Advice on binging

MCoda14

The past few days I have binged like crazy. I am still exercising but am eating well over my calorie intake. Any ideas on how to combat this? Thank you

segacs

You'll probably get a bunch of answers like "just stop". Which, while that's technically the answer, it also isn't all that helpful in telling you how to stop binging.

Binging is usually a function of some sort of underlying issue with food. The trick is to figure out why you're doing it. Everyone's different, but see if you can figure out whether you're eating out of genuine hunger, stress, boredom or some other issue. Once you figure out the underlying cause, you can start to tackle your relationship with food.

paisley_paisley

There's also trying to binge on water and low-calorie foods (popcorn, celery, carrots) instead, to sort of fulfill the impulse (even if that's not the foods you psychologically "need"). Sometimes, I'll start to prepare/take the food, but then pack it away in the fridge for later. Like just making it or moving it to another location makes me feel better (lol).

jenglish712

You gotta find out the why. Are you too restrictive and either taking in too few calories or cutting out certain foods to the point of deprivation? Are you eating as an emotional self regulatory mechanism?

aueama1331

I struggle with this too! I know I'm an emotional eater but I can't figure out how to stop the "oh this will make me feel better" kind of thinking. I'm better than I was last month but it is going at a snails pace

RaspberryTickleChicken

jenglish712 wrote: »

You gotta find out the why. Are you too restrictive and either taking in too few calories or cutting out certain foods to the point of deprivation? Are you eating as an emotional self regulatory mechanism?

+1

Also, one of the simplest strategies to curb binging is not to have your go-to binge nutrition poor foods in the house or within arm's reach.

Limiting access often times is enough of a deterrent to at least minimize the amount of binging.

Good luck!

parrillr

I've been struggling the last three days with bingeing uncontrollably. The bad thing is--I kind of planned to binge one day....then it snowballed. I had success with MFP in going from overweight to a healthy weight, life hit, and I fell to a low weight of 97.5 lbs. I'm almost 5'6" so this is definitely too low. When I saw the # on the scale Friday I freaked and decided to binge on junk for three days in a row. Of course I physically and emotionally feel like crap! The bad things is--people are encouraging this and saying how lucky I am to eat everything I want! I'm not here saying Ineed to stop and lose weight but could definitely use some support on ways to quit the binge eating behaviors! I see a therapist for depression issues as well. Can I recover from a three day bender??? Yikes!!!?!?!?

segacs

parrillr wrote: »

Ineed to stop and lose weight but could definitely use some support on ways to quit the binge eating behaviors! I see a therapist for depression issues as well.

It sounds like you should talk to your therapist about this. Starving yourself to underweight and then binging is not healthy and indicates probable disordered eating. You need to work on your relationship with food, and you definitely need the kind of help that this forum really isn't equipped to provide.

Speak to your therapist. Or consult some of the resources here:
myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/1575987-eating-disorder-resources

Best of luck and lots of support as you try to tackle this! You don't have to go through it alone.

parrillr

Thanks for the input. I binged today but forced myself to get on to MFP and log what I ate which actually stopped me in my tracks. Thankfully, I stopped with a few calories left in my daily maintenance allotment. Gearing up for a workout session to hopefully begin fresh.

Raynne413

Generally, when I have issues with binging it is because I am working out too much or not eating enough or a combination of the two. Or I'm tired.

Liftng4Lis

Are you restricting yourself too much?

SergeantSausage

Don't?

That always works best for most of us : don't binge, right?

girlviernes

Keep tracking. Be honest in your logs. Make some notes about what might be going on. Generally the first step is to make sure you are eating enough food in a good balance. 3 meals and 1-3 planned snacks per day. Eat at maintenance or slightly below, don't try for a big deficit.

If you struggle to do those things, you need to see a therapist or experienced dietitian who can help you. Once you have a basis of good eating then you can see if there are also emotional issues underlying binge eating. If there are, again, working with a therapist would be the most efficient way to address this.

DeWoSa

girlviernes wrote: »

Keep tracking. Be honest in your logs. Make some notes about what might be going on. Generally the first step is to make sure you are eating enough food in a good balance. 3 meals and 1-3 planned snacks per day. Eat at maintenance or slightly below, don't try for a big deficit.

If you struggle to do those things, you need to see a therapist or experienced dietitian who can help you. Once you have a basis of good eating then you can see if there are also emotional issues underlying binge eating. If there are, again, working with a therapist would be the most efficient way to address this.

+1.

You need to be honest, no matter how much shame you feel about it.

Track your food over several weeks and months. It's not until you have a decent data set that you can start to identify trends, like are you hungry during particular days of the month, or are you hungry when you are in particular situations, etc.

There's a binge group here on MFP that you can join as well.

boegeholda

Definitely: Talk to your therapist. Maybe: stop logging your food and your calorie intake if this is psychologically stressing you out. If counting calories is causing disordered eating, then stop unless your therapist/health care provider recommends that you log food intake (given that they understand your issue with food). If logging food isn't causing you to stress about eating, weight loss/gain, or any other psychological distress, then I agree you should log your food intake to make sure you are within your range for whatever is healthy for you.