Binge eating and using this app

Purplestuff102 · November 2023

Can I lose weight long term if I binge eat but track my food daily and walk daily. Just trying to see the future in using this app.

COGypsy · November 2023

The amount and frequency of when you eat doesn't matter as long as you're in a caloric deficit. Starting out with just tracking everything you eat is usually a good way to go. Then you can see where and when to make changes going forward. Unfortunately, if your eating takes you over your maintenance level of calories, you'll gain weight regardless of tracking and walking.

cmriverside · November 2023

If you binge but stay within your calorie goals you can lose weight.

Try looking at a seven day average instead of daily.

I guess you could explain what you mean by binging? To me, that is eating a thousand or more extra calories in low nutrition food in a 24 hour period.

You may mean something entirely different.

Stay within your calories over time - with the caveat that you first have to establish what that calorie number might be. You can set your Goals to, "Lose 1 pound per week," and then log food to that amount daily for a couple months. See how that goes.

yirara · November 2023

weight loss comes down to being in a calorie deficit, and the app has no bearing on this. Creating a meaningful calorie deficit by means of exercise is very difficult. Have a look at this calculator: https://exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs (set your energy setting to NET

If you eat too many calories regularly then you'll gain weight. If you eat at maintenance and burn.. maybe 300 calories per day then you'll lose weight slowly.

Purplestuff102 · November 2023

Okay

PAV8888 · November 2023

Long term. If binging is a problem (see above re questions of what you mean when using the word) but if it is, then you will need manage the situation and bring some sort of reduction to either the extent or frequency or both.

If you're prone to binging, engaging in restrict-binge cycles is NOT, generally speaking, your friend in achieving said management.

So yes. Overall deficit. But restrict binge cycles not good for binge management for most

springlering62 · November 2023

I’m going to come at this from the other direction.

I was (and still occasionally am) a binge eater.

I would easily sit down and eat an entire package of Oreos, 3/4 tub of ice cream (I shamefacedly left some so I didn’t appear to be a glutton🤦🏻‍♀️), or half a Publix key lime pie. Often all of the above, in an evening.

I did beginning yoga once or twice a week, and often walked a mile or so several times a week.

I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t losing weight.

I was exercising, right? I was (don’t laugh) watching what I ate. I didn’t eat the whole pie, and had exercised, right? I thought I was being mindful.

It wasn’t til I started logging food AND got a fitness tracker that calculated calories burned that the truth sank in. I had absolutely ZERO concept of in versus out. I honestly thought that evening walk or that slow yoga class would offset the cookies or the pie and the effort and the food would magically cancel each other out.

I think that’s the misfire that so many of us have. We don’t have any idea of the “cost” of calories.

I’d strongly recommend borrowing or buying a fitness tracker and logging your calories well
and honestly for a couple months.

Once I made that very painful connection and the bulb went off in my head, then I was able to lose weight.

Surprisingly, I don’t miss the junk food that was my weakness for decades. I don’t consider the See’s chocolates multi-days binge that destroyed my diary - which is open btw- last week to be junk food. That’s high end gourmet and I have no regrets. Back at it. That’s the other nice thing about calorie counting. If you stick with it, you can clearly see the issues, and correct with no sleep lost.

frhaberl · November 2023

I agree with all said above and also think it would be helpful if you share what your definition of binging is. Binging for me was not just about the amount of food I ate, but also about the shame I would feel and the way I reacted to that shame. Working through the shame has been very helpful for me. One key to working through that shame has been honest logging of what I eat. I’ll give a “before and after” example.
Before - I’m “being good” about my eating but find myself in a situation where there’s social pressure to eat more than my “diet” allows. I “give in” and eat “too much”. I tell myself I’m failing and am doomed to be obese and a failure. I don’t log the extra food I ate but I know I blew it and now even opening the app reminds me that I blew it, so I don’t log the next day either. And since I’m not logging I might as well not weigh anything or track it. And since I am a failure, I might as well eat like it. Cue multiple days of punishing myself for the binge by not eating well (either too much or too little).
After - Tonight was a good example. I had a work event that was a food and cocktail tour of the town we’re in. Meetings interfered with my ability to get my normal workout in. I had mentally prepared for an “over” day but planned to steer towards the lighter, healthier options where possible. Guess what…there were no healthier options. So I relaxed and enjoyed the food and cocktails. I ate mindfully and left some things on my plate at each of our stops. I was very full (a feeling that would usually trigger shame) but went back to my hotel room and entered what I ate. I didn’t have my food scale with me, but I’ve gotten pretty good at estimating, so I think my number is in the right ballpark, about 1600 calories. That’s what I usually eat in a full day, all in one “meal”. I would have let that bother me before, but now I put the day in perspective. It was one day. I didn’t even go over my maintenance calories. I enjoyed the new foods, but am looking forward to getting back to my routine and the foods and portions that satisfy but don’t leave me uncomfortable.
I share this to encourage you to think beyond “can I binge and still lose weight”. Asking yourself what defines a binge for you and whether that’s something you want to continue might be a worthwhile activity for you. Sometimes that will lead to work on changing your actions, but a lot of the time it is even more helpful to work on changing how you think and feel about your actions.

springlering62 · November 2023

Oh well said! Exactly @frhaberl

Binge eating and using this app

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