Another binge

Jmoney711

I binged again hard, and have been eating a lot these past couple of days. Luckily I have been very active, I walk 15000 steps a day and went on a mountain bike ride with my dad. but not active enough to burn off the sheer amount of calories I’ve consumed. I’m 5 foot 10 inches male and 20 years old. I was 148 pounds but after this week I’m sure it will be about 153-155. It sucks because I’ve worked really hard and have made great progress but I can’t keep falling into these binges cause they are not benificial to my well being mentally and physically. Does anyone have advice for me on this subject?

AnnPT77

Do you honestly believe that in this short span of time you've eaten 17,500-24,500 calories above your weight-maintenance calorie level (including the extra exercise)? (24,500 calories would be like 10 times my daily maintentence calories; so I'd have to eat my maintenance calories plus 5 times more than that each day for 2 days to gain 7 pounds!) I guess that would be technically possible in a couple of days, but it's quite unlikely.

If you didn't eat 17,500-24,500 calories above maintenance, you didn't gain 5-7 pounds, period. You might see a 5-7 pound jump on the scale temporarily but that's water weight from extra carbs (need 3g water per 1g extra carbs, while the carbs are being metabolized) and from extra sodium (needed to balance electrolytes). Water weight will drop off once your behavior goes back to normal.

If you haven't yet, please read this:

https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations

It sounds like you're doing what you call "binging" somewhat often. (I put that in quotes because people mean many different things when they use that same word.). If you want not to "binge", then you need to figure out what's causing it (stress, boredom, over-restriction on other days if you're dieting, habit, social triggers, etc.) and address the underlying problem so you can overcome it.

To say more, I'd need to know what you'd consider a "binge", and why you think they happen for you. Any of the weights you mention are solidly in the normal weight range (BMI 21-22-ish), so I'm not sure why you're so stressed by uneven eating, frankly.

Jmoney711

@AnnPT77 thank you for this insight, I consider a binge when I start eating and I feel like I can’t stop. I have friends who always say things like “your to skinny” “you need to eat more” etc and I feel like it triggers that mindset for me but I always regret it afterwards. But once again it’s nobody’s fault but my own. I just want to get abs and I thought the way to do that is to keep losing weight because I’ve heard the phrase “everybody has abs you just have to loose the weight in order to physically see them”

AnnPT77

Jmoney711 wrote: »

@AnnPT77 thank you for this insight, I consider a binge when I start eating and I feel like I can’t stop. I have friends who always say things like “your to skinny” “you need to eat more” etc and I feel like it triggers that mindset for me but I always regret it afterwards. But once again it’s nobody’s fault but my own. I just want to get abs and I thought the way to do that is to keep losing weight because I’ve heard the phrase “everybody has abs you just have to loose the weight in order to physically see them”

It's not necessarily as simple as "keep losing weight", though that's definitely a factor. (Isn't it funny how often these common platitudes or rules of thumb leave out nuance and details? ).

Here's a thread I'd suggest you read:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1161603/so-you-want-a-nice-stomach/p1

As far as the uncontrolled eating: Like I said before, if you want not to "binge", then you need to figure out what's causing it (stress, boredom, over-restriction on other days if you're dieting, habit, social triggers, etc.) and address the underlying problem so you can overcome it.

If you have difficulty doing that, I'd suggest that you seek out some professional counseling from someone experienced with eating-related issues. Since you're young still, and eating problems tend to have increased bad impacts over the years, it's worth taking steps to figure this out now. Just as we seek out advice from dietitians about what we eat, and from personal trainers about how to exercise, there should be zero stigma about consulting a professional if we have issues related to how we think/feel about our eating. There are even live video or phone options for this, these days. At an early stage, a short course of sessions can make big improvements in working through this kind of stuff.

Best wishes!