Balancing the binging

Nikitsa1

Hi everyone!!
I have been a clean eater/binge eater for twenty years. I just went to my Dr.S for my annual check up. I told him I binge eat 1-2 times per week and it has never gotten under control no matter what diet tricks I try. Weight watchers...I binge, mfp...i binge...high fat low carb...I binge ....Atkins, south beach...binge binge....
He showed me my past ten year history . Every year...same time...I weigh exactly the same.....all the dieting and all the binging I still weigh exactly the same. Through all the binging and starving and stress and tears....even the good control...I weigh exactly the same, for the last ten years. So here is my thinking. If my binges exceed thousands of calories at a time , what if I set my calories on maintenance. I wonder if I maintain my weight and don't restrict, but also Dont h ave the binges...do you think I would lose weight naturally as it all corrects itself??? I will exercise gently but not count the activity. I'm curious.... I'm going to try this for 90 days and just accept my weight as is for now. I'm higher than I want to be but I'm not getting any smaller by restricting or binging either.
Please please tell me your thoughts!

yopeeps025

Can I recommend get some professional help. Maybe even OA can help.

TavistockToad

if you've been bingeing for the last 10 years then i second the need for help finding better coping mechanisms.

melduf

You should put weightloss aside for a while and focus on a healthy lifestyle. Find why you binge (there is always more to it than we want to acknowledge). Then, build new good habits and find tricks to avoid binging ever again. You might need therapy or a support group. Having someone to turn to when you're fighting the urge to binge is so much easier! I haven't lapsed in 3 months thanks to my amazing group support!
Once that is done, you'll have more energy to focus on losing weight and becoming the person you want to be! Good luck.

Hearts_2015

I don't have an answer for you as I'm in the same boat... a binge eater...though my weight doesn't stay the same every year. I do fine for quite awhile and then KaBOOM.... crappy food in the body! I do know for me it's more psychological than hunger or boredom. SO that I've got under my belt, not sure I've always known that or what to do with that knowledge..it's something I'm working on with my Counselor.

Here's something from your post that caught my eye and I see as really positive.. I see it as self acceptance...not giving up or staying in the same place like others might if they read into that way.

"just accept my weight as is for now."

Also as yopeeps shared counseling can definitely help, for me it helps sort out my thoughts that have been here all along but to say them out loud and journal them is amazing for self awareness. I'm think I might pick up a meeting or two of a 12 step program just to see what other ways might help me have less focus on food and more on other more fun things in life.

Cheers!
Hearts

Hearts_2015

melduf wrote: »

You should put weightloss aside for a while and focus on a healthy lifestyle. Find why you binge (there is always more to it than we want to acknowledge). Then, build new good habits and find tricks to avoid binging ever again. You might need therapy or a support group. Having someone to turn to when you're fighting the urge to binge is so much easier! I haven't lapsed in 3 months thanks to my amazing group support!
Once that is done, you'll have more energy to focus on losing weight and becoming the person you want to be! Good luck.

leicesteralex

I had a binge eating problem. I haven't had a real binge for ages although some days I eat over maintenance and some days below. After a long battle I figured out what caused my binging. For me it's too many carbs and sugar. When I cut those it became better.
The next thing was artificial sweeteners. The result was instant weight loss and less cravings. On some days I still were binging. I kept a food diary. Every time I had cheese I tended to overeat. So I also cut out cheese.
I am saying that I found MY binge trickers as I call it. Maybe everybody has different ones.
I now eat mostly real food. I follow a ketogenic diet by the way but that I am not saying it's for everybody.
Now I don't miss those food anymore. I eat 3 times a day and sometimes I am not even hungry. My portion sizes are also down to "normal" as I used to eat massive amounts.

babyweightloser84

Binge eating is a symptom. When I found the problem, and worked to correct the problem binge eating went away. For me it was a mixture of anxiety, boredom, and low self-esteem. Recovery is a LONG and EXHAUSTING road. But well worth it. Talk it out with someone. Good Luck!

gothchiq

I notice that if I don't do any lifting, I get crazy cravings and binges. Cardio doesn't seem to help. BUT if I lift 3 times a week, it doesn't happen. Not sure what the connection is.

kpk54

In to learn. Relating.

gothchiq

furthermore steer clear of refined carbs in your diet. Those make people hungrier rather than satisfying us.

funchords

I'm 51 and still binging now and then. Food is soothing and we turn to what we know in a crisis.

This may take a combination of 2-3 solutions: Have some go-to foods when you can't fight the urge, be outside of the house more in the evenings, and do something incompatible with eating

My go-to late-night munchie foods:

• Sugar-free Jell-O or similar gelatin
• Sugar-free Popsicles
• Fla-Vor-Ice Light (similar to Popsicles)
• Apple sliced up and sprinkled with cinnamon

Stuff to do in the evenings out of the house

• Join a bowling league
• Volunteer as a stage hand at the community theater
• Join a choir/chorus in your area
• Take a class at the community college or your town's recreation or art center

Stuff not compatible with eating: About midway through your evening, close the kitchen, turn off the lights, and don't go in there. Instead,

• Take a hot shower or visit the hot tub
• Brush your teeth
• Get into your pajamas
• Retire to your bedroom
• Do something that requires both hands, like needlework or some other kind of craft

Break the habits that enable this kind of eating:

• Never eat mindlessly in front of the TV or computer
• Always eat at a table without your devices or TV
• Make eating at home a nice rewarding ritual: Light a candle, set a place with silverware, put on soft music -- eat while focusing on the food and the experience of eating it -- when done, extinguish the candle and put your place setting away, turn off the music.

Make your house less friendly to binge eating:

• Take some of your binge foods that have no place in your diet and get them out of your house forever.
• Take your binge foods that you do want in the house and put them into measured single-serving snack bags -- if you do break down and have one outside of your plan, have only one and make it last at least 20 minutes. Savor it. See the rules above on how to eat it (away from TV, etc.).

Hearts_2015

babyweightloser84 wrote: »

Binge eating is a symptom. When I found the problem, and worked to correct the problem binge eating went away. For me it was a mixture of anxiety, boredom, and low self-esteem. Recovery is a LONG and EXHAUSTING road. But well worth it. Talk it out with someone. Good Luck!

I too believe this and am in the midst of figuring out the 'why'. Noticed the post above and now plan on going to life weights instead of swim this afternoon. thanks

---

Also glad you fought the long hard battle even if it was exhausting it was so worth it because now you realize if you get the desire to binge you get a WHY along with it now.

stonegirldancing42

I agree with the others. I have weight & mental health issues and always have. I recently gained 50lbs because I got into a relationship. I had to see that I need to stop eating and start figuring out my stuff. In the meantime, I have been buying nice clothes for my current size, reminding myself to take things a day at a time and forgiving past (and any current) slip-ups.

Best to you.

brenn24179

I think a lot of it is just caring about yourself, overeating is destructive and feels bad. I think a lot of it has to do with self worth. Like the person above who gained 50 lbs, it is easy to just pick up bad habits and not same I am worth more than this!

BusyRaeNOTBusty

You might not "accidentally" lose this way, but it'd be a good idea anyway. What about counseling? Your doctor could give you recommendations.

3laine75

This describes me for the 10 years before I started using this site. (I've never been massively overweight, 2-4 stone).

Try doing something different. When you try to lose weight, don't go 'all or nothing' - depriving yourself of what you enjoy will cause you to binge. I fit a 'treat' into my day everyday (sometimes 2 or 3). Also there's no point in a huge deficit if you're just going to binge and gain it back. Like you say, try maintenance for a while then, maybe, set for 0.5 lb loss a week - you may think it'll take longer but if you're going to binge when severely restricting calories then it will actually be quicker!

nxd10

Hearts_2015 wrote: »

melduf wrote: »

You should put weightloss aside for a while and focus on a healthy lifestyle. Find why you binge (there is always more to it than we want to acknowledge). Then, build new good habits and find tricks to avoid binging ever again. You might need therapy or a support group. Having someone to turn to when you're fighting the urge to binge is so much easier! I haven't lapsed in 3 months thanks to my amazing group support!
Once that is done, you'll have more energy to focus on losing weight and becoming the person you want to be! Good luck.

(*)

Bingeing is filling some kind of emotional need for you. Build your healthy lifestyle and, as part of that, talk to a counselor who can help you figure out another way of filling it. If it's not an emotional need, it could be physical, because you are making yourself hypoglycemic with your restrictions. But this isn't a simple fix. Try to be healthy first.