Intermittent binging for the past week. Help?

ObsessedMonster

I went a whole month without binging or craving any junk, but October has been a different story. I've been crazy hungry and super stressed. The aftermath of a binge usually consists of intense guilt, crying spells, self hatred and fear of being seen in public. I feel better after a few days of healthy eating, but then the binging cycle starts all over again. These days can sometimes go up to 4000 calories or more. I'm so disappointed because I promised myself I wouldn't binge again this week, but I still did. I already gained back 3-4 pounds. I'm starting to hate what I see in the mirror and I'm truly scared I won't be able to control this soon. I will probably wake up obese in a few months even though this thought makes me want to kill myself. I have so many things piled up in my brain; a binge spree is the last thing I should be doing. Any advice? I feel like I'm going crazy.

Raynne413

Unfortunately I have a lot of experience with binging. I can't see your food diary to know what your eating looks like, but here is my experience.

I started out losing weight by only counting calories when I was 300 lbs, and I was eating 1500 calories a day. Then I moved to only counting calories and eating 1200 calories a day. Then I plateaued and added exercise. Eventually I moved to eating around 1000 calories and working out for around 3 hours a day when I could manage it. I thought, well, if a little exercise is good, more must be better. And if 1200 calories was good, less must be better. On top of that, I was eating very little fat. I was good for about a year, and ended up losing down to around 110. Then, out of nowhere, uncontrollable binges would start. I would go crazy with anything that contained carbs and fat. And then after my binges, I would go crazy again with over restricting and over exercising to "make up" for those binges. I got desperate because I was gaining weight back, and I just couldn't get out of the cycle, so I decided to get help (with the strong urging of several friends).

I ended up seeing a nutritionist that specialized in eating disorders. She taught me several things that were a BIG help. The first thing was that I was sleep deprived because I was getting up at 4 am to work out, but going to bed around midnight (I had just started dating my boyfriend). Being sleep deprived can make you crave carbs. The second was that my body was going crazy craving carbs and fat because I was expending energy like crazy, but never replenishing. I needed to start eating more, and working out less.

It's still hard to find a balance, but as long as I listened to her AND listen to my body, I have very little issues now. The below is what I try to keep in mind, and what I suggest for anyone else having problems:

1) Make sure you get enough sleep
2) Make sure you are eating enough (especially enough fat)
3) Don't over exercise, and make sure you eat enough for you level of activity
4) DON'T try to "make up" for binges.

beamer0821

the binge is just a symptom of the problem. you must treat the problem. it sounds like this time around stress triggered your binge (however it can be other things too I'm sure) and then your self loathing continues it for you, triggering another binge. >>snowball effect.

so start at the source, the stress. and manage there. stop beating yourself up and stop the mentality that you'll wake up gaining all the weight back. none of those thoughts are helpful.
think of creative ways to reduce stress or be reasonable with it. sometimes I'm stressed about things that i don't really need to be worried about when i really think it through.
sometimes talking to a friend can help bring rationale to it or help with creative solutions.

hang in there. go easy on yourself.