Can you lose weight by chewing and spitting out food?

[Sillist]

If you chew and spit out your food, what will happen? Will you lose weight?

[Kay104]

no just swallow it and eat healthy

[feroshacoutura]

Honestly?  Yeah.  But it's a gross and disgusting habit.  It's expensive.  And addicting.  And can morph into Bulimia.  How do I know?  I've done it.  Still do it.  It sucks.  Oh and also?  If you do it to much, your salivary glands get swollen and you look like a chipmunk.  Basically, you mouth thinks you getting food so you start salivating b/c you body is thinking it needs to break down the food; instead, you just spit it out.  

Sorry to gross you out and hope I didn't offend. I just am trying to fight my own battle right now and it is SO DIFFICULT to break.

[Zoegiri]

Actually what you are doing, "chew and spit," is a classic symptom/indication of an eating disorder. Many anorexics do this to satisfy their need to eat without what they perceive as the side effect of eating, "gaining weight."  I am sure many bulimics do it as well but the bottom line is, that you need to get help now, before it get's so much worse.  It is a highly addictive and expensive habit and a disgusting one as well. Speaking from personal experience, living with an eating disorder since I was in my early 20's, scream and yell, and whatever you have to do, to get the help you need to stop now, you don't want to be dealing with the issue of eating disorder 25 yrs later as I am. Please keep us up-to-date on your progress.

[Casey803]

yes you'll lose weight but not in a healthy way. doing that mind as well be not eating at all...stop b4 it gets addictive and u die from malnutrition

[dominiquea]

It's tricky. I've been doing it and at first I was in heaven- I felt like I was eating and after a few minutes I felt full, even though I didn't get almost anything in my stomach, I just drank water, and I've lost a little bit weight. THEN the problems started... I started gaining weight rapidly and couldn't understand why... NOW I know, that with all the chewing and spitting, I was actually consuming above and beyond any amount of calories that I might have needed at the time. See, when you chew and spit, your body produces certain hormones that will NOT help you lose weight, and you come to a point where physically and mentally you are stimulated to eat, and you WILL eat. In my case, it was in the middle of the night, when I'm half asleep and off guard. It will make you crazy. Don't do it.

[MaybelO]

I've struggled with my weight for years. In 2002 I gave Atkin's a try and to my amazement, lost 55 lbs in about 6 mo. EASY. I kept it off for 4 yrs then started having personal problems and craving sweets again. I started c&s with cinnimon rolls w/ cream cheese frosting. Slowly, all my weight was regained. I've also had swollen glands, inner  ear infections, and sinus problems which I'm sure are all connected to my discusting habit. A good amount of sugar must absorb in your mouth into your blood stream. Not to mention go up into your sinus cavity.

[dominiquea]

Actually, that's not quite how it happens.  While the process of breaking down food starts in the mouth, the stuff from the mouth has to get to the stomach in order to be absorbed, and to the intestine.  If you chew a piece of food and spit out all of it, AND the saliva which contains the sugars that have been broken down, then you do not absorb any energy whatsoever.  YET, it is very difficult to not let ANYTHING slide down your throat, and that is how calories creep up on you.  You cannot fool your body.

So how do you deal with your weight issues?  You eat when you're hungry.  You stop when you're full.  When you see something that you know is not good for you, do not take it, and if you have- tomorrow is a new day.  Exercise to be healthy, and look healthy.  Stop obsessing about every pound more or less. Weight fluctuates.  There are those who are genetically superior, and can eat without gainning an ounce.  The rest of us will go up and down a little bit over the years, it is natural.  As long as you stay disciplined enough and sane enough, you will be alright.  Atkins, and every other extreme diet, is not good, because you cannot count every gram of everything every day, it is just no way to live.  

[LeftCoastChick]

Actually I did that a few years after I had my stomach stapled. I was diagnosed bulemic back in '98, but by that time I was in remission, except I would still binge.I fell off the wagon in 2002 and ended up in hospital.  The oh smart me, thought that chewing food then spitting out would work, bad idea.

1) your body needs food.
2) you are going to cause more stomach acid, then you will get reflux disease.
3) the more you do that, the worse your disordered eating with get. It's a nasty cycle.
4) It rarely stays at that stage.
5) You will become a full blown bulemic, which can cause you to burst blood vessels in your throat and stomach. (I blew some vessels in my throat)
6) the acid wears at your teeth, I spent a TON of money on my teeth and I've had to have several pulled out.
7) You start getting bone loss and thinning. I've had that since I was 38 and they are considering putting me on osteoporisis medications.
8) I'm now overweight because disordered eating shows up in many forms. (though I am on a mood stabiliser and losing weight because the drug works on compulsions and depression)

Stop while you can, eat decently, small doses of treats won't hurt as long as you eat 3 good meals a day, or at least try. Snacks of junk food don't constitute a meal.

This misconception is that if we withhold, we'll lose weight, but our bodies are genetically set up for leaner months the others so it will shut down.

[laurapeaches]

I have suffered with this disorder on and off for a couple years now, I was anorexic before, but this seemed to help and give me the satisfaction of food again.
I never eat the right amount of calories a day, 500-700 per day if not less. Chew and Spit, well, I realised the other day after making myself sick after, that infact, you do swallow quite alot of the food depending on how big the binge is and what the sort of thing you're binging on. I had cereal, and loads of it I swallowed and I didn't realise. I agree that chew and spit gives you a swollen face, it does, but it goes quickly soon after if you stop, it's just your glands.
When I first starting doing this, it was a great way to satisfy my urge for good tasting food, and second to stay at a low weight, BUT, it didn't really make me looze it alot, just maintain it.
You do actually eat when you chew and spit you don't really realise it, the more you binge the more the calories are going down. Then.. you end up worrying and making yourself sick.... so, it results in bulimia, which generally never results in someone being thin.

My eating disorder goes up and down like a yo yo depending on what's going on in my life. i've been dine for months but recently,I've not been.
please don't judge my message-eating disorders are horrible, here we can chat about them

[becca411]

are there any positives to chewing and spitting your food?

[ali5on]

hi, i have been chewing and spitting for a while because basicly i can not resist cravings. if i dont then i actually swallow which makes me gain weight. i no that you get some calories eventhough you spit but surely its not as many as eating the whole entire item. right?
how bad is the stomach acid thing?
i no both is unhealthy, but which would be better....? eating nothing or chewing and spitting? please dont say neither cause thats just not an option for me right now. thanks.

[Zoelula]

This is not a pro-eating disorder website. Sillist asked the question here, I would assume because she wants help with an eating disorder. But her disease asked it for a different reason: to learn new methods of restricting. They don't work! None of it works. Oh, some methods do work to get limited weight loss or prevent weight gain from bingeing, but in the long run you will gain the weight back. And you will pay a severe price in physical and emotional damage. That is the bottom line of an eating disorder.

It is not about the weight. It is about the insanity of what we do to try and control our weight. There is a saying, "insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." That is what we do when we have an eating disorder. There is only one way to stop the damage and pain of an ED and that is to get off the merrygoround of binge and purge and restrict. I disagree with the last poster who feels there is no option but to binge and gain weight or find ways to restrict or compensate. I disagree but I felt exactly the same way fifteen years ago, as if I had no other options. Now I know differently because after about 30 years of suffering from an eating disorder I have been in recovery for fifteen years. Recovery is possible. There is a lot of good advice on this thread. It boils down to getting help to get off the merry go round. Talk to your doctor, see a therapist (one experienced in working with eating disorders) or attend OA. Or do all three. You can recover.

[alldway]

Okay now why are all these questions being answered only by skinny people with ED instead of big people who are just looking for a way to cheat by tasting what they want or WOULD HAVE eating if they weren't dieting? Just an escape every now and then to eat something bad and spit it out and along with eating something good and swallowing it. And to address some of the other responses, it isn't wasting food if you were going to eat it in the first place? You just didn't swallow it. Bad food is cheap. Good food is expensive. It's cheap to gain weight. It's expensive to lose it. For example... You can buy 10 taco's for 5 bucks or one grassy wrap for 5 bucks. GIVE ME THE 10 TACOS. Or just get the one nasty grassy wrap and 4 GOOD TASTING tacos, eat and swallow the grassy wrap and chew and spit out the GOOD TASTING TACOS. 7 bucks spent.  Question is... is it bad for you and will it work. Don't leave no stupid comments about wasting food, cause the fact is that there are tons more food wasted on just fat people eating 4 times more than skinny people so pass on those comments. And when you are already over 250 lbs an ED to lose weight is more than welcomed.

[Warped_Reflections]

wow alldway, where should I begin? First of all, have you ever even had an eating disorder? You sound very naive about eating disorders. I dont think you understand what they are about and not everyone with an eating disorder is skinny.
The thing that bothered me most is your comment of "And when you are already over 250 lbs an ED to lose weight is more than welcomed. " I can not believe you would support someone having an eating disorder! It does NOT matter how much someone weighs because an eating disorder is NEVER a welcomed thing! An eating disorder is a mental disease that destroys people and makes them very sick. Please dont post in this forum if your responses to people are going to be so unhelpful and negative. And let me repeat an eating disorder is NEVER a welcomed thing!

[cassy_beth]

sry but thats a crazy way to lose weight....take it from me you dont want to start doing things like that

[hoovla78]

I know quite a few people said that c&s causes your cheeks to blow up.... Why does this happen?