So far great, but how to cope with the inevitable binge?

Its early days but so far so good! Its the first time Ive counted calories and this site makes it so easy..... It all seems so manageable.... Except Im dreading the inevitable binge :(

Any advice?

Replies

  • Fenomka
    Fenomka Posts: 103 Member
    Hey Ruby,

    Speaking from experience, it definitely can be intimidating, and nail biting, to wait for the inevitable moment when you "fall off the weight loss wagon". Two things that I find have been really helpful to remind myself:

    1) weight loss is an ongoing process. It's a lifestyle change, and will last until the day you die. Binges are going to happen. Slips are going to happen. Especially for us women, Weight loss has to work with our cycles, because otherwise, it's against us. So remind yourself, that though yes, it's going to happen, that doesn't mean you're done, or out of the running. Just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back on track. You'll have something to remind yourself of why you're working as hard as you are, and you can even use it as a bench mark - I made it this long before I broke down, before. can I make it longer, start training my body to go without this stuff?

    2) If I find that I'm craving something in particular, I give in a small bit when I feel it, and that usually works to stave off a binge that I fear might be coming on. if I find I'm craving ice cream, I stop and get a small thing of the self serve frozen yogurt, and maybe some of my favorite topping. I let my self truly enjoy it, guilt free (for me, that means sometimes taking my husband along, or bringing some home for him, so we can eat it together!) so that later, when I'm at the grocery store walking down the frozen food isle, and I spot that bit carton of full fat chocolate chip, I'm not dying for it, because I'm more satisfied by what I already got.

    I hope that helps! Good luck, and just remember - We're in this, together, and Starting is the hardest step!
  • jenvinci
    jenvinci Posts: 1
    Keep the carbos under 100. It will cut cravings. If you bing, just get back on it. Avoid things that can lead to binging. I am on my third week of low carb, I'm a terrible dieter, and a 'eat the whole bag' kind of girl, but cutting the carbs works better than counting calories. Good luck.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    I've gone over my calories by a lot many times throughout this process. I think the most important step is to forgive yourself the next day and get back on track.

    If you can, plan for cheat days (or a cheat meal if you prefer). Eat a couple of hundred fewer calories throughout the week to store up some cushion for them. But if a binge happens unexpectedly there's probably a good reason for it and I find it best sometimes just to let it happen.

    Remember: everything in moderation, even the ocassional cheat!
  • Keep your mind and hands busy...got a hobby you're into? I paint and play guitar (badly lol but it works..) Also, staying full on healthier options..the smaller meals several times a day could be an option.., but most importantly..if or when you give into a binge..forgive yourself and start clean the next day! best wishes!
  • fallonrhea
    fallonrhea Posts: 388 Member
    Keep counting and trying to stick to your daily allowance! Take it one day at a time :)

    I stocked up on things that are really low calorie that can help satisfy cravings that I typically have. Before starting, I would always crave ice cream, so I started keeping sugar free fat free pudding in the house (careful! there's a lot of sodium in there). I also keep Orville Reddenbaucher's (sp?) 100 calorie smart pop (makes a pretty decent amount of popcorn!) to help with salt cravings. Having a smart option - and no bad options - around really help! Eventually the cravings even went away for me!

    If you do happen to have a binge day - don't sweat it, we all have our high calorie days. It's only one day and a pound of fat is 3500 extra calories! So just get back on track the next day and you'll make up for it in no time :) Going for a walk or even cleaning the house burns calories - so there are some simple things you can do to combat the calories of the binge the day of as well!

    Also, get some friends! All of my friends are super nice on here and we keep each other motivated! Feel free to add me if you'd like :)
  • raitch
    raitch Posts: 62 Member
    If you feel like you JUST HAVE to eat something, measure it out into a bowl and out the package away before you dig into it. A bowl of chips, cereal, whatever will be so much less than if you sit down with the package in front of you. And log it, even if it makes you go over your daily calories by a huge amount. Be accountable.

    I think the hardest thing for me is always the morning after- resisting that feeling of "well I totally screwed this up, may as well keep falling off the wagon, rolling down a hill, and end up in a ravine!"
  • TaylorsGranddad
    TaylorsGranddad Posts: 453 Member
    Its early days but so far so good! Its the first time Ive counted calories and this site makes it so easy..... It all seems so manageable.... Except Im dreading the inevitable binge :(

    Any advice?

    Add me as a friend (if you want to) and reand my blog, hopefully it will help you.


    Good luck


    PEACE

    Deiting is a life choice not life sentence.... so dont punish youreslf
  • kuger4119
    kuger4119 Posts: 213 Member
    1. As others have said, if you fall off the wagon, all you can do is hop right back on.

    2. Have the right frame of mind. If you have a bad couple days because of a family gathering or being on vacation or something like that, don't worry about it. But if you head into this thing expecting......and accepting......failure to happen, it is going to be much harder to follow through. Be faithful to yourself and MFP as much as you can.

    3. Despite what I said in #2, if you have a day where you feel like you really need something extra and you want to go over your calorie limit.......do it, but do so responsibly. Keep it under 500 calories if you can and never go more than a 1000 calories over your allowance. If you can keep yourself from going to far (500 calories), you won't actually gain any long term weight and it makes it easier to ignore those urges later. Don't cheat often though.

    MFP is a very good tool if you have the buy-in necessary to make it work. If you don't commit to it, you are going to struggle. I bounced from 179 down to 172 and back every year for about 10 years before I started using this site. I had some rough days in the last week where I really felt like eating and it was tough not to do it. I went ahead and cheated a couple hundred calories on one of those days but on some, I just have a glass of ice water and try to find something to do.
  • icedesign1
    icedesign1 Posts: 7 Member
    I used to have very strong cravings to binge. What finally helped me to break the terrible cycle is to eat small meals/snacks often so that I don't ever get to that starving want to eat everything in site level. Look at it this way, you are not going on a "diet." You have finally committed to a lifestyle of healthy eating and hopefully getting a little exercise every day, Remember that we are not perfect and we are striving for progress not perfection, A lesson learned in a different chapter of my life. I have days where I go over my calories by a couple hundred but I also have days where I am a couple hundred under.

    I have only recently joined this site but my weightless journey started in 2008 at 188 pounds and 5'5. I am now at 141 pounds and I am working hard to lose the last 15-20. All I can say is try to stick with it, you will have your ups and downs, but if it is something that you truly want, set your heart and your mind to it and don't look back, and love yourself and don't beat yourself up for every little setback. Celebrate every little victory. You can add me as your friend if you'd like. I'm 33 years old and from San Jose, Ca.
  • One of the key tricks to avoiding binging is not to deny 100% of the time things you crave. Instead work them into your plan for the day, especially if it's on a workout day when you can have more calories anyways. I eat at a 30% deficit on rest days, and 10% deficit on workout days, so on those workout days if I've been wanting McDonald's, I plan my day's intake around having McDonald's. Just the other day I did this, I had a Double Quarter Pounder W/Cheese, Medium Fries, and a Medium Dr Pepper, but it was 100% accounted for, and I filled in the rest of my intake appropriately for the day's goals on protein, fat, and carb.

    Another thing that helps with avoiding binging, is making sure that what you eat is satisfying you. Upping your protein can do wonders for satisfaction when it comes to eating, but many people accept the default macro spread on MFP that sets protein to 15% and carbs to 55%. And unless it's red meat, protein foods generally are not dense foods, you can eat a lot of grilled chicken or broiled fish and still have consumed reasonable amounts in regards to protein and calories.

    Sometimes there are "unavoidable" binge days, such as family events for holidays and birthdays, such as 4th of July coming up. On Memorial Day, I went to a family cookout and kept myself under control while still enjoying myself and not being "that guy" who won't touch anything people made because he's on a diet. I had -a- burger-, -a- bratwurst, 4 deviled eggs (notice I hit a lot of the protein foods here?), I filled a plastic drink cup with pasta salad and had that much and no more, 1 big choc chip cookie, and as much watermelon as I wanted (amazingly low density food there but with lots of volume due to the water content).

    The entire point is, it's not a binge if you control the manner in which you enjoy food. A diet isn't there to punish you, and if you don't learn how to enjoy food within the bounds of what you're doing to lose weight, how are you going to stay trim after you get done and are no longer "on a diet"? This isn't a temporary thing, counting calories and macro nutrients, you're re-training yourself how to live the rest of your life. You're not going to forgo good foods after you reach your goals, so removing them entirely while you're losing weight is counterproductive. Learning to incorporate awesome foods into your diet now in reasonable amounts will make it that much easier to not go on an eating binge both during -and- after you've met your goals and are eating at a maintenance amount.

    And if you do have a wild binge and suddenly eat 6,000+ calories in a day? One, your digestive system is going to punish you more than your guilt can afterwards, and two, get over it and get back on the wagon and resume doing what you need to be doing. If you let the initial binge wreck your self-confidence at losing weight, then you're setting yourself up to throw everything out, so don't sweat the lapse and get back on track.
  • Argh the dreaded binge! Some excellent advice here - i.e - go easy on the beating you give yourself and just keep going with your usual healthy eating and exercise the next day.

    Sometimes a binge is good. It reminds me of how physically (and mentally) horrible I feel when I eat too much junk so is good motivation for staying lean and clean.
  • rubyworkout
    rubyworkout Posts: 4 Member
    Thanks for all the support,I dont feel as alone now :)

    I will take it each day as it comes. Try not to be hard on myself. And probably not catastrophise when I start bingeing I tend to think ive lost the game, which then leads to more of the same...

    Anyways, thanks everyone, and best wishes for healthy lifestyles to all! :)
  • rubyworkout
    rubyworkout Posts: 4 Member
    So true!! It hate the bloat, the feeling helpless.... Much prefer the confidence, the feeling light when I wake up!!! :)
  • i just posted this in another thread about bingeing

    i was told by my friend who is a doctor that it usually takes about 20 days to start a habit.
    i told myself every day for a month "no you cant eat that" whenever temptation popped up and now its programmed.
    i went to the fridge today on an empty stomach and saw a chicken pie in the fridge, i picked off a piece of the pastry and just as i was about to put it in my mouth i heard myself say "no you cant eat that" and i put it in the trash, it gets so much easier with time , just practice the willpower and it gets stronger!

    after a short while the "inevitable binge" seems more evitable!