The Difference Between Overeating & Binge Eating (Outweigh)

OUTWEIGH: Amy has had many disordered eating behaviors over the last 25 years, binge eating being one of them. A couple of questions Amy had early on in her recovery from binge eating were: "What is the difference between binge eating and overeating?" and "How can I tell the difference between the voices of my lower brain (that causes binges) and my higher brain (that could stop me from the binges)?" She answers both of those questions from her personal experience and the tools that worked best for her. 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I won't lend my body outly, outweigh everything that I'm
made do, won't spend my life trying to change. I'm
learning to love who I am again. I'm strong, I
feel free, I know who every part of me It's
beautiful and then will always outwa if you feel it

(00:24):
with your hands in the air, she's some love to
the boom. I am there. Let's say good day and
time did you and die out? Happy Saturday? Outweigh amy
here and I am someone that has had many, many
disordered behaviors when it comes to food. But today we

(00:45):
are talking specifically about binging, which is something that I
started doing as a teenager and then in my late
thirties when I got into recovery. I had two questions
really about binging, and one was what's the difference between
binge eating and over eating? Because I really honestly didn't

(01:06):
know the difference, and being in recovery now that I
was gonna try to no longer binge anymore, what if
I over eight on something? Didn't did I just binge?
I didn't know how to tell the difference, And also
I didn't know how to tell the difference between my
lower brain and my higher brain, and I'll walk you
through how eventually I got there and tools and resources

(01:30):
that I used. And if you're new here and you
haven't heard me talk about the lower brain and it
being the reason that I ever started binging, it's something
that really resonated with me after reading the book Brain
over Binge, and in a nutshell, the lower brain is
what produces the urge to binge, at least I know
for sure it did with me, and then the higher
brain gives us the capacity to stop acting on the urges.

(01:55):
And through the book and a Brain over Binge course
that I did, I learned how to use my higher
brain to take control back from my lower brain. But
in the beginning, I don't know how to hear my
lower brain. I didn't know how to really pay attention
to it. So that might be a question that you're
having as well. And I totally recommend that you check
out the book if you want to learn more. Because

(02:16):
Katherine Hansen is the expert, not me. I can only
speak to my personal experience and to some of you,
I know that that's helpful, but I always want to
make sure that you seek advice and care from a therapist,
A doctor nutritionist or a certified health coach that specializes
in eating disorders. So after I read Brain over Binge, well,

(02:37):
actually before I read it, I knew I really wanted
to stop binging. But then after I read the book,
it finally felt possible because again what Katherine laid out
for me, it clicked, and I started to pay attention
to any excuses from my lower brain to binge because
I was now aware that the excuses were coming from

(02:59):
there and that my higher brain could be put to
use to squash them, to change the channel. I love
how Taylor Swift put it in her documentary when she
was talking about negative body image thoughts that she would
have likely from her lower brain, and then her higher
brain was like, not today, changing the channel. So I

(03:20):
knew without a doubt that those voices in my lower
brain were not aligned with my higher self and what
I really wanted, because what I really wanted was to
not binge. But then my lower brain was trying to
convince me to binge. And I was finally able to
put a stop to this behavior after almost twenty five
years of binging, and my goal in breaking free from
binges was to start to identify the messages that my

(03:44):
lower brain was sending me and then choosing to ignore them.
And Catherine calls the messages neurological junk, not worthy of
any attention. Like Taylor had shared her negative body image thoughts.
You may have all kinds of thoughts that could equal
neurological junk, but I'm talking about the ones that creep
in to possibly lead you to a binge. And in

(04:08):
order to dismiss these urges as a neurological junk, I
had to learn again how to recognize them. So I'm
going to share with you some examples that I legit
had in my own head, so that way you can
maybe start to identify them. If this is a journey
you're going to go on and you want to use
this tool to hopefully get you into recovery and on

(04:31):
the other side. So some examples would be, you know,
like just how the cookies. You can always start a
diet tomorrow for like it's a very popular one. If
your brain is ever telling you, okay, fine, who cares,
just do it tomorrow, or you've been really good lately,
you deserve to do whatever you want, or so what
if you binge, it's not that big of a deal,
and like, that's your lower brain, because guess what, it

(04:54):
is a big deal because you don't want to be
doing it anymore, at least I didn't. And so those
are some examples of neurological junk that was coming from
my lower brain. And once I was aware that that
wasn't coming from my higher self, they're easier and easier
to spot. And this that's just three examples right there.
My brain would come up with all kinds of reasons
under the sun, so you just got to identify them.

(05:18):
And so I would encourage you to make a list
of the reasons that pop up in your head to
binge and it might be helpful to write them down
and look them over. And then the next time you
hear that voice in your head, if one of those
excuses pops up, you'll know, oh, yeah, this is just
my lower brain trying to get me to do what
I've always done. And you're going to give into the urge,

(05:40):
because that's what it's been good at, convincing you to
give into the urge. However, the good news is you're
in charge. It was so empowering when I learned, oh,
a higher part of me can be in charge of
this low vibe situation that's happening in my lower brain.
My lower brain can absolutely give me the urge to
eat all at once, but it can't physically make me

(06:02):
go do it. That choice is always up to me.
Choice is up to me, it's up to you, it's
up to us. So really we just have to start
by learning to recognize the voices and the words that
hook us. Have you ever been in a relationship where
sometimes you end up doing the dance and you're in
a pattern, it's a toxic relationship. There's hooks, there's hooks

(06:24):
that lure you in to do the dance. Well, your
lower brain has you figured out and it will hook
you and the next thing you know, you'll be doing
the dance and having a binge. So again, journal out
those lower brain voices. What is it telling you, those words?
What are the hooks, and that way you can be
on the lookout for them. Now for the other question

(06:45):
I was talking about in the beginning, like what's the
difference between over eating and binge eating? I went through
a series of questions early on in recovery, because what
if I did want to eat too much, or what
if it was Thanksgiving, and I really wanted to joy something.
I didn't want to spiral into shame for binging or

(07:07):
not being in recovery like I thought I was. And
even if I were to slip or have any kind
of moment, I hope I don't have the shame. I
hope I can just acknowledge it and pick back up
and start again with my higher brain and keep on
that that neuropathway of building that muscle. So one of

(07:28):
the questions you can ask yourself, which I'll go through
a list of them, and if you answer yes to
two or more of these questions, then it could equal
a binge eating disorder. But again you're gonna want to
talk to an expert. But if you're just over eating
and think that you're binging, it may not be that severe.
It might just mean that you're enjoying food because there's

(07:51):
a difference. One of the things that was a major
indicator for me was the zoning out while eating. So
that's the first question I'll ask is have you ever
experienced loss of control when you're eating? I feel like
this is the most obvious thing for me. When I
was in a bench, it was almost like I was
a zombie or in a trance like I blacked out

(08:13):
and for an hour, I just ate all this food
and then snap, I would wake up and there would
be like boxes and rappers and stuff in the fridge
and stuff from the pantry, and I would just stare
at me like, oh my gosh, I can't believe I
just ate all of that. So if you answer yes
to this, then make note of that. And then there's
the physical pain, like have you ever had physical pain

(08:37):
after eating? And most people that have binged before have
a binge eating disorder often eat to the point of
feeling totally uncomfortable, where it's painfully full. And for me,
that's why it personally lead to a purge type situation.
And I feel like anytime I've just been over eating,
it might be a little uncomfortable or painful, but I'm

(08:59):
not ing to that point of painfully full and complete
discomfort to where I need to figure something out. So
that's another question you can ask yourself, do you experience
physical pain? If you answer yes to that, make note
of it. Do you eat in secrecy in private to
try to eat alone? Do you buy food in private?

(09:21):
I used to do that all the time. I would
make sure no one even knew that I bought the food.
I would go buy the food, eat the food, throw
away the food before anybody in my house ever knew
it was there. And I would have other foods hidden. Uh,
And a lot of it was just in secrecy. And
then I felt shame and I was embarrassed for how
much I was eating and overeating. It might happen while

(09:44):
you're with other people. You maybe don't have as much
embarrassment around it. You may even overeat at a restaurant
when you're out with your friends, might again feel a
little uncomfortable, like, oh, but that's the difference there. If
you're doing stuff in secrecy and you're saying yes to
that that question, make note of that. How do you
feel after a binge episode or an over eating episode,

(10:09):
if you're trying to tell the difference. If you have
feelings of shame, guilt, you're completely disgusted with yourself, because
that's how I would feel about myself, then that might
be a sign of binge eating, because when you overeat,
you might feel a little bit guilty about it, but
it's not consuming your mind and you're having a mental

(10:30):
breakdown over it. I used to get a little depressed afterwards,
and I had some anxiety about it because I, again,
how am I going to get rid of this? What
am I gonna do? I don't feel good. I've got
to purge, and I would try to figure that out,
and then I would often just take a shower and
then try to go to bed and pass out and
sleep for as long as I could. So, how do

(10:52):
you feel after you're eating? And if it's the mental anguish,
then it could be leaning more towards binge eating disorder.
So if it's a yes to that, please make note
of that. Another question you can ask yourself is do
you consume amounts of food that you or others might
describe as excessive? So it makes me think of, you

(11:15):
know again, holidays, Thanksgiving, birthday parties, celebrations. Everyone over eats
every once in a while, and we know what that
feels like to consume that large meal. But for those
with a binge eating disorder, the consumption of large amounts
of food happens at least once a week or more.

(11:35):
And that was pretty much my pattern. I. I sometimes
could maybe go a couple of weeks without having a
solid binge situation, depending on what I had going on.
But if your answer is yes to that, then make
note of it. And of all those questions that I
shared again, if you answered yes to two or more

(11:55):
of them, then you definitely might want to consider getting
proper help and support. So those are just some some
things to consider if you are dealing with binge eating.
And I just want you to know that you're not alone.
You have nothing to be ashamed of, and I want

(12:15):
you to know that there is hope, and I hope
that the right resources are shown to you, the right
people are put into your life to offer you that
comfort and care that you need and and will help
point you in the right direction to get you, get
you the healing that you deserve. You deserve to live
in your higher brain. You deserve to be of your

(12:37):
highest self. You deserve that life, you are worthy of it,
and your brain does not have to be consumed by
neurological junk. There is another way. So hopefully this was
helpful to some of you, and I will see you
here um on four Things podcast on Tuesday for the
fifth Thing with Cat and then next Thursday for for

(12:58):
four Things, and then if you're only an Our Way listener,
then I will see you next Saturday. Okay bye h