The last 2 times I binged felt different. What's happening?

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These are some strange damn emotions I'm feeling here man. Maaaaaan.

I've been trying to be consistent on my diet and not do what I usually do, which is BINGE. I'll keep to my calorie counting for a week straight then be all proud of myself and totally abandon the very idea of being healthy in one day and in that one day, the binge starts. I start shoveling food into my fat face at an alarming rate and surely through out the day, as my hunger gets out of control and my wallet gets even more empty, I end the day feeling like total crap. Guilt ridden and shame over what I did...sometimes I add it to my fitness pal sometimes I don't. The days I do, it's between 6-8,000 calories. In a day! Erasing an entire weeks worth of work in one day leaving me totally demoralized and asking myself why I worked an entire week if I was just gonna ruin it in one day anyway. My will has gotten weaker over time. It's almost like Ive told myself "yeah you can try to count calories all you want, at the end of the weak you're gonna undo all that you've done and fail yet again". And how fitting I accidentally misspelled "week" as "weak". I'm leaving that in there.

But the last couple weeks I've felt so completely different that it's like experiencing something totally new. Ya know those lovely binges I talked about? Well I did it. Just yesterday I did it! And I felt nothing. I didn't feel satisfied when I started, during or after. I just felt nothing. It was almost like I went through it out of a force of habit,but while going through it I didn't enjoy it. Almost like I made myself do it. And this weird apathetic feeling I had was so....different. It's like I stopped caring about food altogether and just wanted to focus on something else for once. Almost like I had some kind of objectivity like seeing myself from an outsiders perspective watching myself do this and I'm like "really Marcus.. Again?! This is getting stupid. Just stop it. This isn't making you happy so why are you doing it?"

I had the money to get whatever I want. I could go get red robin, Olive Garden, Wendy's, go to the store and make food at home. Anything. But the idea of getting that next high from food just didn't matter to me. It was just kinda like "meh. It's just food. It doesn't matter. Just go bake a couple chicken strips in the oven and be happy". Has anyone else ever felt like this? Is this the end of the line for me liking food as much as I do?

Replies

  • cuinboston2014
    cuinboston2014 Posts: 848 Member
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    Yes!! It's like this for me now. A few years ago I lost, and kept off, 100 pounds. Since then my effort to lose another 30-40 pounds has been up and down - sometimes going hard and sometimes not at all. But the times I've put in medium effort, I've binged, usually once a week. I'd imagine in a range of about 4000 calories on a no exercise day.

    Now, since I've started diligently tracking, since I've realized how badly I really want it, and since I've started watching my regular intake, it's no fun anymore.

    Actually, it makes me sick.

    I just got back from an all inclusive vacation and during my last breakfast I was eating something I didn't like figuring it's now or never. Until I realized - I don't want this stuff. It doesn't even taste good. And I don't want to see it on the scale either.

    It's different in a very good way. Congrats to you for breaking through it. It is a force of habit so you are breaking that habit which is a huge step!!
  • Lizzy622
    Lizzy622 Posts: 3,705 Member
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    Fantastic break through! Food isn't everything. Save your money and energy for things that matter more.
  • monisiaczeq
    monisiaczeq Posts: 131 Member
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    wow! i think this is great! very often people (including me) treat food as a "reward", which at least in my eyes, it is not! food is our fuel, not a "well done" gift!!!!
    i do binge aswell. i hate myself afterwards. it is not healthy and it does not make me feel better than before- on the contrary i feel bloated, disappointed in myself and sad.
    so i think this is good news- you are starting to see food as a source of fuel not as a source of pleasure.. this is something i am aiming for, however im still a long way from that state of mind.
    i dont think this means you are not enjoying the food anymore. i just think now you are more aware of the consequences and the process as a whole. you eat like crap you feel like crap. simple as that.
    way to go man!
  • CHRISTTY33
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    It disgusted you...and that's the first good step in breaking the cycle...just like any other vise, smoking is the same..once you hit that point where something clicks over to disgust that's great...it took me a long time to "naturally" get disgusted not pretending to be disgusted..huge difference
  • 2013sk
    2013sk Posts: 1,318 Member
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    I know exactly what you mean!!!! I ATE and ATE and ATE last night, and didn't even feel anything either! Not full, satisified, happy, sad etc!!!!

    But I think its nothing healthy as now the next day I am eating nothing ALL day to make myself feel better for all the naughty food I ate the night before.

    Maybe we both need to see someone for some advice, as we cant go on like this forever! Its soooo not healthy!

    Yikes!
  • LoseWithLaurie
    LoseWithLaurie Posts: 64 Member
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    Marcus Marcus Marcus...you are like my mfp problem child. I see you struggle and it breaks my heart. I know you want to lose the weight and the emotional demons you face are relentless. The fact that you keep fighting means you want this...and I know exactly the binge "change" you speak of. When binging goes from being ecstasy followed by grief/guilt/pain etc. to just nothing...it's the beginning of a shift in your favor, if you have the will to fight. Really fight...for me it's the fight of my life and I've been ACTIVELY battling for about 18 months with decent success. You CAN do this. You ARE good enough. And totally worth it<3 Now...get steppin!
  • shafa4321
    shafa4321 Posts: 132 Member
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    wow see my note for today .It was exactly like yesterday I didnt enjoy it .Hope is new starting
  • almostanangel21
    almostanangel21 Posts: 143 Member
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    Do you have any idea why you binge in the first place? Maybe you're starting to not need it emotionally any more. Are you seeing a counselor at all? Health is multi-dimensional - you need to take care of yourself mentally and emotionally as well as physically.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Yes! That's what got me started on that 'diet' last January. I binged and ate like crazy for 1.5 month with the Holidays, then one day I just wasn't interested in food anymore at all. I was just done. So I figured it was a good time to start. And it was. Hope it works out for you!
  • wordpainter09
    wordpainter09 Posts: 472 Member
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    Maybe you're starting to separate your urges to binge from yourself.. that sounds kind of weird, but I think at the heart of who we are, we don't really want to binge or treat ourselves badly. There's part of us that does and we give in to that part.
    Have you read Brain Over Binge? It's an amazing book that talks about this stuff... the author is one of the best I've read.