Binge Eating Is Letting Me Down - Male

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  • LAWoman72
    LAWoman72 Posts: 2,846 Member
    edited November 2014
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    Aww. You look like such a cute guy. (...said in Mommy Voice, so don't be scared)

    I looked a few days back in your diary and two things stick out for me:

    1. Are you sure, 2000-2100-ish calories are enough on a day-to-day basis? You are working out pretty hard. You may just be HUNGRY! You'll get a bit hungrier each day until your body screams "God...just give me food right now...and lots of it" and then the eating starts and you can't stop.
    2. I saw a 1200-calorie day in there...do you attempt to restrict after a binge day? That may not be your best option. You're only setting yourself up to get really hungry again. Various types of IF and periodic calorie restriction (I mean large calorie restriction) and, yes, even fasts work well for some people, but not so well for others. That may just not work for you.

    It's possible you're just setting up a cycle of over-hunger from undereating/bingeing/restricting/over-hunger from undereating, lather, rinse, repeat. Yes, one does need to "undereat," technically, to lose weight (calorie deficit) - BUT - if the undereating is *too* severe, you could just be setting yourself up to overeat later. A *smaller* calorie deficit may be more do-able over time and will in fact eventually result in weight loss...just slightly slower. And it will be less likely to cause you to undo all your previous efforts by a giant *over*eating (binge).

    Have you calculated your BMR? What is it? What do you have your activity level set on for MFP? Is it accurate for the amount of working out you're doing?

    How tall are you?


  • HDCANDYZ
    HDCANDYZ Posts: 25 Member
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    Hey guys, thanks for the comments. I'm 5'11" and my calculated BMR done at a local health shop gave me around 1890/day. I do tend to restrict calories (severely) on the following day after a binge, but as some have pointed out, that doesn't always work well. I've set myself at a 1.5lb loss a week to get me back on track and I just started that, before it was about 2000/day, or a bit more.
  • meglo91
    meglo91 Posts: 65 Member
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    Hey there. So I'm a noob like you, but I've been at this dieting game a while, just not always here on MFP.
    I also have a problem with binge eating. I do well all day, restrict restrict restrict, I get to about 8 pm, and all hell breaks loose. I am hungry. I am without control. I can easily snarf 800 extra calories without thought. The protein powder and cucumber I ate earlier get obliterated by chocolate.
    Well, I had a little epiphany. And that's that I was trying to eat too little, and it was sabotaging my weight loss by making me ravenous. I nixed the 1380 calories that MFP had given me, and set mine at 1700 per day, regardless of exercise. That number is based on my TDEE-20%. That way I have a set, sane number to eat every day, even on non-workout days. Yes, it means I'll lose slowly, but at least I'll lose. I know there are people, especially women, here on MFP who seem happy to eat 1200 calories per day while exercising for 90 minutes, but I am not one of them. Too much restriction makes me unhappy.
    It seems like you have very little weight to lose. And in fact, you are at a completely healthy weight right now. You should probably commit to losing it veerrrryyyy slowly, if at all, and just eat healthfully and try to gain muscle.
    You should also keep in mind that you are already a huge, giant success. 5 pounds either way will not change that.
    Congratulations and good luck.

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