Obesity Discussion Forums

[Thin Desire]

Ok, so this week, I've been bad at binging. First two days I had 2500 and 3500 cals respectively. Then the next three days it was 5500 and then like 6500 cals per day. And, my choices have been terrible: chip and dip, chocolates and bad salty soups and such, but my bowel problems have ceased, sigh. And, it's nice to be regular and have zero pain.

Ok so at the beginning of this week on the 21st of February I was at 271 lbs. And yesterday I stepped on the scale and I was at 289 lbs. :| And, then today I logged in at 291.0 lbs.

I keep reading this bullshit that you have to eat 500 calories more per day and you end up with only 1 lb of fat gained per WEEK.

And, this is never the case with me, I gain at a rate of about 2 lbs per day and that's after everything settles down if I eat anymore than 2500 calories per day. I've been known to gain on 1500 cals!

So like I know most of this must be water gain and retention, it's just that people on the street don't cut you a break, they don't go: "Oh you've gained, but I see it's just water, so it's ok".

I know I've made bad choices, but it sure would be nice to be able to have a binge without gaining like 20 lbs in a week. I know if I cut down to 1500 or even 800 cals, in a week, I can have most of it gone. I just feel abnormal, and really pissed. When I had my thyroid checked, it's on the low end of normal. It never makes sense, I've actually lost during binges of 10,000 cals before. And I know my eating isn't textbook, I don't claim to be a role model.

I just feel cursed. When I lose, I can lose just as fast though not AS fast as you can gain, lol. Does anybody else collect water like I do?

[angela]

I havn't really heard of anything like this before... I understand your frustrations. Just try to get back on track over next couple weeks and I'm sure, like you said, you will lose it just as fast. Try not to get too upset, it will be okay.

[Rue]

Hm. Seems like an awful lot to me too. But some of us are just 'easy keepers' (unfortunately).

I tried to do some math. It looks like you ate 35,5000 calories. I don't know what your BMR is, but let's say it's about the same as mine...which is 1500 per day. So you used up 10,500 just by being...that leaves you with 25,000 extra.

Let's just say you didn't use up any of those doing activities (you likely did, but I can't calculate that)...so that leaves you with a potential 'fat' gain of 7 lbs.

I suppose it's not unreasonable...if you're prone to gaining water, to gain 10 bs...so 10 plus 7 could bring you close up to 20 lbs. Could your scale be off? Did you weigh yourself with clothes on, etc?

Bingeing for a day shouldn't matter in the long run. But bingeing for a week can put on some weight...

I used to think I could eat 2000 calories a day with no problem. But it looks like I can't. It seems likely that I'll have to stick to ~1600 to maintain. And that's going to be hard. But if that's what it is...then that's what it is. Either I eat whatever I feel like eating (and gain weight) or I watch what I eat (and stay thinner). It's a choice I have to make. Not to mention I'm tired of 'fighting' with food...I'm ready to cave to the realization that I just can't eat what I want to...

Doesn't mean you can't have the odd day...but say, maybe one day every 2 months? Or something like that...or binge on healthy stuff. I overate a bit at dinner today...pot roast...but the meat was lean, and there was nothing on the veggies at all (oil or seasoning) - and still very tasty (my skeptical sons went back for 2nds and 3rds). So I hope it doesn't hold me back...

And I know bingeing on carrots or snap peas doesn't come close to the satisfaction level of bingeing on chips and dip...but you can binge on those, or most other veggies (once in a while) and you shouldn't have any weight gain at all...

Regardless...look at how well you've done so far! I'm very impressed! In the long-run, it's still 'only' a week or two out of an entire long-term program...don't beat yourself up about it too much...

[Thin Desire]

Thank you guys. {{{}}} I really do appreciate the encouragement. Part of the reason for my binge was to get my bowels on an even keel. I believe I have some kind of undiagnosed IBS. And, when I reduce my calories to anything below about 2500, I have TERRIBLE constipation to where I can't pass the stool and it's as hard as cement, and there's a lot of blood, it's really nightmarish, I've had to pull it out before. But when I increase to "obese" levels and eat a lot of stuff that is supposedly "very bad" for me like fats and sour cream and beef, my bowels move perfectly well, I'm regular, and there is no pain (most of the time).

So I just feel like my body "is designed" to eat a lot, but if I eat anything over a dieting amount like say 1500 calories, and sometimes even as low as 800, I gain weight! And, I know I'm not alone, just google "eating 1500 calories and gaining" and you'll get literally TONS of hits. Now that is not to say that I haven't eaten like 3,000 and lost before, or even that my metabolism hasn't gotten into hyper mode and I eat like 8,000 and even lose or maintain, in fact, my clothes are still lose and falling off, and I suspect that if I were to continue eating at this rate, I will begin to LOSE as my metabolism catches up.

Now obviously, I have some issues with food. I've been eating so much, that it's really bugging me, and the gain doesn't even really concern me, I can lose that. And, I'm not sure if it's that I'm simply addicted to food or something in it, or that my body is reacting to the fact that I'm "starving" it by having continuously eaten under 1500 calories for months now.

But it just bugs me that metabolic difference is NOT acknowledged. Even activist Meme Roth has to eat a minisicule amount to maintain her weight, at something like 1300 calories at sedentary to 1800 calories which includes jogging to maintain if she wants to eat more. That's hardly any food.

And, I've read in some forums where doctors say to a patient with a straight face to MAINTAIN at 600 calories per day after bypass surgery. That's obviously some kind of metabolic difference going on there, fundamentally. So in a manner of speaking there are "skinny fatties" out there such as Meme Roth who is really one of us. She has to reduce her cals in a MAJOR way to join the "norms".

And, I guess it just bugs me that this fundamental metabolic difference is being ignored. We don't have a level playing field, and it peeves me off.

At any rate, I'll get off my soapbox now, I'm sorry I had to vent, I've just been fighting this my entire life, and having issues right now with friends who only met me at my lowest weight, and don't understand what it's like to have been obese, and I know the ironic thing is right now, I'm not even that fat, relatively speaking. It's not really the number on the scale right now.

Obviously, I'm addicted to yummy food, and it's even buggin ME right now, but that's only a small part of the obesity puzzle. Indeed the human regulatory food puzzle in general.

Anyway, sorry, I'm long winded sometimes, lol. Thank you guys.

[angela]

I wish I could offer you some good advice, but I don't have any good answers to that. Some of the things you point out about metabolism ect, are very true, and it makes me so jealous sometimes (becuase I work part-time at a grocery store) to see all these really skinny people buying all the foods I love and they don't gain anything. Weight is such a puzzling thing and so individual. Everyone is so different and there really is NOTHING that works for everyone.

I really hope you can get things figured out!! Goodluck.

[Telliconesys]

I feel your frustration. And i know what you mean about the uncomfortable irregularity when you drop your calories and eat right. I have the same trouble, but to a lesser degree. I can count on something fatty or something I'm intolerant to to get things back on track! Even with all the fiber I can fit in my diet and constant water drinking, I notice the problem. here are some ideas to think about- they may not be right for you, but I have considered and tried some of them for myself. 1) I've started drinking DanActive daily 2) since fat in the GI tract seems to do the trick, instead of going to fatty foods, you may consider using alli- it traps fat into your stool, and one side effect is increased urges and looser bowels. So when we have constipation from too little fat, maybe alli can help pull some more fat from the "healthy" food you're eating and trap it in the stool, alleviating the problem. I've never heard of it used this way, but this is just something I personally am considering doing. 3) drink prune juice- even mixed with something else. 4) for me, even a tiny bit of peanut butter will set me off. Or, one meal at a mexican restaurant. that way the fatty food doesn't come home with you, but it gets me "loose" for a few days!

I just want to offer encouragement! it is ok, binges happen. Then we get up, look in the mirror, and re-commit. I struggle with this addiction too, as do so many more who don't even acknowledge it. Look how far you have come! Have you identified your binge-triggers? I know I have several- certain routines, habits, certainly if I get too hungry, and if I'm around certain temptations without backup support... watch out! For example, Monday nights I get off laaaate, am exhausted, and used to pick up a pizza on the way home from work every week. Now, I take a "drive home" snack to work with me that I eat as I'm walking out the door from work, to curb the hunger-drive. This past monday, though, despite my Clif bar, I had to call my best friend and talk with her all the way home to keep from calling Pizza Hut and placing my order (I live out where there is no delivery). If I had hung up from that call, I would have eaten 1/2 a large cheese lovers on thick crust with 2 liters of mountain dew chased by a box of chips ahoy candy blast cookies- this is what I most love to binge on!

you are worth it. Just hang in there! you can lose that water weight so quickly by drinking water, so don't stress!

[Thin Desire]

Thank you guys {{}} I really appreciate it, I apologize for going off on a rant like that. I'm gonna try that Alli thing, I actually bought some awhile back, and you're right, didn't think of the connection.

[dancer]

I guess one of the things that helps me with not binging is allowing myself to have some of that food that I really like in settings where I'm with other people. Like my friends and I may order a pizza or something once a week sometimes, but I'm not as likely to overindulge or binge if I'm with them eating it! Then I can look forward to those times having foods that I really like a lot. Also when I'm doing my cooking (I tend to cook weekly), I portion it off into adequate serving sizes so that I'm not just serving myself from a big container... I only have to take 1 thing out of the fridge at a time, and leave the rest in there or frozen.

I suppose that Alli stuff might work, but I don't like the idea of weight loss drugs personally. Unless you want to take the drugs the rest of your life it might not be helping with your lifestyle changes. But I guess power to you if it helps, as long as you can maintain once you are off it!

[Thin Desire]

Well I'm hanging in there, I had to take pain meds for a toothache and that was after eating a bit. I shot up in 3 days to 299 lbs. I would be disgusted but I'm used to that. I shot up 60 lbs with the medication in the space of a few months. Naproxen can have devastating effects on weight for those sensitive to it.

I am now back down to 287 and starting to move down again. I have resisted the urge to starve it off, but it is tempting because once those meds to the damage, traditionally I can gain on less than 1000 calories per day. So far though things are moving in the right direction on around 1500 or so. That's the latest with me. I should start a blog. I didn't even know they existed.

[Rue]

Start a blog! It's very handy. Sorry you're having issues with the meds...that really complicates the process...

[Thin Desire]

Aw thanks {{}}. Yeah I had been down to my lowest weight ever for a guy, which was 237 lbs (6 ft - 1.8 m). Almost "normal" and just a few lbs shy of the overweight BMI category. And, then I got lax about the diet and when I got bigger that gave me some serious arthritic problems, the meds made me gain almost 80 lbs. I've got most of that off now, but am still working on it.

It's hard doing all of this, AGAIN, lol. I think I will start a blog though.

[Bren]

Just a word about the Alli. I've been using it since January and it doesn't work as a laxative, at least for me. Actually I have found the opposite, but maybe that's due to eating low fat and maintaining a lower cal diet. I don't take Alli at every meal, just if it's over 7 to 9 grams of fat per meal, because Alli costs too much to take unnecessarily. I'm also following Alli's recommended "calories per what you weigh". I was having some problems with hitting a plateau, and when I looked at their chart, I see I needed to drop to next level of calorie intake, or bump my activity level. So I did a little of both and will see how much it helps.