Binged this morning- not sure what to do

PAV8888

A few things to throw at you.

BMI does NOT mean that everyone of a certain height is healthy at EVERY point in the healthy/normal BMI range.

At most it can be interpreted to say that the vast majority of people of a certain height will find their optimum weight, in terms of being healthy, at some random weight level that will be within the normal BMI range.

What this means is that not every single 5ft 6" female is at a healthy weight at BMI 22.6 and not every 5ft 6" female is at a healthy weight for her at BMI 19.4

Various things play in this including muscle mass and body shape.

Your body is clearly signaling, based on what you say, that whatever fat reserves you currently have are far from excessive as far as it is concerned.

So even though on paper your target BMI 19.4 is "healthy", you're neither particularly short, nor of Asian descent, nor under muscled. And yet the above three reasons were major drivers in moving the healthy BMI range to even include sub 20 bmi.

Your food seaking and what you want to eat sound pretty normal to me for someone who has been extensively under eating their current energy requirements

It takes time for bodies to recover and stabilize after "starvation" events. Most of us regain lost weight within less than 2 years. Some of us last between 2-5 years. And only at that point do we pretty much have a fair chance to maintain a loss.

Most people blame simple lack of willpower and commitment for these regains, and fail to recognize that the way they create and apply deficits generate hormonal and neurotransmitter reactions and changes as side effects. And that while many of these side effects are inevitable, some can be, perhaps, finessed a little bit to enhance the probability of long term success.

The above is not in direct reference to your case, it just introduces the concept that it takes time for the body and mind to stabilize and the time horizon is longer than a year or two.

You, to me, sound like you're coming hard upon body limits. And that generates reactions. And in spite of how long ago it may feel to you, given your age, it is a safe bet that you don't have decades of recovery under your belt.

Separate the issues by not applying a deficit

Then tackle the mental issues because that's where most of your long term health win is at.

A skinfold that registers a mm less on a caliper won't make the next 50 years as much better for you as tackling any lingering issues you currently have around food...

... and dieting to lose weight at this point won't increase your chances of being able to tackle any lingering issues.

You are barking at a tree without a squirrel while a family of chipmunks is sitting at the next tree over... or something like that!!!! ♡

Bex953172

crossrunner1497 wrote: »

freda78 wrote: »

The OP's profile says she is recovering from an eating disorder, look slim in her picture and then talks here about restricting, binging and purging.

Other posts talk about "saving calories" to have regular binges of many thousands of calories as a deliberate act.

Nuff said surely and can I suggest other posters should now back away with their advice?

I recovered. I am 140lbs at 5’6. I am no where near underweight, and my goal is no longer to be underweight. I am happier not be stick thin anymore. I don’t restrict heavily, but yes, I am cutting some calories to try to lose some of the extra weight. I am doing everything like a normal healthy person would. I understand my history can be worrisome, but I am not engaging in eating disorder behaviors. I do not normally binge and purge, but I did this one time. Everyone has slip ups. I do have extreme cravings though, and I do find it difficult not to binge. I believe that would still mean advice would be helpful, as it is just as any normal person. I am only questioning saving calories as a possible method to offset my cravings so I can do this long term and in a heathy manner. Again, countless of healthy people asked about that too.

I just want to say well done for standing up for yourself and well done with your recovery! I had a friend with anorexia and it took a very very long time for her to get better so well done.

There will always be people that have something to say, not necessarily in a bad way, but you may find you always have that stigma.
But the important thing is is that you have recovered, and you are healthy and you've made it very clear you don't want to be underweight. And I'm sure youre very well aware of what sort of things may trigger it or anything
So you shouldn't be judged by your past ED is what I'm trying to say.
(I'm pretty bad at wording things)

Sorry I didn't really have any advice on your original post!

Mithridites

It’s painful to see how tough on yourself you are.
Living every day with things I found hard to accept was tough too.
Reading these made some lightbulbs go off, and now it’s easier to live with the critical voice in my head:
The Power of Now
The Secret of Happiness
Both by Eckhart Tolle