How much will I gain on a 3 day binge?

Well, your binge sounds exactly like my typical weekend when I'm being a little bad. So, after a three day stretch totalling about 7000, I typically gain about 4-5 lbs....but it's water weight and comes off over the next few days. It really does. It MAY equal a legitimate half pound or so, worse case.

And by the way, who told you to gain 2-3 lbs? That seems a bit arbitrary. If it is 2-3 to put you into a healthy bmi, then you probably should listen. Or not. It's not that much. Probably won't kill you to be 3 lbs. underweight.

If you are underweight and you feel bad about how much you ate, maybe you should drink a couple of glasses of wine. That way you'll get a few more needed calories but won't feel so bad anymore. ;-)

It's admirable that you track calories when you're cheating on your diet. That's some serious honesty!

Mother's Day is coming up and I'll be ignoring my diet this Sunday at brunch

I'd say at least 5 pounds, but you can get it back under control.
Remember you are worth it!

You can tell exactly how much weight you will gain by doing the math: one pound of fat is 3500 calories. So calculate how much you went over by and you will get your answer.

But the real issue here is the way you think. We have the ability to make ourselves feel and do certain things by what we think, how we talk to ourselves. You could benefit from sorting out the unhelpful, depressing things you tell yourself that lead to feeling bad and the binging. Perhaps you should buy a book titled "The Beck Diet Solution," author Judith Beck.

Ok..first off CUT YOURSELF SOME SLACK. You are fine. Its true, if you see the numbers on the scale go up, its most likely water weight and will come off easily if you are being consistent with your calorie tracking, eating enough calories and working out. And yeah, seems like you are only telling a shadowy version of what's really going on. Who tells some one to gain such a random, small amount? But again, you need to chill. Big time. Its not the end of the world if this is a just rare occurrence. I typically let myself eat whatever I want one day a week. It adds 2-4 lbs of water weight each time. No biggie. I drink more water and get back to cleaner eating and proper calorie amounts for me. I also still work out on my "cheat day". I track inches in addition to weight. Weight is a really poor way of tracking health. It can change so much in just a matter of hours. This morning I woke up 3lbs lighter than yesterday. Tomorrow it might be 2lbs heavier since today was a birthday celebration of pizza!

Just relax. You are doing well with being honest about what you eat and your attention to your calorie intake is great. Just breathe and get back to your routine.

Attaching feelings of legitimate guilt to eating a "binge" that for most people is a normal weekend day? To the point of crying?

Seek help. I'm not joking.

I was super depressed this week and felt restricted with my diet these past 2 months. I averaged around 2000 calories for 2 days, but today topped both of those days; I ended up eating 3000. My maintenance calories are around 1500-1600. I was told to gain 2-3 pounds, but I don't want to and I feel absolutely TERRIBLE about what I did. I feel like crying and this guilt won't leave my head. How much should I expect the scale to move up after this binge?

Do not let it guilt you, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and continue on your path. However from what I am reading, you are suppose to gain 2-3lbs? So I am all kinds of confused. I feel there is so much missing here and 1500-1600 does seem low for maintenance calories. No reason to feel even more depress over food.

Ok, I just looked at your diary and it says you ate over a 1,000 calories worth of buckwheat? I'm not sure if this is accurate for you or not. Was this a recipe? Are you sure you didn't just enter the wrong measurement for the buckwheat?