Restricting/binging cycles

umbramirror

aokoye wrote: »

I have nothing to add really, but I did want to say that I'm glad you realize that you need to see a therapist again and are going to try to go about doing so when you're back in your home country. So many people are put off by the idea of doing so (oh the joys of stigma) or just don't think they need to, so it's hopeful when someone is more or less saying, "yes this is on my to do list".

Thank you. 💐 I'm not put off by the idea of therapy at all, actually, I think that everyone should go at intervals during their lifetime if possible such as check ups at a medical doctor.

aokoye

umbramirror wrote: »

aokoye wrote: »

I have nothing to add really, but I did want to say that I'm glad you realize that you need to see a therapist again and are going to try to go about doing so when you're back in your home country. So many people are put off by the idea of doing so (oh the joys of stigma) or just don't think they need to, so it's hopeful when someone is more or less saying, "yes this is on my to do list".

Thank you. 💐 I'm not put off by the idea of therapy at all, actually, I think that everyone should go at intervals during their lifetime if possible such as check ups at a medical doctor.

Yeah I totally agree.

dmt4641

There is a normal amount of additional water that will just stay put after going to maintenance that won't be released unless you cut again. But you can't perpetually be in a cut to avoid this water weight, you will just starve. So there has to be an acceptance of some water weight and whatever squishiness that brings. I love my abs more after I drink too much the night before, but I'm just dehydrated. That doesn't mean I should walk around hung over all the time to have great abs. I always gain some water weight starting a new lifting program, especially the day after leg day I usually gain a pound. That doesn't mean I won't continue to lift weights. Its just you body's normal functioning and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

How long it takes for the hormones to regulate depends on a whole host of things and I am not qualified to opine on that topic. Since I am at a healthy weight I get some hormone issues pretty easily on a cut with ravenous hunger after several weeks. It just takes me a weekend of pizza to get back to normal. But if someone has ED issues or very low BMI, I would assume it takes quite a bit longer and some amount of weight gain.

umbramirror

dmt4641 wrote: »

There is a normal amount of additional water that will just stay put after going to maintenance that won't be released unless you cut again. But you can't perpetually be in a cut to avoid this water weight, you will just starve. So there has to be an acceptance of some water weight and whatever squishiness that brings. I love my abs more after I drink too much the night before, but I'm just dehydrated. That doesn't mean I should walk around hung over all the time to have great abs. I always gain some water weight starting a new lifting program, especially the day after leg day I usually gain a pound. That doesn't mean I won't continue to lift weights. Its just you body's normal functioning and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

How long it takes for the hormones to regulate depends on a whole host of things and I am not qualified to opine on that topic. Since I am at a healthy weight I get some hormone issues pretty easily on a cut with ravenous hunger after several weeks. It just takes me a weekend of pizza to get back to normal. But if someone has ED issues or very low BMI, I would assume it takes quite a bit longer and some amount of weight gain.

Thank you for this information, it's very helpful. I actually didn't realize that water retained from maintenance could stay put. As an update, I seemed to have lost the water I was retaining, and dropped a total of 1.9 lbs. I am going to take a little "diet break" this week, by eating at or very close to maintenance and relaxing a bit with the foods I select, as long as I don't go overboard. After this week, I will continue to eat at maintenance but with "cleaner" foods simply because that's how I prefer to eat. This week, I'm letting myself relax and if I put on some water weight, so be it.

Next, I'll focus on recomp which I'm actually very excited about. I have a good amount of muscle surprisingly from doing a consistent calisthenics routine, but I would love to start lifting again. It has been awhile and I used to love it and excel at it. LOVE deadlifts, for example. I'm looking forward to designing a program for myself. 😊 Thanks to all that have helped me. I appreciate it greatly!

PAV8888

There are some exceedingly good and well-designed programs with built-in progressive overload and management that you can find listed in this excellent post / thread by @psuLemon that you may be able to search for:
Which lifting program is the best for you?

umbramirror

PAV8888 wrote: »

There are some exceedingly good and well-designed programs with built-in progressive overload and management that you can find listed in this excellent post / thread by @psuLemon that you may be able to search for:
Which lifting program is the best for you?

Thanks for mentioning this, I'll definitely check it out!

psychod787

PAV8888 wrote: »

There are some exceedingly good and well-designed programs with built-in progressive overload and management that you can find listed in this excellent post / thread by @psuLemon that you may be able to search for:
Which lifting program is the best for you?

@PAV8888 lol yes, some days I am having moments of feeling human. As far as a lifting routine. As a professional told me. Always train for hypertrophy, unless you want to power lift. I love the info on the MSE, but the problem with using it as a basis for the obese and overweight weight is that the subjects were lean to begin with. There are other research studies that show no reduction in rmr. What happened with the MSE subjects show evidence that a bf settling range exist. They rapidly over shot their old weights upon refeeding and then slowly went back down. Same thing in many rat studies I have seen.

PAV8888

psychod787 wrote: »

but the problem with using it as a basis for the obese and overweight weight is that the subjects were lean to begin with. There are other research studies that show no reduction in rmr. What happened with the MSE subjects show evidence that a bf settling range exist. They rapidly over shot their old weights upon refeeding and then slowly went back down. Same thing in many rat studies I have seen.

Hence the uncertainty about how much of an impact and how soon and easily one recovers from it (and me being chicken I went about hedging my bets and avoiding the impact as much as I could once I 'discovered' the possibilities...)

frankiesgirlie

I have had a history with binge eating. I’m now much better than I’ve ever been, but I can have an occasional relapse and eat 3000-4000 or so calories in a day. My maintenance calories are about 1700-2000, depending on my activity. What has helped me, and I truly believe it is different for every person is:

1) small deficit. I am at maintenance now, but when I was actively losing, my deficit was never more than 250-350 calories per day. I eat back exercise calories.
2)Shorter workouts. I found, in my case, that exercise longer than an hour seemed to cause a ravenous appetite and binge eating. So now I keep my workouts intense but short. About 30 minutes seems to work for me.
3)No “Clean eating” (whatever that is). When I read too much internet nonsense that tells me that carbs/sugar/fruit or whatever are the devil, and I try to cut them out, I always end up binge eating.
I eat all the foods I love. I just don’t eat them all in the same day.

That said. I do have the occasional binge. Maybe once every 2-3 months maybe?
It’s amazing how crappy you feel the next day.
I intentionally do NOT over restrict to “make up for it”. I do my normal exercise routine. I drink coffee & lots of water. And most important, I do NOT weigh myself for a week. The water weight gain just plays with your head. The bloat will go away on its own. Just put it out of your head.
On that note,I weighed daily for most of my adult life. I now weigh about once a week or so. No set time.
Don’t give up. You can figure this out. Just be kind to yourself.

umbramirror

frankiesgirlie wrote: »

I have had a history with binge eating. I’m now much better than I’ve ever been, but I can have an occasional relapse and eat 3000-4000 or so calories in a day. My maintenance calories are about 1700-2000, depending on my activity. What has helped me, and I truly believe it is different for every person is:

1) small deficit. I am at maintenance now, but when I was actively losing, my deficit was never more than 250-350 calories per day. I eat back exercise calories.
2)Shorter workouts. I found, in my case, that exercise longer than an hour seemed to cause a ravenous appetite and binge eating. So now I keep my workouts intense but short. About 30 minutes seems to work for me.
3)No “Clean eating” (whatever that is). When I read too much internet nonsense that tells me that carbs/sugar/fruit or whatever are the devil, and I try to cut them out, I always end up binge eating.
I eat all the foods I love. I just don’t eat them all in the same day.

That said. I do have the occasional binge. Maybe once every 2-3 months maybe?
It’s amazing how crappy you feel the next day.
I intentionally do NOT over restrict to “make up for it”. I do my normal exercise routine. I drink coffee & lots of water. And most important, I do NOT weigh myself for a week. The water weight gain just plays with your head. The bloat will go away on its own. Just put it out of your head.
On that note,I weighed daily for most of my adult life. I now weigh about once a week or so. No set time.
Don’t give up. You can figure this out. Just be kind to yourself.

It's interesting how so many details when compounded cause such an effect to our state of being isn't it? I find it fascinating how certain elements can offset the homeostasis of the body, triggering it to want to balance itself.

It's awesome how you learned what works and doesn't work for you. You experimented and found a method that's successful. Very commendable. I'm working on this myself and know that it will be trial and error before I find the right combination of elements. It's nice to see someone who can relate to a similar experience figuring it out. Also, thank you for the support. I appreciate it.

This week has been interesting for me so far. I've been eating around 2000 calories everyday and have felt pretty great for the most part. I workout in the morning, and then go about my day with a much more relaxed mindset. I decided to not weigh myself this week because I'll likely just go up and down in weight because of water retention and there is no use driving myself crazy. I do have a little voice in the back of mind that is anxious about gaining weight and that tells me to be careful but it is being calmed by the part of my mind that is aware of the health benefits of this break. Overall, this test has been successful so far. I'm a bit nervous about what the scale will say next week but also, I'm prepared.