A week of Binge then starve

alpine1994

I did something similar years ago and it resulted in counseling, group therapy, and antidepressants. Please talk to someone.

konerusp

Establishing a healthy relationship with food is important.Can you put away your scale for a month or two.In this time start with eating your BMR calories,never go below that,dont worry about the scale at all.

Plan your meals ahead so you dont go on binges,if you want to have a sweet treat allocate a 100 or 200 calories into your allowance of BMR calories.
If you are not able to do this on your own,do seek professional help.

IF you need support with this,feel free to add me.

kelseyhere

I'm sorry that people don't recognize you are having a serious problem. I will share something about myself. I too, during times of extreme stress and emotional anguish, have used food to feel in control. I would have similar patters, barely eating anything for 4-5 days at a time, but still working out. I wasn't working out as hard as you persay, just a kickboxing DVD a couple times a week and some runs with my dog, but still under eating for sure. I lost about 20 pounds, thought I looked great. People were complimenting me, it gave me that sense of control I felt I had lost everywhere else in my life. At that point I was typically eating a bowl of cereal a day, averaging maybe 400 calories with the milk. The danger of this is that while you feel in control, you aren't. You are in control of what you are putting into your mouth, but you have lost control of your health and mental well being. It is easy to turn to exercise and food when we are stressed. It seems healthy, hey it's a lot better than drinking a 6 pack every night or taking up some other bad hobby, but overdoing exercise and under-eating can do just as much damage to your body as years of smoking. I kept it up pretty much all of last summer, until this time last September. I switched jobs, started feeling better, and the weight hit me like BAM. I wasn't really even binging that bad, still only netting about 1,500 a day, but because my metabolism was all screwed up I ballooned up and felt disgusting. I ended up putting back on the 20 pounds I had lost, plus 5 more. It took me three months of hard work before I even lost 1 of those pounds. Now I'm already fit so of course it's already harder for me to lose weight than someone bigger, but it was literally 3 months of very, very hard work just to get back to the body BEFORE I started the pattern of starving/binging.

It sounds like you need to deal with the underlying issues that are causing you to be so controlling over your food. Whatever is going on is causing you anxiety. You are dealing with your anxiety in a way that is going to harm you in the long run. It might give you some relief now, but you will hate yourself later. It's a very dangerous cycle. You need to pull yourself out. Professionals can help, but with the support of family and friends you can do it on your own as well. I would recommend taking a week off of strenuous workouts to let your body recover, maybe do a few walks or take a yoga class or something else you enjoy, just keep it light. Make yourself a more detailed nutrition plan that keeps you calories even throughout the week, and commit yourself to sticking to it. Make it detailed. You sound like you like numbers, so that shouldn't be a problem. The more detailed it is the easy it will be to stick to. Then plan, plan, plan. Pre-make your meals and snacks, make sure to go shopping and stock up, etc. Don't leave yourself unprepared or you will just end up going back to the McDonald's drive-thru.

Please take care of yourself and get healthy. You are not alone, myself and I'm sure others have struggled with this same problem. Be gentle on yourself as you transition back into a healthier eating patter. You will still binge from time to time and have slip-ups, but that's OK. PM me if you need more support.

fishgutzy

Writing as one who spent more than a decade as an active bulimic, scarfing and barfing 5 to 10 time a day, I know well how devastating the binge purge cycle can be. In the beginning (1982) i lost 70 pounds in 7 months do this. I was in heaven. I could eat what I wanted without taking responsibility for it. It hadn't occurred to me yet that as a newly sober drunk, I had merely changed seats on the titanic.

Whether one purges through exercise or starvation cycles the result is the same.
I had to relearn how to keep food down because it was so easy to just lean over and open the value without effort.
I am not one to advise anyone what to do. I tried the "professional route" and it was useless.
Going OA was far more helpful in ending the binge purge cycle for me.
It has taken another decade plus for me to finally tackle the carb sensitivity and take responsibility for eating right and staying away from the foods that my system cannot tolerate.

On the lighter side, my dental hygienist assumed the enamel erosion on my teeth was from acid reflux. It doesn't occur to them that men can be bulimic too. Only 5% of reported cases are men.

batigol1985

Thanks for all the replies. I have spoken to people about this at a professional level but I didnt find it helped - maybe it was the particular person who I spoke to but in the end I felt like they just went by the book of 'solving an ED'...without ever getting any deeper.

I guess just putting it down in words using a forum like this just is a way for me to put in black and white the damage I am doing...hopefully it helps this time. Sometimes it is when you actually have to write how you feel that I can truely realise I need to change.

And self control is definitely an issue too....I have to admit that.....I guess as I said i feel like my diet is the only thing I can control how I want when personally and professionally I have no clue which way to go and what will make me happy.

Thanks again to all..your support and advise is great

DoomCakes

Just saying, but her seeking advice from people on the internet isn't the worst thing in the world. She's acknowledging she has a problem. She may be looking for support, and people with ED's NEED support. Till proven they are not willing to assist their self, then there is no reason to be annoyed or pissy with them. But they need help just like a person who is morbidly obese and stuffing their face needs support to stop. Is success SOLEY based on support no, but it's nice to know you have people encouraging you to do better.

MFPBONNIE

I think you are my friend, disguising yourself. DaLois is this you? Anyway I have a friend who did exactly the same thing a few years ago. Nobody could tell her anything though. People are suggesting you seek help, thats good advice. I really hate to add this about my friend. She lost all of the weight she needed to lose and hasnt gained a pound back in almost 6 years. the winch.

Time2LightenUp

My heart hurts for you. The battle your having with yourself is so intense and powerful. You deserve the best for yourself and talking to someone to help get to the root of your eating disorder will help you love yourself again. I am also sorry that a lot of people didn't take the time to find out that you are a man. I guess according to society only women struggle with eating disorders. Best of luck to you and to a healthy happy you.

banshishi

you do need to go a seek help, if the professional you spoke to wasnt helpful you need a different professional, mostly it sounds like you need to find the root of your anxiety and control issues, and work them out..in the mean time, plan ahead, weekly not daily, if you break the plan by eating one thing ignore it and carry on the plan if you totally binge out then write that day off and go back to plan not try to compensate. I have a cheat day, so that I can eat what I want for one day a week, this might slow my weightloss down a little but it does mean that I dont binge out, because if I fancy something in the week, I put it on the backburner til cheat day, then often by the time cheat day comes the craving has gone anyway. Seriously go somewhere else for help, just trying to get help from one professional and then writing it off as no use is a bit blinkered lots of different help out there find something that suits you and your own issues.

kelseyhere

http://scottabel.blogspot.com/2008/03/well-im-posting-this-up-few-days-early.html?m=1

here is an article that I just came across that you may found helpful.

batigol1985

http://scottabel.blogspot.com/2008/03/well-im-posting-this-up-few-days-early.html?m=1

here is an article that I just came across that you may found helpful.

i
Good article...can definitely see my own predicament here...in terms of becoming obsessed by food ingredients and recipes..have spent hours online and in bookshops just reading recipes....thinking wow...im going to try that...then doing nothing about it. In fact I have a cupboard of ingredients that I constantly add to but rarely use....keep promising myself that some day I will cook THAT recipe as a treat...even though its a healthy meal (e.g hummus, tuna steak and salsa).

And yep....Im a guy

dorkusmalorkus

what helps me is making sure my surrounding environment is stable, clean, organized. that every person in it is positive and supporting of a healthy lifestyle. no bad habits. eat clean. youll feel proud of every day and what you consumed and feel even better!!!!! its been about a month-month and a half since i last binge/purged. getting rid of some of those bad influences (people majorly) helped so much! and getting on an understanding level with everyone of what your serious intentions are helps a lot. my husband stops badgering me to buy ice cream and eats healthy like i do (with a few exceptions)