Binge Eating and the next day...

KBmoments

Hi,
I have the occasional binge (anywhere from 1,200 to 3,000 over my daily calorie intake) and I know you're supposed to go on the next day or two or week , like nothing happened. Continue to eat healthy and NOT lower your calorie intake or exercise like a mad person to 'make up for it.' as to not prevent another binge. I do usually go on like nothing happened and continue to eat healthy... my question is - if you were to lower your calorie intake by a lot and also exercise, wouldn't you be able to make up for it (wise or not) faster?? Everyone says do not do this - i get it - but technically, couldn't you do this to help offset the calories eaten? Please don't tell me that it's not smart and it will cause a bad cycle..i understand that!

Greenrun99

Technically and on paper everything looks like it would work.. then again technically you shouldn't be binge eating cause your eating enough already..

KBmoments

True...

Hildy_J

Hey there,

In the short term - perhaps? But, as you already know, best not to go there!

In the long term that one day of excess is a drop in the ocean compared to eating with a small and steady calorie deficit each day.

Cindyinpg

You have to look at why you are bingeing, treat the cause and not the affect. Are you bored, feeling deprived, or is it emotional eating?

ladynocturne

I suffer from binge eating. And I've had it *mostly* under control since I got serious about losing weight in June. I recently went through a few weeks where events happened and I ate over my maintenance a couple times. While it wasn't a crazy amount (300-600 over), I made myself crazy trying to "make up for it" the next week. It felt endless, it went on for 3 weeks and I was miserable and ended up continuing to over eat.

I do not recommend trying to make up for it, even if it's a small amount every day for the next week, it is miserable. Especially miserable for anyone who suffers from any kind of disordered eating.

JesterMFP

I think the issue is - you don't need, and shouldn't be trying, to "make up for it". That's a key part of the binge eating cycle, and it's a good part of the cycle to try to break first. One binge isn't going to make you fat/stop you losing weight, so you don't need to make up for it. Also, binging doesn't make you a bad person, it's not something you need to punish yourself for. (You didn't mention this aspect, but it is a common one.) Furthermore, as you've stated, drastically undereating (or overexercising) to make up for it can increase the risk of you binging again. If you already have a tendency to binge, you need to be trying to minimise the risks, not maximise them.

Don't look at things "technically". You're not a robot. You body is a complicated organism, and your brain is a very complicated organ. There are physiological and psychological reasons why people binge. Over-compensating the next day can have serious consequences. You might think that it works on paper, so it should work in reality, but I think you already know that it doesn't work like that. If it was as simple as that, then you wouldn't be binging in the first place would you, because "technically", you have no reason to.

Instead of looking for ways to undo the damage, look at how you can reduce or even stop the binging. Look at the physical stuff. Are you restricting your intake too much? If you are a healthy weight (assuming you have weight to lose) then you should only be looking at losing about 0.5 lbs a week. That means a daily deficit of about 250 calories. Ad i you do aton of exercise, you need to eat enough to support that. Keeping your deficit small will help to prevent binging. What about the psychological stuff? Can you identify any reasons you feel compelled to binge? Do you think it's a serious enough problem that you can't tackle it on your own? If so, consider getting some counselling or therapy to see if you can sort it out.

diannethegeek

I'm also a binge eater and I've done the eat-500-calories-and-workout-like-mad thing the day after a binge. On paper, yes the math works out for your weightloss goals. But, as any binge eater knows, dieting isn't just about math. One of the big concerns is that you're further disordering your relationship with food. For some people, food becomes the enemy, exercise becomes punishment, and the guilt from a binge/fast cycle grows and grows.

Obviously everyone is different, but I know that I don't want to risk that kind of cycle for myself.

dlbaron

Yes, technically in terms of numbers it should work out, but our bodies don't always work that predictably. Sometimes I lose weight when I haven't had enough of a deficit to lose a pound and sometimes I gain when I haven't consumed enough to warrant a full pound gain. It depends on a ton of factors, most of which probably aren't precisely measurable. When I have a really bad day (for me that is anywhere from 700-3,000 calories over- I can eat.) I make sure to work out every day for the next week and have some calories left over each day for a little while. Last weekend was a bad one for me so for the past couple days I've been trying to eat lots of protein and veggies- that way I feel fuller with less calories and don't get the sugar cravings that, for me, just get worse the more sugar I have. If you keep making good choices every day, they will eventually outweigh one bad day.

KBmoments

Thank you for this!

NonnyMary

Even if you tried to eat 1200 calories less the next day, you'll probably be so hungry that you will binge again.

So really, it will even itself out over the week, just go back to eating normally, and dont let yourself get into the place where you will binge again.. Problem solved without the pain of starvation.

if you are going to eat like this the rest of your life, one day is only a teeny blip in your whole life.

So learn what made that happen and then you can say you just had a learning experience. Valuable info so you can use it next time you get in that place and you can prevent it.

KBmoments

Even if you tried to eat 1200 calories less the next day, you'll probably be so hungry that you will binge again.

So really, it will even itself out over the week, just go back to eating normally, and dont let yourself get into the place where you will binge again.. Problem solved without the pain of starvation.

if you are going to eat like this the rest of your life, one day is only a teeny blip in your whole life.

So learn what made that happen and then you can say you just had a learning experience. Valuable info so you can use it next time you get in that place and you can prevent it.

KBmoments

Thanks, everyone