So as those of you that are in the CC St. Pat's Day Challenge know, I've been having some issues with binging lately. I think there are several contributing factors to this but may have figured out what the main one is.

I know some of it has to do with my change in schedule. In November I was laid off and in December started two new businesses. While this lifestyle makes me so happy and has me very busy, it is also not really that structured and certainly not structured like and 9 to 5.

I am also not drinking water like I used to. I would drink three 26 oz bottles of water while at the office then come home and have one to two 16 oz glasses of no calorie flavored drink. I'm not a big water person so now that I'm at home all the time, I skip the water and just do the flavored drink typically only getting three to four 16 oz glasses in. While that meets the 80 oz a day requirement, it doesn't really do the appetite suppressing like the water was.

Another factor is my lack of clothes getting tighter when the scale is going up. It's hard to feel guilty about a binge when I'm not seeing physical effects of it. I am really happy with how my body looks despite being 20 pounds over my goal weight. I picked my goal weight fairly arbitrarily and for some time thought about moving into maintenance instead of trying to lose more.

But what I think my big issue may be is my calorie reduction. I use livestrong to track my calories and about the time that my work situation was changing, livestrong changed how they calculated calorie allotments. I went from being allowed 1550 - 1600 calories a day (but actually only eating 1250 - 1350 a day) to 1150 - 1200 calories a day. That's quite a change! I stayed at that allotment for a while but it was not working well so I changed the amount of exercise I get in their calculator to up my allotment to 1350 - 1400 a day. When I started the challenge, I decided to reduce my calories to 1250 to kick start my losing (I'd been basically stalled, jumping between 165 - 170 for a couple of months).

While 1250 seems like an adequate amount of calories, I'm now feeling a bit constrained. I input my meals for the day the night before or first thing in the morning. When doing so, there is not a lot of room for snacks, if at all. I'm a three-meal-a-day person but do like to have a snack in the evening available to me. Overall, I eat fairly healthy. Have really added a lot of fruits and veggies to my diet within these past couple of months. I am much more of a substituter than a portion reducer though I find some things just have to have portions reduced to work in my diet. While I am able to eat mostly what I have been, I do feel like some things have been taken off my menu that I don't want to be. And for reference, I do cardio for 45 mins 5 times a week, lift weights for 40 mins 3 times a week and walk for 1 to 1-1/2 hours at least once a week but typically twice a week.

What I'm wondering is if I need to up my allotment back to 1500 or maybe come down a little at 1400. Because I'm wondering if that constraint of the lowered calories, and in turn not eating some things as I used to, cause me to binge on those things. I wonder if they were a part of my daily diet as they once were, if I wouldn't be so apt to go off the deep end because a craving hit. And I think I need to start being diligent about drinking water again, not just flavored drinks. I wonder if in doing so I won't lose anymore but as I mentioned, I'm really happy with how my body looks. Well, happy with clothes on, naked is a whole other thing! Moving into maintenance is certainly not an off the table proposition. I only started lifting weights last week so as they help to tone me, my ability to be happy while naked will increase.

Sorry for the long post but I this is really been weighing on my mind lately. I wouldn't say losing for the first year to sixteen months of my lifestyle change was easy but it certainly wasn't as hard as it is now. If it gets too hard, especially with my motivating factors being different, I don't know that I have the will power not to give up and revert back to fat me. I don't want to be fat me. I really, REALLY like thin me! What I'm looking for is any thoughts, opinions, related situations that might help me decide what to do. I'd appreciate anything you guys can give me in order to help out. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read and respond!

If you're close to maintenance, why not try to phase up your calorie allotment to something closer to what the new normal day for you would be? I don't think it's a great idea to eat that little at your height if you are doing all of that exercise, especially the lifting. You are gonna have to feed the muscles to get them to perform, even to tone them. You say you're happy with how you are and now you're thinking about maintenance so why not give it a go? I think you'll probably still lose a little weight from the added metabolic boost of having more muscle mass. That just shows as an initial gain of a few pounds b/c you'll have to build up the muscle first. I am sure you know all that jazz anyway but yep I think your body is hungry for something and that's why you're craving things and wanting to binge. Is there a food group you crave more than others?

Nope, it's very much a case-by-case basis.

Wow, I really understand you. I have similar situation of now being reduced to 1,350 cal and not there is absolutely no wiggle room for anything that is not strictly nutritious. I am struggling and really feel deprived which in turn makes me obsess about binging and food in my mind. It's like a disease as I fantasize the taste and what would I eat if I wasn't dieting. I did notice that this happened once I cut from 1,500 cal that allowed me to have an occasional beer and snacks like Cheerios or Kashi and cheese and toast. What I end up doing now many days I don't eat anything till 12pm and that allows me to stay full.

Also I think you being at home and working from home does not help. I am stay at home mom and constantly surrounded by food and frequent snacks where when I worked in the office, I couldn't care less about food as you are removed from the environment that triggers binging.

I've decided to up my calorie allotment. I've gone on several online calculators and they all about average out to 1,450 for 2 pounds of fat loss per week. However, my BMR is 1,570 and have read several times over that one should should not reduce their calorie intake to below their BMR. So I'm going to start with my allotment at 1,683 (1-1/2 pounds loss per week). I highly doubt I'll hit it on a daily basis but I will try and it gives me somewhere to start. I'll leave it there for four weeks (since two of the next four weeks involve PMS and TOM) and see how things go. I hope this helps me!

I'd FORGET the "online calculators" and listen a little bit better to my own body. We are the same height with the same goal weight and I eat 1600-1800 cals/day and even still...every two weeks, by body SCREAMS at me to give it more more more food! I call it my CHEAT MEAL...and on my last day (yesterday), I gave it 2400 cals. It was happy...and my tummy smiled! Sorry to speak of my appetite in the 3rd person...but it really is a BEAST!

Ok...so since day 1, I've actually increased my calories (not decreased them). I started at 1400-1500 cals, but as my workouts intensified and grew longer, it was just the natural progression for me to eat a little more...I mean...I can't go walking around all day with my stomach growling and twisting...uhhh uuhhh no way!

My suggestion, is EAT MORE, MOVE MORE...why not try to intensify or increase your workout time? I think that's what has kept me from ever stalling and what has kept me from feeling deprived. At 1200 cals...your body must be feeling deprived and that is probably leading to the binging.

The one thing I learned throughout this journey, is to LISTEN to my body...because in the END...it ALWAYS wins and gets what it wants!

Oh yeah...and I work from home (for past 10 yrs) and have a 12 yr old who loves junk food. It's not about that...it's about satisfying your body's needs...true story.

Thanks Joyful!

Had to laugh at the bolded part though. MORE EXERCISE?!?!?! You are talking to one lazy gal who already feels like her butt gets kicked after every workout! But, as you mentioned, that could be due to the fact that I'm under nourished and my calorie increase may help that.

I like using the calculators as a starting point and then adjusting from there so this is my starting point. I don't have to worry about increasing my breakfast and lunch calories to meet my new goal today though, going out for Mexican tonight.

Well, I am of the school that goal weights can be such arbritrary numbers that we just pull out of our heads because it sounds good. Some folks find that they can go lower while others find that they are 5, 10, 20 pounds above that number and are perfectly content. I am in that camp. I chose 130 as my goal weight, but aside from a gain that I have almost conquered, I'm pretty darn content at 140.

In regards to Livestrong, have you found that what they allow you is pretty accurate to your gaining/losing patterns? I wonder if you could give yourself a higher daily allottment and be less prone to binges and still lose? Obeying an online calorie tracker is probably great for losing, but may not apply forever. The Livestrong calculations do not change from person to person other than according to height/weight/activity, but who knows? Your metabolism, body chemistry, weight and activity levels may not correspond well.

Perhaps this is your mind's way of saying, "Whoa! What just happened? Where did the rest of me go?" IMHO, after a big loss like yours your mind has some catching up to do and I don't think it's uncommon or outrageous to hit a stage such as yours. I think maintenance is harder because it's infinite and your brain really has to sort it all out in order for maintenance to work. I don't mean getting to the root of why you were obese, but rather just grappling with the enormous change that moving away from obesity is. The reality is, you may come to know your body's needs so that maintaining this forever becomes more natural, but these periods of experimenting and reflection happen from time to time (at least for me).

I personally think this a great experiment in dealing with what lies ahead.

That's pretty much where mine stemmed from. I looked at what the BMI for someone my height who weighed 150 pounds was and said, "Yep, that sounds good!" While I wouldn't mind moving down one size in clothes, overall, my size works very well for me.

I actually think livestrong's calculations are crap. They used to be better until they changed their formula. Now, for whatever reason, what they use to calculate your activity level does not include exercise, they note to calculate it separately. Well, one calorie burned by typing on a computer is the same as one calorie burned brushing your teeth is the same as one calorie burned while riding a bike. I don't really get why they don't think it's not important in determining how many calories you should be eating. So I actually looked at several calculators, came up with a number I think will work for me, then input my daily calorie goal rather than having them calculate it. The only thing you have to be cognizant of is when you change your weight, it doesn't change your calorie goal. So you have to be the one to update that with your weight change.

Good point. I've certainly wondered if the root of my binging has had something to do with an underlying thought that now that I like how I look, I can eat whatever I want. I certainly think the last 20 and maintenance will be an interesting journey. Good thing I have someone great to use as an example!