In order to examine the meal pattern characteristics associated with bulimia nervosa the meal patterns of 19 untreated bulimia nervosa, 12 recovered bulimics, and 21 normal controls spontaneously eating in their natural environments were compared. Subjects reported in a diary everything they either ate or drank for seven consecutive days. Meal pattern correlations included comparisons of the groups in regard to meal size (and binge size), meal frequency, premeal and postmeal intervals, deprivation ratios, satiety ratios, stomach contents, and composition of meals and binges. Results indicated that, although total reported intake was normal, only 33% of the total calories consumed by the untreated bulimia nervosa subjects were not followed immediately by purging. Both purged and unpurged binges were twice as large as their meal sizes which did not differ from normal. It is hypothesized that the caloric restriction of the untreated bulimics is binge/purge specific, and is used by them as a form of weight control. The recovered group showed a lack of responsivity to the signals that influence meal size and intermeal intervals in normals including impaired social facilitation of eating. They also had larger meal sizes, and greater frequency of meals. It is theorized that recovered bulimics employ other, as yet unspecified, means of food intake restriction resulting in an abnormal feeding pattern.