Binge Eating at Goal/Healthy Weight

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  • kpnuts23
    kpnuts23 Posts: 960 Member
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    Bump... just because i have the same prob... busy atm.. will post laters xxxx
  • sparklesammy
    sparklesammy Posts: 465 Member
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    ...i relate...
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
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    What the hell happened to discipline?

    Discipline and willpower are over rated chica. There's a lot to be said for just being happy.

    What you have described is ridiculously common in bodybuilding circles. The irony is that often people look to BBs for advice on looking good and by implication healthy when in fact it is one of the unhealthiest subcultures out there, both mentally and physically.I've seen hundreds of examples of the cut / binge cycle in my time on fitness / BB forums.

    I can't really help you here as it's not fully within my sphere of knowledge. I've never had to deal with heavy emotional issues attaching to food and feelings of self worth.

    What I would say is that if you can try and look at yourself and your eating rationally, objectively and dispassionately it takes some of the emotional venom out of the situation. Expecting absolute perfection in your eating is unrealistic. You WILL slip eventually. Why? Because you are human sweetheart. How you view that "slip" whether you consider it a slip at all and your reaction to it will define your actions. This is why on many levels I find the whole "clean eating" phenomenon a crock of ****. It can create, though not necessarily will create, an unhealthy obsession and relationship with food and doesn't factor in people are fallible.

    Everybody needs a little Lyle McDonald in their lives. I have recommended "A Guide To Flexible Dieting" before. However, check out these links for more info on rigid v flexible dieting:

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/flexible-versus-rigid-dieting.html

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/how-dieters-fail-diets.html
  • ajtom1
    ajtom1 Posts: 13 Member
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    When you are being "good" are you not eating any sugars or "bad" food? If your not then that is why you are getting the bad cravings. You can't deprive yourself of sugars and sweets... I know this first hand. When I completely take these foods out of my diet I end up eating anything and everything. Another thing that has happened to me in previous weight lose is once I hit that target weight I feel almost to comfortable and throw out my morals on food eating, that is why I have failed before.

    I agree chewing gum, having an apple helps, also don't forget... drink a lot of water! Many times your body is lacking water and people always mistake it as hunger. Everytime I get that craving I force myself to drink at least 2 glasses of water and wait at least 20 minutes. If I still want the sweets I go for it and just make sure I work it off. Maybe even try to remember how you and your body feels after the binge.... Hope my tricks will help :)
  • seansquared
    seansquared Posts: 328 Member
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    1) Seek counseling by a psych professional. I won't say "seek help" - you don't need "help", you just need to figure out what's triggering the binges and work with it or around it.

    2) Lift weights. HARD. I don't mean more reps, either, I mean higher weight. All those fitness models and cover models out there do light cardio and HEAVY weight lifting. Check out Jamie Eason, the "most fit woman in the world". One major benefit of this is that all those binge cals go straight to muscle development, giving you a strong, lean look that most women would kill for.
  • beckyinma
    beckyinma Posts: 1,433 Member
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    When you are being "good" are you not eating any sugars or "bad" food? If your not then that is why you are getting the bad cravings. You can't deprive yourself of sugars and sweets... I know this first hand. When I completely take these foods out of my diet I end up eating anything and everything. Another thing that has happened to me in previous weight lose is once I hit that target weight I feel almost to comfortable and throw out my morals on food eating, that is why I have failed before.

    I agree chewing gum, having an apple helps, also don't forget... drink a lot of water! Many times your body is lacking water and people always mistake it as hunger. Everytime I get that craving I force myself to drink at least 2 glasses of water and wait at least 20 minutes. If I still want the sweets I go for it and just make sure I work it off. Maybe even try to remember how you and your body feels after the binge.... Hope my tricks will help :)

    I couldn't not have said either points better, and you describe me perfectly!

    Do NOT deprive yourself of a little treat during your 'clean phases' becuase it WILL backfire on you.

    Success story: I had my daughter's girl scout meeting yesterday... what do you know, instead of my usual cucumbers/carrots/light ranch that I bring (For the whole group, and they usually enjoy it), one girl had a birthday and brought cupcakes... mmm delicious cupcakes...To a 7 year old girl who made them herself with help from mom, which is a big accomplishment, for me to say no, sorry, I'm on a diet, would've broken her heart, considering she brought just enough for the troop girls, plus one for each leader. So I ate it, and OMFG it was good....and I logged it, and I went to the gym in the evening and worked it off. This morning, making my kids' pb&j that peanut butter smelled so good I just wanted to stick my hand in and grab a slab and lick it like an ice cream cone... OK BECKY, REEL it in a little and get yourself under control....so I ate pb this morning... 1 tb, on wheat toast and even had jelly, grape jelly, loaded with sugar. and I logged it in my diary, and I will do an extra workout today, even though it's an off day...

    DO NOT DEPRIVE YOURSELF of a treat during your 'clean' days...it WILL backfire on you, guaranteed!!!

    Aside from stress about eating, are you stressed at work? Are you getting adequate sleep at night? That is a big trigger for overeating. Are you getting enough sunlight? Vitamin D deficiency, and general lack of exposure to light will cause depression like symptoms... even sometimes in non-winter months... worth thinking about.

    Best wishes to overcoming this, I know how hard it is once you are triggered....
  • PJilly
    PJilly Posts: 21,707 Member
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    What I would say is that if you can try and look at yourself and your eating rationally, objectively and dispassionately it takes some of the emotional venom out of the situation. Expecting absolute perfection in your eating is unrealistic. You WILL slip eventually. Why? Because you are human sweetheart. How you view that "slip" whether you consider it a slip at all and your reaction to it will define your actions. This is why on many levels I find the whole "clean eating" phenomenon a crock of ****. It can create, though not necessarily will create, an unhealthy obsession and relationship with food and doesn't factor in people are fallible.

    Everybody needs a little Lyle McDonald in their lives. I have recommended "A Guide To Flexible Dieting" before. However, check out these links for more info on rigid v flexible dieting:

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/flexible-versus-rigid-dieting.html

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/how-dieters-fail-diets.html
    This is incredibly helpful. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
  • undkaro
    undkaro Posts: 2
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    I can't believe how many of you reached their goal weight and are now on the verge of being bulimic! Because that's what it is. For most it starts out with a diet and couting calories, so keep yourself aware of what you're doing and take these warning signs seriously. The deeper you get into these behaviours, the harder it gets to stop. I promise you, if you let your desire for self-control control you, you will eventually lose control over yourself completely. If that makes any sense...
  • kylielouttit
    kylielouttit Posts: 512 Member
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    Bump! I want to read this entire thread later.

    I am absoloutely a binge eater, and for me it's self-sabatoge! I will eat great for a day or two, lose a little weight and eat uncontrollably for the next few days and gain back what I lost...and then some. It's shaming because I feel like binge eaters should be overweight and because I'm not, I feel like I should be in better control of what I eat...

    I'm working on it.
  • PattyTheUndefeated
    PattyTheUndefeated Posts: 302 Member
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    I'm finding it interesting and eye opening that amongst us met-goal-ers or almost met-goalers that we've all developed a form of non-purging-bulimia or BED (binge eating disorder) that was never, ever there to begin with. When I was obese, as with most of you, I overate alot. I ate alot of the bad foods, too much of the good foods, and just never exercised. I used food as comfort, boredom, and just because I loved food, cooking and eating it. But I never obsessed or craved food like I do now. I never, ever went past my normal human food capacity to the point where I was curled up in a ball in pain. If I wanted pizza I'd eat until I was stuffed, normal fattie-stuffed, and then stop. Now, I'll eat the whole pizza. No freagin' joke.

    All the 'normal' tactics in avoiding cravings has not in anyway helped me. I've tried. I've tried reminding myself mid-binge or crave that I'll be up all night, sweating, shaking, and probably hunched over a toilet bowl with stuff coming out both ends (seriously). I'll try reminding myself that the next day I'll feel like I went on a booze bender and that work will be intolerable. I'll remind myself that there is NO WAY that my body will just not absorb the calories. But I do it anyway. The food obsession overshadows the logical, intelligent, and hard-working me. The only tactic that has helped is steady progress and a well established exercise/eating routine. If I see progress, I'm more likely to stick to my healthy diet.
  • crystal_sapphire
    crystal_sapphire Posts: 1,205 Member
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    i'm struggoling with the same and have since a kid. it sucks so much. best wishes to you
  • burnsinhell
    burnsinhell Posts: 2 Member
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    One thing that I am kinda shocked that nobody has touched on - but have you thought about nutritional deficiencies? I know the reason women crave chocolate is for the magnesium, and there are many recorded cases of people eating dirt, or licking ashtrays because they are so deficient on other minerals they cannot help themselves.

    I know that a complete binge is a different animal - the big mistake is saying "well I already blew the whole diet for the day, so lets keep on going" but if you are specifically craving SOMETHING with a passion, indulge - you are low on whatever it is in there, that you're body needs.

    Personally, if its a craving like peanut butter, I'll portion out a little, put the container away, and snack on that.. (and if i feel the need to come back, I have the fiancee hide it..) but if I find I have been craving something really fatty/high calorie like (deep fried) chinese food, I will actually wait a few DAYS to see if it subsides... if not, i make sure i save calories for it.

    I would check out some bodybuilding forums, and see if anyone there is experiencing the same phenomena, as it looks like most of the people who responded that they crave and binge on the same items look like they have been working out hard.. Probably muscles screaming for protein and complex carbs.

    Hope this helps!
  • pinkgigi
    pinkgigi Posts: 693 Member
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    I am interested if others have been able to conquer OCD, my daughter has recently started pulling out her hair and she thinks it is OCD.

    I agree the logical ideas of portioning out what you crave will not help with this behaviour if it is a compulsion, and I can see that the logging/journalling on here could lead to this, as it enables you to 'control' yourself in a way that enables the OCD behaviour.

    I have started trying to help my daughter with distracting techniques and a reward program, and some self-accepting routines where she knows she doesn't have to be perfect, and that any day she doesn't do it is great. I'd love to hear about what has helped others.

    *hugs* to all experiencing this nightmare. We all need a big dose of self-love and acceptance, and I wish it for all of us.

    GG
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
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    This is fascinating that many people have seemingly identical symptoms. I hope this can be sorted out somehow.

    I have a couple of questions for the people going through this:
    - Do you allow yourself a free meal, free day, splurge meal, cheat meal, cheat day (or whatever you prefer to call it) once in a while? Or are your good streaks 100% good with no treats whatsoever?
    - How are you doing compared to your net calorie target? Do you hit pretty close every day on average, or do you come in way under pretty regularly?

    What I'm basically getting at with the first question is my theory that having that free meal once or twice a week to look forward to makes the task of eating perfectly for the rest of the week not so daunting. At least that's what seems to work for me.

    What I'm getting at with the second question is, I wonder if some of you might be chronically under-eating, so after several days or weeks of this, some subconscious part fights back and just eats all the yummy looking stuff in sight. If I go hungry for too long I will gladly eat everything in sight almost like I'm getting revenge on the universe for making me so hungry.

    I wish everyone in this thread the best in finding a good balance and a sustainable way of eating and living.
  • nrvo
    nrvo Posts: 473 Member
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    It's nice to know that I'm not the only one in the binge eating boat! I will just eat and eat and eat. I don't know what it is that sets me off; it doesn't correlate to certain times of the month or to added stress or anything. Icing, chips, peanut butter, honey, chocolate, candy, all kinds of junk food......the only way I can make myself stop is to throw it in the sink and cover it with soap. I've tried just maybe having one piece of candy, or just one spoonful of whatever, but then I sit back down and fixate on it. I could be talking with my hubby, watching tv, etc, but all I can think about is that delicious food sitting in the cabinet. And then I tell myself oh just one more bite, just one more piece......aaaaaand it's all downhill from there.

    I sneak it too - try to eat it discretely and hide the evidence from my husband, even though I don't think he would care if I ate 8 gallons of ice cream in front of him. I guess I'm ashamed of my eating, and if no one else sees it....maybe it's like it didn't really happen.

    I try to avoid buying the stuff that really sets me off. If my husband wants candy or chips in the house, I buy him stuff that I don't like so I won't be tempted. Some stuff though, like PB or honey, I can't really avoid having in the house. So I try gum, or eating something healthy and crunchy like carrots, or drinking water, but it doesn't always work.....
  • Heather1776
    Heather1776 Posts: 46 Member
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    I also have found myself binging now that I'm close to my goal weight. I'm down to a good size (8/10), but would like to lose a little more so that I have some wiggle room if I get off track. I'm an emotional eater and really need to gain control of it before I'm back to where I started (on the verge of a size 12). Lately, I go through a cycle of doing great for a few days and then I have a binge that makes me feel awful about myself. It seems like if I eat one "bad" food item it gives me the license to go overboard. It really makes me mad because if I was more on track I could already be down to where I want to be.

    I feel your pain!
  • dwellsouth
    dwellsouth Posts: 158 Member
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    This is fascinating that many people have seemingly identical symptoms. I hope this can be sorted out somehow.

    I have a couple of questions for the people going through this:
    - Do you allow yourself a free meal, free day, splurge meal, cheat meal, cheat day (or whatever you prefer to call it) once in a while? Or are your good streaks 100% good with no treats whatsoever?
    - How are you doing compared to your net calorie target? Do you hit pretty close every day on average, or do you come in way under pretty regularly?

    What I'm basically getting at with the first question is my theory that having that free meal once or twice a week to look forward to makes the task of eating perfectly for the rest of the week not so daunting. At least that's what seems to work for me.

    What I'm getting at with the second question is, I wonder if some of you might be chronically under-eating, so after several days or weeks of this, some subconscious part fights back and just eats all the yummy looking stuff in sight. If I go hungry for too long I will gladly eat everything in sight almost like I'm getting revenge on the universe for making me so hungry.

    I wish everyone in this thread the best in finding a good balance and a sustainable way of eating and living.
    I have the same questions. The times when I've binged have followed times of pretty much starving myself or at least feeling extremely deprived.
    I'm doing this "right" for the first time ever through MFP and aspire to be where many in this thread are - at or close to my goal weight and want to hopefully do it right! So maybe I need to put in some "cheat" foods regularly or some such thing. I've started buying low-carb snacky foods from netrition.com so that I don't feel deprived but I haven't officially put in any kind of free days or cheat days or such.

    Hang in there!
  • noltes2
    noltes2 Posts: 202 Member
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    I can't relate to this degree of binge eating, but as most dieters do I am familiar with binging every so often. Let me use last night as an example...

    I got off work and had to run some errands and forgot to have a snack before I left work and I was already kind of hungry. For the next 3 1/2 hours I was starving, and my stomach just kept growling nonstop. I am so used to eating every 3 hours so I was dying! My fiance started cooking dinner, and while he was bbqing I sat down with a bag of multigrain chips and salsa and said, "I'm just having an appetizer!" Well one serving turned into 2, 2 turned into 3 and I wasn't even tasting the food just shoveling it in. I wasn't done either so I grabbed a pack of 100 calorie chocolate covered pretzels and ate rampantly. Dinner was ready by this time and I ate a 7.2 ounce piece of steak and felt verrry full. But I did not care! I felt so deprived still, even though I was obviously full. I went right to the freezer and had a skinny cow ice cream sandwich. After I ate that, I ran back to grab ANOTHER one and my fiance saw me freaking out so he wouldn't let me open the freezer - stood in front of it, grabbed a piece of gum out of a drawer - Trident Layers - and forced it into my mouth! It was kind of funny, and he was having fun teasing me - but I wanted my food! He was like, "chew this, and in 5 minutes you'll forget about the food." So I started chewing the delicious gum against my will, still dying for more ice cream... but then I gave up and started reading a magazine and after a few minutes I really felt how full I was and how I didn't need another 140 calories in ice cream.

    Now I realize, we don't all have someone to lock the freezer on us - but chewing that delicious gum and keeping it RIGHT next to the refrigerator was pretty helpful! He said when he is craving treats he grabs a piece of gum and then forgets about it after a few minutes. I also learned the lesson NOT to go without food for that long otherwise I will start to feel super deprived. I usually keep a snack in my purse and car, but I forgot to refill them with a protein bar! Had I just eaten a protein bar at the first signs of hunger, I wouldn't have gone so crazy. My advice would be to always keep healthy snacks on hand, eat regularly, don't deprive yourself and chew trident layers. Good luck!
  • cutmd
    cutmd Posts: 1,168 Member
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    Hey this happens to me as well. In looking back I find I often wasn't eating enough or was training extra hard. You also have to keep in mind that the body prefers to have a little extra fat. Here is a nice article about the set point theory and how your body conspires to make you regain:

    http://figureathlete.t-nation.com/free_online_article/diet_and_nutrition/understanding_the_fat_setpoint_1

    I think the only way to know which is at play is the result. If you gain muscle or stay the same, your body needed it. If you gain, it tricked you :wink:
  • jknops2
    jknops2 Posts: 171 Member
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    Interesting, not me either. I am also getting close to my goal.

    But then visiting family this weekend, I had three donuts Saturday followed by two tamales, etc. And in total ate more this Saturday and Sunday than any weekend in the last 7 months. And I still was hungry, made a big salad this evening and ate two of them. So, yes, maybe getting close to your goal, you need in increase calories and figure out a way to incorporate some weekly/daily fluctuation in your diet.

    That’s the one problem with MFP, it does everything on a daily basis. It might be good to get something like a last 7/14/30 day average, and use this to track calories and see what trend you are on. I have been using this for my weight, but not for food eaten. I do think the longer term average matters more than the individual day. And long term you need to incorporate daily variability into a diet, something that MFP does not do.

    So, you need to set up a spreadsheet to keep track of things. I might play with this in the next week, export my MFP calories and construct some time average. But then you need to incorporate exercise, fat, cholesterol, etc, so basically I am recreating another version of MFP in a spreadsheet. Might not be worth the effort, thinking about it.

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