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Extremes.

alltimeburrit0
alltimeburrit0 Posts: 41 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I go from overeating to undereating very easily. Neither of which is healthy. But it's so much easier to go to the extremes rather than to go healthy.
Anyone that's previously had this problem of 'binging' and then 'starving' and not being able to find a middle ground what have you done to help yourself?
I know what I should be doing but it's so hard to do so. Tips?

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Pick a reasonable calorie goal (MFP can help with that), commit to hitting it consistently (for me, that meant coming within 100 calories).

    If your issues involve literal binges followed by starving (it's hard to tell from your post if you are using these terms casually or to describe actual binges and extreme restriction), consider seeing a professional. Disordered eating is hard to address individually and a professional can be a huge help.
  • alltimeburrit0
    alltimeburrit0 Posts: 41 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Pick a reasonable calorie goal (MFP can help with that), commit to hitting it consistently (for me, that meant coming within 100 calories).

    If your issues involve literal binges followed by starving (it's hard to tell from your post if you are using these terms casually or to describe actual binges and extreme restriction), consider seeing a professional. Disordered eating is hard to address individually and a professional can be a huge help.

    To clarify by the words I mean
    Binging: 2000-3000calories
    Starving: Usually under 1000, mostly around the 500 mark of food with 300-600 calories burned from working out.
  • alltimeburrit0
    alltimeburrit0 Posts: 41 Member
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    Well, I don't know if you need to do this, but I had to get professional help. My binge eating and restricting was rooted in mental health issues that needed to at least get partially resolved before I could begin to stop the cycle. I'm not perfect, and still struggle with cravings, but it is much, much better than it used to be. In this case, my problem was psychological, not physiological.

    One thing that has helped me from a tactics side is to not worry about calories, but the food I eat needs to be prepared in some way. So, I can have pancakes, but they have to be from scratch. I can have all the tortillas I want, but I have to make them. This was a way to "slow things down" and help me make a better decision about how much I was going to eat, rather than numbly putting food in my mouth.

    I think that may be a very good option for me - thank you for sharing that. Cooking from scratch is a very good way to actually know what you're putting in your body which I think is the most important.

    But by interest what do you do about any sugary cravings or are they mostly helped by therapy?
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    alltimeburrit0 wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Pick a reasonable calorie goal (MFP can help with that), commit to hitting it consistently (for me, that meant coming within 100 calories).

    If your issues involve literal binges followed by starving (it's hard to tell from your post if you are using these terms casually or to describe actual binges and extreme restriction), consider seeing a professional. Disordered eating is hard to address individually and a professional can be a huge help.

    To clarify by the words I mean
    Binging: 2000-3000calories
    Starving: Usually under 1000, mostly around the 500 mark of food with 300-600 calories burned from working out.

    I think the actual calorie counts are less important than asking yourself if this is something that you can stop doing on your own. When you eat 2,000 calories, does it feel like you can't stop yourself (not that you don't really want to stop, but in the sense that you feel compelled to do it)? Can you keep yourself from restricting to 500 calories a day when you realize how terrible it is for your body?

    If you're harming yourself and you can't stop, there's no reason not to get a professional to help you out.

    If your eating habits are keeping you from meeting your weight or fitness goals or even keeping you from living your happiest life, there's no reason not to get a professional to help you figure out why you can't let go of these habits.
  • alltimeburrit0
    alltimeburrit0 Posts: 41 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    alltimeburrit0 wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Pick a reasonable calorie goal (MFP can help with that), commit to hitting it consistently (for me, that meant coming within 100 calories).

    If your issues involve literal binges followed by starving (it's hard to tell from your post if you are using these terms casually or to describe actual binges and extreme restriction), consider seeing a professional. Disordered eating is hard to address individually and a professional can be a huge help.

    To clarify by the words I mean
    Binging: 2000-3000calories
    Starving: Usually under 1000, mostly around the 500 mark of food with 300-600 calories burned from working out.

    I think the actual calorie counts are less important than asking yourself if this is something that you can stop doing on your own. When you eat 2,000 calories, does it feel like you can't stop yourself (not that you don't really want to stop, but in the sense that you feel compelled to do it)? Can you keep yourself from restricting to 500 calories a day when you realize how terrible it is for your body?

    If you're harming yourself and you can't stop, there's no reason not to get a professional to help you out.

    If your eating habits are keeping you from meeting your weight or fitness goals or even keeping you from living your happiest life, there's no reason not to get a professional to help you figure out why you can't let go of these habits.

    Thank you for your advice. When I binge, especially in the evenings I always find myself thinking 'I'm full, even feeling a bit sick of sugar, but ah! One more!' And when I'm not eating as much I know it's unhealthy but then I see the numbers on the scale and it's equally as hard to stop doing that. I just can't seem to find a healthy middle and it's probably a lot to do with mental health that is true
  • Spartan_Gingi
    Spartan_Gingi Posts: 194 Member
    Something that's helped me with this; if it didn't come with me in my lunch bag, I don't eat it. I'm nearly religious about meal planning. I know what I'm taking for lunch and snacks for the next week when I shop the Saturday before. Planning, planning, planning. It's what's saved me.
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    edited April 2017
    alltimeburrit0 wrote: »
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    Well, I don't know if you need to do this, but I had to get professional help. My binge eating and restricting was rooted in mental health issues that needed to at least get partially resolved before I could begin to stop the cycle. I'm not perfect, and still struggle with cravings, but it is much, much better than it used to be. In this case, my problem was psychological, not physiological.

    One thing that has helped me from a tactics side is to not worry about calories, but the food I eat needs to be prepared in some way. So, I can have pancakes, but they have to be from scratch. I can have all the tortillas I want, but I have to make them. This was a way to "slow things down" and help me make a better decision about how much I was going to eat, rather than numbly putting food in my mouth.

    I think that may be a very good option for me - thank you for sharing that. Cooking from scratch is a very good way to actually know what you're putting in your body which I think is the most important.

    But by interest what do you do about any sugary cravings or are they mostly helped by therapy?

    I definitely do have cravings for sweet things. Therapy doesn't stop the cravings, but they help me cope with the cravings so that I can let them pass without overdoing it. Sometimes, that means having a yummy item (making apple crisp is one thing I do!) or doing something that takes my mind off of the craving so it can pass on its own (like going for a walk or working on a puzzle).

    Edit: A big part of it is just stepping back from the feelings and trying to figure out the emotional basis for why the craving is there? Is it a bad day? Is it boredom? Is it random anxiety that just likes to pop up on occasion 'cause it's a jerk?

    One thing I have had to do is accept that this is something I will have to work on my entire life. It's sounds horrible, but really, what I think is that there's no point in treating it as important 'cause it's going to stick around no matter what! Ha.

    And to piggyback on @janejellyroll, it's always the feelings associated with binge eating and restricting that are the worst, not the actual calories consumed. Actually, sometimes I think about how I felt during some of my worst binges, and that helps to make me realize how far I've come, and how I don't want to step back into that. It's almost surreal thinking back on those thought processes.
  • joemac1988
    joemac1988 Posts: 1,021 Member
    alltimeburrit0 wrote: »
    I go from overeating to undereating very easily. Neither of which is healthy. But it's so much easier to go to the extremes rather than to go healthy.
    Anyone that's previously had this problem of 'binging' and then 'starving' and not being able to find a middle ground what have you done to help yourself?
    I know what I should be doing but it's so hard to do so. Tips?

    Look into flexible dieting.
    Follow pages like theflexibledietinglifestyle and cartergood on Instagram.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    alltimeburrit0 wrote: »
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    Well, I don't know if you need to do this, but I had to get professional help. My binge eating and restricting was rooted in mental health issues that needed to at least get partially resolved before I could begin to stop the cycle. I'm not perfect, and still struggle with cravings, but it is much, much better than it used to be. In this case, my problem was psychological, not physiological.

    One thing that has helped me from a tactics side is to not worry about calories, but the food I eat needs to be prepared in some way. So, I can have pancakes, but they have to be from scratch. I can have all the tortillas I want, but I have to make them. This was a way to "slow things down" and help me make a better decision about how much I was going to eat, rather than numbly putting food in my mouth.

    I think that may be a very good option for me - thank you for sharing that. Cooking from scratch is a very good way to actually know what you're putting in your body which I think is the most important.

    But by interest what do you do about any sugary cravings or are they mostly helped by therapy?

    I definitely do have cravings for sweet things. Therapy doesn't stop the cravings, but they help me cope with the cravings so that I can let them pass without overdoing it. Sometimes, that means having a yummy item (making apple crisp is one thing I do!) or doing something that takes my mind off of the craving so it can pass on its own (like going for a walk or working on a puzzle).

    Edit: A big part of it is just stepping back from the feelings and trying to figure out the emotional basis for why the craving is there? Is it a bad day? Is it boredom? Is it random anxiety that just likes to pop up on occasion 'cause it's a jerk?

    One thing I have had to do is accept that this is something I will have to work on my entire life. It's sounds horrible, but really, what I think is that there's no point in treating it as important 'cause it's going to stick around no matter what! Ha.

    And to piggyback on @janejellyroll, it's always the feelings associated with binge eating and restricting that are the worst, not the actual calories consumed. Actually, sometimes I think about how I felt during some of my worst binges, and that helps to make me realize how far I've come, and how I don't want to step back into that. It's almost surreal thinking back on those thought processes.

    Yes, when I think back about the times I felt lowest . . . it was never the actual calories consumed. It was the emotions surrounding it. That's the worst part.

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