About to Fall

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I'm dangerously close to binging. I feel like I might fall any minute now. What do you do when you like giving up and just going on a all you can eat diet?
Please I need help

ataylorgardner

everybody is different of course but what i personally do is find something to keep me busy. I do the laundry or go for a walk or to the bookstore. Do you have any hobbies you like to do. Sometimes I will draw or I like to sew. Anything that gets my brain thinking about something else. After a bit I find I forget about the food.,

Why do you think you are wanting to binge? Are you bored, or not eating enough? Are you drinking enough water? Just trying to get an idea of whats triggering it so I can better help you prevent it.

Iconx11

I have a mix of both boredom and hunger but I already had a snack and if I eat anymore right now I'll go over my calorie deficit at the end of the day

EmmieBaby

I start reasoning with myself. I look up the food I want on MFP and see how many calories it is and tell myself its not worth it then start thinking about what I could do instead, like cook something healthy or work out

j75j75

I binge weekly. Helps to keep you from going crazy while dieting lol. Just don't over do it and stay within your calorie goals, or maybe fast the next day and you will be fine.

Francl27

Log the food. It might help. Or go for a walk. Or take your clothes off and look at yourself in the mirror.

climbing_trees

Add all the food you want to eat to your diary before you touch any of it.
Sometimes seeing all those calories will shock you out of your mood.

Kiyalynn

I would suggest going for a nice long walk, Then you can eat back the calories you burned. So boredom fixed for a while PLUS you get to have a snack after. Also, Make sure to drink a big glass of water after your walk, it will help you feel less hungry and make your snack fill you up more.

JesterMFP

Well, for one thing, try to reduce a little of the pressure on yourself by not looking at things in such extremes. Binging does not make you a failure. This is a long process, one that lasts a lifetime in fact. You're not sitting an exam.

When I feel like that, I try to distract myself. I go for a walk, or a run, or have a bath, or read a book, or go and see a friend or whatever. I try to make myself calm because usually when I feel like that I have a heightened feeling of anxiety. Reducing the anxiety makes me feel more in control and reduces the urge to binge.

Check out urge surfing: http://www.aliceboyes.com/urge-surfing/ Just because you want to binge, doesn't mean you have to. You do have control over those feelings. It's not easy, but it gets easier with practice.

If all else fails, one tip I read once said to accept that you're going to overeat, and enjoy it. Don't just stuff food into your mouth, but sit down at a table, put the food on a plate. Eat slowly and enjoy the food. Looking at the food in front of you that you plan to eat can slow you down and make you stop long before you would have done otherwise. Try to be mindful about the process.

Longer term, look at the reasons why you want to binge. Binging is a very normal response to dieting, in fact going on a diet is a recognised cause of binge eating disorder. There are both physiological and psychological reasons for this. If you are prone to binging, then you would be best off keeping to as small a calorie deficit as possible. Don't try to cut out certain foods or food groups unless you have real medical or ethical reasons for doing so. Do everything you can not to feel restricted or "on a diet", because those feelings feed into the urge to binge.

Black and white thinking (thinking in extremes, perfectionism etc) is also a common feature of disordered eating, so if that's an issue, you might need to work on that. If you overeat one day, it doesn't make you a failure, you're just human. Stop trying to be perfect.

If this is something that happens regularly or is impacting on your general life/wellbeing, then I would really recommend getting professional help of some sort, whether your GP, or a therapist/counsellor.

Colombianchick29

i did this the entire month of december!! i was eating mcdonalds & fraps and cookies and all the stuff I love really late at night! It was great..but had so many guilty feelings! I knew i had given up on myself and was falling back into my old habits so quick, and felt so ashamed that i came so far and back to step one again. I set a goal for myself that starting back on january 6th-when i returned back to work from winter break, that I would really buckle down. its worked for me so far. I still have those desires, but I remind myself that I am like a drug addict. If you really want to kick drugs-or smoking-you have to stop and never go back to it-becuase that will be the beginning of the end. So i tell myself the same logic. no binging, no cheat DAYS ( it takes me a week to get back on track after a cheat day)-just a moderate treat here and there, but stay commited. I kicked my smoking habit this way years ago-becuase i had a baby . i decided that i couldnt live that way for her sake. same with weight. im such a happier person when i eat right and work out-becuase my body feels good. I want to be the best mom i can be, and a nice pacient one at that!

JesterMFP

I binge weekly. Helps to keep you from going crazy while dieting lol. Just don't over do it and stay within your calorie goals, or maybe fast the next day and you will be fine.

Adding compensatory behaviours to a binge? That's pretty much leading into bulimia. :indifferent:

LVCeltGirl

I drink a glass of water and then find something else to distract me. I've been finding that my hunger pangs/binge desires are actually thirst combined with old habits. So I drink water and then go find something to distract myself.

ataylorgardner

If I get that hungry I allow myself to eat I just do my best to make it healthy. Doesnt always work but the key is to not beat yourself up over it. If you are constantly denying yourself things you love you will end up binging at some point. Just make sure you dont go way overboard and you dont do it every day. I love mexican food and ive had days where i sit down and eat a huge plate of nachos. Didnt fit into my plan for the day but hey they were good lol! I felt a little guilty but I just made sure I got up the next day got my workout in and ate healthy. We need to splurge once in a while to keep us sane. Try to focus more on your overall weekly intake and not so much on the day to day. Good luck

DeadliftAddict

Have one calorie dense meal. Meaning what some people call a "cheat meal". I don't use the term cheat anymore because food should never be looked at like that. Cheating is horrible word and you should feel bad about anything you eat. Learn to eat the correct portions and you can have the things you like. Now back to what I was saying before I got on a "cheat" rant. One meal on say, Wednesday and one on Saturday. Not a day but a meal. The rest of the things you eat should be nutrient dense. If you can't do this without going crazy and it turning into a all out eat fest then you will have to learn some self control when it comes to food.

DeadliftAddict

i did this the entire month of december!! i was eating mcdonalds & fraps and cookies and all the stuff I love really late at night! It was great..but had so many guilty feelings! I knew i had given up on myself and was falling back into my old habits so quick, and felt so ashamed that i came so far and back to step one again. I set a goal for myself that starting back on january 6th-when i returned back to work from winter break, that I would really buckle down. its worked for me so far. I still have those desires, but I remind myself that I am like a drug addict. If you really want to kick drugs-or smoking-you have to stop and never go back to it-becuase that will be the beginning of the end. So i tell myself the same logic. no binging, no cheat DAYS ( it takes me a week to get back on track after a cheat day)-just a moderate treat here and there, but stay commited. I kicked my smoking habit this way years ago-becuase i had a baby . i decided that i couldnt live that way for her sake. same with weight. im such a happier person when i eat right and work out-becuase my body feels good. I want to be the best mom i can be, and a nice pacient one at that!

This is what I'm talking about. A person should never feel bad about eating food.

echofm1

Adding all the foods you want to eat to your log beforehand is handy. It might be a good shock to make you stop.

Try making some popcorn, or eating some pickles if you like either of those. They might push you over on your sodium, but they're both low calorie so you can eat to your heart's content without blowing your calorie limit out of the water. Protip: Get reduced fat popcorn. 20 calories a cup.

Exercising can actually be helpful in curbing your desires too.

Finally, if all else fails, take a little bit of whatever you're craving, particularly if it fits your calorie goals. Put it on a plate. Walk out of the kitchen, into another room. Preferably with people, and a door you can close if possible. Basically, just get yourself away from the extra food. Eat it slowly and consciously savor every single mouthful. By the time you're finished, your craving might just be satisfied.

Also, for future notes, make sure you're getting enough protein. That can be a cause of binging because your blood sugar is dropping, which leads to an urge to overload on carbs and spike your blood sugar. Eating protein before the times you're prone to binge (mine is late at night, so dinner is my key meal) can help to reduce the urge.

raw_meal

Binge on some carrots 3 oz is only 35 calories and 1/8 cup of nuts. I did this yesterday and the day before, it helped.

DeadliftAddict

I binge weekly. Helps to keep you from going crazy while dieting lol. Just don't over do it and stay within your calorie goals, or maybe fast the next day and you will be fine.

Adding compensatory behaviours to a binge? That's pretty much leading into bulimia. :indifferent:

I am an intermittent faster. And, I bet I'm not anywhere near the bulimia crap you are talking about. I also don't bing for a whole week. Actually I don't really binge at all. But there isn't anything wrong with fasting.

knitapeace

Hi OP, I don't know you or your situation but it sounds like you might be dealing with something a little more serious than your typical "I feel like eating again" kind of binge. I don't want to assume, but you do sound kind of sad and desperate.

Are you in a place mentally where you can be OK with going a little bit over for the day? Could you make a small, nutritionally balanced plate of fruit, protein, and maybe a small amount of a treat like a few squares of dark chocolate? Plated up as if it were a meal, you could send yourself the mental cues that it's satisfying but FINITE. Eat what's on the plate and be done.

If not, I agree about finding a distraction, something that doesn't usually involve food. In my case that means NOT sitting down in front of the TV, that just prompts me to snack. Something physical or busy-with-the-hands.

Eat a little if you can, or walk away. You can do this! You are strong!

JesterMFP

I binge weekly. Helps to keep you from going crazy while dieting lol. Just don't over do it and stay within your calorie goals, or maybe fast the next day and you will be fine.

Adding compensatory behaviours to a binge? That's pretty much leading into bulimia. :indifferent:

I am an intermittent faster. And, I bet I'm not anywhere near the bulimia crap you are talking about. I also don't bing for a whole week. Actually I don't really binge at all. But there isn't anything wrong with fasting.

I am too; I know there's nothing wrong with fasting. Fasting to make up for binge eating is a completely thing. Intermittent fasting is also not generally recommended for people with disordered eating (and no, I'm not making an ED diagnosis there, but uncontrollable binge eating is a disordered pattern of eating.)

ETA: and, like you say, you dont really binge. I really think the op is talking about a completely different thing.

victoriaalice39

Be kind to yourself. You are human. We all have days like this

TLynn0568

When I get that way - and I do, I'm a bonafide food junkie - before I give in I think about WHY I want to eat it. I mean, really, WHY. I find that when I'm in a "screw it, I'm doing it!" place it's irrationally emotional. I think about what I want and why I want it, and then if it's worth it - after I eat it and the guilt sets in - WILL it be worth it? Then I'll at least TRY to snack on something more healthy. Instead of cookies I'm going to take a handful of almonds - maybe that "trigger" within me making me want to eat won't truly notice the difference and I won't blow all my hard work on a spur of the moment binge.

And if you do "fall," so what? Get back up and keep going! Do the right things afterward for as long as you can and always try your best to keep doing the right things.

j75j75

I binge weekly. Helps to keep you from going crazy while dieting lol. Just don't over do it and stay within your calorie goals, or maybe fast the next day and you will be fine.

Adding compensatory behaviours to a binge? That's pretty much leading into bulimia. :indifferent:

I am an intermittent faster. And, I bet I'm not anywhere near the bulimia crap you are talking about. I also don't bing for a whole week. Actually I don't really binge at all. But there isn't anything wrong with fasting.

I am too; I know there's nothing wrong with fasting. Fasting to make up for binge eating is a completely thing. Intermittent fasting is also not generally recommended for people with disordered eating (and no, I'm not making an ED diagnosis there, but uncontrollable binge eating is a disordered pattern of eating.)

ETA: and, like you say, you dont really binge. I really think the op is talking about a completely different thing.

Wow, IF is not even close to bulimia...

socolu

Paint my fingernails... then I have to wait for them to dry! And I have a good stern talking to myself about how I want to have a body to match my fab fingernails.

freddi11e

I'M THE SAME WAY TODAY FOR SOME REASON! HAHA.... perhaps it's the moon ... i want treats... I"m just chewing gum now because I know that in 2 hours I have a nice fish dinner to cook !!!!!!!!

Capt_Apollo

you are an eighteen year old guy. how low is your daily calorie allotment???

MoreBean13

I think you need to pinpoint how you got to this place and try to cut the cycle off.

IMO,for a lot of the people that find themselves binge eating, the cycle starts with over-restriction. This could be too few calories, imbalanced macros, or an obsession with cutting out "bad" foods. If you correct whatever the restriction is, you can break the binge-restriction cycle.

If you do binge, however, do not follow it with a restriction. Just start over fresh, and try to break the cycle.

tjsoccermom

Log it to see how much it would be...then either exercise enough to burn those calories or rationalize with yourself that it's not worth it. Write down a list of reasons why you're losing weight so you can visualize why it's not worth it. Drink water to help feel full. Find something low cal to eat, like some veggies or oatmeal, etc. so that at least you only go over a little. Distract yourself with something, a book, hobby, take a walk if that's possible, write a letter or call a friend, etc. Those are some quick thoughts.

MoreBean13

Log it to see how much it would be...then either exercise enough to burn those calories or rationalize with yourself that it's not worth it. Write down a list of reasons why you're losing weight so you can visualize why it's not worth it. Drink water to help feel full. Find something low cal to eat, like some veggies or oatmeal, etc. so that at least you only go over a little. Distract yourself with something, a book, hobby, take a walk if that's possible, write a letter or call a friend, etc. Those are some quick thoughts.

I really believe exercising off calories from binge eating is a form of purging.

funkyspunky872

I think many people forget that purging is more than just vomiting. A purge not only attempts to expel calories from the body but also feelings of guilt. Many times purging is used as punishment for bingeing. Any form of compensatory behavior after over-eating and binging can be viewed as a purge. This includes but is not limited to: exercising, fasting, restricting, laxative abuse, diuretic abuse, and vomiting. (Fyi, there is such a thing as EXERCISE bulimia.)

Now, just to be clear, I'm not saying all of you have bulimia. I'm not even saying that you have any form of eating disorder. In reality, eating disorders have little do with eating, but the actual behaviors have to start somewhere don't they?

We need to focus on giving advice about stopping binges before they happen. I've seen some great posts on that already.

But once someone has binged, it's done. Reassure that person that they'll be okay. Ask them to forgive themselves, relax, and start over again the next day with an appropriate amount of calories. I'm absolutely sick of seeing people suggest that they exercise it off or restrict calories during the next week. MFP shouldn't allow that kind of dangerous advice.

ETA: I'm also not a fan of telling someone to look in the mirror in order to shame themselves out of bingeing. That's just vile.

JesterMFP

I binge weekly. Helps to keep you from going crazy while dieting lol. Just don't over do it and stay within your calorie goals, or maybe fast the next day and you will be fine.

Adding compensatory behaviours to a binge? That's pretty much leading into bulimia. :indifferent:

I am an intermittent faster. And, I bet I'm not anywhere near the bulimia crap you are talking about. I also don't bing for a whole week. Actually I don't really binge at all. But there isn't anything wrong with fasting.

I am too; I know there's nothing wrong with fasting. Fasting to make up for binge eating is a completely thing. Intermittent fasting is also not generally recommended for people with disordered eating (and no, I'm not making an ED diagnosis there, but uncontrollable binge eating is a disordered pattern of eating.)

ETA: and, like you say, you dont really binge. I really think the op is talking about a completely different thing.

Wow, IF is not even close to bulimia...

I can't tell if that comment is directed towards me or the other poster, but I am well aware that IF ≠ bulimia (like I mentioned, I practise IF; I'm not bulimic). Fasting to "make up for" a binge, however, is compensatory behaviour, and not remotely what IF is about. IF is really not recommended for people with eating disorders (again, not diagnosing the OP here).