Bingeing or intuitive eating?

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  • Dugleik
    Dugleik Posts: 125
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    I don't know where you live, but you should see if there is a...um...low-threshold eating disorder clinic where you live?
  • lauren3101
    lauren3101 Posts: 1,853 Member
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    Out of curiosity, have you gained weight during this period of over-eating?
  • Pintado
    Pintado Posts: 33 Member
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    Therapy is helping me learn how to treat food as "just food". I've found that I was giving food too much importance in my life, even to the effect of attending a social gathering and not being able to concentrate on interactions becausei was concentrating more on "am I going to look like a pig if I eat this?" "This looks good, I want to try it." Instead of "I haven't seen so-and-so for awhile, I should see how they are."

    Oh dear, this is so me. Thanks for this advice – I routinely give food way too much prominence during my day, especially when I'm bored!
    Two good books I have read are by Josie Spinardi who also encourages you to take account of how you feel after eating certain foods, and 'Ditching Diets' by Gillian Riley which accepts that intuitive eating is not for everyone and suggests certain boundaries. These boundaries include planning meals, and leaving time between eating.

    Thanks for this recommendation – Ditching Diets in particular looks to be exactly what I need.
  • Pintado
    Pintado Posts: 33 Member
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    Out of curiosity, have you gained weight during this period of over-eating?

    Not really – I've fluctuated within a range of about 2lb, which makes me think my TDEE is a bit higher than I'm allowing for. If I can manage to break this habit of binge eating, and eat normally for a few weeks, I might be able to see properly how much food I'm eating every day and whether I can maintain on this amount. Maybe a lot of this behaviour is self-sabotage, wanting to distort the maths so I can't help myself be normal!
  • april1445
    april1445 Posts: 334
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    I love the concept of intuitive eating, and I really hope to someday be healthy enough to apply it. For now, my intuition tells me to eat raw cookie dough, so it's not to be trusted. I really envy people who have a healthy relationship with food, but miy relationship is 40+ years of mixed messages, and diets, and starvation and binging--it would take a long time to reset that, to undo it, and I can't risk it right now--maybe someday.
  • Pintado
    Pintado Posts: 33 Member
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    Hi everyone, OP here. I just wanted to say thank you for your thoughtful advice and input – it's really helped me to see that this part of the road is just part of maintenance and recovery from restrictive eating, so I should be patient and gentle with myself while I focus on creating good habits. Thank you, so much!
  • nextrightthing
    nextrightthing Posts: 408 Member
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    for book titles....
  • CoffeeNBooze
    CoffeeNBooze Posts: 966 Member
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    What has helped me with intuitively eating is to eat slowly, and consciously enjoy my food instead of just shoveling food in. I have been trying my best lately to eat everything like a gourmet, slow and just to enjoy it. In my opinion that's how we should treat food anyway. It's wonderful! Intuitive eating is what works for me in the long term, but I am not perfect and of course slip up. If you want to know more or want some support drop me a message or add me as a friend!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    I've been maintaining for around 9 months or so without logging and haven't had any issues. That said, I took a good 9 months or so while I was losing and made sure that not only was I logging, but I was also retraining myself on how to eat for my nutrition as well as energy needs, and what that looked like day to day with various foods, eating out, dinner parties, etc. It doesn't sound like you're there yet to me.

    Also, I think your TDEE may be higher than you're giving credit for if you're doing these things and maintaining. I can eat around 3,000 calories plus on certain days, and it's not binging...it's just properly fueling my body and activity. A big part of this is fully understanding your body's energy (calorie) needs.
  • maybyn
    maybyn Posts: 233 Member
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    You CANNOT eat intuitively UNTIL you have successfully solved your binge eating problem.

    It's a two stage process and you have not completed stage 1 yet - curing your binge eating.

    Once you get past that, then yes, you can listen to your body. It can be done as I've been where you are.
  • freddi11e
    freddi11e Posts: 317 Member
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    I once binged on nearly half a container of Carnation Malted milk mix (with a spoon) and I was not restricting or dieting at the time. What was my body trying to tell me then? ;)

    In all seriousness, binge eating is a compulsive mental condition. Your body doesn't need to binge and if you are truly binging (eating upwards of 1000 cals in a short period of time while feeling out of control), it's not because you are "eating intuitively" it's because stress, restriction, your own brain, etc., is driving you to do it.

    Sometimes I binge because I justify that it's okay to do it RIGHT NOW because TOTALLY STUPID REASONS THAT ONLY MAKE SENSE TO ME.

    It's a hard road, but it's not impossible to get it (mostly) under control, or at least manageable.

    lol "TOTALLY STUPID REASONS THAT ONLY MAKE SENSE TO ME" This literally made me laugh out loud because I can totally relate. You should hear the reason's I come up with.
  • eso2012
    eso2012 Posts: 337 Member
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    I think I understand where you come from. (1) you have a binge-eating habit (2) you want to know your optimal diet-and-exercise goal (e.g. X calories per day, X workouts per week).


    As someone who has been there done that, I SERIOUSLY advise you to deal with point #1 first, while taking it easy on #2. If you feel that your cravings and binge-eating occupies your mind most of the time, please seek professional advice. It is a bit of a catch 22 you see. Eating disorder has a lot to do with control which is exactly what you try to do when you track your diet.

    I suggest
    - get diagnosed - are you craving food or do you have an eating disorder? You need to know where you are in order to plan where to go.
    - Binge-eating is more than just overeating. You would be thinking about food, obsessively tracking calories, etc. You would be in a trance when you sit down to binge and, yes, can easily shoot to 4000 cals a day or more (I know that from experience).
    - For setting goals, RELAX a bit. Use TDEE to ESTIMATE only. Check out different TDEE / Cal consumption calculators and get a realistic average.

    Personally, I think tracking calories-in vs calories-out can be more accurate in the early days of weight loss (that is, not TDEE, but actual recording via HRM). At maintenance, I think you can relax but focus on your mental health - you don't want to feel guilty eating, right?

    Hope I answered your questions and your find some suggestions helpful.
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
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    for book titles....

    Ditching Diets - Gillian Riley
    Eating Less - Gillian Riley (a longer version of Ditching Diets)
    How to have your cake and skinny jeans too - Josie Spinardi (she is due to release a book on emotional eating soon I believe)
    Brain Over Binge - Kathryn Hansen
    Intuitive Eating - Evelyn Tribole & Elsye Resch (probably the best known text on the matter)
    The End of Overeating - David Kessler
  • anorangie
    anorangie Posts: 975 Member
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    for book titles....

    Ditching Diets - Gillian Riley
    Eating Less - Gillian Riley (a longer version of Ditching Diets)
    How to have your cake and skinny jeans too - Josie Spinardi (she is due to release a book on emotional eating soon I believe)
    Brain Over Binge - Kathryn Hansen
    Intuitive Eating - Evelyn Tribole & Elsye Resch (probably the best known text on the matter)
    The End of Overeating - David Kessler

    Thanks for posting these.

    eta I've read How to Have Your Cake and Skinny Jeans, Too and Brain over Binge, and I've gotten some helpful + practical information out of both related to mindful eating.
  • Pintado
    Pintado Posts: 33 Member
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    I think I understand where you come from. (1) you have a binge-eating habit (2) you want to know your optimal diet-and-exercise goal (e.g. X calories per day, X workouts per week).

    As someone who has been there done that, I SERIOUSLY advise you to deal with point #1 first, while taking it easy on #2. If you feel that your cravings and binge-eating occupies your mind most of the time, please seek professional advice. It is a bit of a catch 22 you see. Eating disorder has a lot to do with control which is exactly what you try to do when you track your diet.

    I suggest
    - get diagnosed - are you craving food or do you have an eating disorder? You need to know where you are in order to plan where to go.
    - Binge-eating is more than just overeating. You would be thinking about food, obsessively tracking calories, etc. You would be in a trance when you sit down to binge and, yes, can easily shoot to 4000 cals a day or more (I know that from experience).
    - For setting goals, RELAX a bit. Use TDEE to ESTIMATE only. Check out different TDEE / Cal consumption calculators and get a realistic average.

    Personally, I think tracking calories-in vs calories-out can be more accurate in the early days of weight loss (that is, not TDEE, but actual recording via HRM). At maintenance, I think you can relax but focus on your mental health - you don't want to feel guilty eating, right?

    I think you and some of the other posters have nailed it – I need to be OK with working on recovering from my binge-eating disorder, and not try to skip ahead past the hard work... which is probably what I've been doing. Thank you! I'm blown away by how constructive and supportive this thread has been.

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