How come some people stress binge and some people stress starve?

[deffonamechange]

I'm having a bad time at moment with a lot of stress and all I do is comfort eat...can't stop eating crisps..cake..choc..stodge..lost all willpower.
So along with life being shit I've put 10lbs on!

My sister is having equally bad time and she cant eat, lost appetite, lost half a stone.

Obviously the big stress is more important than weight but in order to take my mind off the heavy stuff I would love to know what makes one person binge and another totally lose appetite.

I binge when I'm stressed and when I'm happy.
It's lose lose.

This is interesting. Before kids I was a starver, anything remotely stressful and I would lose my appetite. After kids I've become an eater, mostly wanting junk food instead of proper meals and picking at chocolate etc. But, my cat died the other week, which really upset me, and I lost my appetite completely. Wonder why it switches like that?

I have no idea but am one of five sisters.three binge and comfort eat and have had weight problems with being overweight. Two of us including me when stressed can’t eat. Food makes me feel physically sick and actually retch, When super stressed I survive on milkshakes made with fresh fruit and added cream and smoothies made with lots of veg.

In my teens and 20s I lost my appetite when under stress and would drop a lot of weight quickly. This led to being diagnosed with anorexia a few times but I did not have the anorexic feelings - I just felt too sick to eat and the empty feeling made me feel better. It was so normal for this to happen that when I wasn’t anxious or stressed I used to feed myself up to slightly overweight so that it wouldn’t matter so much when I dropped a stone in a few months time.

Since my 30s I have mainly gone e other way and comfort eat through stress. However, I’m currently experiencing bad anxiety and have quickly stopped half a stone from not eating properly so I do revert to my old behaviours when things get really bad.

I'm a stress eater, and I've always felt that stress starving has been presented as a "normal" thing that surely everyone understands. You know with things like trendy magazine articles that say "I was so upset that I couldn't eat", presented as if it's a given, obvious thing. I've always felt like it's some kind of cultural reference that I've never quite understood, that I must've missed something.

It depends, with me. Mild to moderate stress and depression, I tend to comfort eat. If it’s severe, I have to force myself to eat and because I generally also experience agitation (can’t sit, pacing, have to clean or sort something), I lose a lot of weight. It’s shit.

Severe stress and you can’t eat.
Mild stress/depression you comfort eat.

I do both. I started reading this thread and everyone was saying either one or the other and I thought I must be weird, but by the end of page 1 others liked me were posting. I eat my way through general daily life stresses with biscuits, chocolate and cake, especially chocolate biscuits dipped in tea because I don't even like tea very much. Then a few times this year I have had a bit of an emotional breakdown (not diagnosed as anything, not depression, not sure what to call it, mostly work-related stress but more extreme than usual) when I have barely eaten at all for a week or so and had to force myself to eat something each day. The not eating was one of the ways I recognised something was really wrong.

It is physical for me, feeling stressed makes me feel like physically being choked, it is hard to swallow as throat feels tight, so eating is unpleasant.

Same here, have had an unhealthy attitude to food for a few years, I even gag on water and feel like I can't breathe. My episodes usually last 4-5 days where I don't eat and barely drink.

I'm the same as pp moderate stress I'll comfort eat, particularly crap like chocolate and biscuits. Extreme stress makes me feel physically sick and I just don't fancy food and, believe me, that's unusual for me!

I'm another 'depends on the type of stress' eater/starver.

Minor stress and my body starts to crave carbs (which I don't normally like/eat). Something about that hollow feeling of horror can be kept at bay with baked potatoes, butter, cream - it's like you can 'fill up' the pit in your stomach and the warm comfort of food helps.

Moderate to severe stress - food is too much trouble. Even chewing is too much effort and there's a pain in your stomach that says you'll be sick if you eat, and a choke in your throat that won't let you.

That's usually how I can tell if the stress is really getting to me. If it's not, I want my dinner. If it is, then I need to watch out.

But why is it that I can drop half a stone in a few days on the 'misery diet', but it all goes back on (and more) so fast once the crisis is passed?