Mfp causing binge eating?

lookthinfeelfat

For those who think I'm 'starving' i think I'm pretty normal for my height . I've added a profile pic

lookthinfeelfat

Cushman- Thank you so much for this post. It's very soothing and reassuring - I hope that over the course of time it will settle down. I can't limit my calories, not that I want to really but not do I want to put on weight either but I have to eat because I have a physical job and I'm self employed and have to eat to earn! But thank you for your soft touch.

Rosie_McA

I have a separate account for logging but after another binge I feel I want to explore if any one else has found mfp at first a blessing and then a curse?!
I honestly don't remember ever binge eating until I started mfp 3 months ago. I was obsessed with diet before but using mfp has only made me focus on it more! Now I did want and do want to lose a few vanity pounds, my bmi wavers between 18.5-19. When I started mfp got to my goal weight, which was bmi 18.5 and my god I felt fab and looked amazing. But. It was not really sustainable.It was really hard work. Anyway I don't want to ramble on with me me me, I'm wondering if people consider giving up mfp just to get on with their lives more easily.

I totally concur. I had never experienced binges until I joined MFP. However, I'm of the opinion that the problem was down to me setting a target weight that was just too low for me to maintain. Although in theory this new weight band did not push me into under-weight territory, I just felt frequently drained and would often consume huge amounts of sugary foods late in the evening. Recently I have been deliberately gaining some pounds and my maintenance target weight has increased from about 123 to 128lbs. So far this figure has been much easier to stick with and as of today no further binges have occurred.

lookthinfeelfat

That's really interesting. Before mfp I just ate when I was hungry. I never called it a binge. I think it's seeing the numbers that make me think it is a binge. I guess me weighing more would take me from my 'vanity' goal but I guess someone would jump I here and say 'do weights!' And it's not about the numbers after all. Thanks for that little insight . Things are becoming a little clearer ... It's probably 6 of one and half a dozen of the other as to what is going on but this helped. Thank you

JoRocka

MFP is only a tool, and it is a tool that can help develop both healthy and unhealthy habits.

You need to evaluate whether or not it is the right tool for you.

this. It's JUST a tool.

It sounds more like you need some structured training rather than weight loss- that may help you get some focus and shift away from the hard numbers.

amynoelhall1

I totally get what you're saying.

I have noticed that I will go for a while eating well and exercising, and then I seem to rebel big time. I know it's my own issue, but my head just won't let me be so perfect and controlled all the time. It had helped to just accept that about myself. If I acknowledge it, it seems to shorten the rebellious phase.

MeganAnne89

I feel like not enough attention is being drawn to trying to find out what exactly is the cause of "binge" eating.

We're about the same height (sort of, I'm just shy of 5'4'') yet I weigh 122 lbs and I eat less calories in a day than you do and I also exercise about 4 times a week, but rarely do I ever binge. And to be honest, I wouldn't call what I do binging (really just my bf and I going out and buying a bag of candy or chips on a Saturday night. That's not me going crazy and eating thousands of extra calories, it's just one "free" night).

There's a chance that some people are right. Maybe your body is craving some other nutrient that you're either not giving to it at all, or you're not giving enough. For example, I NEED protein in every meal or else I will be so hungry 2 - 3 hours later.

But at the same time maybe that's not your issue. I've found that MFP has made me realize that I can get a bit OCD about certain things and I become too focused on them, like with tracking my exercise. There are days where I force myself not to exercise because I need to reaffirm that taking a couple rest days is good for my body and that it won't kill me or make me gain weight. It's very hard but I recognize that I have a problem and I am trying my best to be proactive about it.

Perhaps you have a similar issue. Maybe tracking what you eat so rigorously has triggered a more obsessive part of you and you become so focused while you're doing it but then at the same time you feel so guilty about it because you know that you shouldn't be that way so your brain is telling you to "eat more eat more eat more" so you just go and do it.

Dedshot

For those who think I'm 'starving' i think I'm pretty normal for my height . I've added a profile pic

If you're anything like me, ignore these people. I've had the same types of things said about me. We are petite women, and our small body frames allow us to weigh less than the average woman and that sometimes puts us int he "underweight" category even though we are like that naturally. Some people just like to assume things about us. As for your actual issue, OP, I might suggest something as simple as not going into the forums anymore. There's so much talk in there about bingeing, how much people ate during their binge, what they're craving, etc. It can make me crave food sometimes to read those threads, so I just stopped.

fleetzz

I never struggled with binge eating until I started using MFP either. Yes, I had times where I would overeat (that's how I got here!) but never before did I deliberately go out of my way to buy thousands of calories worth of food to then eat in one sitting.

I don't know why it happened; maybe it's the 'all or nothing' logic that MFP seems to give us. As soon as you see the red you think "*kitten* it" for the day and try and make the most of it, eating everything you could possibly be craving, before going back to sticking to the green and the deficit.

I'm not logging anymore, and just using MFP for the social side of things.

Perhaps you should have a plan on what do you when you see that red line that is more constructive--like take a walk, or bike, or some other enjoyable exercise. In the long run that would be more conducive to getting into shape and feeling good about yourself.

_Zardoz_

For those who think I'm 'starving' i think I'm pretty normal for my height . I've added a profile pic

If you're anything like me, ignore these people. I've had the same types of things said about me. We are petite women, and our small body frames allow us to weigh less than the average woman and that sometimes puts us int he "underweight" category even though we are like that naturally. Some people just like to assume things about us. As for your actual issue, OP, I might suggest something as simple as not going into the forums anymore. There's so much talk in there about bingeing, how much people ate during their binge, what they're craving, etc. It can make me crave food sometimes to read those threads, so I just stopped.

So is the I'm 'petit' the same way some people are 'big boned' sounds like that river in Egypt again to me

Dedshot

For those who think I'm 'starving' i think I'm pretty normal for my height . I've added a profile pic

If you're anything like me, ignore these people. I've had the same types of things said about me. We are petite women, and our small body frames allow us to weigh less than the average woman and that sometimes puts us int he "underweight" category even though we are like that naturally. Some people just like to assume things about us. As for your actual issue, OP, I might suggest something as simple as not going into the forums anymore. There's so much talk in there about bingeing, how much people ate during their binge, what they're craving, etc. It can make me crave food sometimes to read those threads, so I just stopped.

So is the I'm 'petit' the same way some people are 'big boned' sounds like that river in Egypt again to me

Case in point.
People can't handle petite women. There's no way we actually are healthy, because we somehow don't know our own bodies better than strangers on the Internet.

MireyGal76

Well thank you everyone for your opinions just some info I am eating 1500 -1700 cals a day and eating back all exercise calories which average about 200-300 a day. 5 days out of 7. I'm not starving myself. My binges are about 1000cals in one sitting, every few days. Secondly I am responsible for what I buy, and eat and I'm not blaming mfp! although I can see how some people thought that. It's good to see a mix of responses, some people sharing similar thought patterns, others with solutions. This is the motivation and support section of the forum and I feel I have def got that from some responses. I'm still not sure where to go from here! But thanks

Getting enough calories... seems legit
Exercising... seems legit

New binge habit... thinking maybe not... maybe you're more aware of those binges because you are feeling compelled to log them before.

Before I started MFP, I had no IDEA what kind of calories I was putting into my body. I thought I ate relatively healthy. I thought that I managed decent portion control. But my snacking kills me.

On days when I go boxing, I allow myself to eat back my exercise cals (and it is REALLY easy for me to do)... on those days, I'm kicking back around 3000 calories. And it is EASY.

Before MFP, I am confident that I had WAY MORE 3000 calorie days (if not more) due to the excessive consumption of:
- dipping sauce, bbq sauces, salad dressings, spreads, butters etc
- eating a whole bag of doritos with a bucket of sour cream and salsa... hey I exercised, right?
- having 6 slices of rye toast with butter AND jam for a bedtime "snack"
- eating all the food off my kids plates

So.. TLDR... did MFP "cause" binge eating? HELL NO... it's curbed it dramatically.
Did it make me grossly aware of the fact that I actually AM a binge eater? Yes it did.

Thank you MFP! :-D

:flowerforyou:

vgnbkr

If you are controlling your calories, exercise, and have a physical job, it's probably quite natural for your body to "binge eat" occasionally. It could very well be that you have a stressful day, or a particularly physical day at work, and burn more calories than you account for normally. A couple days of that and your body will tell you "oops, running low, get out the ice cream"; as long as it isn't causing your weight to get out of hand, you should probably listen to it and feel good (though choosing something healthier than the ice cream would probably be a good idea).

My understanding is that it is quite normal for athletes to "binge". With their low body fat and high output, many find that they need to eat a quart of ice cream or a bag of cookies once or twice a week just to keep their energy level up.

One thing you could try is wearing a heart rate sensor all day for a while - get an app to track your calories burned and see if your binge eating corresponds to times when you are burning more calories due to your busy lifestyle.

Also, you can never eat *exactly* the right number of calories every day. You will inevitably be either low or high. Once you reach a level of low body fat, if you aren't gaining weight it makes sense that you will be a little under nourished and will need to eat a little extra on occasion to catch up. Have something fun to reward yourself for being so disciplined.

MireyGal76

If you are controlling your calories, exercise, and have a physical job, it's probably quite natural for your body to "binge eat" occasionally. It could very well be that you have a stressful day, or a particularly physical day at work, and burn more calories than you account for normally. A couple days of that and your body will tell you "oops, running low, get out the ice cream"; as long as it isn't causing your weight to get out of hand, you should probably listen to it and feel good (though choosing something healthier than the ice cream would probably be a good idea).

My understanding is that it is quite normal for athletes to "binge". With their low body fat and high output, many find that they need to eat a quart of ice cream or a bag of cookies once or twice a week just to keep their energy level up.

One thing you could try is wearing a heart rate sensor all day for a while - get an app to track your calories burned and see if your binge eating corresponds to times when you are burning more calories due to your busy lifestyle.

Also, you can never eat *exactly* the right number of calories every day. You will inevitably be either low or high. Once you reach a level of low body fat, if you aren't gaining weight it makes sense that you will be a little under nourished and will need to eat a little extra on occasion to catch up. Have something fun to reward yourself for being so disciplined.

I think that this is an excellent first post! :-D

lookthinfeelfat

I'm just calling in again on this post really as like a journal entry to look back upon in the future and also in case anyone looks back at the posts in the future who has found themselves feeling similar to me.

I've decided to stop logging food for a while (exercise I'm still logging but im using a different app) ... its going to be hard but i feel I've lost my natural sense of how much to eat. I do think that seeing my cals on mfp does somehow change my approach towards food in a way that I can't understand and in a way that isn't helping me anymore. Yes its been great to learn a lot. But I think really I'm going to test the waters of just eating by feel and continuing with my exercise goals which I am having really great sucess with week to week (unlike my binging habits). So I'll call in again maybe to update and ill see what happens when I try this method! Wish me luck coz I'm feel quite flat about it, like I'm mad and a failure because I can't control my eating. Ah well..

lookthinfeelfat

And just to add there has been many great suggestions from people on here that I really appreciate. It has left me feeling less alone with the problem I'm trying to understand. I am going to basically focus on exercise and try and forget the numbers.... thanks to all of you who have chimed in. x

George_Baileys_Ghost

One person can take a hammer and break everything in sight. Another can take the same hammer and build a house. Whether used for destruction or creation, the hammer cannot be blamed for the result.

ETA: That's not to say there's only one way to do what you're trying to do. Figure out how best to use the tools at your disposal to meet your goals. Good luck OP.

myrtleMac123

Dieting can cause eating disorders!!!! However it is not good to be overweight or obese. The thing to do is the get the weightloss thing into perspective. So often women especially make our size the most important thing and feel we are not acceptable unless we are a certain size/shape. 'Perfectionism' will cause binge eating. We need to be reasonable and accept a slow steady weight loss. Find a good 'centre' for your life. Weight, food, control are not good 'centres' that is bound to end up in tears.

msf74

I honestly don't remember ever binge eating until I started mfp 3 months ago. I was obsessed with diet before but using mfp has only made me focus on it more!

Then the realistic thing to do it stop using it and explore why you are "obsessed" with dieting. Can MFP make binging worse for some people? Absolutely yes. Is calorie counting the right solution for everyone? No.

I would suggest reading something like "How to have your cake and your skinny jeans, too" by Josie Spinardi or something similar in relation to mindful eating.

jenilla1

For those who think I'm 'starving' i think I'm pretty normal for my height . I've added a profile pic

You appear healthy to me. My BMI is 20.1 and my doctor thinks I'm awesome, so don't let the Internet make you feel bad for being on the lower end of healthy. It's still within the acceptable range. Check with your doctor if you have concerns.

I've been maintaining here for 3 years and haven't felt stressed or obsessed. In fact, MFP is like a game to me - a fun daily habit and a good way to make sure I'm getting all the fiber and protein and servings of vegetables, etc., that I need each day. If it's not working for your particular personality, or causing you distress, then maybe it's not the right system for you. Don't use it if you think it's going to be a negative influence in your life. :flowerforyou:


ETA: BMI chart