Grr struggling with weekend binges?

dave_in_ni
dave_in_ni Posts: 533 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
After some advice here. During the week my diet and clean eating is perfect, I eat 1500 cals during the week and stick to this fine. Come the weekend I still clean eat in as much as I have my oats and salad, chicken turkey etc but I also have binges on junk. Take today, I ate a big bag of M&Ms, now the bag says 4 servings, I polished it off in one sitting watching Stranger Things :) Yesterday was another disaster. I ate fine up until the evening when I went out for dinner which involved a chicken burger and fries followed by cheesecake washed down with 5 x Bud Light.

I'd like to say this one off but it happens every weekend. Now I have still managed to loss 60 lbs since January doing this so I can't say it has impacted my dieting that much but imagine how much I could have lost had I went totally clean at the weekend? Its almost like I can't help myself at the weekend.

Do you struggle at the weekend or have you any tips?
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Replies

  • nutmegcat
    nutmegcat Posts: 4 Member
    Hi, in my opinion if you have lost 60lb since January doing this then carry on as you are. I'm no expert, but if it helps you keep on track the rest of the time then don't fix what isn't broken. You may not have lost 60lb if you hadn't had your 'treat/cheat' meals as you may have given up. I would imagine it would have more impact on your weight loss as you get closer to your goal weight. Alternatively hit the gym to ease the guilt!
  • daniip_la
    daniip_la Posts: 678 Member
    I don't know your height/weight/etc, but I'm curious, did MFP give you a calorie goal of 1500?

    I'm asking because it seems like a lot of people put their stats into MFP, it spits them out a calorie goal, and they think it's too high so they change it. And then they wonder why they're hungry and more prone to binge eating.
  • dave_in_ni
    dave_in_ni Posts: 533 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Stop the ridiculously big deficit?

    I'd probably still binge at the weekend. If you average over the course of a week I am probably averaging out at 1800-1900 cals daily
  • dave_in_ni
    dave_in_ni Posts: 533 Member
    daniip_la wrote: »
    I don't know your height/weight/etc, but I'm curious, did MFP give you a calorie goal of 1500?

    I'm asking because it seems like a lot of people put their stats into MFP, it spits them out a calorie goal, and they think it's too high so they change it. And then they wonder why they're hungry and more prone to binge eating.

    I'm 6ft 174lbs, No I put in the 1500 cals.

    I'm not hungry during the week, OK maybe for the first few weeks yes I was but I'm not any more, but even when I binge its not that I'm hungry its more I fancy it.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    dave_in_ni wrote: »
    daniip_la wrote: »
    I don't know your height/weight/etc, but I'm curious, did MFP give you a calorie goal of 1500?

    I'm asking because it seems like a lot of people put their stats into MFP, it spits them out a calorie goal, and they think it's too high so they change it. And then they wonder why they're hungry and more prone to binge eating.

    I'm 6ft 174lbs, No I put in the 1500 cals.

    I'm not hungry during the week, OK maybe for the first few weeks yes I was but I'm not any more, but even when I binge its not that I'm hungry its more I fancy it.

    Eat an amount of calories where you can eat what you fancy sometimes and still lose weight.

    I eat the same amount as you and I'm 5ft5 and 136lbs...

    Still not sure why you're not taking any advice from your other threads....
  • kelsey_frame_666
    kelsey_frame_666 Posts: 37 Member
    Well done on your 60lbs loss, that's great! You say it's not impacting on your weight "that much" so I gather your seeing the scale move up? If it's not bothering you and your active and happy doing what your doing then it's no one's place to judge. If it is messing with your weight loss then my only opinion is instead of two "binge" days just stick to one. The control is in your hands.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    dave_in_ni wrote: »
    After some advice here. During the week my diet and clean eating is perfect, I eat 1500 cals during the week and stick to this fine. Come the weekend I still clean eat in as much as I have my oats and salad, chicken turkey etc but I also have binges on junk. Take today, I ate a big bag of M&Ms, now the bag says 4 servings, I polished it off in one sitting watching Stranger Things :) Yesterday was another disaster. I ate fine up until the evening when I went out for dinner which involved a chicken burger and fries followed by cheesecake washed down with 5 x Bud Light.

    I'd like to say this one off but it happens every weekend. Now I have still managed to loss 60 lbs since January doing this so I can't say it has impacted my dieting that much but imagine how much I could have lost had I went totally clean at the weekend? Its almost like I can't help myself at the weekend.

    Do you struggle at the weekend or have you any tips?

    I like to eat more on the weekends too, but I exercise more those days to earn extra calories. We finished Stranger Things last night and had homemade chocolate pudding with creme fraiche and strawberries, nom nom nom. But I hiked for 75 minutes and swam for 30, so I was able to fit this in.

    With M&Ms, can you take out a portion and put the rest of the bag back? I personally can't moderate M&Ms - they call to me - so I don't have them in the house.
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    I'm confused...I thought from your other thread that you wanted to build muscle. It sounds like you're near the healthy range, why this steep deficit? That's probably what's triggering the binges.
  • MissJanet55
    MissJanet55 Posts: 457 Member
    I struggle with binging, too, but I have more trouble at work. I find that being tired is a trigger for a binge, especially with sugar. I want a hit to get me through the afternoon. The other thing that causes me some trouble is stress, anxiety or boredom. At home I have less trouble, I have more access to healthy food and possible naps. :wink:

    Regardless of my daily or weekly calories say, I'd really like to get rid of the bingeing behaviour and just eat when I'm hungry rather than as a comfort or for the boost. It's a challenge, for sure, and I seem to have very little ability to control portions with the foods I like to binge on. I feel your pain.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    edited September 2016
    I got control of weekends by 1: Have breakfast. 2: Have lunch. 3: Have a small snack 4: Have dinner. It really wasn't much more than that. If I was lazy and skipped breakfast, I'd binge. If I am careful to include protein and fat with my breakfast and lunch, I'm ok the rest of the day. I think. I've had about 1/3 of my snack calories so far and want to put the rest of them off until later, and because I may choose a bit more than I presently contemplate in snacks, I have left my dinner plan open. Dinner is then flexible in light of my snack decisions. Oh, I got to onederland again today and don't want to screw that up.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    MissJanet55 wrote: »
    I struggle with binging, too, but I have more trouble at work. I find that being tired is a trigger for a binge, especially with sugar. I want a hit to get me through the afternoon. The other thing that causes me some trouble is stress, anxiety or boredom. At home I have less trouble, I have more access to healthy food and possible naps. :wink:

    Regardless of my daily or weekly calories say, I'd really like to get rid of the bingeing behaviour and just eat when I'm hungry rather than as a comfort or for the boost. It's a challenge, for sure, and I seem to have very little ability to control portions with the foods I like to binge on. I feel your pain.

    You like to binge? Are we just talking about eating a bit too much?
  • Bearbo27
    Bearbo27 Posts: 339 Member
    Not sure what you're looking for here. If you are having a hard time with binges, stop yourself before you pick up the fork. If it starts to affect your weight loss, you'll need to curb the excessive eating. Type of food does not matter. I personally think your issue is that you have to big of a deficit during the week so by the time the weekend hits, you are more prone to binging. I also think that if you included some treats or things you might consider bad though the week, you'd be less likes to want so much of them on the weekend.
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,213 Member
    If you hadn't been overeating on the weekends, yes, you may have lost the weight even faster, or, more likely imho, you would have put your body through too much duress and given up completely at some point instead of achieving your 60lb loss. I probably should argue that you should spread out those extra calories you tend to eat on the weekend, but I've been overeating most weekends myself lately and I actually like it as a "system".
  • dave_in_ni
    dave_in_ni Posts: 533 Member
    dragon_girl26 wrote: »
    I'm confused...I thought from your other thread that you wanted to build muscle. It sounds like you're near the healthy range, why this steep deficit? That's probably what's triggering the binges.

    The binges have always been there, even from day 1. So while I eat 1500 during the week, the weekly average has probably been just slightly below maintenance levels to allow the weight loss. I guess for weightloss it just proves it doesn't matter what you eat as long as your in a deficit.
  • dave_in_ni
    dave_in_ni Posts: 533 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    dave_in_ni wrote: »
    After some advice here. During the week my diet and clean eating is perfect, I eat 1500 cals during the week and stick to this fine. Come the weekend I still clean eat in as much as I have my oats and salad, chicken turkey etc but I also have binges on junk. Take today, I ate a big bag of M&Ms, now the bag says 4 servings, I polished it off in one sitting watching Stranger Things :) Yesterday was another disaster. I ate fine up until the evening when I went out for dinner which involved a chicken burger and fries followed by cheesecake washed down with 5 x Bud Light.

    I'd like to say this one off but it happens every weekend. Now I have still managed to loss 60 lbs since January doing this so I can't say it has impacted my dieting that much but imagine how much I could have lost had I went totally clean at the weekend? Its almost like I can't help myself at the weekend.

    Do you struggle at the weekend or have you any tips?

    I like to eat more on the weekends too, but I exercise more those days to earn extra calories. We finished Stranger Things last night and had homemade chocolate pudding with creme fraiche and strawberries, nom nom nom. But I hiked for 75 minutes and swam for 30, so I was able to fit this in.

    With M&Ms, can you take out a portion and put the rest of the bag back? I personally can't moderate M&Ms - they call to me - so I don't have them in the house.

    Yep there are some things I can't moderate either, perhaps its safer just to not buy them or buy a smaller 1 serving size.
  • caradack1985
    caradack1985 Posts: 254 Member
    Oh I do this purposefully, I eat a little less during the weekend so I can eat a little more on a weekend. If it works I don't see what the issue is.
  • MissJanet55
    MissJanet55 Posts: 457 Member
    edited September 2016
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    MissJanet55 wrote: »
    I struggle with binging, too, but I have more trouble at work. I find that being tired is a trigger for a binge, especially with sugar. I want a hit to get me through the afternoon. The other thing that causes me some trouble is stress, anxiety or boredom. At home I have less trouble, I have more access to healthy food and possible naps. :wink:

    Regardless of my daily or weekly calories say, I'd really like to get rid of the bingeing behaviour and just eat when I'm hungry rather than as a comfort or for the boost. It's a challenge, for sure, and I seem to have very little ability to control portions with the foods I like to binge on. I feel your pain.

    You like to binge? Are we just talking about eating a bit too much?


    I sure do not - I don't seem to have any control over it, or at least certain kinds of foods. And it's beyond just eating a bit too much at meals. My meals are not usually a problem - I like to cook, so they're balanced, lots of veg and protein. It's between that is giving me so much trouble right now.
  • Trish1c
    Trish1c Posts: 549 Member
    My weekends are calorie filled too. Alcohol is usually my main problem. What has helped me is not having the stuff in the house. It's hard to binge when the stuff isn't in the house. I'm not going to go out & get it.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    So you're just doing your usual ignoring of all the good advice you get and carrying on with the behaviour that has you deeply unsatisfied with your aesthetic results so far and your behaviour whilst doing the thing you've repeatedly been advised not to do.

    Okay then. I don't know why you even bother posting threads?
  • dave_in_ni
    dave_in_ni Posts: 533 Member
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    So you're just doing your usual ignoring of all the good advice you get and carrying on with the behaviour that has you deeply unsatisfied with your aesthetic results so far and your behaviour whilst doing the thing you've repeatedly been advised not to do.

    Okay then. I don't know why you even bother posting threads?

    If you bothered to actually read the thread you would notice I eat on average 1800 cals per day on average over a week. Exactly what another post suggested.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    dave_in_ni wrote: »
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    So you're just doing your usual ignoring of all the good advice you get and carrying on with the behaviour that has you deeply unsatisfied with your aesthetic results so far and your behaviour whilst doing the thing you've repeatedly been advised not to do.

    Okay then. I don't know why you even bother posting threads?

    If you bothered to actually read the thread you would notice I eat on average 1800 cals per day on average over a week. Exactly what another post suggested.

    What's your TDEE? You were advised to go for a small deficit of 250 calories per day.
  • dave_in_ni
    dave_in_ni Posts: 533 Member
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    dave_in_ni wrote: »
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    So you're just doing your usual ignoring of all the good advice you get and carrying on with the behaviour that has you deeply unsatisfied with your aesthetic results so far and your behaviour whilst doing the thing you've repeatedly been advised not to do.

    Okay then. I don't know why you even bother posting threads?

    If you bothered to actually read the thread you would notice I eat on average 1800 cals per day on average over a week. Exactly what another post suggested.

    What's your TDEE? You were advised to go for a small deficit of 250 calories per day.
    2080 is my tdee
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    dave_in_ni wrote: »
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    dave_in_ni wrote: »
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    So you're just doing your usual ignoring of all the good advice you get and carrying on with the behaviour that has you deeply unsatisfied with your aesthetic results so far and your behaviour whilst doing the thing you've repeatedly been advised not to do.

    Okay then. I don't know why you even bother posting threads?

    If you bothered to actually read the thread you would notice I eat on average 1800 cals per day on average over a week. Exactly what another post suggested.

    What's your TDEE? You were advised to go for a small deficit of 250 calories per day.
    2080 is my tdee

    Huh, that's lower than what mine will be at goal. What's you current weight and height? Activity level?
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    dave_in_ni wrote: »
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    dave_in_ni wrote: »
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    So you're just doing your usual ignoring of all the good advice you get and carrying on with the behaviour that has you deeply unsatisfied with your aesthetic results so far and your behaviour whilst doing the thing you've repeatedly been advised not to do.

    Okay then. I don't know why you even bother posting threads?

    If you bothered to actually read the thread you would notice I eat on average 1800 cals per day on average over a week. Exactly what another post suggested.

    What's your TDEE? You were advised to go for a small deficit of 250 calories per day.
    2080 is my tdee

    Huh, that's lower than what mine will be at goal. What's you current weight and height? Activity level?

    Yes. How did you come up with that as your TDEE? Your TDEE is the full number of calories that you can eat to maintain. Not MFP's maintenance number (which doesn't include exercise.)

    Through trial and error, I know that my TDEE varies between 2250 and 2450 depending on time of year due to changes in activity. I'm a 40 yo woman who is 30 pounds lighter and 9" shorter than you. Your TDEE should not be lower than mine. But maybe it is since you cut in such a steep deficit, adaptive thermogenesis and all.
  • dave_in_ni
    dave_in_ni Posts: 533 Member
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    dave_in_ni wrote: »
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    dave_in_ni wrote: »
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    So you're just doing your usual ignoring of all the good advice you get and carrying on with the behaviour that has you deeply unsatisfied with your aesthetic results so far and your behaviour whilst doing the thing you've repeatedly been advised not to do.

    Okay then. I don't know why you even bother posting threads?

    If you bothered to actually read the thread you would notice I eat on average 1800 cals per day on average over a week. Exactly what another post suggested.

    What's your TDEE? You were advised to go for a small deficit of 250 calories per day.
    2080 is my tdee

    Huh, that's lower than what mine will be at goal. What's you current weight and height? Activity level?

    Ok, this is worked out using this calculator https://legionathletics.com/how-many-calories-should-i-eat/

    http://imgur.com/a/CSqFo

    I am 6ft 175lbs or so.

    TDEE is 2082
    Cut is 1666
    Bulk 2290
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    When you were eating 1500 calories per day, what were your weekly losses in the last 6 weeks on average?
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    I'm not sure of that calculator, it's saying your LBM is 63lbs?

    Scoobys has you at 2500 per day TDEE (I guessed your age at 30 though). However, you have enough of your own data at this point to not need a calculator. How many times a week do you lift? Do you know how many steps you get just in day to day life on average?

    Just as a reference point. I'm 5'5, female, 34, 170lbs, about 29% body fat (but that's just a guesstimate) and my current TDEE is in the 2200 range. I am sedentary outside of purposeful exercise.

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