third binge in a month - maybe for a reason

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zebasschick
zebasschick Posts: 909 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
i'm a very accurate logger, and have been losing as expected. last night, however, was the third time in a month that i binged - and i must say those cashews were REALLY good, all 6 servings of them.

the thing is, i make some workout notes not on MFP, and i discovered that all three binges were on days when i had very intense workouts or more intense cardio than usual (like more resistance on the bike or adding lots of steps or hills to my walk).

my weight loss continued unabated, and i suspect that on heavy or intense workout days, MFP's extra calories may not be enough. i'll experiment and see if going a little over calories with extra protein on more intense workout days helps keep from eating 6 servings of nuts or chips.

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  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,906 Member
    edited September 2020
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    Yes, I've found that moderate exercise reduces my appetite but vigorous exercise, like snow shoeing, stimulates it.

    ps - are you getting enough fluid? I used to feel hungry after swimming but it turned out I was just thirsty.
  • whitej1234
    whitej1234 Posts: 263 Member
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    Second that on thirst. I found binge times for me are often on extra hot or actually sedentary days. Because I forget to drink and the result is in the fridge.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,652 Member
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    Also.. replenishing calories you've burned and talking about them as a binge is causing me cognitive dissonance!
  • zebasschick
    zebasschick Posts: 909 Member
    edited September 2020
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    sijomial wrote: »
    Think you would do better to experiment with carbs rather than protein if your binges correlate with more intense exercise. Your body has a very natural desire to replenish limited glycogen stores.

    Recovering after exercise with a 4:1 carb:protein ratio works very well and might change your hunger signals.

    i'm diabetic (type 2), and while my overall sugar is lower than it was a few months ago, i can't go too carb heavy. yet. hopefully when i get my weight and blood sugar normalized, i can do more with carbs.
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Also.. replenishing calories you've burned and talking about them as a binge is causing me cognitive dissonance!

    i see what you mean, but i did eat 6 ounces of cashews last night. i think that could count as a binge, no?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,189 Member
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    ALZ14 wrote: »
    zebasschick wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    Think you would do better to experiment with carbs rather than protein if your binges correlate with more intense exercise. Your body has a very natural desire to replenish limited glycogen stores.

    Recovering after exercise with a 4:1 carb:protein ratio works very well and might change your hunger signals.

    i'm diabetic (type 2), and while my overall sugar is lower than it was a few months ago, i can't go too carb heavy. yet. hopefully when i get my weight and blood sugar normalized, i can do more with carbs.
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Also.. replenishing calories you've burned and talking about them as a binge is causing me cognitive dissonance!

    i see what you mean, but i did eat 6 ounces of cashews last night. i think that could count as a binge, no?

    I would classify it as over eating, but not a binge. But I honestly don’t know if there is a good “limit” to define the gray area between over eating and binge eating.

    I: think the difference, if using the term "binge" in the official, strict, technical sense, would reside within the head of the person doing the eating. It's kind of like the distinction between "obssessive" and "consistent", or between "fearful" and "cautious". Mayo Clinic says binge eating involves eating large amounts of food, and feeling unable to stop. I'm not sure 6 ounces of cashews really counts as a large amount of food (what is it, around a cup and a half, maybe?) even though we all know it's calorie dense; and I don't know if OP felt she was unable to stop, vs. just didn't want to (a fine distinction, that).

    I would agree that 6 ounces of cashews is a large number of calories, like 950 in round numbers. It was more than OP wanted to have eaten, it seems, in retrospect. Beyond that, whether it was a binge or not seems to hinge on her mental state - whether there was a sense of compulsion and inability to control.

    Zebasschick, it sounds like you have a workable experimental plan to avoid repeats. That's perfect. Your thought process about why it's happening sounds very plausible. As a backstop, I'd point out that you're still losing weight for the day all the way up to maintenance calories, and as a rationalization I'd observe that cashews are one of the foods whose calories seem not to be fully harvested by the body**, so you may semi-dodge part of a bullet there? 😉

    I agree with sijomial in the abstract that carbs may be part of the picture, but understand you need to limit them, which is tough, in this situation. If there are any sorts of slow-ish carbs that you've found don't spike you, perhaps you could include some to the extent feasible. I assume you prefer not to lower the intensity because of your fitness goals. It's a balancing act!

    I hope the new plan works great!

    ** https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6356908/

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