Binge!!

courtneyfabulous

Don't worry- I didn't binge.

Actually I feel fine, and I'm steadily losing weight while still eating enough to feel satisfied. How can this be? Because I set my calories to a reasonable (not excessive) caloric deficit and hit my calorie goal consistently.

You know what I'm sick of though? Seeing myfitnesspal users posting about having binged and blaming themselves for bad self control.

Facepalm.

(Yes there are binge eating disorders but that's not what I'm talking about)

Most of the time MFP users who complain of bingeing are actually just guilty of over restricting. They set their goal weight unrealistically low and their weight loss rate for 2 lbs a week and get assigned 1200 calories a day... or manually set their calories at 1000... and then they try to eat even less than that for some reason, and sometimes also exercise a ton without logging it.

Well of course you ended up bingeing- because FIRST YOU STARVED YOURSELF. How do you expect your body to react? It releases an excessive amount of hunger hormones to force you to eat. It wants you to eat ALL OF THE CALORIES!!

It's trying to keep you from dying.

But guess what? It doesn't have to be like that!! You can set your goal weight to something achievable. You can set your rate of loss to 0.5 or 1 lb a week. You can eat more and still lose weight! AND NEVER feel the urge to binge!!!

What do you think is more effective for weight loss - starving for 3 days and then eating everything in your cupboard... Or setting your calories at a reasonable deficit and consistently hitting your calorie goal every day for a few months?

Hmmm... that's a tough one...

And yet most people will pick the starving and failing route.

Maybe they just think they can will themselves through the hunger? Maybe they think they don't deserve to actually eat or feel good while dieting? Maybe they want an instant cure? Maybe they think weight loss is supposed to be hard? Maybe they just don't know any better?

I don't know. But I see posts like this all day long and I guarantee most are not bingeing from poor will power... it's because they starved themselves.

If you can't eat at your set calories for more than a couple days in a row before you find yourself losing all control, then you probably need to set your calories higher!!!

It isn't you.

Well it is- but not the way you think. It's you starving yourself that's causing your binges, not your lack of will power.

I hope this posts helps someone.
It's painful to know folks are struggling when they don't have to.

Take care everyone!

usmcmp

It is definitely easier to control general overeating behaviors and certain types of binge eating through an appropriate deficit or not over restricting. Some of the veterans are very vocal about setting a smaller deficit and still fitting in everything they enjoyed before in smaller portions.

As a true binge eater every meal threatens to become a binge, no matter how big or small the meal was. Even when I was bulking I felt the call to binge eat. Some part of me says I need to keep eating when a meal is finished. It doesn't matter if I am satisfied or stuffed until I am close to throwing up, the little voice says I need more. It's not necessarily "junk" food either, I will eat a bunch of chicken and carrots during a binge if they're ready to eat.

courtneyfabulous

usmcmp wrote: »

It is definitely easier to control general overeating behaviors and certain types of binge eating through an appropriate deficit or not over restricting. Some of the veterans are very vocal about setting a smaller deficit and still fitting in everything they enjoyed before in smaller portions.

As a true binge eater every meal threatens to become a binge, no matter how big or small the meal was. Even when I was bulking I felt the call to binge eat. Some part of me says I need to keep eating when a meal is finished. It doesn't matter if I am satisfied or stuffed until I am close to throwing up, the little voice says I need more. It's not necessarily "junk" food either, I will eat a bunch of chicken and carrots during a binge if they're ready to eat.

I'm so sorry that's something you have to deal with. That's why I specifically said I wasn't talking about binge eating disorders.

Most of the people I see on here that complain of "bingeing" don't actually have a disorder though, they're just eating more calories than they planned to because they're so so hungry from under eating.

usmcmp

courtneyfabulous wrote: »

usmcmp wrote: »

It is definitely easier to control general overeating behaviors and certain types of binge eating through an appropriate deficit or not over restricting. Some of the veterans are very vocal about setting a smaller deficit and still fitting in everything they enjoyed before in smaller portions.

As a true binge eater every meal threatens to become a binge, no matter how big or small the meal was. Even when I was bulking I felt the call to binge eat. Some part of me says I need to keep eating when a meal is finished. It doesn't matter if I am satisfied or stuffed until I am close to throwing up, the little voice says I need more. It's not necessarily "junk" food either, I will eat a bunch of chicken and carrots during a binge if they're ready to eat.

I'm so sorry that's something you have to deal with. That's why I specifically said I wasn't talking about binge eating disorders.

Most of the people I see on here that complain of "bingeing" don't actually have a disorder though, they're just eating more calories than they planned to because they're so so hungry from under eating.

You're right, they could definitely prevent most of their wild eating by not trying to starve their way through this. It's great that you figured it out early!