How to stop binging after a fat loss period?

Nutrition Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi everyone,

I made a great 4 month fat loss transformation and was extremely happy with my body last week. Went from 167 to 144 and found that the healthy foods I ate became very enjoyable and I still love those foods.

But since last Wednesday, I have binged every single day and I am now at 156 lbs and completely angry and disappointed with myself. I eat my normal meals that i enjoy but nothing seems to be enough. Even if i get physically full, my mind wants me to keep eating until i can’t anymore. So i turn to fast foods and garbage that I didn’t really even crave during my cut.

I just want to get back under control and continue with my plan of a gaining phase for the next 10 months.

Any advice?

2

Thanks for the post and I hope you’re doing well otherwise.

I think that binge eating can be a complex problem to solve, but we can employ some behavioral strategies first to see how we do with them.

  1. Prepare your food in advance so you’re never caught without food ready to go. There’s decreased impetus for grabbing fast food this way.
  2. Make sure you’re tracking your weight (daily is my preference) and calorie intake (again, daily) to aid in some self accountability
  3. Get a friend to change their eating habits with you so you can leverage some social support.

There are other things to do, but that’s where I’d start as far as self-led interventions.

1 Like
3

Speaking as someone who is going through this very same experience, I second the daily tracking recommendation and I suggest writing down in a physical paper calendar your calorie goal for each day.

4

One thing that really helped me was setting a timer and not allowing myself to finish eating my portion until it was done. Usually this would be a TV show I was watching - for example, if I was watching a sitcom episode that lasts ~22 minutes, I would eat at a constant pace throughout the entire 22 min.

I found this was tremendously helpful in terms of satiety! Not sure if this will work for everyone but I wanted to share my personal experience. I know there’s science showing it takes time for your brain to catch up to your stomach’s fullness and communicate that to you but I’m sure BBM could better explain.