I can't stop binging

mpaperf

I lost 130 pounds. I did it by counting calories. I started heavily restricting my calories (and doing fasts at least once a week) in February of last year. I was eating 300-700 calories a day for the first few months with the occasional 1,500-2,000 calorie day every few weeks. I eventually upped my daily intake to 1,200 calories because I was too weak and my hair started falling out, so I stuck to 1,200 for the past few months.. until recently. I've been binging nonstop the past 2 weeks. I can't even complete a 24 hour fast anymore! I used to be able to complete 72 hour fasts fairly often and it was so easy for me. I am SO scared I'm going to gain all the weight back. I just feel so out of control right now. I don't know why I continued to eat today. I was starting to feel full and I just kept going. I am so disgusted with myself right now. I feel so lost. I even canceled the plans I had made because I was too busy eating and I feel too sick to move now. Anyone else have intense urges to binge? Has anything helped?

Chef_Barbell

Get some help.

cathipa

Dont mean to sound harsh, but Sounds like you need to discuss this with a professional.

CafeRacer808

I agree with the previous posters. It sounds like you're developing an unhealthy relationship with food and your weight, which is in turn making you feel bad about yourself. At this point, I think it would be very wise to speak with a qualified medical professional.

suruda

I think many of us binge a little here and there. What you are saying, both your dieting and your binging goes beyond healthy. Clearly your body was telling you that what you were doing was not good! If possible for you, you might want to talk to your doctor or a therapist to help you normalize your relationship with food. You lost 130 lbs...that's amazing! You just want to be sure you are able to keep it off and live a full and healthy life!

snickerscharlie

Please seek professional help. Start by calling your family doctor and telling him or her exactly what you've told us.

usmcmp

The first step I took to stop binge eating was to stop restricting severely. Stop fasting. Stop making up for the binges. Restriction and fasting are going to make things worse. Same thing goes for over exercising.

The second step I took was to seek professional help.

jennifer_417

I don't mean this as an insult.


But this is a textbook case of why VLCDs (very low calorie diets) are a bad idea, because it leads to exact type of binge/overrestrct cycle.

ccsernica

Heavens.

I'm not really qualified to comment on your situation, and few people here are. It's perilous to diagnose someone over the Internet based on a forum post, but what you've been doing is not healthy either physically (as you noticed) or mentally. Particularly if that's a recent photo of you in your profile. Without knowing your height, weight, and age that would allow someone else to compute your actual BMI and calorie requirements, you do NOT look like you still need to be losing. I do hope you're not looking at that photo and seeing a chubby person. Because that's not what's there.

If I were to offer a purely layman's guess as to a physical reason for bingeing, it's that you have run through your body's reserves and you are borderline starving. I can't speculate on other reasons. Do you think it's possible for you to settle on a more moderate (that is, higher than 1200) daily calorie intake?

Yes, professional help is in order.

leanjogreen18

I agree you may want to seek out someone more qualified to help you.

I will say I had a similar situation. I juice fasted for a long period of time & I tried water fasting. After each fast I wanted to eat all the time. I don't know I would call it binge eating but I did want to eat often.

What helped me was to STOP fasting. I no longer fast other than I quit eating after 4pm and I skip breakfast which is called intermittent fasting but to me its just sorta how I ate anyway (I only occasionally eat breakfast).

Eat your maintenance calories everyday for a few days and see if this helps stop the restrictive/binge cycle.

If it doesn't then you may need additional help.

Best of luck!!!

Theo166

Congrats on your earlier 130lb loss!

When you binge, what are you eating and what does it add up to for the day?

From your photos, you now appear to have a BMI that is either low or in the normal range. Maybe you should listen to your body when it tells you not to do multi-day fasts. Going below 1,000 calories a day should only be done under MD supervision, I expect they would not support this low cal level.

misskarne

I'll add another voice begging you to please get some professional help as it is obvious that you no longer have a healthy relationship with food.

Kateisgonnalose

Talk to a nutritionist maybe? Your body is trying to tell you something.

Christine_72

Stop fasting and restricting, you're doing damage that will be hard to bounce back from.

Set your calories here to maintain weight, and eat those every single day.

Alatariel75

You lost a lot of weight restricting at a dangerous and unhealthy level, with long fasts. You're binging now as a result. I think you need to reassess your relationship with food, potentially with the help of a professional,.

SGCFAb5320162016

helenavoykin wrote: »

I lost 130 pounds. I did it by counting calories. I started heavily restricting my calories (and doing fasts at least once a week) in February of last year. I was eating 300-700 calories a day for the first few months with the occasional 1,500-2,000 calorie day every few weeks. I eventually upped my daily intake to 1,200 calories because I was too weak and my hair started falling out, so I stuck to 1,200 for the past few months.. until recently. I've been binging nonstop the past 2 weeks. I can't even complete a 24 hour fast anymore! I used to be able to complete 72 hour fasts fairly often and it was so easy for me. I am SO scared I'm going to gain all the weight back. I just feel so out of control right now. I don't know why I continued to eat today. I was starting to feel full and I just kept going. I am so disgusted with myself right now. I feel so lost. I even canceled the plans I had made because I was too busy eating and I feel too sick to move now. Anyone else have intense urges to binge? Has anything helped?

Anytime I have a lot of items with sugar in the house.i can't stop until I've ate it all in a matter of days.solution I'm trying only dark chocolate and Greek yogurt in house now as last resort.
Went to grocery tonight and bought things I have been wanting to try.avacados,flaxseed for oatmeal and yogurt,green tea with lemon and ginseng.also putting cinnamon in coffee to cut down on sugar.
I know I am a sugar addict.but the less I have the less I want.
Been off for 2 weeks with knee problem, on steroids gained 3 lbs I had lost and 3 more.not giving up though.i keep gaining 10 lbs a year since I hit 40 I think.im 53.never had a problem when I was younger .hang in there.maybe you have a food that triggers your binge

FlutterbyKiki

My cousin did the same thing!

Try drinking as much water as healthily possible. If you're going to binge and know it, aim for greens and low caloric foods until you can figure out what's going on.

Have there been any changes in family situations, relationship status, friendships, General drama, self loathing, etc? It is the internet, so please speak as freely as possible! Who knows, there may be someone with the right answers able to assist with your needs!

We can help! Message me if you'd like!

CattOfTheGarage

It is not remotely surprising at all that you are binging. It is 100% completely, totally normal and predictable. It is not because you are a bad person, it is not because you lack "control". The binging is not the problem at all.

The problem is your incredibly unhealthy starvation behaviour. Sub-1000 calorie diets sustained over long periods, multi-day fasts, persisting with unhealthy starvation to the point of weakness and hair loss. You have starved and abused your body to the point that it is forced to defend itself against what it sees as a lethal situation. It believes you are going to starve it to death, so it is forcing you to eat. Can you blame it, after this kind of abuse?

I agree with the others that you should seek professional help - but your aim needs to be, not to stop binging and return to starvation, but to stop restricting and get into a healthy routine of regular, adequate, balanced meals, with treats and flexibility.

In the meantime, get your stats set up on myfitnesspal, set your activity level to a realistic setting, set your loss goal to "maintain my current weight" and start putting every effort into eating regularly and adequately and taking proper care of your body. The binging is unlikely to stop right away, and considering how long-term your issues are, it may not stop at all without professional help, but as long as you keep eating in an unhealthy way, with inadequate calories and periods of fasting, the binges will only get worse.

Please, please take us seriously. Get help.

PAV8888

Congrats on your loss. Unfortunately you've overdone the speed of loss and restriction. Your body is reacting to that.

Do you see yourself as normal weight? Obviously not if you're still trying to restrict calories.

Your picture says otherwise. This perceptual lag is not uncommon. The speed of loss hasn't helped in that respect.

Are you familiar with the concept of accepting some damage in order to avoid more damage?

Accept that you will regain some weight. Seriously. Protect the bulk of your loss by accepting that you may lose a chunk of your loss to stabilize your body.

1200 you will agree, is not your maintenance.

Set MFP to maintenance. Eat that. If you can't, then eat at the very least at maintenance -20% (a level which in the past would have resulted in weight loss).

Eat at least at that level regardless of weight gain until your weight stabilises.

Then re assess where you're at and look into further reverse dieting.

If you can't do that and you can't wrap your brain around eating at maintenance, please consider seeking help.

CattOfTheGarage

FlutterbyKiki wrote: »

My cousin did the same thing!

Try drinking as much water as healthily possible. If you're going to binge and know it, aim for greens and low caloric foods until you can figure out what's going on.

Have there been any changes in family situations, relationship status, friendships, General drama, self loathing, etc? It is the internet, so please speak as freely as possible! Who knows, there may be someone with the right answers able to assist with your needs!

We can help! Message me if you'd like!

In many cases this might be good advice (such as someone who is overweight and struggling with moderate urges) but in this case (someone who may already be underweight and is binging due to long term starvation) it really isn't. OP does not need low calorie foods, they are more likely to make it worse. OP needs a healthy, balanced, adequate diet with maintenance calories.

CattOfTheGarage

OP, also check out this site, excellent for advice on binge eating and stories from people who overcame it - http://www.halfsizeme.com/