After some advice please :)

learntolovetheburn15

Hello

In 2013 I weighed nearly 199lbs and over time I slowly lost the weight by calorie counting and exercising. I have always liked my food but my head wanted to lose the weight and avoided the bad food choices.

This year I have really struggled with food and have gained some weight. In the past 12 months, I would say that I have gained about 28lbs and now weigh 168lbs. I don't feel unhappy but once I start eating I binge and over eat. I feel unhappy when i try my jeans/tops on and need a bigger size etc.

SummerSkier

I wish I had some advice to give. I go WAY WAY back on binging. I haven't had a bad binge in many months - matter of fact I cannot recall. That said I have not been very happy with my weight either and since the beginning of the year have tried a bunch of different "things". I did MFP back in 2011 and really loved it. Got down to almost my goal weight and then in early 2012 started on a series of binges and just could not stop. I think having restricted my intake for so many months sort of triggered me into it. But it can be random things. I think restricting leads to binging every single time in folks who are prone to it (like addiction). Anyway. I think you are taking the first step which is recognizing what is going on. I think you just have to start over again with logging and exercise and make sure to EAT all the things you love - in moderation - so that you don't feel overly restricted. I hope this helps. I am not an expert for sure.

BarneyRubbleMD

SummerSkier wrote: »

I wish I had some advice to give. I go WAY WAY back on binging. I haven't had a bad binge in many months - matter of fact I cannot recall. That said I have not been very happy with my weight either and since the beginning of the year have tried a bunch of different "things". I did MFP back in 2011 and really loved it. Got down to almost my goal weight and then in early 2012 started on a series of binges and just could not stop. I think having restricted my intake for so many months sort of triggered me into it. But it can be random things. I think restricting leads to binging every single time in folks who are prone to it (like addiction). Anyway. I think you are taking the first step which is recognizing what is going on. I think you just have to start over again with logging and exercise and make sure to EAT all the things you love - in moderation - so that you don't feel overly restricted. I hope this helps. I am not an expert for sure.

Note: I posted this somewhere else on here too but this seemed a good place for it too as your experience sounded similar to mine, plus your recommendations are good too...

Not eating enough calories seems to be a binge trigger for me too. The last time I reduced my calories/day to 1200 from 1500-1600 (1600 was the MyFitnessPal recommendation for me for 2 lbs/wk), it triggered binge episodes for me (this was about 2 years ago). Reducing to about 1200 calories/day seemed the right thing to do since I had stopped losing on the 1600 calories that MyFitnessPal (MFP) had recommended for me (& that calorie level had been working well for at least 6 months), so, it seemed like a logical idea to continue my weight loss. However, with all the binge episodes that happened after that lowering of calories/day to 1200, I ended up binge eating my way back up to where I started plus another 17 pounds by 1/1/2017 to 317 pounds--and starting here all over again! My Binge Eating Disorder Specialist, who I started seeing in Feb2017, had me keep my calories/day at about 2000 which I would have "bet the bank" I'd gain weight on since I didn't exercise (mobility issues) but instead I've lost weight (62 pounds since Jan2017 & still losing) & now I'm back down to about where I was 2 years ago BUT eating 2000 calories/day which is FAR more enjoyable than 1200! Now, I just keep my calories/day at 2000 & I'll see how that goes over the next month or so. If I make it to mid August2017 without a binge, I'll no longer meet the Binge Eating Disorder criteria (i.e. 3 months without binge eating) that's eluded me for so long. I'll also be curious if I'm still loosing weight at that time too as I don't plan to change my 2000 calorie/day plan until after that mid-August date & only (maybe) IF I stop losing weight at that time (I'm hoping my weight just keeps dropping so I can just stick with that I've been doing & gotten use to over these last few months since what I've been doing feels like it's sustainable for me.