weird trigger
 

Girlies who are usually at goal weight (and guys of course, if there are any on this thread) - you know when you have a blip and the scale goes up a bit, then you put the brakes on and you drop back to the weight you like....does it make you want to binge? This just happened to me this morning. I haven't given in to it yet but how weird is this? Is it some form of self sabotage? A form of reward for being good? Shouldn't I be saying - see what happens when you behave yourself - not: pass the cereal box? :o

I think alot of us are in the same boat.
I too can be like this with any celebratory event or anytime I am feeling super happy or I have done something well, I feel like a rewarding binge.
I think this is a learnt behaviour from my childhood, I did well at school...I got a bar of chocolate, I sat still at the dentists and I would get an icecream...I played quietly while mum had a headache...I got to choose some sweets from the candy shop.
And let's be honest...bingeing feels fantastic...if just briefly. All that tasty food, wonderful textures and not to mention the main pay off... that drowsy, warm feeling that blocks out any extreme emotion. But it just aint worth the guilt, self loathing and weight gain that comes along almost immediately afterwards.

Well done getting to goal...you have done fabulously.

Boo x :hug:

It sounds to me like your "putting on the brakes" is what's making you want to binge. At this point your body is used to a steady intake of calories, so when you eat a lot it says "yay! I love calories!" but then if you try to make up for that by eating a lot less in the next couple of days, your body goes "WTF? I have no idea what's going on!" That's what used to happen to me when I was at goal weight, and it started a binge cycle that took a lot of months to break. That's why this time around I'm being very careful always to eat enough that my body doesn't feel threatened and begin sending my brain primal urges to eat.

Of course, I don't know what you're doing specifically. I'm just telling you what happened to me. Perhaps you could consider punching the gas (exercising more) rather than putting on the brakes next time. Triggers like this can be very tricky, so good luck! Since you are at goal weight, you can obviously do this and you must be doing something right.

Thanks for the replies.

DeliciousBoo: I wouldn't say I learned to use food as a reward, exactly - I mean, my parents never gave food specifically because I'd done well in something. But I definitely associate it with happiness/celebration/family, so there's probably an element of that...

KendraLynn: I think we have had many of the same experiences. I have been both very overweight and underweight in my life due to extreme behaviours around food - think I'm an all or nothin kind of girl in most aspects of life :dizzy:. But I have been trying hard not to cut calories drastically when I need to lose, because as you say, it does make you want to binge more afterwards. The trouble is I am impatient - I want to lose the extra pounds NOW - and as I'm sure you guys know, it seems to go on so much faster than it comes off! But we must have been on the same wavelength today because I ate quite a big lunch but then I went for a jog. Well, joggish. :^: Some of it was walking fast.

The scale is one of my biggest binge or restriction triggers. When I lose some weight it's almost a license to eat more. If I gain, I tend to restrict too much. I'll weigh myself every few months and that has been okay for me. But to weigh any more than that is really really dangerous for me because I, like you, am really into the extremes of all or nothing. Going by the fit of my clothes is usually my best indication of gain or loss and since it always feels good to have loose jeans on that won't trigger a binge.

i think i get cocky when i'm looking good and think its OK to be super happy and for me super happy lets me reach for the food and kinda throw caution to the wind..its still eating without being physically hungry..its to celebrate..now its OK to eat without thinking about calories protein etc, FINALLY. but in reality, eating without being physically hungry is a habit that i dont want to have regardless of if i am eating healthy, feeling good, sad, if its snowing outside etc etc...

wise words:yes: