[Raek]

Hey everyone. I had a question and was hoping someone can help me.

Back in early January I decided that I was ready to start losing weight. I started at 270 lbs and as of today I'm down to 221 lbs. For the first few months it was a combination of diet and rigorous exercise. In the past two months I've been continuing the rigorous exercise, but have had problems with gorging at night. I'll burn 1,000 calories through exercise and I'll eat well throughout the day, typically consuming about 900-1100 calories but then at night I'll suddenly have the urge to gorge myself on anything and everything, often consuming 1,000 calories in 45 minutes. This obviously negates all the exercise I had done that day. This hadn't been a problem for me early on, so I don't know why it's been such a problem over the past two months. Are there any ways I can change exercise habits or how I eat early on in the day to solve this issue? It's just incredibly frustrating

[gagalu]

900-1100 throughout the day isn't eating well. you're starving because you're starving yourself. you binge eat because you're hungry. increase your caloric intake and this won't be as much of a problem.

if you're actually burning 1,000 calories per workout and are only consuming 900-1100, where is your body supposed to get energy? that's an enormous, unnecessary deficit. try out 1800 per day, maybe? that way you don't need to feel guilty about eating.

also, IF you're burning 1000 per work out, consuming 2100 calories per day is not going to negate your workout.

[nelie]

It does sound like you are restricting too much, at your weight and if your exercise level is what you indicate, you can eat between 1500-1800 calories or even more. Calorie estimates for exercise are usually grossly high though but still I'd aim closer to 1500 than 900-1100.

[aspen13]

Congratulations on your weight loss so far!

I agree with gagalu, you are starving yourself. I burn around 2,000 to 2,500 per day and eat on average from 1,500 to just over 2,000 calories per day. I try to eat every 3 to 4 hours. In the afternoon I might even have two healthy snacks. I make sure I get in a lot of fiber and protein rich foods. I also drink a minimum of 80 oz of water.

I find it very helpful to keep track of all calories going in and being burned. I try to keep my calories burned around 500 to 1,000 above the calories taken in.

Once you up your calorie intake and do that for awhile you should not feel like you need to go on the bingeing episodes any longer.

You can do this!! Remember this is about a healthier lifestyle change. A benefit of this is losing extra pounds. Those extra pounds will take time to come off though.

[Desiderata]

Gagalu's exactly right. I just want to add that the binge reaction is a totally normal response from your body for the conditions you've put it under. It's physiological, not a moral failing or anything. It may be frustrating, but it's your body reflexively responding and trying to take care of you.

Eat more earlier and/or scale back on the intensity of the exercise, and I bet you'll see the urges diminish.

[Trail Runner]

Originally Posted by gagalu

900-1100 throughout the day isn't eating well. you're starving because you're starving yourself. you binge eat because you're hungry. increase your caloric intake and this won't be as much of a problem.

if you're actually burning 1,000 calories per workout and are only consuming 900-1100, where is your body supposed to get energy? that's an enormous, unnecessary deficit. try out 1800 per day, maybe? that way you don't need to feel guilty about eating.

also, IF you're burning 1000 per work out, consuming 2100 calories per day is not going to negate your workout.

Exactly!

When I ride my bike to work, I am burning about 1000 calories from my ride. I typically eat 2100-2300 calories on those days. And I still have a deficit!

Eat more during the day, so you're not so ravenous at night. And congrats on your awesome loss so far!