For Those Who Have Struggled With Binge Eating — This One's For You

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I got a DM today that reminded me why I started my entire journey into the research space, and that was figuring out how to beat binge eating. This is a topic that's really personal to me, and I know a lot of you are going to relate.

After losing 70 lbs, I thought the hard part was over. I was wrong. The "food noise" wouldn't shut up. When I say food noise, I mean that constant mental chatter about food — thinking about your next meal when you just finished one, not being able to stop picturing food, and feeling like your brain is screaming at you to eat even when your body doesn't need it. It's not just being hungry. It's an obsessive loop that won't turn off.

I was in the gym lifting 5 days a week, doing cardio 5–6 mornings a week, making all the "right" lifestyle changes — and I was still eating myself into physical discomfort and depression every time something fatty or sugary was in front of me.

I couldn't hold myself back. And to make it worse, I actually needed to put some weight back on at that point, so it became this vicious cycle — eat way too much, feel terrible, try to fix it by eating only whole foods (unprocessed stuff like chicken, rice, fruits, vegetables), and then the food noise would just push me right back into overeating. It wasn't about willpower. It was a real problem happening in my brain.

That's actually how I found the research peptide space. For those of you who are new here — peptides are small chains of amino acids (the building blocks of protein) that can signal your body to do specific things, like reduce appetite, boost growth hormone, or improve recovery. The research peptide space is a community of people studying how these compounds work. That struggle with food noise is what sent me down this rabbit hole and eventually led to everything I've built here. So if you're in that place right now, I see you — and here are some things that have helped me stay over a year binge-free.

Tip 1: You Don't Have to Be Full 24/7 — But Don't Let Yourself Get Starving

The goal isn't to feel stuffed all day. It's to never let yourself get to the point where you're SO hungry that your brain takes over and you lose control of what and how much you eat. That "I'm so hungry I could eat anything" feeling is where binges start.

Keep your meals consistent. Try to eat 3–4 meals per day that are built around protein (things like chicken, beef, fish, eggs, Greek yogurt, protein shakes). Eat them even if you're not feeling super hungry at that exact moment. It doesn't have to be at the exact same time every day — don't stress yourself out about it. The point is just to build a loose pattern so your body always has fuel and you never hit that desperation point.

What the research says: A study on women with binge eating disorder (BED) found that when they ate high-protein foods throughout the day, their binge episodes dropped from about 3 per week down to roughly 1 per week. When they ate high-carb foods instead (things like bread, pasta, sugary snacks), the binging stayed the same (Latner & Wilson, 2004). Why does protein help? Because protein keeps you feeling full longer than carbs or fat do. It does this by raising certain amino acids in your blood that signal your brain "hey, we're good, we don't need more food right now" (Westerterp-Plantenga et al., 2009). Another study on men who were actively losing weight found that getting about 25% of their daily calories from protein — and spreading it across 3 meals instead of 6 tiny ones — gave them the best results for feeling full, especially in the evening when most people tend to overeat (Leidy et al., 2011).

Bottom line: Eating protein-focused meals throughout the day keeps your hunger hormones steady and makes it way less likely you'll hit that starving point that leads to a binge.

Tip 2: Stop Saying No to Everything

When you're trying to lose a lot of weight, the instinct is to go all-in on restriction. Cut out all the "bad" foods. Never touch sugar. Never eat out. But here's the problem — that all-or-nothing mentality is one of the biggest things that actually CAUSES binge behavior.

You don't have to say no to everything. You just don't have to overdo it. Have one cookie — not the whole box. Try a small portion of the thing you're craving and move on.

I know that sounds impossible for some of you. But the more you practice it — having a small amount of something without going off the rails — the easier it gets over time. You're literally retraining your brain.

What the research says: A major study in the journal Appetite looked at two different approaches to dieting. "Flexible dieting" means you have general guidelines but you allow yourself to eat a variety of foods — nothing is completely off-limits, you just manage portions. "Rigid dieting" means you have strict rules — certain foods are banned, you follow an exact plan, and any slip-up feels like total failure. Here's what they found: flexible dieting was strongly linked to NOT overeating, lower body weight, and lower levels of depression and anxiety. Rigid dieting was linked to MORE overeating, higher body weight, and more binge episodes (Smith et al., 1999).

Why? Because rigid dieting creates an "on or off" switch in your brain. You're either perfectly on your diet or you've "ruined it." And once you feel like you've ruined it — even with one small slip — your brain goes "well, might as well eat everything now and start fresh Monday." That's what researchers call disinhibited eating (basically losing all control because you feel like the rules are already broken), and it's the exact cycle that keeps people trapped (Conlin et al., 2021). Another study on people with BED found that those who learned to diet flexibly were more likely to stop binging AND lose weight successfully at both the end of treatment and 3 months later (Grilo & Masheb, 2000).

Bottom line: Trying to be perfect with your diet leads to failure. Being flexible and allowing yourself to enjoy food in reasonable amounts leads to long-term success.

Tip 3: This Is a Long-Term Game, Not a Sprint

A lot of you — and I was absolutely this person — want to lose the weight as fast as humanly possible. You have this idea that it's all or nothing. You're either 100% on plan or you've failed.

It's never all or nothing. Your weight loss journey is a long-term game, not a short one.

Here's the reality: If you're binging, you're still going to have to lose that weight eventually. Whether you're mid-binge or recovering from one — take accountability, move forward, learn from it, and be smarter next time. That's all you can do. Progress isn't a straight line. There will be ups and downs.

What the research says: Long-term research consistently shows that people who keep weight off do it by building habits they can stick with for life — not by going on extreme short-term diets. Here's a stat that really puts things in perspective: only about 20–25% of people with binge eating disorder ever get any kind of treatment for it (Kazdin et al., 2017; Westerberg & Waitz, 2013). That means most people dealing with this are trying to figure it out completely on their own. The research shows that being kind to yourself and using flexible strategies works better than punishing yourself or taking an all-or-nothing approach when it comes to long-term results.

The Peptide Part: GLP-1s as a Tool, Not the Fix

Now here's where I'm going to talk about the peptide side of things.

First, let me explain what GLP-1s are in simple terms. GLP-1 stands for "glucagon-like peptide-1." It's a hormone your body naturally makes in your gut after you eat. Its job is to tell your brain "we just ate, we're satisfied, stop thinking about food." GLP-1 receptor agonists are compounds that mimic this hormone — they trick your brain into activating that same "I'm full" signal. You've probably heard of pharmaceutical versions like Ozempic or Wegovy — those are GLP-1 receptor agonists. In the research peptide space, there are also research-grade GLP-1 compounds that work through the same pathways.

These can be incredible tools for managing food noise and binge behavior. But they are not the fix by themselves. Cranking your dose so high that you physically can't eat is not the answer.

What GLP-1s should be used for — especially if binge eating is your main struggle — is small amounts (often called microdoses) just to take the edge off that food noise and give you enough mental clarity to build the habits that are going to keep you on track long-term.

A microdose just means using a very small amount of a compound — way below what most people use for aggressive weight loss. You're not trying to kill your appetite. You're just trying to turn the volume down on the food noise enough so YOU can be in control of your eating decisions.

That's why a lot of you don't need to push past a microdose, especially if you're not looking for major weight loss. The goal is to build good habits while you have a little help — like training wheels on a bike — not to white-knuckle your way through starvation.

What the research says:

A 2024 review that looked across multiple studies found that GLP-1 compounds reduce how often people binge eat, with fewer negative mental health side effects than the current FDA-approved BED medication, lisdexamfetamine — which is actually a stimulant with known abuse potential — and topiramate, an anti-seizure drug that can increase suicidal thoughts (Aoun et al., 2024).

A 2025 analysis that combined data from 5 studies and 182 people found that those taking GLP-1 compounds lost significantly more weight than those who didn't, and also showed improvements in emotional eating — meaning they were less likely to eat because of stress, sadness, or boredom rather than actual hunger.

A study on semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic/Wegovy) found it effectively reduced binge eating scores in people diagnosed with BED. It works by turning up the "I'm full" signal in your brain (Keshen et al., 2023).

Research into HOW GLP-1s work in the brain found they affect multiple areas at once: the hypothalamus and hindbrain (the parts of your brain that control basic hunger signals), reward pathways (the parts that control cravings and the "I NEED that food" feeling), and dopamine signaling. Dopamine is your brain's "feel good" chemical — it's what makes you feel pleasure from things like food, and it's a big reason why highly palatable foods (pizza, ice cream, fast food) feel almost impossible to resist. GLP-1s help calm down that over-the-top dopamine response to junk food without killing your ability to enjoy normal meals.

A 2025 study at the University of Pennsylvania actually measured brain activity in someone taking tirzepatide (a compound that works on both GLP-1 and GIP receptors — GIP is another gut hormone that helps regulate appetite). They found it directly changed electrical signals in a part of the brain called the nucleus accumbens — that's your brain's reward center, the part responsible for cravings. It reduced food noise and binge episodes. BUT — and this is the important part — those effects wore off after a few months. This backs up exactly what I'm saying: the compound is a tool to help you build habits. It's not a permanent fix on its own. The habits are what keep you free.

Bottom line: Low-dose GLP-1 use can quiet the food noise enough to let you build eating habits that actually stick. But the habits are what keep you going long-term, not the peptide.

Bonus Tip: Stay Away From Peptides That Make You Hungrier

If you've struggled with binge eating, the LAST thing you want to do is take something that cranks your hunger up. Some peptides do exactly that, and you need to know which ones to avoid.

Why do some peptides increase hunger? It comes down to a hormone called ghrelin. Ghrelin is your body's "hunger hormone." It's the opposite of GLP-1. Where GLP-1 says "we're full, stop eating," ghrelin says "we're hungry, find food NOW." It's made mainly in your stomach, and when it rises, it sends signals to a part of your brain called the hypothalamus that controls appetite. Some peptides either mimic ghrelin directly (pretending to be ghrelin in your body) or cause your body to release more of it, which spikes your appetite hard.

Here are the ones to watch out for:

MK-677 (Ibutamoren) — This is what's called a "ghrelin mimetic," meaning it literally imitates ghrelin in your body. It binds to the same hunger receptors in your brain that ghrelin does. People usually take MK-677 for its growth hormone and muscle-building benefits, but the hunger spike is a major side effect. A 2-year study on older adults found that increased appetite was the #1 most reported side effect, especially in the first few weeks to months (Nass et al., 2008). Animal studies showed it boosted food intake by over 11%. If you have a binge eating history, that hunger spike can throw you right back into the cycle.

GHRP-6 (Growth Hormone Releasing Peptide-6) — This one works a little differently. Instead of imitating ghrelin, it stimulates your body to release MORE of its own ghrelin. The result is the same — your appetite goes way up. Research showed that when ghrelin levels rise, appetite increases in almost everyone tested, and people even start having vivid mental images of their favorite foods (Schmid et al., 2005). If you're someone who already struggles with food thoughts, this is throwing gasoline on the fire.

Other ghrelin-pathway compounds like Ipamorelin and certain other GHRPs — basically, if a compound is described as a "growth hormone secretagogue" (that's just a fancy term for "something that makes your body release more growth hormone"), check whether it works through the ghrelin pathway. If it does, it will likely increase your hunger too. Be cautious.

If you're someone who has dealt with binge eating, you do NOT want to put yourself back in a position where you can't control that food noise. These compounds can absolutely put you there.

Trust Me — It Can Get Better

I need to be real with you for a second.

There was a period during that binging journey where I genuinely didn't know if I was ever going to live a normal life again. I tried reaching out to my local doctor. I tried talking to friends and family. Nobody understood what I was going through. When you're trapped in that cycle, it feels like you're the only person on the planet dealing with it — and the people around you just see someone who "needs to eat less." It's isolating in a way that's hard to explain unless you've been there.

If you're someone struggling with this right now, just know — it can get a lot better, and it can happen faster than you think.

I never would have imagined in my life that I'd be able to go through a bulking phase intentionally without overdoing it 100% of the time. For those who are new — a bulking phase is when you intentionally eat more calories than your body burns so you can gain muscle. It requires eating in a "caloric surplus," which just means eating MORE food on purpose. For someone with a binge eating history, that concept is terrifying. Eating more on purpose? That used to be a recipe for disaster for me.

But I did it. And to be honest, there have still been days where I've overdone it. Days where I ate too much and fell back into those bingey habits. But here's the difference now — with everything I've learned, I know that crashing my calories the next day isn't the answer. "Crash dieting" means drastically cutting your food intake to try to make up for overeating — like eating 800 calories the day after you ate 4,000. It feels like the logical fix, but it actually just restarts the binge-restrict cycle: you starve yourself, your food noise goes through the roof, and you binge again.

So instead, I just got right back on my plan. Ate in that same surplus the next day like nothing happened.

Will those little bumps cause you to put on slightly more fat over time? Sure. But we're talking a 1–2% difference in the grand scheme of things. Like I said — this is a lifelong game. Trying to make up for a bad day within 24 hours by starving yourself is just going to make things worse and put you right back in the binge-restrict loop.

Whatever your meal plan looks like — and I'm not a fan of super strict meal plans that tell you exactly which foods to eat at exactly which times, especially for people who've struggled with binging — find things you can work in that you actually enjoy. Enjoy your diet. Be flexible with your macros. "Macros" is short for macronutrients, which are just the three main categories your food breaks down into: protein, carbohydrates (carbs), and fats. "Hitting your macros" just means getting roughly the right amounts of each one per day — not being obsessively perfect about it.

And honestly, you just have to learn to enjoy life again. One bad meal isn't going to put you back months. One bad day isn't going to erase weeks of progress. But the guilt spiral and crash dieting that follows? That absolutely will.

I'm not going to claim to have all the answers. But I wanted to give you my experience as somebody who's lived through it. I'll never say I've beaten it — but I've learned to manage it, to say the least. And that's a win I'll take every single day.

Quick Summary

Eat consistently — 3–4 protein-focused meals per day. Don't let yourself get to the point of starving.
Stop trying to be perfect — Flexible eating beats strict restriction every time. Have one, not the whole bag.
Play the long game — This isn't all or nothing. Take accountability, learn, and keep moving forward.
Use GLP-1s as a tool — Small doses to quiet food noise while you build habits. Don't suppress your appetite to zero.
Avoid hunger-spiking compounds — MK-677, GHRP-6, and other ghrelin-pathway peptides can send your hunger through the roof. Not what you want with a binge eating history.

This journey is personal to me. I've been where a lot of you are. Over a year binge-free now, and it's the combination of these habits and smart peptide use that got me here. You can do it too.

References:

Aoun, L. et al. (2024). GLP-1 receptor agonists: A novel pharmacotherapy for binge eating? Journal of Clinical and Translational Endocrinology, 35, 100333.
Conlin, L.A. et al. (2021). Flexible vs. rigid dieting in resistance-trained individuals. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 18(1), 52.
Keshen, A. et al. (2023). Successful treatment of binge eating disorder with semaglutide. Obesity Science & Practice, 9(5), 453–461.
Latner, J.D. & Wilson, G.T. (2004). Binge eating and satiety in bulimia nervosa and BED. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 36(4), 402–415.
Leidy, H.J. et al. (2011). Effects of consuming frequent, higher protein meals on appetite and satiety during weight loss. Obesity, 19(4), 818–824.
Nass, R. et al. (2008). Effects of an oral ghrelin mimetic on body composition in healthy older adults. Annals of Internal Medicine, 149(9), 601–611.
Schmid, D.A. et al. (2005). Ghrelin stimulates appetite, imagination of food, GH, ACTH, and cortisol. Neuropsychopharmacology, 30(6), 1187–1192.
Smith, C.F. et al. (1999). Flexible vs. rigid dieting strategies: Relationship with adverse behavioral outcomes. Appetite, 32(3), 295–305.
Westerterp-Plantenga, M.S. et al. (2009). Proteins and satiety: implications for weight management. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care, 11(6), 747–751.

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