Dangers of 3000+ Calorie Binges

what are you eating that makes up that caloric count? Im interested to see the actual weight/volume of it

-McD's Grilled Chicken Sandwich (300)

-4 Apples (100ish each)

-Bowl Baby Carrots and Snowpeas with Ranch Dressing (?, wasn't worried about that part)

-1.5 cups of cottage cheese (300)

-2 bags of popcorn (250 each)

-2 bags of Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies (280 each)

-Muscle Milk Shake (250)

-Chocolate Smoothie from Starbucks (300)

-Pack of Trailmix (300)

-Bag of cheese-flavored snack mix (250)

-7" Turkey and Pepperoni sandwich from Which Witch (a lot)

-Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Odawalla Food Bar (250)

-Oatmeal mixed with cottage cheese and ranch dressing (don't ask)

-Slice of cheddar cheese (80)

-Handful of walnuts (160)

BTW that wasn't one day of food, about a 4-hour span.

Needless to say, the costs of money and time are starting to kill me and at this point counseling will be a bargain.

Are you binging because you're truly hungry, or are you eating way beyond satiation? If the former, you're fine. You should eat what you're hungry for. If the latter, you probably have some underlying issue with food that you need to work out.

easy solution wrote:

The problem with binges is that you let them happen. Just use some self-control, be disgusted with yourself when you binge and don't let it happen again. Rather have a slight eating disorder in the opposite direction by being a little too anal then constantly overeating and being depressed about that.

Wow man. You understand it all. You're the voice of reason. If the problem is this simple, nobody would have any addiction issues.

My recommendation would be to go cold turkey on food with high sodium. If you go low sodium, foods aren't as addicting and your body won't crave it as much. I've been trying this out so far and it's working for now. I think the key is to go cold turkey. It's hard to just have little so it's best to totally cut it out. Your food addiction is similar to people who're addicted to cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, or gambling. As you know with addicts, you can't even have little or you'll relapse.

It's kind of depressing for awhile since you probably think about food all the time and it's probably one of your favorite things to do. It's best if you can stay busy with something else or it'll be tough. Toughest is if you ever go out to dinner. I think the best option is steak, baked potato, and steamed vegetables, all with no salt and seasoning.

3000 calories in a 4 hour span may be excessive but if you're young, active throughout the day and run 5-6 miles a day then you probably need 4000+ calories a day anyway.

I think that was 5000.

after a day of binging i would just eat my regular diet...don't take corrective measures to try and undo anything. an occasional binge will not have an impact on you and might actually be beneficial is you were making better food choices (increased leptin is a common result of high carb 're-feeds' when combined with very low fat.

since you mention this is a common problem for you, you should probably evaluate your caloric needs and track how many you are eating on a typical, non-binge day. dailyburn.com may be of use to you although there are numerous other similar sites for this. you may be inadvertantly under-eating and causing your body to crave calories resulting in the binge episodes.

as far as the damage of binges...i'm not sure there are really any. my entire diet is based around controlled binges. i have very specific calorie/macro goals for each day, but i consume them in an 8 hr window after fasting for 16 hrs. on days i workout (lifting, not running,) i routinely eat 3k cals after the gym in just 3.5 hrs with a small 500cal meal prior.

leangains.com provides a lot of info on the subject of intermittent fasting which, considering you like to eat large quantities of food at one time, may be something worth checking into and adopting for a while.

FattyPatty wrote:

-McD's Grilled Chicken Sandwich (300)

-4 Apples (100ish each)

-Bowl Baby Carrots and Snowpeas with Ranch Dressing (?, wasn't worried about that part)

-1.5 cups of cottage cheese (300)

-2 bags of popcorn (250 each)

-2 bags of Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies (280 each)

-Muscle Milk Shake (250)

-Chocolate Smoothie from Starbucks (300)

-Pack of Trailmix (300)

-Bag of cheese-flavored snack mix (250)

-7" Turkey and Pepperoni sandwich from Which Witch (a lot)

-Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Odawalla Food Bar (250)

-Oatmeal mixed with cottage cheese and ranch dressing (don't ask)

-Slice of cheddar cheese (80)

-Handful of walnuts (160)

Throw in a box of chocolate covered doughnuts and you should be all set.

Please stop your neurotic calorie counting. It's really not becoming.

That's a normal meal for Michael Phelps.

seriously..... wrote:

3000 calories in a 4 hour span may be excessive but if you're young, active throughout the day and run 5-6 miles a day then you probably need 4000+ calories a day anyway.

What?

No way man...if we take a typical type daily BMR of around 1800-2000 cal/day then add the calories from the run, which assuming he isn't majorly overweight will be 600-800 MAX, that only gets us to maybe 2500-3000.

FattyPatty wrote:

I'm a runner who suffers from bouts of binge eating, with several posts in the binge eating recovery thread.

Lately the frequency of my binges has started to go down, and I am starting counseling next week to hopefully nip this thing in the bud.

My question is, what short-term/long-term effects should I be wary of if my binges have started exceeding 3000 calories (usually in a span of 2-4 hours)? I'm worried about gastrointestinal problems, blood sugar issues, etc. Also what would you recommend the day after a binge like this to get back on track for normal eating?

there is a saying... "there is not such thing as over training, just under eating"

benefits would be a huge spike in insulin as well as a shift towards higher energy expenditure. massive release of serotonin, and leptin. possible endorphin release, along with dopamine and epinephrine release.

Umm, I would kind of figure that he spends at least part of the day using energy to sit up, walk, digest food...?

The BMR + 500-1000 calories from running isnt going to cover normal day to day activities.

LM wrote:

What?

No way man...if we take a typical type daily BMR of around 1800-2000 cal/day then add the calories from the run, which assuming he isn't majorly overweight will be 600-800 MAX, that only gets us to maybe 2500-3000.

My RMR at age 35 was 2750....throw in a day at work and a 6-10 mile run and I needed 4000-5000 calories. No one knows what their RMR is unless it's tested. I thought mine was BS so I had it tested again and it was 2725. I am larger than your typical runner and had a tad bit of muscle with low body fat. I was burning 140+ calories a mile. That's why all my diets failed. I'd start the week eating under 2000 calories and by Wednesday I was destroying a large bag of potato chips for breakfast.

If you eat a ton RIGHT after you work out, this won't happen. Just say to yourself, "within an hour after I work out, I'm going to give myself a free pass and eat as much as I can." Then say to yourself "I'm going to eat the McDonald's and other junk food later in the day, so for now, I'm going to eat as much fruit, carbs, and any other low fat options as I can." Trust me, if you do it right, your body will have all of the nutrients it needs. We weren't designed to eat McDonald's. Your bingeing is your body haphazardly trying to get the carbs and nutrients you deprived it after your workout or as a result of chronically undereating.

What do you eat on a non-binge day Patty?

My official recommendation is don't keep any junk food in your house/apartment. Doing this limits me to fruit, yogurt, or a cliff bar whenever I need a snack. And I quit going to fast food (most of the time) because it is so disgustingly bad for me.

Do you keep a food journal? I used to eat a bunch of crap whenever I got bored but now I keep track of my diet in an excel spreadsheet. With the exception of Friday and Saturday nights (beer and munchies) my diet is great.

I'll just list what I ate today, which was more or less "normal." I eat in a college cafeteria so portions are all kind of vague

Breakfast:Scrambled egg whites, 2 whole wheat pancakes, and some honeydew melon and grapes

Lunch: Small bowl of cheese tortellini, green beans, carrots, cauliflower, grapes, piece of fish, turkey burger, 1.5 tablespoons of peanut butter

Snack: Apple with 1.5 tablespoons of peanut butter

Dinner: Roast Chicken Breast and wing, spinach with cheese+sour cream, corn, bunch of mixed fruit, like 2 plates, (I tend to really load up at the fruit bar), and a dinner roll made into a cheese and ham sandwich