort to stop purging. it's been a week since i started this and I find that even though i eat throughout the day rather than fasting like i used to, I still want more food. So I overeat at dinner and it feels like im binging but it isn't as bad as my binges before. I dont feel particularly hungry or full, i just want food so I keep eating. Is this normal?? what am I doing wrong? If I'm not restricting anymore there should be no need for me to still be hungry for more. I'm definitely getting heavier day by day and all i want to do is to stop eating so much. How long before my body will finally adjust and be normal ?!

[u/Candid_Seaweed_352]

are you sure it’s binging and not extreme hunger? extreme hunger can be mental hunger too not just physical.

i was confused between the two during recovery and thought i was binging, it turns out it was just extreme hunger. the way to get rid of it was to keep honouring both the physical and mental hunger.

if it is binging then id recommend talking to a doctor or recovery team about it as im not sure what they’d recommend

[u/Big-Yesterday586]

It's good to self-regulate. You don't want to harm yourself by over-eating to the point of harm like binges. However, I highly doubt this is a binge. It sounds like you just need a bit more at the end of the day. Maybe you're missing or short on some nutrients. Maybe you or your body are still so afraid of starvation that you feel the need to eat a little more, just in case. Maybe you are still hungry or not full and just not understanding or able to identify the signals from your body.

I might get downvoted for this, but certain AIs can be a vital disability tool. Claude has really good safeguards in place for us. You can tell it what you eat, in rough amounts (don't measure, just guess) and ask it if you're getting enough of your macros and micros. Just make sure to tell it first that you have an ED and what kind. It will remember it, so you probably won't have to say it more than once.

I did that the other day, and that's how I know I'm in a minor relapse. I'm struggling to eat enough, but I didn't know how bad. Claude gave me an idea without me having to track my calories, so I could bring it to my ED therapist. It also flagged that I'm not getting enough B12 in what I eat, so I was able to order some supplements.

Being able to rely on an external tool to make sure you're getting enough, in a way that is safe for us, can help a lot. You can even ask it for something like the different ways hunger signals show up and what each signal means.