I posted in another thread a couple of days ago about a true binge I went on two days ago. I ate somewhere in the neighborhood of 3000-3200 calories as opposed to my 1500 day average. It didn't tast good. I don't know why I did it. I wasn't under stress, it didn't even taste good. I just started cramming and before I knew it I had eaten 540 calories in cereal bars and 5-600 calories of animal crackers and washed it down with two big glasses of milk. WTH? Why does food have this control over me? Why would I do such a thing when no external factors I knew of played apart. I wasn't hungry either. I just did it.
When I woke up yesterday morning I was still full from gorging myself the night before. I got on the scale and was up 1.5 pounds from the day before. (143.5) I ate carrots, a few raw almonds and drank my coffee. I had a yogurt and some crabmeat. I was still full from the day before really. I decided to keep my calories pretty low as a way of DAMAGE CONTROL. Maybe if I divide my calories from yesterday, today and tomorrow, I will not overeat (calorie wise) for the week. My total calorie intake was about 600 for the day. I drank lots of water yesterday trying to clean my system. I went to bed last night feeling good that with my DAMAGE CONTROL for the day, I didn't do quite so badly about my gorge the day before.
Today I woke and as usual went potty, stripped and got on the scale. I dipped to 140.5! Is this for real? This has happened one other time during my weightloss. I had a really high day calorie wise only to dip a couple of days later. I am sure hoping my new weight will stick!
I have to say I LOVE CALORIE COUNTING! It's effective, free and realistic for me to do since it rules out no foods. What I realized yesterday is that I don't have to be perfect. Binges will happen in my life. I have the choice to make them up through added exercise and decreasing my calories the following day. I know it's almost a "charge account" mentality towards weight. But if I am paying my bill off every time why shouldn't I do it?
Same thing happened to me more than once...I'd go way overboard then BAM....scale dropped. I didn't question that it happened or why...I just accepted that it most likely wouldn't happen again and went back on plan...
Maybe you binged because your body needed the extra calories? I know it probably sounds redic, but sometimes I feel like our bodies give us signs. However, I am sure your damage control did help. Calorie counting is great in that respect because you are right- it's like a charge account. The people who are overweight are the ones that got in debt over their heads, and they need to come up with a plan to pay it off, lol. Maybe the combination of a really high day and a really low day kinda startled your metabolism into action. Do you calorie cycle? maybe that's something you should try... I don't really know, it's just a suggestion.
You know, I like this comparison of debt and charge cards to weight and calories. I think it's an accurate comparison worthy of thought.
I do calorie cycle. I haven't been as diligent about it lately but yes, I do subscribe to it's effectiveness and often practice it. I am going to think about my binge more and decipher whether it was me listening to my body cues or me just being a pig. (I am leaning toward the latter...LOL)
You have just given me something to think about during my run this morning.
i'm in the club of overeating then scale dropping. it's like a crazy phenomenon. i don't let it happen often because i never want to bank on the fact that overeating will help me lose weight but whenever i go a little overboard it usually helps... crazy cal counting man...
I had a very bad day today. Maybe I'll be as lucky as some of you have and drop some weight in a day or two.
What's so cool about it this time is I don't feel like "I have blown my diet and I'm not going to be able to cut it, so whats the use anyway" feeling. I feel like I can just go right back to eating with my new lifestyle change tomorrow or get back on schedule at my next meal. This is just a minor set back.
I feel like all the pressure is off when I'm counting calories. I feel normal for the first time in a long time, probably the first time ever. It just all makes sense now.
I actually allow myself to go way off plan about once a month! it keeps me from plateauing.. when you eat healthy your body leaerns to burn fat and calories in one way (the correct way) but when you go back to your old eating habits your body freaks and thinks it's going to have to start burning cals and fat the way it did pre healthy lifestyle (the wrong way) it's like tricking your body it keeps it on it's toes and guessing.. and then the day you do start eating healthy again you usually drop a significant amount your body thinks it's completely restarted your diet all over... that's why when we first start a diet or a healthy way of eating we lose weight fast at first and then it slows down
that's why when you allow yourself to go off plan and go back to eating healthy it's like you just started your diet again for the first time..
it might not be the healthiest method- but for me when i feel like I'm slowing way down or plateauing I eat bad for a day- and the next day I loose! craziness i know!
But I tend to look at it like your body's internal reward system..lol.. it's saying " hey you've been doign great for a while go ahead and eat what you want"
and when I do it NEVER tastes as good as it used to and it makes me want to eat my good foods again.. I think it just reiterates the fact that my body no longer likes bad foods and It truly enjoys my new healthy lifestyle!
Sunday when my cold hit me like a ton of bricks I said to **** with it and ate a bunch of Ramen noodles which put me WAY over for the day but I wanted the broth and my husband could easily make those so I dealt with it. I dropped the next day anyway probably because I drank a LOT of water for the salt issue with those.
I know when I lost 50 pounds in 6 months after college I would have a bad day once a week and it was fine. I won't do it weekly now because I am not 22 anymore but I think once in a while is fine.
I know it's almost a "charge account" mentality towards weight. But if I am paying my bill off every time why shouldn't I do it?
YMMV, but I'll throw this out there as a possible answer to your question: Because it's very likely that sooner or later, it gets out of control. And, for me personally, that thinking reinforces a relationship with food that I don't want to have.
I hope I have the same luck as you! I just binged last night, which is awful, seeing that I just dropped 3 pounds. This morning they are back on, and I am back on track, but depressed that I let it happen. It wasn't even a horrible binge, not high in sodium, just more than I usually eat. And everytime I do this, the weight doesn't come back off after a day or so, so I know it's not gain from the sodium. I have to work just as hard for 2 more weeks to get it back off.
After-uh-binge...a Revelation
