Binge eating

alynns12
alynns12 Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I need help!

Ok, so I weigh 215 currently and it SUCKS! My calorie goal is like 1400 but I try to stay around 12 hundred. I do well at work but once I get home I go crazy. I eat everything in sight. Then I feel guilty and start hating myself. I can't find the motivation to do anything. Working out sounds awful. And I used to love working out. And I used to love eating healthy. I don't know what to do!!

Replies

  • st476
    st476 Posts: 357 Member
    Are you really motivated this time or is it just a "ugh, I'm overweight and should probably try losing weight" type of situation? I feel like you won't do well unless you're really motivated to do well. Remind yourself all the ways you're feeling now and why you want to change :smile:

    Maybe start with a less aggressive goal too? 1400 is a good goal!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,030 Member
    I'd suggest starting with eating at least the 1400, plus at least 50% of exercise calories. It's doing you no good to have a super-low goal if you can't stick to it, and are miserable.

    Frankly, at 215, and at your age, even if you're sedentary you're probably burning a couple thousand calories a day, and 1200 is likely below your BMR (the number of calories you'd burn in a coma, just by being alive). I'd be surprised if you weren't miserable at that level.

    Please eat more! Get enough protein (for my taste, at least 0.6-0.8g per pound of healthy goal weight), some healthy fat with every meal, and plenty of veggies/fruit to get your micros.

    Deprivation, the bingeing that inevitably results from it, guilt, and self-hatred are not the path to success.

    What is? A moderate, achievable calorie deficit; good nutrition, persistence, and consistency.

    You can do it. Start by eating enough to keep it on the rails!
  • ogtmama
    ogtmama Posts: 1,403 Member
    I'd get the temptations out of the house for now. Cut them completely out for a month or two until you feel like you can start introducing them back in slowly...if by then you even want to.
  • dolcemaria81
    dolcemaria81 Posts: 25 Member
    alynns12 wrote: »
    I need help!

    Ok, so I weigh 215 currently and it SUCKS! My calorie goal is like 1400 but I try to stay around 12 hundred. I do well at work but once I get home I go crazy. I eat everything in sight. Then I feel guilty and start hating myself. I can't find the motivation to do anything. Working out sounds awful. And I used to love working out. And I used to love eating healthy. I don't know what to do!!

    Sounds like me!
  • datanner
    datanner Posts: 1 Member
    I relate completely. I am a huge binge eater. At night is when I want to binge too. I succeed when I am prepared such as pre-made meals for supper. They are already measured and weighed and I just have to heat up. Also I enjoy peppermint tea at night with a little stevia. When I am craving something I just tell myself, "not never, just not now" and that is what gets me thru those moments. Also, I liked the the girl's post that suggested walking. It really does make a difference.

    You can do this. Believe it.
  • CooCooPuff
    CooCooPuff Posts: 4,374 Member
    allyphoe wrote: »
    Set a less aggressive goal and eat all your calories. Binge and restrict is a cycle.
    This.

    1,200 seems unnecessary for someone our age.

  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
    Keep using this site. Start logging everything you eat. Get a digital kitchen scale and then start accurately logging every thing you eat. Once you start logging, you start thinking. Once you start thinking, you start making better decisions. Once you start making better decisions, you'll get control of the binge eating.
  • an0nemus
    an0nemus Posts: 149 Member
    alynns12 wrote: »
    I need help!

    Ok, so I weigh 215 currently and it SUCKS! My calorie goal is like 1400 but I try to stay around 12 hundred. I do well at work but once I get home I go crazy. I eat everything in sight. Then I feel guilty and start hating myself. I can't find the motivation to do anything. Working out sounds awful. And I used to love working out. And I used to love eating healthy. I don't know what to do!!

    Stop it! Stop hating yourself, stop feeling guilty. That won't solve anything, and leads to a circle of failure.

    I'm a binge eater too..always have been, and probably always will be.

    First, set your caloric goal to be sustainable. The weight loss may seem slow, but its faster than if you just go off of it entirely. If MFP says you can lose weight at 1400...stay at 1400. I work in an office and there's a starbucks about .75 miles away from the office so I walk there and back at lunch for an americano (just espresso and water).

    Personally, I'm not a big breakfast person...so what I tend to do is eat a smaller breakfast and then shift the calories to after dinner for snacks. For snacks I try to keep raw carrots, lettuce, raisins, and flavored water.

    Second thing I've done is drop diet food.....ie no more light bread or skim milk. What I realized is they didn't satifsfy me so I would eat 4 slices of bread (2 sandwiches) and put meat some cheese (or pbj) ...so the calorie content of the bread was up to the same amount as 'regular' bread..but now I was eating more sandwich stuff.



  • reinventingjessica11
    reinventingjessica11 Posts: 33 Member
    Binge Eater here too. Well I'm in recovery, and have binge free for almost 2 years now after seeking professional help. The biggest thing that helped for me is to stop depriving myself. I find that when I tell myself I can't have something, or set my calories too low, I tend to feel like I'm going to relapse, and that's what always made me fail at losing weight before. On this current approach, I set my calories higher, and I make sure to eat whole foods, ie natural foods but also allow myself to fit in things I used to call forbidden.

    Take it one day at a time, be sure to pop in and log what you're eating and you'll get the hang of it. I think this is a problem I'll battle for the rest of my life, but it is manageable. You just have to get your mind to cooperate.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    I also recommend setting your daily target higher than 1200 if you find you have urges to binge at that level. If you're accurate with your logging of your food, you could probably find you'll lose just fine eating 1600-1700 calories per day. Maybe if you try eating that for a while, you'll be able to stick to it and not have urges to binge.
  • Cheesy567
    Cheesy567 Posts: 1,186 Member
    The boom "Brain Over Binge" might be helpful for you. Listening to the podcast "HalfSize Me" has really changed the way I view and deal with binges. The woman who makes it lost over 170 pounds, while dealing with binges, and has kept it off for over 5 years. She's very upfront with how she learned to deal with the binges and her change in mindset that finally allowed her to drop the weight.

    Try to remove the shame from the binge. Log what you eat honestly, and see what your patterns are. Chances are, you need more protein to help mitigate physiologic hunger cues. You might need more calories overall. By honestly tracking it, you can see your average daily intake, and make adjustments from there (i.e. start by decreasing your calories by 200-300 of your current average, rather than trying a drastic cut in calories. Weightloss might be a bit slower, but hopefully easier by removing the psychological repercussions of binges driven by physiologic hunger.

    Great job reaching out for help, instead of quitting. You'll make it!
  • ames105
    ames105 Posts: 288 Member
    Binge eating is also my problem. I know its psychological. I can even tell that I am NOT hungry but I want to eat anyway because it 'tastes good' or I have a craving.

    The best things I've found to do are to stay busy. Clean the house, give myself projects to do, take an evening walk, go right to my bedroom and bypass the kitchen in the evenings. I cannot read or watch tv because that leaves my hands free. Idle hands lead to snacking which fast tracks me to binge eating.

    It can also help to plan your calories so you can have an evening snack. I tried to make sure it was pre-portioned so I wasn't tempted to have more. Good luck!
  • megomerrett
    megomerrett Posts: 442 Member
    I binge too. I also know I like a drink or snack in the evening when the kids and husband are in bed (he works early signed up earlier than me) so I factor it into my day. I eat a tiny breakfast, an ok lunch and a big tea and have a snack and maybe a booze drink in the evening.

    I think having to log EVERYTHING helps stop me binging as I can't be arsed to log loads more than actual meals and a couple of snacks. When I have though it does help show how destructive that behaviour is and I've definitely stopped doing it so much as I feel MFP makes me realise what a doofus I am if I binge on cereal or whatever in the evening and then get down about getting heavier and heavier.

    If it helps you, you could plan out meals, measure out portions for evening meals at breakfast time when you've got more willpower.

    Or if it's being at home that's dragging you down then just get out! Go to a class, walk a dog, watch a telly show while on an exercise bike.
  • leahkathleen13
    leahkathleen13 Posts: 272 Member
    I noticed you said that you go crazy when you get home. How about packing a high protein and high volume/fiber snack for the ride home? A large amount of water, a huge chunk of cabbage or celery and a cheese stick may fill you up and hydrate you so the binge attack isn't activated.
  • daphnec1994
    daphnec1994 Posts: 71 Member
    You definitely need to increase your calories
  • mitch16
    mitch16 Posts: 2,113 Member
    YMMV, but some things that work for me: having a snack in the car home (like a granola bar or apple), working out after work, brushing teeth (don't want to get them dirty again immediately), chewing gum, drinking copious quantities of plain green tea or water, distracting myself, not keeping binge-worthy food around the house...

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