Binge/ not hating yourself afterwards

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lilahtov
lilahtov Posts: 10
in Motivation and Support
Hi, I'm a teen and in the stress of final exams, I binged last night. I was binge/go-off-my-diet free for six days...a lot for me but a pathetically small period of time in the long run. I promised myself I wouldn't give up this time, but when I weighed myself this morning I felt like complete and utter *kitten*. I'm nowhere close to where I want to be after 6 days of staying on track, even WITH the binge. (I went 500-700 cals above my diet, but only 200-300 above my BMR, so I shouldn't be gaining so much weight!).

Some people have told me it takes a week to work off a binge, and that really scares me. I also hate that everyone urges you to eat after a binge...when I feel like just going back to normal and eating is like, oh well, it doesn't really matter. It does matter! I feel awful about this and I really don't want it to happen again. And, obviously, I hate feeling awful about it, too. It's not getting me anywhere.

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  • Loseweight1980
    Loseweight1980 Posts: 94
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    First off, deep breath. When you have a lot of stressin your life, adding more by beating yourself up is just going to make you feel worse. You have to give yourself permission to mess up. And I know that's a really hard thing to do, but no one is perfect, and striving for perfection will make you crazy, and you deserve better than that. the weight gain overnight is simply water weight, so don't worry about that, your body will reabsorb and get rid of that pretty quickly once you return to healthy eating.
    If you have any questions, feel free to friend me, I am a Physician Assistant, and I deal with a lot of teens with questions about eating, and I usually have the facts to back up my answers :-)
    Hang in there, breathe, and good luck with your finals!!
  • lilahtov
    lilahtov Posts: 10
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    Thank you so much...your words have calmed me down a bit. Yes, it's very difficult, and it's especially difficult because all of my friends eat and drink whatever they want and it has no effect on them. What exactly are you gaining, then, when you cheat like this and then get back on track? Temporary weight...from what?
  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
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    If it takes a week to recover from a binge (and I really don't think you binged), then I would be screwed. Saturday I severely overate and I'm half a pound lighter today. What you did yesterday doesn't count as much as what you do today and tomorrow. Binging causes an increase in water weight... If you are diligent about eating nutritious food today, and you exercise, I bet you will see it fall off if not tomorrow, than the next day. Water weight comes and goes very quickly and it can be really discouraging, but you can get back on track very easily.

    Here's the thing about losing weight... Everyone has a binge once in a while. It happens. What really matters is changing your GENERAL habits when it comes to eating and exercise... If you've adopted a healthier lifestyle overall, these days that make you feel badly will be a very small blip on the radar and will not have any significant effect on your progress.
  • kristenlees122
    kristenlees122 Posts: 242
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    hey now..
    calm down. a lot of people binge. the longest i have gone is 3 weeks. a pathetically short time in the long run? i dont think so. 3 weeks / 6 days vs 1 day of binging? how can that be pathetic? it is anything but. next time strive for 7, or more.
    weight fluctuates all the time, one day of binging - unless you eat like an extra 3000 calories, does not equal true weight gain. its probably water weight, like loseweight198 said, or you need to have a big poop! just take a deep breath, dont weigh yourself so often, and get back on track. the thing that has really helped me is to forgive myself, and next time, i try and remember the horrible feeling after a binge. i want to lose weight more than i want those cookies, so i remind myself of that. sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt. i try and drink lots of water, workout, take a bath.. anything but binge. when it doesnt work, i just go, alright that sucks, no more, back on the wagon now - not tomorrow, now. know what i mean?
    anyway, chin up, move on and remember this feeling next time. and good luck with your exams - stress less :)
  • MissXFit13
    MissXFit13 Posts: 217 Member
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    Please don't beat yourself up after a "binge". Everyone has a day (or days) when they slip up. I have them every once in a while, and I try to use it as practice to learn to not hate myself for losing control. Because at the end of the day, it's not like the damage is irreversible. Even if you really ate 3,500 calories and gained a pound from it, guess what? That pound can come back off with healthy choices. I realize that at any time I could slip up with my diet, but I also realize that at any time I can get back on track. This is a long journey, and no one is going to eat a perfect diet every day. But you can start again today. That's the beautiful thing, nothing is permanent!

    Instead of beating yourself up, just recognize the situation that triggered it. Reflect on how you can plan to prevent this in the future (removing temptation foods from your pantry). I had a few days when I literally couldn't stop eating miniature candy bars. So I brought them into work and left them in the employee lounge. In the future now, if I'm really craving my "trigger" foods, they are far less accessible (i.e. I will have to go to the store).

    Ha, and if I really messed up my diet for a few days, I just tell myself that I'm "shocking" my metabolism and doing a zig-zag calorie diet!!
  • brewerchick
    brewerchick Posts: 72 Member
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    We must be on the same ship... I binged for 5 days and kept binging to make myself feel better, vicious cycle. Today I am back on track and remember it's a lifestyle change!
  • lilahtov
    lilahtov Posts: 10
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    If it takes a week to recover from a binge (and I really don't think you binged), then I would be screwed. Saturday I severely overate and I'm half a pound lighter today. What you did yesterday doesn't count as much as what you do today and tomorrow. Binging causes an increase in water weight... If you are diligent about eating nutritious food today, and you exercise, I bet you will see it fall off if not tomorrow, than the next day. Water weight comes and goes very quickly and it can be really discouraging, but you can get back on track very easily.

    I really hope you're right!! This is encouraging, but I'm nervous to see if I can really affect the scale by getting back on track. It's very hard for me to eat normally and pretend I'm not upset from yesterday.
  • cavewoman15
    cavewoman15 Posts: 278 Member
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    i was out of town last week and ate over my calories for 5-6 days in a row. i only went a little over maintenance on a couple of the days, but was over every day. lots of alcohol, lots of sodium. my weight has been wonky for a couple days now. waiting to see if it goes back to normal, but i feel fine so i think sometimes the scale is just evil.

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