If I eat more, I will binge.

Auzziedoggie
Auzziedoggie Posts: 66 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am doing really well on 1200 calories a day. I'm 5 ft 9 and 193 lbs. I know I'm not eating enough. But I feel great.

When I eat 1500 I somehow lose control.

When I eat 1200 this is my menu:

Breakfast

2 servings All-Bran Cereal or 2 packets of Organic Oatmeal with egg whites
Coffee with unsweetened vanilla almond milk


Lunch
2 jumbo eggs with mesculin mix (if I didn't have eggs already) OR chicken with mixed veggie salad OR tuna with salad
2 tbsp of dressing

Snack
Think Thin Bar or Fruit or Nuts/seeds (150 calories)

Dinner
Small portion of whatever I make for my husband (no more than 500 calories)



If I eat any differently than the above, the BINGE MONSTER comes back. If I eat a larger meal, I feel so ravenous for the next one. Maybe my metabolism likes the greater portions of food and I do fuel my workouts with that boost. But I overcompensate by binging. The more I eat/workout, the more chance I will eat 2500 calories a day which is maintenance for my 50 lbs of extra weight.

Another story:
Just yesterday I got a snack box delivered (it was free!) and I ate a small handful. Then I felt this overwhelming urge to eat more. I felt like I was going crazy and had no control. I ate a bit more and then thought to myself, "I thought I kicked the sugar cravings. Guess not." I had to take a random bath in the middle of the day when I was working just to remove myself from the trigger. I also portioned out all the snacks and gave them to my husband to eat, so it's "His" and I won't eat it. (He can control himself unlike me and is very lean).

Seriously, WTF. I don't think I can eat more.

Replies

  • NikkiX0X0
    NikkiX0X0 Posts: 16
    That happens to me too .
    If I plan to eat around a certain amount - usually 1200 which is what MFP recommends me anyways - and I go over that amount even a little bit...I like decide I already ****ed up & end up eating like 2000 calories !!!!

    Half the time the extra calories aren't even from something im craving , or something that even sounds good .
  • SharonNehring
    SharonNehring Posts: 535 Member
    I really think you need to talk with your doctor about strategies to help you add more calories without going overboard. This sounds like a bigger issue than online advise can fix.

    You may also want to at least consider taking a multivitamin daily. Again, talk with a doctor and create a healthy plan.
  • Llamapants86
    Llamapants86 Posts: 1,221 Member
    I found this to be true for me in the beginning. It took me a while to realise 1) I could eat more and still lose weight without feeling awful and 2)how to eat more without going into the f it mentality and eating all of the food. Set a reasonable goal, and work on hitting it (not coming in under) it takes some practice but it helps.
    Good luck!
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    I used to have those urges but I over came them: zero my food scale, weigh the portion (sometimes it;s a bigger portion, but I log everything), close bag, put food back, and then eat my potion. Yes, I'm serious. :smile:

    Moderation is the key, and you have control over food it does not have control over you.

    ETA: pre-logging helps to. For weekdays, I log all my meals the day before. Weekends I usually don't, though, but log as I go along. I just try to stay conscious and aware of my food intake.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,839 Member
    I'm working on a variation of this problem. If it comes to late evening and I am 200 or 300 calories under my TDEE-20% for the day, I used to think, "Oh, this is my chance to have just a bit of my nighttime snack nemeses, e.g. bread and butter, a spoonful of peanut butter laced with honey and the like. Problem was, at that hour, if I started I didn't have the will power to stop. Now, I just don't worry about precisely eating up to my calories every day. Instead, figuring that I do go over on occasion, it's equally okay to be under on occasion. I don't start eating at midnight simply because my calorie total for the day says I should. I'm working on my head to recognize the difference between hunger and compulsion or habit.

    For several days last week, I was "starving" at midnight, but only because I was paying attention to the cues for late night snack-bingettes in between my ears. Now, I move to a different chair from the snacking spot on the couch and have a talk with myself. "Self, are you really suddenly ravenously hungry or is that just habit talking? Who's in charge here? You or your lesser inner urges?" For someone who's never had any self-discipline to speak of, this is hard stuff.

    For me, it's a case of self-examination before changing behaviors or the behavioral changes don't last. Instead of saying to myself, "I am strong! I can do this!" with great bravado and then crashing and burning, I am recognizing that I am weak and need to lead myself by the hand.

    I had an excellent counselor once who tried to get me to see that I was so unhappy because my behaviors didn't match my beliefs. I'm finally coming to see what she meant and am working on it -- not just the behaviors but the beliefs. I believed I could "get away with it" (whatever it might be -- eating too much, drinking too much, etc.). I also believed I could declare that I would do better next time and that I would. Then I castigated myself when I did not live up to my beliefs and salved my wounded soul with the comfort of food.

    The pattern must change and to do that my mind must change. Changing the mind is the hardest work of all but it must be done.
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
    What works for one person, doesn't always work for all. I personally can't eat 1200 calories, it's just not enough food for me. I know you said that when you eat more, then you tend to go over board. But I'd be worried that my body isn't getting everything it needs and also if that low calorie diet is going to be sustainable for the long run. I would mention this to your doctor and see how he feels about it.
  • delicious_cocktail
    delicious_cocktail Posts: 5,797 Member
    I am familiar with this phenomenon. Before long, you will likely need to increase your intake for your health. Try a variety of strategies, eating meals of different macronutrients composition at different times of the day until you find one that you can live with. Eating too little for too long may create health problems worse than those found in being borderline overweight.
  • DamePiglet
    DamePiglet Posts: 3,730 Member
    Oh hai, OP.

    If you're happy, why are you posting on the "help" forum? What do you need help with?
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,724 Member
    Oh hai, OP.

    If you're happy, why are you posting on the "help" forum? What do you need help with?

    Like, OMFG. Are we just noticing these types of posts more? Sometimes maybe you finally notice something and then you can't "unsee" it...

    Some are giving tips on increasing cals without losing control, though. I can't tell if OP is interested in this since she is fairly tall
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    I used to have those urges but I over came them: zero my food scale, weigh the portion (sometimes it;s a bigger portion, but I log everything), close bag, put food back, and then eat my potion. Yes, I'm serious. :smile:

    Moderation is the key, and you have control over food it does not have control over you.

    ETA: pre-logging helps to. For weekdays, I log all my meals the day before. Weekends I usually don't, though, but log as I go along. I just try to stay conscious and aware of my food intake.
    I agree.

    And just to add-- sometimes 1200 is the cause of the bingeing at 1500, if that makes sense. If you practice eating at 1500, you'll learn to eat 1500. But 1200 isn't going to kill you, either, if you're happy there and feel good. But most people eventually get binge-y with it, unless your BMR/TDEE is tiny, which yours isn't.
  • stickersticker
    stickersticker Posts: 140 Member
    I am for 1200 and I am hardly "full". However if I raise my amount I will just fill it with junk food.
  • omnisis
    omnisis Posts: 85 Member
    I feel like the underlying issues here are psychological. In the long run you want to be able to state with authority: I have control over my body and my health. Statements like this make it seem like when you return to maintenance you will not be able to say that. That makes me think that your diet will not be successful in the longrun which is sad because you obviously want to be successful. I would try to find a way for you to have control over food because if you let it control you it will eventually led back to where you started.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    I feel like the underlying issues here are psychological. In the long run you want to be able to state with authority: I have control over my body and my health. Statements like this make it seem like when you return to maintenance you will not be able to say that. That makes me think that your diet will not be successful in the longrun which is sad because you obviously want to be successful. I would try to find a way for you to have control over food because if you let it control you it will eventually led back to where you started.
    So this! Bingeing is little about the actual behavior of food to mouth and more about what is going on inside of us. Whatever you're doing has to be sustainable, but eating 1200 calories and then saying you can't go over because you will binge seems to stem from not eating enough, and not eating enough, I believe, is generally a fear of gaining weight back.
  • TexasTony
    TexasTony Posts: 1 Member
    It might just be what kind of calories you are consuming when you eat more than usual. If it tends to be carbohydrates or sugars, your urge to eat more could be an insulin reaction. I know I'm very sensitive to carbs and sugars, so I'm doing about 1200 calories too, but in a pretty low carb way.
  • ChristineRoze
    ChristineRoze Posts: 212 Member
    I'm the same as you, i have my diary set to 1400, but i aim for 1200 because the more i eat over 1200 the more hungry/cravings i feel. I don't get it haha. I have been feeling full on 1200 lately so i just stick to that sometimes i go over but that usually ends in me eating something extra and going more over. Grrr
  • resplendentcookie
    resplendentcookie Posts: 1 Member
    This is what I fear all the time that once Ive lost weight then I won't be able to have a normal diet like other people while trying to maintain the weight . My colleagues usually take only one doughnut or biscuit during the whole day whereas I feel like why stop at 1 now since the damage is already done. So even though a doughnut contains only 150 calories, I just keep having more and more and end up having lots of unwanted calories. So I don't know how to stick to a normal diet and not an extreme diet.

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