One mistake leads to a binge?

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em1773
em1773 Posts: 10
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I find that after one little mistake, like an extra cookie or something, I go on an all out binge (meaning 500 extra calories of food). This is totally unhealthy but I don't know how to stop. Any mantras or ways of thinking that have helped you guys?

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  • Cindyinpg
    Cindyinpg Posts: 3,902 Member
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    What helps me is to not look at it on a daily basis, but rather over a weekly average. If you have a high calorie day, you don't need to think of it as a mistake, just a high calorie day. Get in some extra exercise later or have a lower calorie day to make up for it. Definitely don't beat yourself up for it. Cookies are yummy and you are human. This is an excellent read on flexible dieting and incorporating foods you love into your eating plan if that's not what you're doing already.

    http://impruvism.com/flexible-dieting-basics/

    And here is an excellent link as well:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    Eat "good" or "clean" or "healthy" (whatever those words mean to you) 80% of the time. Fit yummy, portion controlled treats into your calorie goal. Deprivation can lead to bingeing.

    Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • spoiledpuppies
    spoiledpuppies Posts: 675 Member
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    I ate SO much yesterday--for the first time since starting MFP seven months ago. It started with a splurge on a Chinese buffet that I was fine with. Then I went to Whole Foods and ate so many samples and even bought cookies--and I wasn't even planning to eat dinner after being so stuffed from the buffet. The scale reflected a four-pound gain this morning, most of which I figure (hope!) is water from the sodium.

    Anyway, I'm just making today and tomorrow (maybe more!) lighter days--actually back to my losing deficit. I don't feel guilty or punished. It's just balance (though I may have better self-restraint next time due to the repercussions!).
  • aribugg
    aribugg Posts: 164 Member
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    My rest days are the week ends, and one day a week (on the weekend) FOOD PLEASE! lol I think if you constantly deny yourself things, you end up binge eating. thats i why I plan my for sweet treats. Dont' eat it all day, keep some clean foods in there and do not over do it. it's so much easier to get through a week and not indulge when i can have them, because i know i can have them again later.
  • wonderwoman234
    wonderwoman234 Posts: 551 Member
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    You have gotten great advice. Reframing how you look at food is so important. Eating a cookie is not failure. Overeating on one day is also not failure. Perfectionistic or black and white thinking is what gets people hung up. A cookie is just a cookie. Eating it is not an indictment on your character!

    It may help if you think of this as a JOURNEY rather than a destination. You have your whole life ahead of you. To think that you will never eat a cookie, or eat more than you need once in a while is, well, kinda crazy! So instead of looking at a day of heavy eating as "failure" think of it as a day when you ate more. Keep it fact based and all judgement out of it. All people, both fat and skinny, overeat once in a while.
  • erinbartholomew5
    erinbartholomew5 Posts: 44 Member
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    It's the same for me! It's almost as if I feel like it's too late to eat healthy that day and I might as well eat everything in sight. It helps me to think "It''s not too late to stop!" Just because I ate a hamburger does not mean I can binge the rest of the day. And if I don't, it WILL make a difference. Maybe not on the scale, but in the long run.
  • MelissaPhippsFeagins
    MelissaPhippsFeagins Posts: 8,063 Member
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    All of the advice above is good, but when I need to actually stop myself from eating anything else right this second, I either go for a walk or do the dishes by hand. Both of those last at least 15 minutes and my mind has moved past the food craving by the time it's done. Another alternate is folding laundry/matching socks. I don't want to get the clean laundry dirty eating over it. So really anything that gets me away from the food, but those are the three go to activities.
  • hajenkatt
    hajenkatt Posts: 331 Member
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    Any mantras or ways of thinking that have helped you guys?

    Put it into perspective by switching out the topic. Examples:

    You accidentally drop one of your favorite coffee mugs while emptying the dishwasher. Do you get upset and say to heck with this and proceed to smash the rest of the mugs you own through out the rest of the day?

    Or, you get a speeding ticket while driving to work. Do you say screw this, I got one ticket so I might as well keep speeding the rest of the way?

    See where I'm going with this? View your food mistake from the perspective of other mistakes you have made. Most people, when they mess up, don't go out and deliberately create and then magnify the same mistake. Acknowledge you messed up and then do differently.
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
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    Try this mantra: "500 calories is hardly a binge"
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
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    Try this mantra: "500 calories is hardly a binge"

    This. But then, I guess each person views a binge differently.
    To me, a 500 calorie splurge, is not a binge.
  • rachrach7595
    rachrach7595 Posts: 151 Member
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    I do that.
    I am trying to find better coping skills when things don't go my way instead of turning to food or alcohol.
    This morning has been a real test of my personal strength.
    Planned to get up. Take kids to school. Go for a walk. Go to work. So on and so forth.

    Got up.
    Cat has pissed all over the clean school clothes, my sons runners and his school bag.
    Left my runners in the car my partner has taken to work.
    Went to make lunches for the kids and partner has eaten about half a dozen cheese slices and we are out of Vegemite.
    Go to walk kids to school... cant find my thongs. They are also in the car.
    Go barefoot. Step on a every freakin small rock there is between here and the school.
    Get home to the cat half hanging out of my window broken the flywire because he is trying to escape... again. (I just fixed it 3 weeks ago...*sigh*)

    **** happens. ****s going to keep happening.
    Calm blue ocean. Calm blue ocean.
    Eating the block of chocolate in the fridge will not change anything. It will likely make me feel worse and its counterproductive to what I am trying to achieve.

    Some days that works. Some days I eat the chocolate anyway.
    Just go out and exercise more if your going to eat the chocolate :D
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
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    500 calories is not a binge. It's barely a meal. The best thing you can do is to make sure that you are eating enough in the first place.
  • Sharronmama42
    Sharronmama42 Posts: 1
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    I read an article that describes this kind of mindset as a "dieting perfectionist". I can totally relate. I am the kind of person that cannot have even 1 cookie (or potato chips) because I cannot stop. Sometimes I try to think of my overeating like an addiction. If someone with an alcohol or drug addiction starts, they may not be able to stop, just like me and bad foods. If I binge, I totally give up on that day and it ends up repeating itself. It's easier to just say "no".
  • Yazza2
    Yazza2 Posts: 31
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    This is what I say to myself...

    NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD AS BEING SKINNY FEELS!!!
  • pkw58
    pkw58 Posts: 2,039 Member
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    I feel that way. There are some foods that can't be a 250 or 500 or 1000 calorie treat. I just won't stop if I start. Then others - it's ok. I think nothing tastes as good as "Healthy Feels"... and there is no late night TV as good as a full nights sleep... the list goes on and on.
  • GertrudeHorse
    GertrudeHorse Posts: 646 Member
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    This is what I say to myself...

    NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD AS BEING SKINNY FEELS!!!

    Skinny doesn't sustain life. You need food for that. Fewer anorexic mantras would get you a long way.
  • CanGirl40
    CanGirl40 Posts: 379 Member
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    Any mantras or ways of thinking that have helped you guys?

    Put it into perspective by switching out the topic. Examples:

    You accidentally drop one of your favorite coffee mugs while emptying the dishwasher. Do you get upset and say to heck with this and proceed to smash the rest of the mugs you own through out the rest of the day?

    Or, you get a speeding ticket while driving to work. Do you say screw this, I got one ticket so I might as well keep speeding the rest of the way?

    See where I'm going with this? View your food mistake from the perspective of other mistakes you have made. Most people, when they mess up, don't go out and deliberately create and then magnify the same mistake. Acknowledge you messed up and then do differently.

    Great analogies! Perfectly said.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    I find that after one little mistake, like an extra cookie or something, I go on an all out binge (meaning 500 extra calories of food).

    The blunt reality is that if it's that easy for you to go off the rails, you're just not ready to be doing this yet.

    When you want it bad enough, you'll find a way to say "No!"

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