This is messed up - I was only 5 Lbs away from my goal - I loved working out, I was getting a nice amount of muscle in my body, I went since January without a bigger break in exercise only to rest once or twice a week or when I was sick. I didn't feel like I was depriving myself because I was not on a crazy restricting diet - I was on a high protein, moderate fat & carb diet and staying at around 1450 calories per day (even though MyFitnessPal says I should be at 1200 per day to lose) and it worked well. Now I got closer to my goal, I got confident and something snapped in my head and I binged one day. I missed a day of working out. That day turned in to 5... I'm on my day 5 of binging, eating like crap (although still more clean foods, cause I don't eat junk food) but I've eaten so many calories and don't want to work out. I am lost in myself again and I'm afraid I've already gained 5 lbs in that time (hopefully not more). I need to stop and get back on track or else I'll be RIGHT back where I started! Why did this happen?? How do I get myself back on track?

What do you do to keep yourself from sabotaging your weight loss efforts? I'll eat well all day when I'm staying busy at work/ school and then I'll be home and I'll binge becuase I have a lot of calories in my allowance left over and usually go over by accident.. or not. But either way, I'm eating way too much and I don't know how to stop again. I'm a total rut and I need to get out of it before I've done too much damage. Please help.

I totally did the same thing! About a month ago, I was very very close to my goal, but started binging more and more..started off not too bad and was actually helpful to go higher calorie some days, but I ended up going wayyyy too crazy and gained like 10 pounds back!

Looking back, I think what kinda happened was that as I got closer, weight loss slowed down, but at the same time I got more an more excited to be getting there, and so I ended up doing too much-- too much exercise with too much calorie restriction. And I think that may have subconsciously triggered that binge instinct.

That was me though, don't know about you! But anyway, I totally know where you're coming from! It sucks.

Hello
how about try eating more substantial calories during the morning and lunch so that you are not feeling the hunger when you come home?
I started eating most calories for lunch (usually a little late between 1PM and 2:30PM) and I found out I'm not really hungry when 5 or 6PM comes.
so for dinner, I just eat a salad and/or small soup.
I work out of my home and get bored a lot and usually eat because I'm bored.... so, instead of workout on a machine... I go for a long walk.
today was 9 miles. took me 2.5 hours.

9 miles that's awesome. It's getting cold in Chicago so the outside walks aren't really something I wanna do :/ plus I dont wanna walk around at night in the city much. My problem is never hunger, it's cravings. It's mental. I don't know how to control it.

You have to stop. Right now. Not tomorrow morning, not on Monday, but now. Last winter I fell in to this trap. I binged, and binged and binged. Each time, of course, it was "justified". I could "start tomorrow". Before I knew it, I was only 4 lbs away from my original starting weight- and you know what... I'm
STILL not back to my low weight- a year later and I'm still suffering the consequences.

I often wonder how I would look/feel/weigh today if those few weeks of losing control would've been stopped sooner.

Go get a workout in. If it doesn't make you feel 100 times better (I'm betting that it will- IMHO) at least you will have burned off some of those extra calories.

Don't make the same mistake I did and gain the weight back.

Thanks for that, danzingurl. It's good to hear tough words sometimes.

I needed to hear this! Thank you!

This approach works really well for me. I eat about 500 cals for breakfast and 500 cals for lunch, plus a small snack or two, so I'm not overly hungry at dinner AND I don't spend the day obsessing about the dinner to come -- most of the time. Some days are just hungry days, and I get through them with a combination of white-knuckling and eating a little more than usual.

F.