Reached goal but now binging
sam6403
Posts: 3 Member
donuts and cheesebuger last nite, 4 donuts 3 days ago and ice cream with brownies 2 days ago -- advice...
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Replies
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You mentally toggled from "on mission" to "mission accomplished, now what?" OK, pay attention. You have a mission. The mission is to balance your intake and output. If you want to eat the donuts, that's 30 minutes of cardio each. If you want to eat the cheeseburger, that's a meal. You can have it. You don't have to burn it off, but it's a meal. Brownies are also 30 minutes of cardio. Do enough cardio paying for donuts and brownies and you will find something better to shove in your face.31
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Best advice I can give is to start weighing daily for a few days. It's a good reminder of what you have accomplished with all your hard work as well as where you are. It helps you put things in perspective diet-wise. You can have stuff, just not everything all the time. Weigh...log, and plan the treats. You can do this.donuts and cheesebuger last nite, 4 donuts 3 days ago and ice cream with brownies 2 days ago -- advice...
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Set a maintenance weight range, about 5 lbs works for many people. When you get to b the top of the range, resume a 250 deficit & log, if you're not still doing that, Be sure to log the binge food too.10
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If I were you I'd start reading all the posts that begin with "Starting Over", "Back Again", "How did I let this happen?".........you get my drift. Sometimes losing the weight is easier than maintaining the loss. You need to choose.17
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I think finding replacements for those things that are healthy but help the craving would be good for sustainable weight loss. I find it difficult to just ignore the cravings so I replace the craving with something similar but less calories. Cheeseburger? I would maybe make it at home for less calories, I might replace the bun with lettuce or a lower calorie bread like Ezekiel bread or awesome low carb biscuits that I found on Snapguide.
Donuts are a tough one to replace, but there are a lot of low carb or low calorie recipes for baked goods on pinterest and youtube. You can even make healthy frosting from protein powder and unsweetened almond milk. Just some ideas that I do
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I can't tell you how many times that happened to me! Sometimes for days, and other times for months and a huge disastrous weight gain.
I found my answer, and it may or may not work for you. If I've had a lot of sugar or carbs, my willpower gets hijacked and it starts to snowball and I have thoughts like, "just this once won't matter, it will be easier to eat right later." But for me, later is always going to happen later, in some fictional ideal version of my future.
So I've learned I can put the brakes on by having an all-meat day. And lots and lots of water. Anyone can do that for a day, right? I don't even limit how much meat either. Eating this way for a day heals my willpower, or supercharges it somehow. I'll always have to keep my carbs low if I want to eat like a sane person.
Good luck getting back on track. It takes years of practicing good eating habits consistently before it becomes second nature.11 -
I like cnythiaschoice idea of eating an "all-meat day" to stop carb cravings and overeating from too much sugar. It's hard to stop those cravings because like the previous poster said, "just once won't matter". But those cravings can turn into days, weeks and months. A nice juicy steak makes a nice alternative to sugar, and it is not something that you can gorge on all night and eat in the car and cram in between appointments. Thanks for sharing the tip.3
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Curious how you reached your goal. Did you cut out all cheeseburgers, donuts, & brownies and now that you've reached your goal, you don't know how to incorporate them into an otherwise balanced diet? Are you still utilizing MFP to track your maintenance calories, or did you just start winging it? Saying we've "reached our goal" is misleading, because our goal is actually to eat in a balanced, sustainable way that keeps us at our desired weight for the rest of our lives. That's a learning process in itself that hopefully we'll have had a lot of practice at during the weight loss phase.10
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CynthiasChoice wrote: »I can't tell you how many times that happened to me! Sometimes for days, and other times for months and a huge disastrous weight gain.
I found my answer, and it may or may not work for you. If I've had a lot of sugar or carbs, my willpower gets hijacked and it starts to snowball and I have thoughts like, "just this once won't matter, it will be easier to eat right later." But for me, later is always going to happen later, in some fictional ideal version of my future.
So I've learned I can put the brakes on by having an all-meat day. And lots and lots of water. Anyone can do that for a day, right? I don't even limit how much meat either. Eating this way for a day heals my willpower, or supercharges it somehow. I'll always have to keep my carbs low if I want to eat like a sane person.
Good luck getting back on track. It takes years of practicing good eating habits consistently before it becomes second nature.
I'm curious about the "all meat" day. Do you literally have nothing but meat? Any meat, including fish, shrimp, etc, as long as no carbs? What about things like eggs and cheese? Do you get full enough to stop eating easily without going over calories for the day?
I'm wondering if this would help me with PMS. But I don't know how I'd feel the next day? Perhaps all stopped up?
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Cut that crap out man. That weight comes back super fast. Find out what your maintenance is and try to stick to that. Have a cheat day once a week and just hit the gym like crazy that day.6
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It's totally okay to eat those things, but eat them in moderation and keep logging. Log at maintenance to make sure you don't go too far over or at least that you don't make a habit of it. Also, that isn't "binging". Binging is eating a few thousand calories worth of food in one sitting. Even 4 donuts isn't really a binge. More like a big cheat meal.2
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lightenup2016 wrote: »CynthiasChoice wrote: »I can't tell you how many times that happened to me! Sometimes for days, and other times for months and a huge disastrous weight gain.
I found my answer, and it may or may not work for you. If I've had a lot of sugar or carbs, my willpower gets hijacked and it starts to snowball and I have thoughts like, "just this once won't matter, it will be easier to eat right later." But for me, later is always going to happen later, in some fictional ideal version of my future.
So I've learned I can put the brakes on by having an all-meat day. And lots and lots of water. Anyone can do that for a day, right? I don't even limit how much meat either. Eating this way for a day heals my willpower, or supercharges it somehow. I'll always have to keep my carbs low if I want to eat like a sane person.
Good luck getting back on track. It takes years of practicing good eating habits consistently before it becomes second nature.
I'm curious about the "all meat" day. Do you literally have nothing but meat? Any meat, including fish, shrimp, etc, as long as no carbs? What about things like eggs and cheese? Do you get full enough to stop eating easily without going over calories for the day?
I'm wondering if this would help me with PMS. But I don't know how I'd feel the next day? Perhaps all stopped up?
The idea came to me to do this because I remembered a dietitian telling me (in 1996!) that sugar cravings can happen if you need more hydration and protein. I've only done it twice, and both times I did have a bit of steamed green veggies too. But the focus was on enjoying the meat. I think the free-for-all attitude towards the meat distracted me from the sweets long enough to stop the blood sugar roller coaster. I wouldn't want to "prescribe" anything too particular because everyone likes/needs different things. Anything high protein, low carb would work for me I think, as long as I'm really loving it and it seems a little naughty and fun. What I'm doing essentially is trading one vice for another to help transition back to a saner way of eating. The sweets vice leads to repetitive cravings though, and the meat vice restores my self control.
I don't know if I went over calories on those days, but if I did it wasn't by much. Meat is very satisfying and filling and stays with you a while.
I don't think I'd approach PMS the same way, but I'm certainly not an expert to be advising on that - sorry! Before I started eating low carb, I craved sweets all the time and couldn't detect more intense cravings during TOM.2 -
donuts and cheesebuger last nite, 4 donuts 3 days ago and ice cream with brownies 2 days ago -- advice...
Stop bingeing.
Just have one donut or one brownie or a reasonable serving of ice cream. Maybe not all in the same day, at least not every day. Not sure what is wrong with a cheeseburger, just make sure it's a proper size (portion) for your size and diet.1 -
Are you still checking back in Sam? If you are, maybe it would help you to launch into a new mission that supports what you already learned and keeps you focused on health and good decisions. I would recommend "The Brain Warrior's Way" by Daniel and Tana Amen. I find it very tough and challenging, but super inspiring.0
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creyes4182 wrote: »Cut that crap out man. That weight comes back super fast. Find out what your maintenance is and try to stick to that. Have a cheat day once a week and just hit the gym like crazy that day.
Hah, good point! Excellent advice and well said!
Eating now and planing to work it off later doesn't always work. You can fall into thinking you'll work it off tomorrow... tomorrow... tomorrow...
I can't talk, since I've had to go back on weight loss in Jan for the past 3 years. This year, I'm hoping to find a maintenance rhythm that works continuously. Some thoughts are
- Find non-food pleasures. (Think hard, I'm sure you can think of a few.)
- Take pleasure in the foods you do eat. (Don't get all your calories from protein smoothies.)
- Make a "just say no" list. Cheap mass-produced baked goods (anything at dunkins) should be on it.
- Have a great meal with friends at least once a week. Spend some real $$ on it. Prep for it by cutting back a bit. Enter it as a quick add of 1000kcals (if you track it at all). When you're feeling deprived, think about that meal and what you're going to do the next time.3 -
Whether you binge or not - log everything, weigh yourself every day, read the "starting over" threads like the other poster mentioned, and I can't imagine you won't get your head screwed back on straight eventually.
As an aside, you can maintain and eat donuts and cheeseburgers. I've been maintaining for a year and a half and have stayed within 10 pounds of my goal weight and they are a regular part of my diet.1 -
CynthiasChoice wrote: »lightenup2016 wrote: »CynthiasChoice wrote: »I can't tell you how many times that happened to me! Sometimes for days, and other times for months and a huge disastrous weight gain.
I found my answer, and it may or may not work for you. If I've had a lot of sugar or carbs, my willpower gets hijacked and it starts to snowball and I have thoughts like, "just this once won't matter, it will be easier to eat right later." But for me, later is always going to happen later, in some fictional ideal version of my future.
So I've learned I can put the brakes on by having an all-meat day. And lots and lots of water. Anyone can do that for a day, right? I don't even limit how much meat either. Eating this way for a day heals my willpower, or supercharges it somehow. I'll always have to keep my carbs low if I want to eat like a sane person.
Good luck getting back on track. It takes years of practicing good eating habits consistently before it becomes second nature.
I'm curious about the "all meat" day. Do you literally have nothing but meat? Any meat, including fish, shrimp, etc, as long as no carbs? What about things like eggs and cheese? Do you get full enough to stop eating easily without going over calories for the day?
I'm wondering if this would help me with PMS. But I don't know how I'd feel the next day? Perhaps all stopped up?
The idea came to me to do this because I remembered a dietitian telling me (in 1996!) that sugar cravings can happen if you need more hydration and protein. I've only done it twice, and both times I did have a bit of steamed green veggies too. But the focus was on enjoying the meat. I think the free-for-all attitude towards the meat distracted me from the sweets long enough to stop the blood sugar roller coaster. I wouldn't want to "prescribe" anything too particular because everyone likes/needs different things. Anything high protein, low carb would work for me I think, as long as I'm really loving it and it seems a little naughty and fun. What I'm doing essentially is trading one vice for another to help transition back to a saner way of eating. The sweets vice leads to repetitive cravings though, and the meat vice restores my self control.
I don't know if I went over calories on those days, but if I did it wasn't by much. Meat is very satisfying and filling and stays with you a while.
I don't think I'd approach PMS the same way, but I'm certainly not an expert to be advising on that - sorry! Before I started eating low carb, I craved sweets all the time and couldn't detect more intense cravings during TOM.
Thank you! I'll think about trying it if things feel out of control. I don't typically have sweet cravings, more like any carbs! I've never thought about something like an all protein day. I guess that's like keto-for-a-day
Sorry OP for high jacking the thread. I hope you get maintenance figured out for yourself--I think it's more difficult than losing for sure! Maybe just try to make more room for your favorites within your calorie goals. Or cycle your calories (some days high, some low) and look at it from a view of weekly calories.0 -
CynthiasChoice wrote: »I can't tell you how many times that happened to me! Sometimes for days, and other times for months and a huge disastrous weight gain.
I found my answer, and it may or may not work for you. If I've had a lot of sugar or carbs, my willpower gets hijacked and it starts to snowball and I have thoughts like, "just this once won't matter, it will be easier to eat right later." But for me, later is always going to happen later, in some fictional ideal version of my future.
So I've learned I can put the brakes on by having an all-meat day. And lots and lots of water. Anyone can do that for a day, right? I don't even limit how much meat either. Eating this way for a day heals my willpower, or supercharges it somehow. I'll always have to keep my carbs low if I want to eat like a sane person.
Good luck getting back on track. It takes years of practicing good eating habits consistently before it becomes second nature.
Same. I don't go quite as far, but I still really try to up my meat consumption once I've restarted the carb/blood sugar roller coaster. But I do still have some carbs here and there or I end up with a headache and feel ready to abandon all of it. It feels like meat in particular (vs other protein sources) works to get me back on track.
To the OP, I think I will always be a yo-yo'er to a certain extent, and that's fine so long as I keep the gains reasonably small, as in 5 lbs. I have wandered up past that point but not much past. The real key for me in keeping those gains to a minimum (vs wandering up and down 20 or 30 lbs) is that I have learned to make "dieting" much more enjoyable. Low deficit, enjoyable exercise intensity. No suffering for the cause. Versus in the past when "diet" meant periods of extreme behaviour. It's no wonder that I'd procrastinate addressing my weight gain, who wants to revisit misery? My only "trick" for not overindulging in the first place is to keep stress levels down. Easier said than done at times, I know.
Best of luck.
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MFP does give an option to set your calorie level to maintain and still log. This could be a way for you to eat whatever you wish while keeping an eye on the calories. Many I have read who have maintained for over a year have done this. Others added a number of calories daily for a few weeks then add a few more for similar to see when they reach their own maintenance level. Giving yourself a + and - number 3 or 5 lbs to hold to may help.
Please tell yourself you do not wish to be back where you were, or heaven forbid worse and toe the line you choose. All the very best.0 -
One thing I had to learn was that I was not "fixed" or "cured" by getting to my goal weight. It's not like our weight is magically fixed once we reach the destination. Now that we are there, we must use the behavior-change strategies to maintain what we worked so hard to achieve.
I initially used the maintenance goal in MFP, and gained back 3 lbs the first week. So, I went back to my earlier weight-loss intake limit, and added back in 100-200 calories per day for about 3 days at a time, until I figured out what my actual maintenance amount was. I also weighed myself twice per week - every Sunday and Wednesday morning. This is because weight fluctuates wildly based on hormones, sodium intake etc. (I never weigh myself the morning after eating at our favorite Indian restaurant, since their sodium is higher.)
Like other posters, I now keep my weight within a 3-5 lb range. I have done so for almost 3 years, and what I have learned is that you just have to keep track and that's okay. I prefer this over the alternative. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you if you have to do that - in fact, society just presents us with too many options in portion sizes that are too large, so we are conditioned not to think about how much we are eating.
Be patient with yourself. You are worth it.5
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