Struggling with Tracking & Binging

[MCostley]

Does anyone else struggle with tracking your food intake and binging episodes? I have been tracking my foods and macros for, what seems to be, SUCH a long time! I'm constantly reading new studies and different people's thoughts, ideas, etc. I know that I am a person who likes routine and plans.. and I feel like maybe tracking my foods is causing a bad relationship with food. Since I have an all-or-nothing personality I feel like I'm allowing this to consume a large portion of my life, which it shouldn't. I'm always plugging in my foods for the week and seeing what 'fits'. If I'm at a friends for a gathering or something 'out of the ordinary' - I can preemptively tell you that a binge is bound to happen. I'm not competing - but I DO wish to lean out. Which leaves me at a loss but.. I think it may be best to try to take a break and try to break away from any 'rules' that I've unknowingly made for myself. I stay away from somethings I like and enjoy EVEN though I fit ice cream and stuff into my diet - I don't get it. Just looking for some incite and if someone else has dealt with this before!

If anyone wants to offer advice regarding my macros - I was eating roughly 130c/52f/133p. I'm 5'2", 131lbs. I workout 5-6 days a week, no to minimal cardio. I workout in the mornings at 5am and continue to fast until 1pm, and I eat until 7/8ish. Other than my workouts, I have a desk job and sit majority of the day.

I've attached some photos, all are from last week.

[oregonchick76]

I don't know... You're young, so maybe you just haven't found your 'balance' yet. When I was first starting out with learning about nutrition and trying to diet, I became very OCD with my tracking and it definitely consumed me. Going out to restaurants was very distressing and I needed to go to places that had online menus so I could plan ahead. I got into the 'good food/bad food' mentality and became really restrictive with my diet. It was pretty miserable! And funny - I didn't lose weight ANY faster.

Your macros look like mine - I might eat a hair less protein and a hair more fats, but very similar.

Are you in contest prep or just a standard fat loss diet?
You area eating roughly 1500 calories, correct?
How long/intense are your workouts?
How long have you been eating at that level?

At first glance everything seems pretty good.
Are your binges true binges (like eating disorder binges), or are you simply having days where you can't control your eating?

A tactic you could try if it's the latter is to build in a re-feed day. Eat 500 over maintenance that day. You'll have to slightly adjust your deficit on the other days to maintain your current weekly loss, or you could simply decide to lose a little slower with your sanity intact.

[MCostley]

I don't know... You're young, so maybe you just haven't found your 'balance' yet. When I was first starting out with learning about nutrition and trying to diet, I became very OCD with my tracking and it definitely consumed me. Going out to restaurants was very distressing and I needed to go to places that had online menus so I could plan ahead. I got into the 'good food/bad food' mentality and became really restrictive with my diet. It was pretty miserable! And funny - I didn't lose weight ANY faster.

Your macros look like mine - I might eat a hair less protein and a hair more fats, but very similar.

Are you in contest prep or just a standard fat loss diet?
You area eating roughly 1500 calories, correct?
How long/intense are your workouts?
How long have you been eating at that level?

At first glance everything seems pretty good.
Are your binges true binges (like eating disorder binges), or are you simply having days where you can't control your eating?

A tactic you could try if it's the latter is to build in a re-feed day. Eat 500 over maintenance that day. You'll have to slightly adjust your deficit on the other days to maintain your current weekly loss, or you could simply decide to lose a little slower with your sanity intact.

Just looking for fat loss. I've been eating around 1500 calories, yes. And to be honest, I have been eating this range for a while. But I question am I eating too much or am I eating too little? I'd obviously rather eat more if I can. My workouts are an hour - 1:15, pretty intense I'd say - not much rest in between sets.

As for the binges, it's not real OFTEN but when I'm faced with something 'out of the ordinary' it almost seems like a trigger. When this happens I literally eat and eat and eat and feel like I can't stop even though my stomach hurts, or even though I'm WELL AWARE that I should stop and this is ridiculous hahah I don't dwell on it too much because I know tomorrow is a new day and I enjoy getting back to eating on my 'plan'.

Another thing, I am always adding things together to hit my macros or get close to them. Sometimes I wonder if I'd even eat that much if I wasn't actively trying to hit certain numbers. At the end of the night I'm like 'ohh I get 2 servings of cottage cheese, a cheese stick, and a serving of nuts'.

Also - I only have bowel movements like once a week. Even though I actively hit 25+ g of fiber, drink ALOT of water, eat my veggies, etc. When I drink alcohol or binge, I notice that I have a bowel movement. Is my body holding onto my food for longer sense its used to 'lower' calories?

I have been tracking my macros for over a year, and have stayed the same weight. I have muscle, I just want it to show more

[oregonchick76]

If you have stayed the same weight for a year, then you are eating at maintenance.
How are you tracking your intake? Have you, in general, used a scale to weigh your food?

You don't have to eat EXACTLY your macros every single day. I mean, you can come in a little low on protein or fat, it's fine. 110g of protein is probably enough, 130g would be insurance.

Something seems off. I 'eyeball' my portions these days and feel comfortable with the inevitable margin of error that comes with that.
I am older than you, don't work out as much as you, and although my rate of loss is relatively slow, it's consistent.

As for bowel movements - I struggle with this myself and fiber never helped. I would go the route of the glycerin suppository or an osmotic laxative like Miralax to keep things moving at least twice a week.

[MCostley]

Tracking everything by scale. I was taking proboitic enzymes which were helping but then it seemed to stop, so I stopped taking them. I don't feel bloated or constipated.. just seems weird my food isn't moving..

I guess I might just get confused with other people eating higher calories/macros and think I should be there too. But I have to remind myself, yes I workout 6 days a week - but other than that activity is minimal.

[BubsNBean]

I have a friend that has similar GI issues when she is doing competition prep. You might try to figure out if your body responds more to soluble or insoluble fiber. Mine responds most to insoluble fiber.

I understand you want to lose more fat, but it seems like your body doesn't really want you to do that. I wonder the same things you do, about how much I'd actually eat if I wasn't counting and trying to hit a number. If you trust yourself to make good choices, try it and see how it goes. Tracking can be mentally exhausting for some people (myself included) and you might just need a break.

[leeniepie]

to me it sounds like you're feeling deprived and so when something is 'not to plan' you see it as a green light to throw everything out the window and eat everything in sight. you say you have a bit of an obsession with tracking, so it all kind of fits.
I used to be a bit like this too (have had an ED in the past) and can honestly say the only time all my cravings etc totally went was recently when I've been eating over 2000kcals during a bulk. if you've been at 1500kcal for over a year, maybe your body is just crying out for more food? by my calcs your TDEE is 1900-2100 (depending on the equation you use) so that's a long time to be 400-600kcals in deficit. It would also explain why youre only having 1 bowel movement a week.

[MCostley]

Thanks BubsNBean, I do feel almost as though my body 'get used to' whatever I fill it with. It makes me feel better that other people are also thinking what they'd eat if they weren't trying to hit certain numbers. I don't think I would be as frustrated tracking if I was seeing progress.

Leeniepie - Everything you said makes sense. I stated when I eat more food [which with a binge its crappy food nonetheless but..] or alcohol I have (usually multiple) bowel movements. Am I not losing because my body is holding onto the 'little' calories it's getting (if I'm really at that much of a deficit)? Should I be eating MORE for fat loss?

[BubsNBean]

Thanks BubsNBean, I do feel almost as though my body 'get used to' whatever I fill it with. It makes me feel better that other people are also thinking what they'd eat if they weren't trying to hit certain numbers. I don't think I would be as frustrated tracking if I was seeing progress.

Leeniepie - Everything you said makes sense. I stated when I eat more food [which with a binge its crappy food nonetheless but..] or alcohol I have (usually multiple) bowel movements. Am I not losing because my body is holding onto the 'little' calories it's getting (if I'm really at that much of a deficit)? Should I be eating MORE for fat loss?

This is the million dollar question. There's only one way to find out

[TheTray]

Looks like all signs point to trying to eat more, and seeing how it goes. My take is you are not losing weight because maybe the binges are countering any deficit you're in, and the binges are happening because you've been in a deficit for so long, you're no longer able to control yourself when an opportunity to not track happens. I've been in a similar cycle before, many many years ago, and I never want to go back to it. I think the worst-case scenario if you start to eat more is that you'll gain some initial pounds, but you'll get a much needed break from the deficit, and in a month or so you can go back to cutting and see some progress again, without the binges. My two cents...

[MCostley]

Thank you everyone for your input! Since I've never done a reverse diet, I'm not sure how much to increase. My current macros are stated above. Should I bump carbs up to 160 ish or is that not enough?

[nacersusaf]

Thank you everyone for your input! Since I've never done a reverse diet, I'm not sure how much to increase. My current macros are stated above. Should I bump carbs up to 160 ish or is that not enough?

To start a reverse diet, just add a small bit each week and be consistent with it. Start at 160g if that is what you are comfortable with and evaluate from there.
The idea with reverse dieting is to maintain your weight/measurements/body fat by continuously pushing the envelope as far as the number of calories you can eat.
You'll experience some weight gain initially due to the increased carbs but it's likely just going to be water weight/glycogen and nothing to be scared of.

IF you think that seeing an increase on the scale will scare you off from continuing to reverse, I'd recommend working with a coach. Sometimes it takes the pressure off of you if you can just 'trust the process' so to speak.

[MCostley]

Any other advice for reverse dieting?

In the meantime..

[Cara0915]

I think I'd die if I only pooped once a week! If I don't go twice a day I feel like I'm gonna pop.
Are you on any medications that may cause constipation? Eat a lot of dairy?
Get back on a good probiotic, you need to go to Whole Foods and purchase on that is kept in the refrigerator.
You can take a mild laxative, daily as well.

[MCostley]

I think I'd die if I only pooped once a week! If I don't go twice a day I feel like I'm gonna pop.
Are you on any medications that may cause constipation? Eat a lot of dairy?
Get back on a good probiotic, you need to go to Whole Foods and purchase on that is kept in the refrigerator.
You can take a mild laxative, daily as well.

I don't eat dairy much.. some cottage cheese and cheese sticks occasionally. I have the 'poo-poo diary' app on my phone and I keep track of my bowel movements. As of right now it says '51 hours ago.' I'd just hate to depend on medication or laxatives for my body to process my food.

[IrishLassie78]

This is a great article on the process of reverse dieting:

http://www.fitoverfat.com/reverse-dieting-post-contest/

[missbellejane]

With regard to Binge Eating, I found these videos from Sohee Lee to be quite helpful.
http://www.soheefit.com/binge-eating/

[MCostley]

With regard to Binge Eating, I found these videos from Sohee Lee to be quite helpful.
http://www.soheefit.com/binge-eating/

I watched those as soon as she posted them I love her!

I'm beginning to think my problem is that I was eating at 1500ish calories for such a long time, and my workouts are pretty intense sometimes. I'm going to try to eat more so maybe then I wont feel so restricted.. hopefully. It's definitely mental when you hit a binge episode, I've just got to work on fixing that! I also purchased Psyllium Husk Powder, so I'm hoping that will help things in that area.

[sigen92]

I used to be severely eating disordered where I'd consider myself recovered and eating around 1300 for maintenance. And I didn't lose weight at all. I then got tired of that as I got better, upped my cals to 1800-1900, and while I did gain a few lbs, I now maintain around 2000-2100. For me, the issue was that I was eating too little in comparison to what my TDEE was, so my body was holding unto every little bit of food I gave it. As weird as it sounds, upping my food intake made me lose weight much easier. Now I can lose weight on about 1700-1800 calories with no problem, whereas before it was almost impossible.