Binge eat. Woman lying on a grey couch wearing a pink shirt. She's holding her stomach and in pain.

Ways You Hurt Your Body When You Binge Eat

8 Comments / Eating Disorder Recovery, Mental Health, Stop Binge Eating / By /
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We’ve all overeaten at some point, then dealt with the pain and regret afterward. Can you imagine suffering through that every day? Sadly, that’s the reality for people who binge eat, but they have much more to worry about than just stomachaches.

In this post, I’ll talk about the symptoms of overeating and binge eating, how you can reduce them, and when it’s time to seek help.

Is it a Problem to Binge Eat?

Binge eating isn’t simply eating too much at dinnertime. It’s defined as overeating past the point of discomfort while feeling out of control. Binge eating disorder is the most common eating disorder and has a huge impact on our mental and physical health.

Many people who struggle with binge eating fall into a cycle of binging and restrictive eating or dieting. But even when making an effort to eat well, binge eating can have many negative side effects. Also, this endless cycle can wind up consuming one’s life.

Symptoms of Overeating

Eating large volumes of food, especially high-calorie and hard-to-digest food, upsets the digestive tract. You may experience heartburn, bloating, and constipation afterward. It also causes severe discomfort or pain during and after binging.

The food can also end up weighing you down. You may feel tired, heavy, or downright ill due to fullness. Some people find during a food binge, they get uncomfortably warm and start sweating as well.

Since binge eating is often paired with feelings of shame and failure, it can have a poor effect on your mental health. You may find yourself withdrawing from your loved ones, so they don’t know about your eating. Supportive relationships which would otherwise help you are avoided. This isolation can lead to an onset of depression.

Generally, a binge eater will eat far too many calories to burn off. If your overeating leads to weight gain, it can bring on anxiety and make you want to isolate yourself even more. Weight gain can also cause other problems, like high blood pressure, a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, and heart disease.

When battling with binge eating disorder, it’s easy to develop a poor body image. You begin to lose trust in your body and mind when food is around. Poor body image can lead to body dysmorphic disorder, making us see ourselves as ugly when we’re not ugly at all.

Also, binge eating disorder can lead to other eating disorders, like bulimia, to reduce the effects of the binge. This can be done to control weight and also to punish yourself for binging. Bulimia is far more dangerous than binge eating disorder, with symptoms such as nutritional deficiency, heart failure, and kidney failure.

What to Do After You Have a Food Binge

After overeating, it’s important to try to make yourself as comfortable as possible. Lay down in a relaxing spot, with some pillows if you want, wearing loose-fitting clothes. When you can, try to drink some water or peppermint tea.

Do not use compensatory behaviors like starving, over-exercising, or self-induced vomiting after a food binge. When you wait it out, you’ll find relief without hurting your body more. It just needs to take a little time.

Also, be compassionate to yourself when you overeat. There’s no need to punish yourself simply because you didn’t follow your diet plan. This won’t solve anything and can make you more stressed, which can lead to more binging. Forgive yourself for binging and move on.

For a more detailed list of ways to relieve the discomfort of overeating, check out my post, 7 Helpful Tips to Recover from a Binge.

“Nourishing yourself in a way that helps you blossom in the direction you want to go is attainable, and you are worth the effort.”- Deborah Day Click To Tweet

When to Seek Help if You Binge Eat

There are many reasons why a binge eater should seek professional help. Here are a few:

  • You’re developing thoughts of self-harm.
  • It’s keeping you from having a happy life.
  • You feel ill after eating.
  • Your weight is becoming an issue.
  • Your binge eating has created other mental illnesses or addictions.
  • It’s worsening or turning into another eating disorder.
  • You want to feel well again.

You are worthy of recovery, even if you’re a healthy weight. If you find that your binge eating is taking a toll on your life, seek the help of a dietician, doctor, or psychologist. If none of these are available to you, look for a supportive family member or friend. Having someone who you can trust to talk to will help.

In recovery, you’ll get to know why you binge and how to feel hunger and fullness again. You’ll find out how to respect your body, show it compassion, and forgive it for not being perfect.

Lastly, if you are at risk for self-harm, please seek help immediately.

Making Peace with Food

Weight Loss for Binge Eaters Logo. Main course picture for Weight Loss for Binge Eaters mini-course. It features the title in bold white letters next to a picture of Ang. She's wearing a navy blue blouse and has long, wavy brown hair. She has her hand on her hip and is smiling. The background is a gradient between dark and medium blue-green. There is a yellow "on sale now" sign at the bottom with the price discounted from $97 to $27

Weight Loss for Binge Eaters

Weight Loss for Binge Eaters is a course designed to help you overcome your binge eating and lose weight in a way that promotes total wellness.

You’ll learn how to lose weight healthily, along with the most effective technique to stop binging for good.​

What You’ll Learn:

Stop Binge Eating

  • Eating trigger foods without binging on them.
  • Stopping your cravings to binge eat.
  • Comforting yourself without using food.
  • What to do if you binge.

Lose Weight

  • Eating in a way that promotes healthy, sustainable weight loss.
  • Making a weight loss plan you can actually stick to.
  • The best habits you should have for losing weight.

Live Well

  • Eating for your mental and physical well-being.
  • Getting in shape without hating your workouts.
  • Drop down to a healthy weight in a way that promotes total wellness.

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In Summary

When we binge eat, we can cause serious harm to our bodies. There are many symptoms of overeating, such as weight gain, depression, digestive problems, and poor body image. The best way to find relief after binging is to get yourself comfortable and wait it out.

If your binge eating is causing you emotional or physical pain, do what you can to get help. Even if you feel like you’re not sick enough to need treatment. Getting help will lead you on the path to wellness so you can live your best life.

That’s it for now everyone. If you’ve found some value in this post, please share it to inspire others too! Thanks!

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8 thoughts on “Ways You Hurt Your Body When You Binge Eat”

    1. Ang

      Absolutely! I think without self-compassion I would still be weighed down with depression and eating disorders. It’s valuable in recovery

  2. Keith

    Ang, good post. One of my favorite words is “sustainable” especially when it used to define eating or exercise programs. Binge eating is not sustainable. As a long time yo-yo weight loser/ gainer, the key over the last six years for me has been getting to a sustainable steady state.

    I eat smaller portions which is the key. And, I eat a dessert as one of my snacks later. I do eat snacks throughout the day, but they are small, as well. I eat a couple of dates, a piece of cheese, an apple, a small yogurt, etc. The same goes for exercise.

    Binge eating is just a bad path to go down as it stretches your stomach and leaves you hungry at later times. If someone has these impulses, talking with a counselor will help. Depression can lead to binge eating.

    I love your posts as they are helpful.

    1. Ang

      Thanks Keith! My eating is similar. I enjoy the foods I like in moderation and don’t feel guilty for doing so. It’s great 🙂

  3. Helen

    very informative post! binge eating is often overlooked as an eating disorder . and yet there are many who suffer fromot to some degree. and guilt after eating so called bad food is very real

    1. Ang

      Definitely! I hate how some foods are made to be almost a crime to eat. If I enjoy eating something it shouldn’t be wrong.

      1. Helen

        Yes that is true! There’s this dietitian that I follow on Instagram who is a huge proponent of that very issue. She is always saying that there is no sure thing as ‘bad’ or ‘good’ food. Really it is how much you eat and what you do that really matters. You can eat junk food and fast food or whatever. You probably shouldn’t eat too much of it but it’s definitely not going to kill you have a piece. And you shouldn’t just eat all veggies or all meat. Definitely need a balanced diet& that includes a little bit of everything from all of the food groups on the food pyramid.

        1. Ang

          That’s how I feel about food as well. It’s super freeing when you can enjoy foods without guilt and also satisfy cravings.

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