Need binge advice

angiesjourney

Anyone here have binge episodes? Do really good for three weeks then binge? I am trying conquer this part of my personality. I can’t afford therapy... but if anyone has some good advice then I would appreciate it.

lgfrie

Make sure you're getting some of the foods you love, just in small, controlled quantities, in your diet. Then you will feel less urge to binge.

I have a 43 calorie piece of Dove Promises chocolate every day after dinner. It keeps me from raiding the 7-11 at 3 in the morning and walking out with 3,000 calories worth of Nutty Buttys, oreo cookies, and kit kat bars. That one stupid little piece of chocolate does the trick for me. I've had one binge in the last 4 months, and it wasn't even all that much of a binge.

You might be binging because you feel deprived on your diet. Figure out which foods make you feel really, really good and learn to have a small amount of them, frequently. That may help.

shewhoismany

Similar to @lgfrie I save a 100 calories for my end of day snack. Sometimes it is a mini chocolate bar or small dish of ice cream. If I'm craving salty it will be some potato chips or the like. Other times, I'll skip the treat at night and use the calories the next day for something a bit bigger - my current passion is a cold brew coffee with cream and sugar. The easiest way to avoid a binge is avoid the feeling that your are not able to have the things you want without cheating and going off plan. Make what you really want part of your plan. You don't have to give up control to get what you want.

Alternatively, you could delve deeper into why you binge. Are you frustrated by a perceived lack of progress? Are you seeing progress but self-sabotaging? We can tell you what works for us but for you to break your cycle you may need to understand the cause by way of a little self-reflection.

emmamcgarity

How does your protein look on your current eating style? Also does your current calorie goal seem restrictive? Are you able to fit in foods that you enjoy daily?

Fflpnari

I have struggled with an eating disorder. What has helped me was eating at a smaller deficit. identifying triggers. I binged when Im stressed, like 10k calorie binge. Ive gotten much better, but still have binges periodically. Ive lost 30 pounds over the last year. So bad days here and there haven't hurt my progress that much. My goal right now isn't weight loss but to have a healthier relationship with food.

Lillymoo01

How restrictive is your diet in regards to calories and food choices? People are more likely to binge like this if they eliminate entirely foods they enjoy or have an aggressive deficit. As others have already said, having small controlled amounts of enjoyable foods regularly can make a huge difference. My trick with this was to always prelog. Also, if your goal is to lose 2 pounds a week, cut back to one pound. If it is 1 pound a week then cut back to half a pound. You are better off losing slowly than going through this binge/restrict cycle as this never works for losing weight and keeping it off long term.

Lillymoo01

I should also add that I often ask myself whether the calories in the food worth the enjoyment I'll get from eating it. There have been many a time when I have made different decisions because I realised that I would get the same enjoyment out of a different choice that had significantly fewer calories.

whmscll

When you binge, start the next day fresh and on track, without trying to do anything special to “make up” for the overindulgence of the day before. Unless you binge often (every three weeks may be a bit often), one binge day every so often will slow you down only slightly.

Hannahwalksfar

I’m very lucky in that my drive way is 40 miles long and the nearest store is over two hours away so when we go into town every two weeks I get myself a chocolate bar and a small packet of chips and enjoy it. I make sure nothing else is bought so I can’t eat it when I get home.
Binging is really difficult to combat because those foods are just so great and so satisfying. Try adding it regularly into your diet within you cals so that you aren’t denied. That can work.

I’m currently staying at my mum’s in town and am working out extra every day so that I can justify the extra sweets. Another month and I’ll be without the struggle haha

shrinkingweez

I let myself have one day every week eating at a maintenance level of calories (so I get 2500 calories to play with rather than 1500), which lets me have some of the stuff that I'd usually binge on (maybe a small pizza, or a McDonalds) as long as I don't go mad. It helps to keep it in the plan, because then when I go I stick to what I planned to order rather than going mad and eating way too much out of a sense of guilt/must eat it all NOW.

I've found that eating one day at maintenance hasn't hindered me so far. I've lost 17lbs and counting. It also helps me stay on track the rest of the week, because I can look forward to Sunday. This week I had a roast dinner with pork belly and cauliflower cheese, it was well worth the other six days of effort!

Allowing myself controlled access to the foods I crave is honestly the only way I've found that works. Restricting my access completely, or telling myself certain foods are forbidden, always leads to a massive binge in my case.

koalathebear

I've been on a fitness regimen since early January and the only way I can cope is to make sure I factor food I like into my day. I plan my meals ahead of time and factor in treats/sweets - I love cake, chocolate, biscuits, ice cream, fried food, bread, pasta, rice etc so I will have two smallish meals and one largeish meal. I will let myself eat more on the weekends when I can exercise more. I've never exceeded my daily budget although there have been days when I have come down to the wire with almost no deficit ... I supplement my daily budget with a lot of exercise so have often been able to rein myself in by entering the food into MFP and then realising that I need to walk the dogs for an extra two hours / be on the elliptical an extra hour / do 1.5 hours worth of zumba to work it off. Then I decide if it's worth it or not. If it is, then I leave the food entry in there and eat it. If not, I take it out.

Sometimes, entering it into MFP makes me realise that it's not worth it and perhaps for the same amount I can eat something else equally yummy but more of it. I love food, so it's not easy for me but by not depriving myself too much, I have managed to get through the last 8 months and am 2kg away from goal weight. I also always have low cal jelly/jello in the fridge and I also drink carbonated mineral water to fill up a bit and deter myself from too much additional snacking. Good luck - I know it's hard!!!

angiesjourney

Thank all of you so much. All of you have given some great advice

Kalex1975

I use to binge every few weeks as well. I would constantly fantasize about all the food I wanted to eat on my next "day off" from logging and when that day came around I went crazy. I binged until I felt sick - sometimes making me take off work the next day to recover from the episode.

I knew how to lose weight (lost over 240 pounds) but still didn't have my head straight. So I went to a psychologist and began cognitive behavioral therapy about this (and other things). There were two homework assignments I was given that completely stopped my binging and has stopped the constant fantasizing:

1. Do not eat anything in front of the television. I eat all my meals and snacks at the dining room table or out at the restaurant. I remove all distractions - no reading, no screen time whatsoever. I focus on the food.
2. Allowing myself treats. I was depriving myself and thus would fantasize about the forbidden fruit. Now I work in a late afternoon coffee and treat (the "Kaffee und Kuchen" German tradition) and I also have something for dessert every night.

These two things completely changed my relationship with food. With formal meal times my mind no longer wanders at other times, thinking about what to snack on. Focusing on the meals has also reconnected me with my hunger cues.

Everyone is different so I am unsure if these would work for you. May be worth a try. Good luck!