Binge eating once a week

Hi David, after losing a lot of weight and dieting for a while I was in the same boat as you. I started binging more frequently. I searched for some info on this and found a good book on how dieting and calorie counting may negatively effect your attitude towards food and cause binge eating. I still count calories myself and am back on track but this book has really changed my attitude and helped with correct the urge to binge. Its called "How to Have Your Cake and Your Skinny Jeans Too" by Josie Spinardi. Its available on amazon in e-book format for $9.99. Good read and not boring.

sushi549 wrote: »

Hello & Congrats on reaching your goal! (*)

In regards to the binging ... since you are still relatively new to maintaining I understand because I went through something fairly similar and it could be attributed to various reasons (as other posters mentioned).

• Are you eating enough calories? Go here to check - calories needed according to your age, height, & level of activities iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
• Perhaps you are being too strict with eating healthy? 100% self deprivation is nearly impossible to maintain. Don't make things worst but imposing a heavy dose of guilt on yourself for choosing poorly every once in a while. Try applying 80/20 rule OVERVIEW HERE: popsugar.com/fitness/What-8020-Rule-32131660 EXAMPLE MEAL PLANNING HERE: livestrong.com/blog/how-to-indulge-and-lose-weight-the-8020-rule/
• Are you binging the same time every week? Is there a trigger that happens that day which prompts you to binge? For me, when I first reached goal, I felt like I needed to 'reward' myself for the week's worth of healthy eating choices. So my binge time always seem to fall on Friday evenings (end of a work week). You should always log in your food so that you can see potential patterns & reflect on the day to see what is triggering it.
• Something you may want to try in order to pull the reigns back on the binge eating is start small. Read food labels & measure out 1 serving to somewhat control the portions.
• And as a poster suggested, if this self-sabotaging behavior continues, I would seek out professional assistance to figure out the root cause.

Best of luck to you!

+1. This is excellent. I would think you are not eating enough. You are a growing boy, you need to eat all the foods

davidflip wrote: »

ok actually, for those of you still reading this post:
Many of you have asked me to figure out what may cause these binges I'm having, and after some thinking it usually starts off like this:
Somehow, somewhere, I'll have a small cheat (something bad or generally unhealthy) and as soon as I do that, I basically tell myself, 'ah what the heck, I've gone over my calorie goal, might as well eat whatever the hell I want'. and then the binge commences.
Last night is a great example:
I had a meeting after class with my faculty's commitee, and one girl brought these pastries for everyone. I obviously had one since I didn't want to seem rude. After the meeting, and thinking about the pastry, the whole 'what the heck scenario' played into my head and so I decided to go eat sushi (I was really hungry for supper and it was quite late) and then decided to have some Yeh. I then got home, had a huge bowl of cereal, made a hot chocolate, ate nuts and ahh Chippits are something I can't stop myself from eating. I think I also had chips I can't remember. Yeah that sounds bad, and its pretty much how it goes usually.

Long story short, the binge is always triggered by eating something bad that I can't necessarily track and puts me way over my calorie goal.

hmmmm ...

I agree ... stop thinking about food as 'bad' or 'good' because life is hardly EVER that clear cut. Perhaps try to think of it as which is a better choice for DavidFlip's lifestyle goals.

Also, saying 'no thank you' is not a rude response to food offerings that does not compliment the way you would prefer to live. Unless you're a hermit, well meaning food offerings aka triggers will ALWAYS be around. I work in an office where every Wed it is either sugary cereal or bagels w/cream cheese. It is not only a free company breakfast but it also serves as an opportunity to socialize with co-workers I ordinarily wouldn't see. When I first started in maintenance phase I wouldn't go at all because I knew toasted chocolate bagel with cream cheese was just too difficult to resist and I made no apologies for my absence & people respected my 'willpower.' Once my maintenace state of mind stablized I started walking with my coworker to our break room. Sometimes I partake in the food sometimes I did not but I always socialized. For me, being able to separate how I wanted to eat from the socialization aspect with food helped greatly in my mindset. The key is to change your own perspective of saying 'no thank you' without being apologetic about the choice.

Since you find yourself going down the rabbit hole once you start on one less healthier eating choice followed by another, have you considered simply not stocking the rest of the usually binge suspects where it's readily available? If you don't finish a mtg until 10 you get home at 11 if you don't have as much of the "hot chocolate and chippits" at home then perhaps that would be a start to reducing the amount of food you binge on?

My kroptonite is Oreo cookies & Doritos (ANY flavor) and I just don't buy it from the grocer ... EVER! I don't stock it in the house and I don't go near it if someone brings is in for office potluck. I avoid it like the plague because although 95% of the time I can walk by temptations ... those two items are particularly challenging for me. So I cope with it the best I can which is total avoidance. Someday I hope that I can buy a bag of oreos and not eat 1/2 a bag in one sitting but until then I use the coping skills that works for me.

Best of luck to you really ... but this sounds to me that you have worked really hard to achieve your goals physically but your mindset just hasn't quite acclimated to the new standard of living that you want. You have the power to change your perspectives but if you need help there's no shame in that either.

I agree that you're not eating enough. As already mentioned, calculate your TDEE to make sure your calorie goals are correct. If you can eat more on a consistent basis I think the binges will go away.

If you eat more and still find yourself bingeing you may want to have a look changing your habits.

davidflip wrote: »

the binge is always triggered by eating something bad that I can't necessarily track and puts me way over my calorie goal.

That trigger is also known as a cue. It sets off a routine, you eat all the things. Which leads to a reward. In your case the reward is the satisfaction from eating all the things that you have deprived yourself of during the week. This cycle repeats itself each week, when you receive the cue you go into your routine (binge eating).

Here's a book on the habit cycle. How many of are decisions and action are driven on a subconscious level. It also offers advice on ways to change those habits.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Habit-What-Business/dp/1400069289

An interesting read.

Your starting point is eating more. It looks like you're not eating enough.

If you track your total calorie intake over the week including the binges and divide by 7 to get a normalized calorie intake for the day. You should probably be eating upward of 2000 to maintain. I am a 5'2" 41 year woman, with average body fat of 24-25%. I workout 4-6 days a week and eat about 1700 to maintain (maintaining for 1.5 years now).

I eat fairly clean, not much processed, or made with wheat. But the occasional and if not daily treat is part of life. I agree 125 is too low for your stats.

I used take care of a floor full of 50 undergrad girls when I was in residence during grad school 18 years ago. We had some training to recognise the issue. If I may be honest, I think you might need to seek some counselling at school. 1 in every 10 people with eating disorders is male. I think you may have disordered eating right now. Its not hard to fall into. I think you also struggle with perfectionism and all or nothing attitude.

Good luck.