Confession time...I am NOT bulimic but...

[Harrumph]

...once in a while (like, maybe once every four or five years) I stupidly binge on loads of crap chocolate and then, not wanting to put on extra lard, I stick my fingers down my throat and bring it up again.

I honestly don't think it's a big deal - I'm very emotionally balanced and happy, and as I said it happens incredibly rarely. I told my DH once and he was shocked, so I'm wondering - am I the only one?

Well if you were perfectly okay and happy then a) why, even if it's not that often, end up having a binge? and b) why, if indeed it's so rare, feel like you'll gain weight and have to make yourself vomit?

Plus, why would you need to seek reassurance that you're not alone in doing this, as obviously that means you know it's not good to be doing? x

You're very unlikely to put much weight on from one binge, esp if it's once in a blue moon so you don't really need to purge to avoid weight gain.

Overindulgence is never a good thing, is it? I'm sure we all overindulge from time to time, and if I've had too much of a really good quality pudding, for example, then I'll happily leave it in my tum.

Anyway yesterday I ate a whole pack (8) of mini snickers bars - not what I'd call quality! Afterwards I just felt sick (physically, not emotionally!) and didn't fancy having to work it off at the gym.

Shrooms, I can see why you'd wonder about my seeking reassurance; to be honest I don't think it is reassurance so much as curiosity about whether other people do it too! I'm 'sorted' enough to know that once in five years is really not an emotional problem.

By the way - I really don't overindulge all that often! I mostly eat incredibly healthily but sometimes just get greedy !

HeadFairy - you're probably right about that!

I could see how it might get to be a more and more convenient way of avoiding the gym.

I think it's a bigger deal than you say. If you were truly happy with it, if you really thought it was normal, why would you feel the need to post here for validation?

As HeadFairy said, the amount of weight you would put on from bingeing once in a blue moon isn't worth the trauma that you put your body through when you purge. Purging can damage your stomach, your throat, and can also lead to acid eroding your teeth. Even if you only do it once in a while, you are still putting your body through unnecessary damage. Just to save a few calories which you could walk off easily enough.

Oh, dear, I can see where this is heading.

Okay, I'm genuinely fine and the fact that it happens once in a very blue mooon means that my teeth, oesophagus, stomach lining and heart, etc are sparkling and fine. The water pipes in my house are not going to explode under the strain (yup - happens to some bulimics) and I really am a happy, sunny woman.

I'm just curious about what other people do or don't do - it's like asking for example, do you pick your nose while thumbing through a newspaper on the train, and then leave it (bogeys intact) for the next passenger? Okay, that's a very detailed example (but real - saw it once on the Tube! Will never touch a 'left behind' paper again!).

So if this thread were asking about bogeys and newspapers it would be because I was curious about others' habits, and you probably wouldn't think I had a problem (hmmm ...maybe you would!).

So thank you WigWam and others for your concern. But I promise, my asking about sicking up crap food is pure curiosity.

oh in that case....

No seriously, you can't really post something like that on here and not expect people to have an opinion on it. If you saw that would you go "oh really? Well I roll up my snot and smear it on the wall behind the sofa"? Not really. And neither would we.