Recovering from a binge
Rashawnab
Posts: 24 Member
How do you recover from an unplanned binge, say 900 calories over maintenance?
Like diet wise and emotionally ☹ Pizza, cheese bread, and ice cream seemed like such a good idea until now when I'm lying in bed hating myself and realizing I suffered all week for nothing
Like diet wise and emotionally ☹ Pizza, cheese bread, and ice cream seemed like such a good idea until now when I'm lying in bed hating myself and realizing I suffered all week for nothing
4
Replies
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First - realize that 900 calories is not a binge, it's the equivalent of a dinner.
Then I would investigate what made you eat unplanned. Are you undereating? Have you set a too aggressive weight loss goal? Or do you have an appropriate goal, but eating below that? Are you getting in an appropriate amount of calories, but eating unbalanced? Are you eating enough and balanced, but not varied enough? Are you eating enough, balanced, varied, but depriving yourself of your favorites? Are you eating enough, balanced, varied, and not depriving yourself, but thinking that you are depriving yourself or should deprive yourself?
Are you eating in order to try to ease emotions? Do you fear eating for pleasure?8 -
Log it and get back on the horse tomorrow.
More importantly though, think about your last sentence 'and realizing I suffered all week for nothing'. Why are you suffering? Are you restricting your calories too much? Are you cutting out entire food groups? Are you trying to lose weight too fast?
The only 'suffering' should be weighing all your food. You can have a slice of pizza every day if you can fit it in your calorie goal. Same for ice cream, weigh it and make it fit in your day. If you eat the foods you like, you're not as likely to binge on it.11 -
Or maybe you had a drink and it impaired your judgement?
Or maybe it was a special day, or you were with a special person?
So many things can be triggers, including happy things, and understanding what yours are is EVERYTHING!
When I've been "triggered" and start to have those thoughts that it's okay to eat that pizza, cheese bread and ice cream, it's hard to redirect my thoughts, but it can be done. I usually have to change my physical location for a few minutes and go someplace quiet and just breathe. I try saying only positive things to myself and avoid the negative and shut down any "poor me" thoughts.
The more often you can refrain from choosing the wrong thing, the stronger you will be. When the decision to stay on your plan seems really hard, take comfort and pride in the fact that choosing wisely is making you stronger and happier.
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So I didn't really answer you. There's nothing much you can do to make up for the extra calories or the remorse. Cutting your calories over the next few days might balance things out, but at the risk of making you overly hungry and sabotaging yourself.
Best thing is to just move on with hope that tomorrow you'll begin to use new strategies to stick to your plan. Good luck to you!1 -
900 cals over maintenance is equal to an extra 128 cals spread out over the course of 7 days. Relax and get back on track9
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Why have you been suffering all week?
You don't need to suffer for weight loss.
What did you do that made you suffer?3 -
Well, for a start, I wouldn't eat just kale for the next week to make up for it, in case you were thinking along those lines.
Let yourself eat a bit of pizza and icecream. It can be a well-rounded meal. Protein, veg, carbs, fat, dairy, nomminess.
Weight loss isn't "all-or-nothing".2 -
I had a night like that 2 weeks ago. I was ravenously hungry and inhaled the food. A few days later, I got my period. Bingo! I logged the food got back on track the next meal and I've continued losing. It was one meal. Log, evaluate, make adjustments and move on.2
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Are you currently eating at a deficit? What are you set to lose a week (I.e. 1-lb/wk, 2-lb/wk)? Even half a pound a week is a deficit of 1750, so 900 over maintenance for one day would still put you at losing this week. Put it in perspective and move on.2
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kommodevaran wrote: »First - realize that 900 calories is not a binge, it's the equivalent of a dinner.
Then I would investigate what made you eat unplanned. Are you undereating? Have you set a too aggressive weight loss goal? Or do you have an appropriate goal, but eating below that? Are you getting in an appropriate amount of calories, but eating unbalanced? Are you eating enough and balanced, but not varied enough? Are you eating enough, balanced, varied, but depriving yourself of your favorites? Are you eating enough, balanced, varied, and not depriving yourself, but thinking that you are depriving yourself or should deprive yourself?
Are you eating in order to try to ease emotions? Do you fear eating for pleasure?
Im not sure. I lost 48 lbs over the course of a few years but this year I gained back around 10 and I'm trying to lose it again. I weigh 124ish right now and want to be 115. I'm 5 ft 2 and I was aiming for 1200 a day but kept eating over to around 1300ish so I changed my goal to 1300. Im suffering because I have such bad food cravings and I feel deprived and hungry I suppose lol.. I know if I was working out more, I could eat more but I work a full time job and working out WIPES me out like to where I feel sick. Excuses, excuses I know
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Log it and get back on the horse tomorrow.
More importantly though, think about your last sentence 'and realizing I suffered all week for nothing'. Why are you suffering? Are you restricting your calories too much? Are you cutting out entire food groups? Are you trying to lose weight too fast?
The only 'suffering' should be weighing all your food. You can have a slice of pizza every day if you can fit it in your calorie goal. Same for ice cream, weigh it and make it fit in your day. If you eat the foods you like, you're not as likely to binge on it.
I find it hard to control myself ( I will lose it and binge) so I try not to have the "bad stuff" at all0 -
I find it hard to control myself ( I will lose it and binge) so I try not to have the "bad stuff" at all
I've been where you are and I've done exactly the same and cut out 'the bad stuff' completely out of fear of not controlling myself. And it resulted in the same, big binges that sabotaged my loss. Even when I was happy with my weight and 'done' with my diet, I ate all that stuff again and bam weight right back on it.
It was losing battle for me and completely unsustainable. Once I realized that I've been able to just stick to my calories and eat what I like. If I crave an entire pizza, I'll have it. It just means I'll have very little for the rest of the day. After a few months my diet automatically became healthier, because starving all day for pizza just isn't worth it most of the time. I rather eat more food that fills me up and that tends to be healthy food. Which doesn’t mean I don't have pizza and dessert. I do, just as long as it fits in my calories.
I think it requires a complete shift in thinking and approaching weight loss as the lifestyle change people go on about and frankly it took my over 15 years to get to this point.
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How do you recover from an unplanned binge, say 900 calories over maintenance?
Like diet wise and emotionally
Diet-wise is easy: Go back to your plan. It's water under the bridge.
Emotionally is more complicated, because emotions aren't always rational, but it essentially boils down to the same thing. You have to accept that going over your calories for a day, even by a large number, is not the end of the world, it's just a hiccup. It's not sinful, or cheating, or bad. It's just something you did and (presumably) enjoyed, and now it's over. Like eating birthday cake. There's nothing wrong with having birthday cake to celebrate somebody's birthday. Just don't do it for every meal of every day.
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kommodevaran wrote: »First - realize that 900 calories is not a binge, it's the equivalent of a dinner.
Then I would investigate what made you eat unplanned. Are you undereating? Have you set a too aggressive weight loss goal? Or do you have an appropriate goal, but eating below that? Are you getting in an appropriate amount of calories, but eating unbalanced? Are you eating enough and balanced, but not varied enough? Are you eating enough, balanced, varied, but depriving yourself of your favorites? Are you eating enough, balanced, varied, and not depriving yourself, but thinking that you are depriving yourself or should deprive yourself?
Are you eating in order to try to ease emotions? Do you fear eating for pleasure?
Im not sure. I lost 48 lbs over the course of a few years but this year I gained back around 10 and I'm trying to lose it again. I weigh 124ish right now and want to be 115. I'm 5 ft 2 and I was aiming for 1200 a day but kept eating over to around 1300ish so I changed my goal to 1300. Im suffering because I have such bad food cravings and I feel deprived and hungry I suppose lol.. I know if I was working out more, I could eat more but I work a full time job and working out WIPES me out like to where I feel sick. Excuses, excuses I know
I think you might need to look at the big picture here. 124 is a perfectly healthy weight. You're miserable right now trying to lose those ten pounds. But why do you need to lose those ten pounds? Do you really, truly think you can keep up what you're doing for the rest of your life? Because as soon as you slip, which happened once already, you will gain those ten pounds back. What are you sacrificing in your life by being deprived and wiped out in order to get those last ten pounds? Is it really worth it? If you don't like how you look, maybe investigate recomp programs instead of torturing yourself over a number on a scale.2 -
Are you sure you're eating enough? You're aiming to lose a relatively small amount, so you shouldn't be aiming to lose any more than half a pound a week.
Binges and excessive tiredness (like the "wiped out" feeling and nausea you describe) often go together with undereating. Make sure you are giving your body the nourishment it needs.0 -
MegaMooseEsq wrote: »kommodevaran wrote: »First - realize that 900 calories is not a binge, it's the equivalent of a dinner.
Then I would investigate what made you eat unplanned. Are you undereating? Have you set a too aggressive weight loss goal? Or do you have an appropriate goal, but eating below that? Are you getting in an appropriate amount of calories, but eating unbalanced? Are you eating enough and balanced, but not varied enough? Are you eating enough, balanced, varied, but depriving yourself of your favorites? Are you eating enough, balanced, varied, and not depriving yourself, but thinking that you are depriving yourself or should deprive yourself?
Are you eating in order to try to ease emotions? Do you fear eating for pleasure?
Im not sure. I lost 48 lbs over the course of a few years but this year I gained back around 10 and I'm trying to lose it again. I weigh 124ish right now and want to be 115. I'm 5 ft 2 and I was aiming for 1200 a day but kept eating over to around 1300ish so I changed my goal to 1300. Im suffering because I have such bad food cravings and I feel deprived and hungry I suppose lol.. I know if I was working out more, I could eat more but I work a full time job and working out WIPES me out like to where I feel sick. Excuses, excuses I know
I think you might need to look at the big picture here. 124 is a perfectly healthy weight. You're miserable right now trying to lose those ten pounds. But why do you need to lose those ten pounds? Do you really, truly think you can keep up what you're doing for the rest of your life? Because as soon as you slip, which happened once already, you will gain those ten pounds back. What are you sacrificing in your life by being deprived and wiped out in order to get those last ten pounds? Is it really worth it? If you don't like how you look, maybe investigate recomp programs instead of torturing yourself over a number on a scale.
What are recomp programs?
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We all made mistakes during our weightloss journey ! Were human . Don't feel bad because you will get discouraged. Start back up the next day . It could all be so simple lol0
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I know the feeling. I don't drink soda often but when I do it feels like I just wiped out all of the progress I made that week, even though I still end my day under my calorie goal for that day. You are probably being too hard on yourself, it isn't as bad as you think. You can't change what has already been done, all you can do is saddle back up and move forward from there.0
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I always post the same thing, lol. In my experience it's too little fat that makes us feel like we are starving. If I eat chicken with skin until I'm full it lasts for four days. Looks like that's what you needed from your "binge". That's what most people eat every day so no need to feel guilty. Popcorn with butter and parm cheese too.. Eat maintenance for a day or two. It's a long road, I've been on it for 6 years. We get a little weird don't we? Side note, I lost 25 pounds to get to my goal of 110, I'm short, hovered around 108 for a couple of years and decided to lose three pounds to eliminate flab around my menopausal middle. The fat came off of my boob's and face...sigh. and my butt which is skinny anyway...arggh!0
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A moment of silence, please, for @Goober1142 's boobs and butt. They were much loved, and will be sadly missed.
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Unless you do it day in and day out for an extended period of time, there really is NOTHING to worry about.
Weight isn't gained overnight, nor is it lost overnight. It is a long, slow process. (*well water weight isn't, but we ALL know that is temporary*)
SSOOOOOOooOOOoOOoooo don't sweat it. Log it, or don't, and just pick up where you left off the next day.
NEVER, EVER, beat yourself up over it. Life is too precious!! ENJOY as much of it as you CAN!2 -
MegaMooseEsq wrote: »kommodevaran wrote: »First - realize that 900 calories is not a binge, it's the equivalent of a dinner.
Then I would investigate what made you eat unplanned. Are you undereating? Have you set a too aggressive weight loss goal? Or do you have an appropriate goal, but eating below that? Are you getting in an appropriate amount of calories, but eating unbalanced? Are you eating enough and balanced, but not varied enough? Are you eating enough, balanced, varied, but depriving yourself of your favorites? Are you eating enough, balanced, varied, and not depriving yourself, but thinking that you are depriving yourself or should deprive yourself?
Are you eating in order to try to ease emotions? Do you fear eating for pleasure?
Im not sure. I lost 48 lbs over the course of a few years but this year I gained back around 10 and I'm trying to lose it again. I weigh 124ish right now and want to be 115. I'm 5 ft 2 and I was aiming for 1200 a day but kept eating over to around 1300ish so I changed my goal to 1300. Im suffering because I have such bad food cravings and I feel deprived and hungry I suppose lol.. I know if I was working out more, I could eat more but I work a full time job and working out WIPES me out like to where I feel sick. Excuses, excuses I know
I think you might need to look at the big picture here. 124 is a perfectly healthy weight. You're miserable right now trying to lose those ten pounds. But why do you need to lose those ten pounds? Do you really, truly think you can keep up what you're doing for the rest of your life? Because as soon as you slip, which happened once already, you will gain those ten pounds back. What are you sacrificing in your life by being deprived and wiped out in order to get those last ten pounds? Is it really worth it? If you don't like how you look, maybe investigate recomp programs instead of torturing yourself over a number on a scale.
What are recomp programs?
The idea is to focus on building muscle while losing fat - you don't lose weight necessarily and might gain, but its muscle, not fat. I bet if you ask in the maintenance forum you'll get some good advice, but here's the basics: http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/the-basics-of-body-recomposition-how-to-lose-fat-gain-muscle-at-the-same-time/1 -
All I will say is forgive yourself- some people have a cheat day every week- some people believe that helps speed the metabolism- and others best themselves up about it and then one day becomes two and so on until they take a second to reflect and then start again. Here is one of my favorite TV quotes- I think it says it all.0
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