How can I stop this binging, I'm so inconsistent, I end up eating around 2000-3000 calories and then I'm left feeling super sick. I absolutely demolish packs of chocolates, spreads, jars of nutella, ice cream, cookies.. etc. How the hell can I stop this?! I was doing so well 😭
by ReputationShot6125
21 Comments
This would be me if I didn’t have a appetite suppressant sadly
CBT if you have access. Take care
I struggle with binging big time too 🙁 I don’t even have much at home, but as long as there’s sugar and flour, I’ll even bake to binge 😫 finding that first sugar cookie recipe was the start of my downfall lmao
Can you limit how much is available in the house ?
Could it be that your current calorific goal is too low and not sustainable? How is your nutrient intake when in calorific deficit? The need for binging might be a way of ur body to demand for calories/nutrients.
I think bingeing just means you’re eating too little and you need to up your daily caloric intake.
try eating a higher amount- 1400-1600 and see if your desire to binge is reduced. For me, if I don’t eat enough in the day I tend to overdo it in the evening because I’m hungry all day.
I know that this sub name is 1200isplenty, but i do not think this works for you.
I would start with trying 1900, than 1700, 1500 and maybe than 1200.
I think your diet compliance looks pretty good. There are 3 days where the peak is a ~500 cals higher than I’d like to see, but I see success 24/30 days.
Why are you being so hard on yourself? You have to expect to live life- every month of your life you should AIM to have a slice of a good friend’s birthday cake, go out to a special date, go on a vacation and have a regional treat. This is part of a full life. People who have a full life are just going to have those days. Take these days with a smile and reflect with a happy memory, not a bad feeling about what you ate.
Now, if you are at home alone eating Nutella in the dark, that is something to be critical of…. Is it an emotional issue? boredom? Diet fatigue? Analysis of the deep reason and addressing the root cause is important. You could also have exercised more than usual and need fuel or have chronically been under fueling yourself.
I feel your pain. 😭 Have you tried visiting /r/volumeeating? It helps me sometimes.
try pre-tracking. make sure to include a healthy combination of food, but also plan in anything you “need”. Once tracked, follow the plan, and if a stumbling block occurs, look at your plan and see how/if you can salvage the day, or at least do the least damage.
I am finding that for me that is easier to not start a binge than to stop it once it starts. See if that is you and keep that theory in mind.
Success is not lineal
As someone who had felt captive by food noise and being at both extremes of bingeing or restricting the most important thing to focus on are eating Whole Foods. I swear by this.
Initially it’ll be difficult making the switch, but it’s worth it. If you can be consistent for a week it kind of helps to kick start the bingeing cycle stopping.
I don’t focus on caloric intake, but rather what I’m eating. Mostly vegetables on the plate then a fourth or more protein and your choice of nutritious carbs I usually have a steamed potato either white or sweet potato with some harissa for taste.
I eat a LOT of iceburg lettuce. I’m a chip fiend and when its crunchy it makes my brain happy
To be blunt, one word – willpower. I know it’s crazy hard though.
To break things down further though there’s a few tips I can offer…
1. Reduce the junk in your house. It’s not doing anyone in the house any favors. Honestly, your family should be trying to help support you by trying to eat healthier too and at least be willing to limit the tempting junk early on while you’re struggling to get into a groove of healthy eating. Really find out if your family is willing to help this way or are you just using them as a scapegoat reason to keep junk in the house?
2. Replace as much junk as you can with healthier options or at least more easily moderated portions. IE Instead of a pack of regular Oreos where grabbing a handful of 6-8 cookies that don’t do squat to help you feel full can pack as many calories as a 6″ sub at subway. Go with the Thins or prepackaged snack packs. Get low calorie frozen treats, maybe try popsicles instead of ice cream. Or opt for the pre portioned ice cream cups at walmart that are only 100 calories each. Scooping from a vat of ice cream is way too easy to want to fill a bowl with over 600 calories. Try to find any way to swap things to options that are less easily binged and are pre-portioned. This is a happy medium for your family still having access to treats they want while you too can enjoy them without as much worry that going off the rails one day ruins an entire week of progress.
3. Try to at least slow yourself when eating junk. Tell yourself you’re not trying to get full on junk but to satisfy a craving. For example, I get the small snack packs of oreos and I’ll nurse each one of those keeping each on in my mouth till it dissolves (30+ seconds each). As opposed to chomp chomp swallow the whole pack 2-3 cookies at a time in 1.5 seconds.
One thing I would suggest adding to your logs are factors that push you to binge. Does it just come out of no where? Are you stressed? Did looking at the scale and seeing movement in the wrong direction trigger you? Try to identify triggers that might lead to binging and address them individually.
Beyond that, probably the biggest problem here sounds like sugar addiction. The #1 symptom of sugar addiction is the compulsion to binge sugar after not having much for a few days. If you’ve lived a long time over consuming sugar you probably need to solve this addiction first.
I’d say start tracking your sugar intake and gradually reducing it over a few weeks rather than just trying to stop cold turkey. You generally want to be getting no more than 36g of sugar per day. If you notice that you’re getting way more than that all the time you may need to rethink the first step of your diet to be just consume calories to maintain your weight (not gaining can be as much of a success as losing weight!) while trying to get your sugar intake under control. Once you are comfortably able to go a longer period of time without feeling the drive to binge sugar start with calorie reduction.
I hope this info helps!
You’re probably not eating enough calories and that’s why you end up binging. 1200 isn’t for everyone, even in a deficit.
If I’m understanding this chart correctly there are many days when you’re eating well below what is considered to be the rock bottom acceptable number of calories for someone to live healthily. I would suggest planning (like, truly planning the meals you will eat) well above the low limit you’ve set for yourself but below what you consider to be a binge for a while. Your body is not going to even out its expectations when some days you’re eating 700 calories.
I can relate sooo much to this. I think calorie restriction shouldn’t be your goal at the moment. Try shifting your focus to eating proper meals and not relying on junk food. Easier said than done, but it reduces the amount of bingeing, which we know is the least favourable outcome.
Is 1200 a reasonable goal? Are you 5′ or shorter and sedentary? (Less than 5k steps a day and no exercise?) If you are taller than 5′ and are not sedentary, you should eat more. For reference, I’m 5’2, starting weight 66kg, and I’m eating 1700 calories a day to lose 5kg. My maintenance was higher than 2000 calories. You should only be subtracting up to 500 calories a day from your maintenance, without going below your bmr. If you don’t know how much your maintenance is, I recommend using a TDEE calculator.
you’re better off doing around 1400-1600 instead, better to have more leeway for calories and maybe satisfy some cravings than have a binge episode because you probably aren’t getting enough for the day
what app is this?