1.5 years+ of binge eating

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amcharanek
amcharanek Posts: 66
in Health and Weight Loss
A little back drop first:

Summer 2010 (grade 11): Basketball season approaching again (played last two years as well) and my dad's cholesterol levels were really high so the doc was gonna put him on meds, but he wanted to lose weight with diet & exercise instead. Doc recommended "ideal protein" diet for him to try and said he wouldn't last a week. He did it and I joined him and we lost a bunch of weight together. What was this diet? 90cal pro shakes for breakfast and lunch, 160cal pro bar for snack, and 5-7oz meat with 2 cups veggies for dinner and unlimited lettuce. That was it.. We were able to stick with it for a couple months and I lost like 30lbs. Got off of it, though, and then..

I had the most false perception of weight loss a person could have. I would try having only egg whites for breakfast with a protein shake for lunch and the then same dinner as stated above. Carbs and fat were the devil and would make me fat (so I thought). It was straight f*cked. This is where my binge eating began. I started to research stuff on my own and read bodybuidling and fitness magazines (god help us all) and actually started lifting then (very inconsistently and on stupid splits I may add). I began to research more and more and found t-nation and bodybuilding.com to be very good sources of information. I got on advanced lifting splits and ate like a bro (still binging weekly). More and more research and better lifting programs got me to where I am now: calorie counting (I'd say obsessed with it) and on a proper lifting program for my training level (4 day upper-lower split), but the weekly binges have not ceased, and as the topic states, it's been much over a year. I've experimented with many diets (IF, paleo, low carb, etc.) and tried many different deficits (300, 500, 1000, etc.). Every time after a binge, whether it lasted one night or one week I feel a renewed sense of valor like I'm going to go out and conquer the world with my new plan, new motivation, and the new week. But 6 days later, and BAM. Binge.

When I started binge eating I was down to a deprived 190lbs with minimal muscle mass.

Where I'm at right now: 18yo 6'0 205lbs, ~18-20%bf; 2200 daily cals w ~200g pro (~2900 maintenance), other macros not counted just overall cals; upper-lower split with occasional basketball; weekly binges.

Goal: get down to 180lbs so I can bulk.

I started thinking today like wtf. When am I going to stop this.

Do you guys think it could be a hormonal or psychological problem or something like that?

Thanks for taking the time btw.

Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    Some sounds psychological in terms of binging. But if you just want to cut, take your TDEE and reduce it by 20%. That helps maintain LBM and will allow you to cut fat.
  • amcharanek
    amcharanek Posts: 66
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    Some sounds psychological in terms of binging. But if you just want to cut, take your TDEE and reduce it by 20%. That helps maintain LBM and will allow you to cut fat.

    Believe me man, I know HOW to lose weight, I just can't seem to do it with this binge eating problem
  • _HollyMarion
    _HollyMarion Posts: 13
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    You and I are very alike. Every time I binge, I try to come up with a new plan, restrict, etc. I just try to do anything to make it stop. Something in side of me just compels me to binge. It's an eating disorder for me. Bulimia. I don't always purge though. Sometimes I restrict the next day to make up for it. It's very psychological. I always hope that this is the last time I'll binge, but it's never the last. I suppose it all comes down to self-control. We need more of that.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
    Options
    Some sounds psychological in terms of binging. But if you just want to cut, take your TDEE and reduce it by 20%. That helps maintain LBM and will allow you to cut fat.

    Believe me man, I know HOW to lose weight, I just can't seem to do it with this binge eating problem

    It may help if you bake in some binge days where you preplan for that binge or try to reduce the chances being put in the situation. But other than that, you need to get some profession help to break your unhealthy relationship with food.
  • amcharanek
    amcharanek Posts: 66
    Options
    You and I are very alike. Every time I binge, I try to come up with a new plan, restrict, etc. I just try to do anything to make it stop. Something in side of me just compels me to binge. It's an eating disorder for me. Bulimia. I don't always purge though. Sometimes I restrict the next day to make up for it. It's very psychological. I always hope that this is the last time I'll binge, but it's never the last. I suppose it all comes down to self-control. We need more of that.

    Yea, I actually have also experimented with purging before unfortunately :(
  • nutandbutter
    nutandbutter Posts: 447
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    I think your calorie count is too low which is leading (in part) to the binges. If I restrict too much, I'm more likely to binge. Try upping your cal's for a while. Ahmed, I've seen what you do for exercise and I think your TDEE is way higher than 2900. Hell, my normal non-exercise day is around 2000 calories and I'm female, 5'4" and 133 lbs.
  • amcharanek
    amcharanek Posts: 66
    Options
    Some sounds psychological in terms of binging. But if you just want to cut, take your TDEE and reduce it by 20%. That helps maintain LBM and will allow you to cut fat.

    Believe me man, I know HOW to lose weight, I just can't seem to do it with this binge eating problem

    It may help if you bake in some binge days where you preplan for that binge or try to reduce the chances being put in the situation. But other than that, you need to get some profession help to break your unhealthy relationship with food.

    "Cheat days" or "free days" tend to not work for me, since I usually consume ~10k+ calories on them (yes, I log it all) but seeing someone about it might be the right thing to do. What kind of professional would I see about this anyway?

    Thanks for your help too.
  • amcharanek
    amcharanek Posts: 66
    Options
    I think your calorie count is too low which is leading (in part) to the binges. If I restrict too much, I'm more likely to binge. Try upping your cal's for a while. Ahmed, I've seen what you do for exercise and I think your TDEE is way higher than 2900. Hell, my normal non-exercise day is around 2000 calories and I'm female, 5'4" and 133 lbs.

    Really? I lift 4x/week, cardio once or twice and most calculators give me between 2800-3100 at an activity factor of about 1.5
  • _HollyMarion
    _HollyMarion Posts: 13
    Options
    You and I are very alike. Every time I binge, I try to come up with a new plan, restrict, etc. I just try to do anything to make it stop. Something in side of me just compels me to binge. It's an eating disorder for me. Bulimia. I don't always purge though. Sometimes I restrict the next day to make up for it. It's very psychological. I always hope that this is the last time I'll binge, but it's never the last. I suppose it all comes down to self-control. We need more of that.

    Yea, I actually have also experimented with purging before unfortunately :(

    I really hope you don't do that anymore. It's so detrimental to your health. I'm about a week and a half purge-free right now. I'm hoping I can stop completely.
  • amcharanek
    amcharanek Posts: 66
    Options
    [/quote]

    I really hope you don't do that anymore. It's so detrimental to your health. I'm about a week and a half purge-free right now. I'm hoping I can stop completely.
    [/quote]

    Don't even think about it anymore. Did it maybe a few times many months ago and I could barely bring myself to do it anyway haha
  • nutandbutter
    nutandbutter Posts: 447
    Options
    I think your calorie count is too low which is leading (in part) to the binges. If I restrict too much, I'm more likely to binge. Try upping your cal's for a while. Ahmed, I've seen what you do for exercise and I think your TDEE is way higher than 2900. Hell, my normal non-exercise day is around 2000 calories and I'm female, 5'4" and 133 lbs.

    Really? I lift 4x/week, cardio once or twice and most calculators give me between 2800-3100 at an activity factor of about 1.5

    I just got a BMF and it's been showing 2000 cal's on a non lifting day for me (and you know I don't do cardio). My husband (dinosnopro) just used his for the first time yesterday and his burn was about 4500 (lift day plus physical job). The calculators were giving him about the same level (6', 185). The bmf has an accuracy of +/- up to 10% and they get better the longer you wear it.

    Your cardio is playing basketball for at least an hour! That will burn a lot of cals.
  • _HollyMarion
    _HollyMarion Posts: 13
    Options

    I really hope you don't do that anymore. It's so detrimental to your health. I'm about a week and a half purge-free right now. I'm hoping I can stop completely.
    [/quote]

    Don't even think about it anymore. Did it maybe a few times many months ago and I could barely bring myself to do it anyway haha
    [/quote]

    Haha, well that's good. I'm glad. :)
  • nutandbutter
    nutandbutter Posts: 447
    Options
    You and I are very alike. Every time I binge, I try to come up with a new plan, restrict, etc. I just try to do anything to make it stop. Something in side of me just compels me to binge. It's an eating disorder for me. Bulimia. I don't always purge though. Sometimes I restrict the next day to make up for it. It's very psychological. I always hope that this is the last time I'll binge, but it's never the last. I suppose it all comes down to self-control. We need more of that.

    Yea, I actually have also experimented with purging before unfortunately :(

    I really hope you don't do that anymore. It's so detrimental to your health. I'm about a week and a half purge-free right now. I'm hoping I can stop completely.

    I find it gets easier the longer you go. I rarely have the urge anymore.
  • MySweetPotato
    MySweetPotato Posts: 175 Member
    Options
    I know how you feel. But you need to trigger WHY you are binging.
    In my personnal experience, biging started when my sister and I got seperated. She was my motivation and we lost weight together. We used to push eachother and not let eachother "junk out" on anything. She was the voice in my head who would tell me to "stop eating" when I needed to. But after she left, I started having little parties on my own thinking "now I am free to eat whatever I want". I tempt to binge and then excercise obsessively. It's a useless bad cycle. But I am slowly getting off of it.

    The first thing YOU need to do is stop buying all these foods that you tempt to binge on. When you see it infront of you in a shop, YOU need to tell yourself "I am better than this bag of crap". And you need to learn to love your body enough to feed it healthy things and healthy amounts. The problem here is that you still see food as the enemy and you're obsessing about the calories and your body is reacting to it by wanting all the bad things at once.
  • _HollyMarion
    _HollyMarion Posts: 13
    Options
    You and I are very alike. Every time I binge, I try to come up with a new plan, restrict, etc. I just try to do anything to make it stop. Something in side of me just compels me to binge. It's an eating disorder for me. Bulimia. I don't always purge though. Sometimes I restrict the next day to make up for it. It's very psychological. I always hope that this is the last time I'll binge, but it's never the last. I suppose it all comes down to self-control. We need more of that.

    Yea, I actually have also experimented with purging before unfortunately :(

    I really hope you don't do that anymore. It's so detrimental to your health. I'm about a week and a half purge-free right now. I'm hoping I can stop completely.

    I find it gets easier the longer you go. I rarely have the urge anymore.

    You're right. It definitely does. I just can't allow myself to screw up anymore.
  • amcharanek
    amcharanek Posts: 66
    Options
    I know how you feel. But you need to trigger WHY you are binging.
    In my personnal experience, biging started when my sister and I got seperated. She was my motivation and we lost weight together. We used to push eachother and not let eachother "junk out" on anything. She was the voice in my head who would tell me to "stop eating" when I needed to. But after she left, I started having little parties on my own thinking "now I am free to eat whatever I want". I tempt to binge and then excercise obsessively. It's a useless bad cycle. But I am slowly getting off of it.

    The first thing YOU need to do is stop buying all these foods that you tempt to binge on. When you see it infront of you in a shop, YOU need to tell yourself "I am better than this bag of crap". And you need to learn to love your body enough to feed it healthy things and healthy amounts. The problem here is that you still see food as the enemy and you're obsessing about the calories and your body is reacting to it by wanting all the bad things at once.

    As for what triggers it, I think it's just a feeling of "I need to eat; I need to prove something" it's weird; I've had many different foods and moods trigger it.

    As for the food; I practice IIFYM but I mainly fill my day with whole foods and then eat some other "junk" foods. I don't think that is the problem. I wouldn't have any food left in my house if i took out everything I binge on LOL. Just meat, veggies, and maybe fruit. But I don't wanna deprive myself either. (check my diary if you'd like)

    I don't think it's any specific food. I just have a very unhealthy relationship with food in general
  • amcharanek
    amcharanek Posts: 66
    Options
    Proverbial "bump"
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
    Options
    Some sounds psychological in terms of binging. But if you just want to cut, take your TDEE and reduce it by 20%. That helps maintain LBM and will allow you to cut fat.

    Believe me man, I know HOW to lose weight, I just can't seem to do it with this binge eating problem

    It may help if you bake in some binge days where you preplan for that binge or try to reduce the chances being put in the situation. But other than that, you need to get some profession help to break your unhealthy relationship with food.

    "Cheat days" or "free days" tend to not work for me, since I usually consume ~10k+ calories on them (yes, I log it all) but seeing someone about it might be the right thing to do. What kind of professional would I see about this anyway?

    Thanks for your help too.

    A pyschologist is your best bet. You can talk to your doctor for a referral.
  • Abigaillee15
    Abigaillee15 Posts: 100
    Options
    I have a binge problem as well. I'm 19 years old and last year I lost 20 lbs and got to my goal weight of 120lbs. I felt AMAZING at that weight. I was eating 1300 calories a day, and running anywhere from 3-6 miles 4 or 5 times a week.

    Unfortunately last summer I started binge eating. It normally happened at night when everyone else was in bed or asleep. It would happen with just one bite of a "trigger food" (like cookies, or a piece of cake, or anything sweet). I didn't gain weight at first. But 3 months later I put on 5lbs. I'm at my highest weight in over a year at 130lbs. Sometimes I'll binge until I can hardly breath anymore. I've eaten so much that my heart physically hurts. I've done research on binge eating and it is in fact, deadly. The side effects (depression, suicide, heart failure, weight gain, diabetes, etc) are terrifying. I know I can't live this way forever!

    I've been binge eating 2 or 3 times a week and have gained a total of 10 lbs since last august. I saw a counsler that my university offered. It helped for a little, but after a couple more binges I felt hopeless.

    I am still struggling with it but I think I am in the right mindset to finally get over it. Add me as a friend and we can help each other!

    Best of luck to you!
  • WritingMyLife
    WritingMyLife Posts: 57 Member
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    I remember reading somewhere about a study they did back in the 50s or 60s with previously healthy and non-dieting men. They put the men on a calorie restricted diet for a period of time. The men, though not previously people who cooked, became obsessed with recipes etc. After the study was over, the men were allowed to return to regular eating, but it took a corresponding period of time for them to get over the obsessions. it sounds like something simliar happened with you and it has been fed continuously as you continue dieting. Perhaps the answer is to stop dieting for a while and focus on maintaining your weight and making healthy choices.

    This may be the one I'm thinking of, Keys sounds like the right name.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment

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