Binged for the first time in a month. Help?

ObsessedMonster

I've managed to stay within my calorie goals for a whole month. Prior to this, I binged once a week, but today's binge has been the worst. I'm guessing I ate around 2500-3000 calories when I usually eat 1570 on maintenance. I felt super hungry for no reason and tried so hard to resist, but I failed. My cravings were stronger than me this time. I feel horrible especially since I wanted to continue being binge free for longer. I had a super stressful week with work and spend a good 8 hours a day on my feet as a server without a break or a lunch. I come home feeling ravenous and this completely screws up my eating habits. The guilt is starting to set in and I feel like I'm going to explode physically and mentally. Help?

nomorefatplease2

You fell off the wagon. Oh well. It's not costing you anything but time, and unless you have a specific event coming up that you're losing/maintaining for you have all the time in the world. So don't sweat it. It happens. Just put it behind you and keep up the good work.

ana3067

Just eat like you normally do tomorrow. At most you might have slightly slowed down your results, but it's not like you're going to gain back another 10lbs from one day of over-eating. I went to a party on Saturday and it was my first day of not trying to track the whole thing - i actually didn't attempt to track any of it. It's possible I over-ate, or maybe I under-ate or ate my normal calorie amount. I have no idea, and it's not really that important. Early on when I was still changing around my calorie limits, I decided to go up to 2200 and so that night I ate 2800 calories to make up for the previous day where I underate by like 400-500 calories. I still kept losing weight.

One thing though, you said you felt hungry. Maybe this is your body's way of telling you that 1600 isn't actually your maintenance? That seems pretty low for maintenance. Being on your feet all day walking around will affect your maintenance needs. I'd recommend this website to get an idea of what your estimated maintenance needs are:
http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html (copy + paste)

Although I am heavier than you, I've calculated what my potential maintenance needs will be at 155-160lbs and they'd be around 2300-2400. That's with me not walking around all that much.

kgeyser

1570 cal for maintenance sounds awfully low for someone who works as a server 8 hours a day. Are you sure your numbers are right? Stress is bad enough, but stress + consistently undereating for your activity level is a recipe for bingeing disaster.