How to start eating more from a binge eaters side?
Tatarataa
Posts: 178 Member
Hi guys,
here is a lot of helpful information, but I still feel overwhelmed and insecure what to do. Maybe you could help me a bit with my situation, please:
My problem is that I am a binge eater. I was not restricting my food intake heavily, though, but it might have been a bit low due to a lot of sports and a long diet history (no idea about the calories because I did not count though). I would like to lose my last couple of pounds and then go into maintenance using a zig zag routine where i monitor either the calories over the week or go with someting like 3 days below TDEE and 1 day at TDEE (zig zag rotation) in order to keep my metabolism up and in order to take into account my binges (not able to avoid them so far). I love to eat so would like to have as many calories as possible (also because of the binge problem).
I just had 5 days of binges with in total 14000 cal PLUS/over my nornal daily intake. My question is: is my metabolism now good and I can directly start with the zig zag rotation or weekly counting at a high calorie level (either TDEE minus 15% or so or TDEE minus 15-20% for 3 days and then 1 day at TDEE)? Or do I have to either make a total metabolism reset or at least up my intake from before the binge week (maybe around 1400-1600 cal) gradually? What do you think?
Also I find all the differnt TDEE calculations on the web quite confusing. I might stick to an average then.
Note that I am not lifting heavy but that I am doing other sports regularily that are helping a lot with lean muscle mass (aquatics) and I was tested to have an excellent body fat value, so I hope a lack of lean muscle mass will not be a problem for me.
I just do not want to have a major weight gain effect.
Many thanks in advance for your help!
here is a lot of helpful information, but I still feel overwhelmed and insecure what to do. Maybe you could help me a bit with my situation, please:
My problem is that I am a binge eater. I was not restricting my food intake heavily, though, but it might have been a bit low due to a lot of sports and a long diet history (no idea about the calories because I did not count though). I would like to lose my last couple of pounds and then go into maintenance using a zig zag routine where i monitor either the calories over the week or go with someting like 3 days below TDEE and 1 day at TDEE (zig zag rotation) in order to keep my metabolism up and in order to take into account my binges (not able to avoid them so far). I love to eat so would like to have as many calories as possible (also because of the binge problem).
I just had 5 days of binges with in total 14000 cal PLUS/over my nornal daily intake. My question is: is my metabolism now good and I can directly start with the zig zag rotation or weekly counting at a high calorie level (either TDEE minus 15% or so or TDEE minus 15-20% for 3 days and then 1 day at TDEE)? Or do I have to either make a total metabolism reset or at least up my intake from before the binge week (maybe around 1400-1600 cal) gradually? What do you think?
Also I find all the differnt TDEE calculations on the web quite confusing. I might stick to an average then.
Note that I am not lifting heavy but that I am doing other sports regularily that are helping a lot with lean muscle mass (aquatics) and I was tested to have an excellent body fat value, so I hope a lack of lean muscle mass will not be a problem for me.
I just do not want to have a major weight gain effect.
Many thanks in advance for your help!
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Replies
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Hi and welcome to the group! I used to be a huge binge eater, so I know where you're coming from. EM2WL has freed me almost entirely of these binge episodes. The only time I'm really tempted anymore to binge is when I undereat for some reason - or wait too long before eating. Since you just came off a huge binge, you could probably go straight to a 15% deficit and not notice too much of a gain - as I'm sure your scale is probably up several pounds from the 5 day binge. We normally suggest increasing slowly so that people don't notice the fluctuations as much, but again, your scale weight is probably already up, so I don't think that eating at a true 15% deficit will add too much to that. That doesn't mean your metabolism is "ok" though. The fact that you binge so severely is a huge indicator that you undereat for long periods and then make up for it in the binging. Your body finally cries out for food and it will get it one way or another. The key is to begin consistently give your body more food - enough food to support your activity. When you do this for awhile, the urges to binge will greatly lessen. A full reset is usually recommended for people who have done low calorie for a long time - usually 6 months or longer. If you feel that is you, then a reset might be good for you. That would be increasing your calories all the way up to TDEE and eating there for 9-12 weeks minimum before introducing a deficit again.
We suggest using this calculator:
http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
Make sure you choose the appropriate activity level for yourself. Let us know if you have any questions!
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I would also encourage you to do the mental work on your binge eating because it's both a physical and mental thing. I always suggest this book (can be bought around the world): http://www.amazon.co.uk/Overcoming-Binge-Eating-Christopher-Fairburn/dp/08986217980
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