Sooo I had a major binge last night, advice welcomed!

pancake100

Oh honey, I have been there. I struggled for years with an ED which still haunts me from time to time. So I know well the panic after a binge and the urge to purge. I'm not sure if you have an ED or not but your use of the terms "binge and purge" suggests to me that you might identify with having one. My apologies if that's not so.

My advice re: last night's binge is - don't do anything about it. Don't skip meals today or eat less or exercise more than usual. In the grand scheme of things this is just a bump in the road ad you have to look at it that way. If you did this kind of binge every day, it would be different, but you don't, and it's okay to sometimes overeat. IT'S OK. Seriously, it won't make a difference long-term.

More important is keeping your body healthy and properly fed. Skipping meals SEEMS like a good idea but it isn't. Your body needs food on a regular schedule! If you start eating at irregular intervals and ignoring hunger, that's when you damage your body and that can be a trigger for more disordered eating as well (i.e. bingeing). Skipping meals is also bad for weight loss or maintenance.

So don't stress over it, don't beat yourself up over it. It all evens out in the end. Just carry on as usual and eat your normal amount today.

It helps to stick to an eating routine if you are struggling with cravings. That is - eating similar-size meals at the same time of day. Your body will anticipate the routine and you will find you won't have as many cravings, hunger pangs, blood sugar dips, and so on at strange times of day. Also try to eat balanced meals with the right proportion of protein, carbs, and fat in each one.

Also, maybe you could explore what might have triggered the binge. Usually it's not actual hunger but it could be any number of things. Perhaps it's physical, like you're not meeting your nutritional needs on your diet. It could be emotional as well, some stress or something in your life. I mean, only you know for certain, but it bears looking into so you can learn healthier ways of dealing with it.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Thanks for your post Buoyant Soul, eating disorders are a b*tch, forgive me for that term but they are. I had anorexia throughout 2012, then eventually it evolved to binge eating in early 2013, then throughout mid 2013 was bulimia, then that stuck to early 2014, then I stopped having ED until it started again last week. It is returning cycle and it feels just plain (plain as in not normal and not weird) but it is wrong and unhealthy though.

pancake100

I still don't understand of what a 24 hour plan is.

taramaclaren

I still don't understand of what a 24 hour plan is.

It means to follow your plan - 1550 calories and whatever workout you aspire to do - for 24 hours.

pancake100

I still don't understand of what a 24 hour plan is.

It means to follow your plan - 1550 calories and whatever workout you aspire to do - for 24 hours.

So just keep doing what I'm doing basically?

ValGogo

I still don't understand of what a 24 hour plan is.

It means one day at a time. Just do the right thing for today; don't worry about tomorrow or yesterday. Just get through ONE day without bingeing or purging. It's a simple tool. The days pile up on their own and you train your mind to stay in the moment, in the day.

weblur

^ This. And the Keep Calm and Log It pic. I heard someone recovering from bulimia say that she had to learn to "own" what she put in her body. It sounds like you did that - you didn't purge, that is so great! Now you log it, learn from it, and keep doing what you need to do to get better. :flowerforyou:

pancake100

Will do!

BuoyantSoul

Thanks for your post Buoyant Soul, eating disorders are a b*tch, forgive me for that term but they are. I had anorexia throughout 2012, then eventually it evolved to binge eating in early 2013, then throughout mid 2013 was bulimia, then that stuck to early 2014, then I stopped having ED until it started again last week. It is returning cycle and it feels just plain (plain as in not normal and not weird) but it is wrong and unhealthy though.

Yeah, it's easy to form a habit and it can even be addictive. Like I remember I was addicted to the feeling of being hungry. If I felt hungry that meant "success" to me. Breaking this habit and this habitual way of thinking and behaving can take a long time and a lot of effort. It doesn't happen all at once but one step at a time and sometimes one step backward. But once you identify your triggers you can be mindful of them and that's how it changes. You're doing a great job!

sherambler

Drink lots of water, get a decent workout in today, eat as usual. In the long run you've only put yourselves back a couple days at most.

Great adivce. I always forget this. It's easy after a binge to get wrapped up in thinking that I've completely undone all the work I've previously done. And of course, when I let those types of thoughts consume me I feel like a failure and resort to food again. I binged last night as well and I know I'll feel so much better in a couple days if I go back and stick to my normal plan than restrict or even overeat. Sometimes what's more powerful than anything to do with weight is knowing that the disorder doesn't have to have a stronghold over your life.

synchrohobbit

I'm right there with you. If I don't have the food around that triggers (cereal and milk, nuts, ice cream, baked stuff) I won't. But my sister went grocery shopping this week and bought all of that. Then I haven't eaten it in a while, and I end up with an extra 1500 calories. What I try to do is occasionally buy individual packages of this stuff so I am not lacking it and setting myself up for a binge if it dos show up in mass quantities, but it doesn't seem to prevent them entirely. Because I'm so short one pound in the summer makes a significant difference in how I look, so I then end up panicking and taking a laxative (I knooooooooow this is bad, it happens about once a month) and trying not to eat the next day. I usually do end up evening out the calories after a couple of days, but I think the most frightening part is worrying about it happening again. I will sometimes do a "planned" binge, which might mean saving my calories for a pint of ice cream or a small loaf of bread, and after a tough workout those tend to actually feel good and I don't get guilty.

I also should point out that somewhere in a response the OP said they don't have ED anymore because they stopped purging; unfortunately this is not true. It's clearly still there, and even after years of essentially being recovered I obviously (see above) still struggle.