Binge eating disorder (BED) involves eating large amounts of food, often compulsively, in a short period. It can lead to health issues, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.
Binge eating disorder is the most common type of eating disorder in the U.S. Binge eating is characterized as eating large amounts of food in a short period, typically under two hours.
People with binge eating disorder often eat large portions in one sitting. They may also experience compulsive eating — loss of control over how much or how often they eat.
Unlike bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder doesn’t involve compensatory behaviors — i.e., people don’t tend to over-exercise, use laxatives, or make themselves vomit after binge eating. However, some patients with BED also have other eating disorders, such as bulimia nervosa.
Binge eating can range from mild (one to three episodes a week) to extreme (more than 14 episodes a week).
Since those with the condition tend to eat both large amounts of food and foods high in sugar and fat, binge eating disorder can lead to weight gain and related health problems like:
Obesity
Type 2 diabetes
Heart disease
High blood pressure (hypertension)
In extreme cases, the disorder might result in stomach rupture.
Binge eating can also contribute to low self-esteem, poor body image, and mental health problems like anxiety and depression. The condition can greatly affect your emotional well-being and quality of life.
Binge eating is treatable, though, with a combination of therapy, lifestyle interventions, and sometimes medication.
Generally speaking, if you binge eat at least once a week for three months, you may have binge eating disorder.
Other binge eating disorder symptoms include:
Not having control over how much you eat
Eating when you’re not hungry
Overeating past feeling full
Eating food quickly when binge eating
Eating alone in secret
Feeling ashamed or guilty after a binge-eating episode
FYI, though the two conditions are linked, not everyone with binge eating disorder has obesity, and not everyone with obesity has binge eating disorder.
It’s not fully understood what causes binge eating disorder, but there are some theories and contributing factors.
Binge eating disorder may be caused by:
Genetics
Changes in brain chemicals
Depression or emotions like stress, anger, or sadness
Restrictive diets or skipping meals, which can lead to extreme hunger and overeating
Childhood trauma or comments about your weight or eating habits
There may not be a specific trigger for a binge episode, but episodes could be triggered by hunger, stress, or negative emotions.
Binge eating disorder can affect anyone at any age. But there are a few factors that can increase your risk of developing the disorder.
BED risk factors include:
Having a family history of binge eating disorder
Being female — binge eating disorder is more common in women than men
Having type 1 or type 2 diabetes — perhaps because of the increased focus on food and weight
Experiencing childhood trauma or abuse
Having obesity as a child
Psychological traits such as perfectionism or poor mood
Substance abuse
Being on a highly restrictive diet
Participating in elite sports
If you or a loved one are at risk for developing BED and have had recent episodes of binge eating, get in touch with a healthcare provider.
To diagnose binge eating disorder, a healthcare provider will probably start by asking about your eating behaviors.
This might include questions about:
How much you eat during binge-eating episodes
How often these episodes occur
How long the episodes last
How quickly you eat during these episodes
How you feel before, during, and after these episodes
They may also ask whether you have any family members with binge eating disorder or whether you do any compensatory behaviors, such as purging, restrictive dieting, or extreme exercise.
You may also be asked to fill out a questionnaire — such as the Binge Eating Scale — to help assess your eating habits and diagnose the disorder.
A healthcare provider may also do a physical exam. This could include checking your:
Weight
Body mass index (BMI)
Waist circumference
Blood pressure
In some cases, patients might be asked to do a blood test or urine test to diagnose obesity or related medical conditions.
The good news about binge eating disorder is that it is treatable. With the right treatments — or the right combination of treatments — you can see a reduction or a complete stop in binge-eating episodes.
A healthcare provider can recommend the best treatments for you. They might also refer you to other health professionals like a nutritionist, registered dietitian, or therapist.
Here are some treatment options for binge eating disorder.
Psychotherapy (talk therapy) is usually a first-line treatment for those with mild-to-moderate symptoms of binge eating disorder, specifically cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
CBT can be used to identify patterns and triggers that may lead to binge eating.
From there, you can work with a therapy provider to come up with ways to modify that behavior or avoid those triggers. If you’re dealing with negative emotions around your relationship with food, you can also work through those.
Depending on what triggers overeating, another type of therapy that can be utilized is interpersonal therapy. Let’s say, for example, feeling disconnected from loved ones leads you to binge. This form of therapy for binge eating can help you work on your interpersonal skills and relationships so binging no longer happens.
You might also find group therapy or support groups for folks with binge eating disorder helpful.
Find out what — if anything — triggers episodes of binge eating.
This could be:
Anger
Anxiety
Boredom
Sadness
Skipping meals
Once you have an idea of your triggers, you can take steps to manage them.
For instance, you could focus on lowering your stress levels by journaling, meditating, doing regular exercise, and getting enough sleep. Or you might make lifestyle changes, if possible, like cutting back at work or hiring more childcare.
You could make it a habit to stop skipping breakfast, prepare nutritious meals ahead of time, and eat enough food throughout the day to reduce your odds of overeating from extreme hunger.
Managing triggers can also be useful when learning how to stop binge eating at night. You might find you overeat in the evenings through habit, boredom, or when you’ve worked through your lunch break and had a stressful day.
If you’ve found that certain emotions, people, or places trigger binge-eating episodes, take steps to avoid or minimize these as much as you can.
Weight loss medications might help those with binge eating disorder in a few ways.
They can help with weight loss and weight management if binge eating has led to excess weight or obesity.
Some drugs may also help by:
Reducing your appetite
Helping you feel fuller
Curbing food cravings
Reducing food noise (ongoing obsessive thoughts about food)
Weight loss medications include both pills and injections. Medications sometimes used for weight loss include Ozempic®, Wegovy®, and compounded GLP-1s.
Oral medications include Rybelsus®, metformin, and topiramate (which may reduce binge eating while promoting weight loss).
Lisdexamfetamine dimesylate, sold under the brand name Vyvanse®, is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for those with moderate-to-severe binge eating disorder. (It’s also used to treat ADHD, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.)
It’s unclear how this binge-eating medication works, but clinical trials show it can reduce the number of binge episodes per week.
If you’re dealing with depression along with binge eating disorder, a medical provider may also recommend an antidepressant, such as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). These include:
Fluoxetine (Prozac®)
Escitalopram (Lexapro®)
Sertraline (Zoloft®)
Taking an antidepressant might help treat the root cause of binge eating disorder or help you feel better as you seek other treatments.
It’s not always possible to prevent binge eating disorder, but there are steps you can take to reduce your odds of developing the condition.
To minimize the frequency of binge-eating episodes, you can:
Eat regular meals and enough nutritious foods
Practice mindful eating — being more present when eating, thinking about when and how much you eat, and only eating when hungry
Manage common triggers like stress, loneliness, and sadness
Try to avoid becoming preoccupied with your body weight or shape — this may lead to dysfunctional eating habits or restrictive dieting
Get support and treatment for mental health conditions, like anxiety and depression, or substance use disorders
Overeating every now and again is normal and nothing to worry about. It doesn’t automatically mean you have binge eating disorder, so you don’t need to panic and Google “Do I have an eating disorder?!”
However, if you regularly find yourself binge eating and unable to control your food intake, reach out to a healthcare provider for support. Therapy, medication for binge eating, weight management drugs, and lifestyle interventions might help.
Binge eating disorder is nothing to be ashamed of. It’s treatable, and getting treatment can greatly improve your health — physical, mental, and emotional.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. The information contained herein is not a substitute for and should never be relied upon for professional medical advice. Always talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits of any treatment. Learn more about our editorial standards here.