I binged last night

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  • angiechimpanzee
    angiechimpanzee Posts: 536 Member
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    what's your calorie goal? If it's too low, then your body's normal survival responses will kick in and you will get a very strong desire to eat all the food you can lay your hands on. This is because that is what enabled our evolutionary ancestors to survive food shortages. They didn't have enough frontal lobes to think "hmm I'm not getting enough calories, better stockpile for the impending food shortages" so their body and mind responded to insufficient food intake by making them want to eat all the food they could lay their hands on. We have inherited this survival response, whether we like it or not.

    Some binge eating is purely emotional and not from any survival response, however you need to rule out normal physiological responses before trying to use psychology to fix a problem. Also, if you typically experience this on day 5 of a diet, rather than in response to some kind of emotional stress, then that really strongly suggests it's your physiological survival responses kicking in.

    advice: eat more. Look for the "in place of a road map" thread (do a search for it) so you can work out how many calories you can eat and still lose weight, while feeding your body enough so you don't feel deprived or wind up bingeing.
    That's not true. Binge eating has nothing to do with survival. Your body isn't physiologically "starving" until your body fat is below a certain point and you literally have no more stored energy. A person isn't "starving" because they've been eating a few hundred calories below maintenance for five days. Binge eating is psychological. Also, people rarely binge because they're hungry. When you have specific, uncontrollable cravings for foods that are void of nutritional value, you aren't hungry. It's to fulfill a psychological need.

    And she said her 1,500 calorie binge was enough to set her back five days. A simple calculation would tell you she's probably doing a 300 calorie/day deficit which is not too little at all.
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
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    I understand how you feel. It sucks. I've been fighting it for years, just going nuts and having an awful binge. One of the only things I can suggest that helped (but still didn't fix the problem), is reminding yourself that you're only so many calories into a binge, and it doesn't have to ruin everything as long as you stop right now. I know it's emotional, but sometimes when I'm about to binge, I remind myself that eating that whole pack of Fun Size Kit Kats isn't going to change a thing. I actually was really upset and reaching for food when I said "That Twix will only make you feel worse." Do I need to be emotionally distressed and nauseous from cramming all that food in?

    Believe it or not, the best thing for me was actually joining the zombie outbreak challenge. We're supposed to stay within calories 6 days of the week, and even if I feel the urge to go hog wild on food, I don't want to let my teammates down. I eat a lot on Sundays, but probably only go over by 500 calories max. If you're a team player, maybe try joining a challenge?

    Anyway, one thing to make sure is not to punish yourself for a binge. Try to get over it and move on, when it comes to the next day of food. But do try to deal with the reasons why you're binging.
  • lollayk
    lollayk Posts: 1 Member
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    I just finished yet another binge. I feel awful and like my body is expanding as I type. I do this in secret and I feel so bad that im letting myself down in such a destructive way. I want to lose weight and im doing the exact opposite.
    Too guilty to enter into my diary what I've just consumed. Would love this to be my last binge...how do I stop?

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