How Do You Come Back From A Binge?

taraknits
taraknits Posts: 29 Member
edited September 24 in Motivation and Support
I have had a hard month. The last 30 days have been a disaster weight wise. and today was the worst since the beginning of the new year. It was a total binge. Literally. Almost 3,000 calories over my daily goal. I am full of guilt and shame. I keep whining about how much I want this and then do something sooo destructive. How do you come back from a binge? How do you convince yourself that its not all over!!??

Replies

  • RosiG
    RosiG Posts: 46 Member
    I don't have an answer to your question but I think it is very courageous of you to post about it! I fell off the wagon big time these past 3 days and don't know how to recover. Thanks for posting...would love to hear some answers.
  • janemartin02
    janemartin02 Posts: 2,653 Member
    HI!Sorry you are struggling.1st,don`t give up on your self.You are worth it.1 month doesn`t have to be the end of what you can do to become healthy.It`s hard making healthy changes when the old ways are easier.Look at the things that worked before.Set goals.Believe in yourself.Take it 1 day at a time,1 meal at a time.Try to find something to do when you feel like you want to eat and you shouldn`t.Take a walk,drink water,make a call.Don`t beat yourself up,no one is perfect.Hang in there.
    YOU CAN DO IT!!!!
    jane
  • Every day is a new day, Every meal is a new chance to start over. Dont let a binge discourage you. Its like falling off a bike, you just get back on & keep peddling toward where your going. At least you acknowledge your fault & know what not to do :O)
    ~Melissa
  • BritanyV
    BritanyV Posts: 7
    You just have to get back on it. You can't beat yourself up over slipping up . You can't take back the calories you ate, you just have to move forward.

    Think of it this way, if you want to loose weight and be healthy, does it do you any good to continue eating that way? You may not loose any weight or gain a pound or two from your slip up but how does it do you any good to allow yourself to continue to eat and continue to gain? Dust yourself off and try again. You will have ups and downs and slip ups, no one is perfect.

    Good luck!
  • mare91467
    mare91467 Posts: 91 Member
    I don't have all the answers, but 3000 calories in the grand scheme of things is easy to overcome. Just move on and start today with a fresh attitude. You may not acquire a loss this week but by next week you will be back on track. Just concentrate on maintaining your calorie goal and try to incorporate some extra calorie burn by exercising more or being more active. It's ok! You are human and we have all gone over from time to time. You may need to incorporate some foods that you love into your diet. You may be depriving yourself too much which could have led to the binge. Sometimes the opposite is true also. If I have one sweet thing, I crave uncontrollably sweets for days afterwards. I have to restrict the sweets. It is just the way I am. Hang in there!
  • tcld
    tcld Posts: 8
    Acknowledge that ultimately you are in total control of what goes in. Forgive yourself and vow to get it right. Like good old Dr. Phil says "the only thing worse than doing it wrong 100 times is doing it wrong 101". The binge is evil and robbing you of your very happiness, it is the enemy fight back immediately! Good luck, your human!
  • kao708
    kao708 Posts: 813 Member
    Just remember that tomorrow is a fresh day with a full set of calories so you can start over. Drink lots of water to flush out any extra sodium and try to eat really clean for a couple days to get your body back to normal.

    My favorite quote from Anne of Green Gables is in my signature and applies so well here! You can do it! :flowerforyou:
  • stanvoodoo
    stanvoodoo Posts: 1,023 Member
    Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again! Today is a new day, past is past.

    East slower so you stay fuller longer, increase protein it also keeps you fuller and drink your water!

    Before you know if you will be much more focused and on your way to a new and improved you!
  • MakingAChoice
    MakingAChoice Posts: 481 Member
    If you feel the need to binge I would thing you have not changed your diet to be something you can support for a lifetime. On silly diet things like Atkins I felt the need to inhale carbs. These days I work on a balanced approach and quit listening to the fad fools. Dump refined sugars out of your diet and replace simple carbs with complex carbs. Add some lean protein and veggies in and you are you are good to go.
  • fcbryant75
    fcbryant75 Posts: 17 Member
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  • charmckay
    charmckay Posts: 9 Member
    A bad month or 2 in a life time is nothing ,everyday is a new begining I am far from perfect I am still learning whats right for me. we all are naughty sometimes ..work towards a treat .. learn to burn of calories to eat back.. good luck keep at it.
  • jalesher
    jalesher Posts: 3
    I fell off for 3 months around the holidays and gained almost 20 pounds. I even work out with a trainer once every 2 weeks. He kept asking me when are you going to get back into it. I kept saying when I'm ready. A friend of mine sent me this website and I just started all over again as if it was day one. In the first 2 weeks of my NEW Journey I lost 2 1/2 pounds. Logging my calories and my exercise really helped me. I try to keep at or under my base calories for the day and the exercise I do is my bonus to me. I learned a long time ago if I do not really want something I might start something but will not stick with it and finish it. When you're ready, you'll do it and ask yourself why it took you so long to get back in the groove. Keep the faith in yourself! You can do it.
  • I'm no expert and I don't pretend to play one on t.v. so these are my suggestions. First losing weight is hard and changing habits are hard. To be blunt you ****ed up, but you're human and humans **** up now and again. So try and let go some of that guilt and forgive yourself. Otherwise you're likely to beat yourself up and feel bad and that will lead you to binge again. Then you feel guilty and beat yourself up and then binge again. You can get yourself into an unhealthy cycle. So what happens tomorrow? You try again to reach that goal and if you do great! Be proud and if you don't try again tomorrow and the next day and the next and so on. If you keep going over your goal on a continuing bases then maybe you need to reevaluate if you truly are ready and want to lose weight. Good luck and stay strong!
  • PattyTheUndefeated
    PattyTheUndefeated Posts: 302 Member
    I remind myself that it took me five solid years of extreme binges to put me to a point where i needed to seriously fix something and lose the weight. I then remember the many 'occasional' failed attempts at going to the gym twice a week or eating 'healthy'.

    I then reverse those pictures.

    It took me almost two years of daily blood, sweat and tears to finally lose the weight. Of calorie counting, grueling workouts, and consistency. I've stumbled a million and five times along the way.

    I've found myself, alone, at a chinese buffet eating as much as I could to the point of being sick. I've walked into a store and bought 30$ dollars worth of chocolate, chips, ice cream and CRAP, went home and ate it all. I've eaten a whole (large) container of peanut butter to myself. I've endured the stares at fast food shops of people watching me, at 5'2 and 117 pounds, throwing back two big macs and a large fries, all by myself. I've done it because I believe that there is something in me that is broken and that I cannot possibly be fixed, that the anxiety that I'm feeling in that very moment is worth the self-destruction and escape that I can find in that Nutella jar. I do it. Endlessly. Even now. But I know that binges, if they happen once a month, or even once or twice a week will not undo the daily hard work.

    Just like exercising once a week won't make you thin, eating a million calories in one sitting because you had to have it won't make you fat or even fail at meeting your goals.
  • cls413
    cls413 Posts: 57 Member
    I've had a couple really bad days since starting here, but after my first one I decided that one bad day is no reason to give up on the rest of my life. This process is just a series of choices. Some will be good, some will be bad. I acknowledge that, and just try to keep moving forward.

    Good luck!
  • girlinahat
    girlinahat Posts: 2,956 Member
    oh dear, I've lost concentration on this thing since working away at the beginning of the week. I made reasonable choices foodwise, and I was very physically active which maybe made me complacent about what I can eat.

    But the one thing MFP is great for - the access to the database to log the foods. I have an iPhone and try and log at night if I can't get to my computer. But the last few days I've been in deepest darkest Wales and felt adrift with nothing to help me make a decent record and stop me going over. So tonight there was a Terry's Chocolate Orange......

    Need I say more.... i've eaten it until I feel rubbish. And had a bottle of red wine. But what I know, and what I hope everyone else can know, is that it doesn't finish here - tomorrow is another day (can't believe I would ever quote Scarlett O'Hara but seems I did!!)

    Dont' fret about today. Call time on where you are at, and move on. don't dwell on it, and think about how good you will be in the next moments.

    me? think I should sleep now......


    edited for some apalling spelling errors.......
  • KickassYas
    KickassYas Posts: 397 Member
    I read your post to my mom ( it almost made me cry) and she told me to tell you this

    "You can't take back yesterday but you can start over today. God gives you a new day just for that reason. You are worth it."

    so yeah. from my mom to you. :)
  • momofcami
    momofcami Posts: 45
    Just tell yourself that you will not binge for the next 5 minutes. And then the next half hour. And then until the next meal. You get my drift. But START NOW. You have a choice, you know what it is. Nip it in the bud now or all of your hard work will be wasted.

    You're super brave for posting this and reaching out to your fellow MFP'ers.

    You can absolutely, 100% do this - because you've done it before.
  • momofcami
    momofcami Posts: 45
    I remind myself that it took me five solid years of extreme binges to put me to a point where i needed to seriously fix something and lose the weight. I then remember the many 'occasional' failed attempts at going to the gym twice a week or eating 'healthy'.

    I then reverse those pictures.

    It took me almost two years of daily blood, sweat and tears to finally lose the weight. Of calorie counting, grueling workouts, and consistency. I've stumbled a million and five times along the way.

    I've found myself, alone, at a chinese buffet eating as much as I could to the point of being sick. I've walked into a store and bought 30$ dollars worth of chocolate, chips, ice cream and CRAP, went home and ate it all. I've eaten a whole (large) container of peanut butter to myself. I've endured the stares at fast food shops of people watching me, at 5'2 and 117 pounds, throwing back two big macs and a large fries, all by myself. I've done it because I believe that there is something in me that is broken and that I cannot possibly be fixed, that the anxiety that I'm feeling in that very moment is worth the self-destruction and escape that I can find in that Nutella jar. I do it. Endlessly. Even now. But I know that binges, if they happen once a month, or even once or twice a week will not undo the daily hard work.

    Just like exercising once a week won't make you thin, eating a million calories in one sitting because you had to have it won't make you fat or even fail at meeting your goals.
  • christenapanzone
    christenapanzone Posts: 18 Member
    Tomorrow is another day. Let the "fairy" wipe the slate clean and start over tomorrow. It's not the end of the world. It happens. Don't worry about it. Besides we both know WHY anyway...the timing is too perfect.
  • esorcel
    esorcel Posts: 459 Member
    I can't seem to stop eating food since Valentine's Day. It was as if my body is so happy to find food after being on a diet for so long. I had regained 7 pounds, and I am having trouble losing it again because of the eating. I didn't have this much trouble after Thanksgiving and Christmas. Although I know that tomorrow is a new day, I can't help feeling guilty and disappointed, yet the next day I repeat the same thing again.

    What you are eating has a lot to do with it to. Are you eating a lot of sugary foods like deserts and fruits? Try to limit them. These foods, along with high fat and high salty foods make you crave the same kinds of foods. There's a new hype on the news about high fructose corn syrup and its negative effect on body weight. What it does is that it blocks your body from recognizing the ability that it's full, so it triggers you to overeat. It's added in a lot of juices, condiments, sodas, and other foods to make their taste and texture appealing.

    Often times, the craving is not your fault. Try to learn about and figure out which foods work best for your body, and which works against you. Also, cooking may be your best way to avoid added ingredients in foods that are unhealthy for you.

    Believe me, I am having to re-learn these things again. I had lost 27 pounds last year (most of it came off quickly after I joined MFP; and times like the holidays had slowed it down). This is not my first fall out, so I know eventually my self-control will return.
  • heyitsmekatie
    heyitsmekatie Posts: 544 Member
    First, stop being so hard on yourself! Everyone has an off day here or there. Just don't think you have to start over tomorrow or the next week, get yourself back on track now. You can do it!!!
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