Cannot stop binge eating..

red869

I joined this site last year on the 10th of July. It was the very first day of Ramadan and so most of the day I wasn't eating which made the process a little easier. I started at 169 lbs and during the first couple of months I only averaged around 1000 calories per day, some days eating just 700-800 calories. A few months later, knowing that it wasn't healthy to eat so few calories, I upped my calories to average around 1250. I then started a new job which was pretty stressful and I began to eat less again, averaging around 1000 calories again.

From January, I started eating more. I brought up my calories to 1200-1350 calories per day and the weight loss stalled considerably. I haven't really exercised at all during this time. I joined the gym one month and just felt super hungry and hated going as it was so time-consuming. I find it difficult to exercise at home as I live in a flat and the people downstairs moan if I make too much noise.

I knew my weight loss was slow but I tried to be happy that at least I was losing something and not gaining weight. At the start of July however, I calculated exactly how much weight I had lost and since December I had only lost 7 lbs and next to no inches. Considering I still have so much to lose and I was eating around 1350 calories per day, I would have expected to lose more. I couldn't believe that after a year I was still so humongous and this has really bothered me. I know I should have exercised and I could have eaten healthier, but still, after a year of doing relatively well, I couldn't help but think that I should have lost more weight. I was obsessive about weighing everything I ate; even a single grape was weighed on my digital kitchen scale before being consumed. I weighed and measured absolutely everything, so I knew it wasn't because I had unintentionally eaten more.

Because of feeling so crap about myself, I have resorted to binge eating. It’s stupid, I know, but I just feel like I've messed it all up anyway so I may as well eat till I feel sick. I always lose weight and then binge eat until I'm obese again. I don’t want to do that this time. I have lost 35 lbs (it was more, but I've gained some weight). I don’t want to gain anymore, but I just can’t break out of this binge cycle. I really need some help! I had planned on joining the gym today, but instead I just binged on junk food again. Since the end of June, I've have 10 binge days, I don’t want to have any more. I just don’t know what to do. I desperately wanted to look half-way decent this summer but that hasn't happened.

Sorry this post is so long; I just needed to vent! Any help would be appreciated. I think I should join the gym, try to go 5 days per week and work out 1 hour – 1 hour 20 minutes each time. Also, I think I should eat half my exercise calories, so I’m not so hungry. I’m not sure if it’ll work, but I really hope so!

13Strong

1,000 is too low especially if you are exercising. Body needs calories and nutrients for building muscle, replacing cells, managing functions, and even our moods. It may lose lbs, but it probably will cause more problems in the long run.

Binge eating - just track it. Bad habits happen, some people can stop cold turkey others have to wean themselves off but ignorance on how much you are eating and what it is will make it worse so track and know how much you actually ate and what it was. This way, you can maybe develop a system that works for you. My binge go tos are cheese and bread, but I'm cheap enough (and lazy enough) I won't go to the store to buy them just for a binge so if I keep my supply only to what I need for a meal and no extra, there's nothing in my fridge or cabinets that I'll want to binge on.

If you are looking for accountability there are a number of groups that have daily posts that you could try posting to. A lot of studies say that if we write down what we are doing, acknowledge it, or state it to others we will have more of a chance of doing well in changing our ways. I'm apart of one group, but you can pick the one that works best for you.

Good luck. Don't let things get down. You aren't just losing weight, you are working on yourself so no matter what the weight does (up, down, left or right), you are doing the right thing by trying to be better.

hiker583

"Because of feeling so crap about myself, I have resorted to binge eating. It’s stupid, I know, but I just feel like I've messed it all up anyway so I may as well eat till I feel sick. I always lose weight and then binge eat until I'm obese again. "

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I am trying to break away from same habit. I joined this site a while ago. First few weeks things were going fine, then I went on trip and it was ok, lost ~10lbs. Then when I got back, I went back into my same habits of binge eating, and that too on fatty foods. I want to start again now and hopefully will do it this time.