Binging and Building Muscle

So there's about a million threads about what people on the weight losing side of calorie counting do to recover from a binge, either psychologically or physically - but I don't see much for muscle/weight gainers.

As someone who recently switched from somewhat unhealthy weight loss to muscle recovery, I still find myself subjeted to the temptation to binge.  I've been trying to do about 300 over my maintenance level to gain a little weight - hopefully primarily muscle.  Obviously I try to avoid binges, but say one happened last night (which it did), where I went about 2000 calories over.  If I were to restrict myself for a few days, yea that's great for a weight loesr, but then that would mean I'd be forfeiting those few days of muscle growth.  Is it best to just cut my losses and accept that I went over that one day and continue to eat about a 300 surplus the rest of the time?  Or should I restrict myself to maintenance the next few days?  

Also, just something I've always been curious about, let's say a person goes a full 3500 calories over maintenance one day.  A few days later, after it's all through the system and the water levels are back to normal - is that person automatically a pound heavier?  I understand calories in/calories out, but there is a certain amount of logic to the argument that if you eat all that at once - there's no way your body can absorb all that and efficiently turn it all into fat.  It seems like at least some of it would have to just go straight through your system.  Any thoughts?

woah man, its like u read my mind with your questions. ive been researching a lot forever to find answers to those questions. To better understand you and answer you, can you give us some background. Like are you recovering from an ed or just want to bulk up for some sport or something? Today, i actually went about 2500 (at least) calories about my usual, which is like 2000. Im also trying to gain, so i figure that this will help me towards my goal. I used to restrict after a binge like that, but i now know that that only set me back from my goal. i would like to see how others answer also.

I'm 5'6", male, 120. Trying to stabilize after losing about 12 pounds this summer, weight that I really never needed to lose. I developed something of a mild eating disorder - it was never dangerous but still pretty mentally taxing nonetheless as counting calories and exercise pretty much consumed my every thought.

So I lost all this weight, and given that I never had much fat to lose it all came off as muscle. I realized how much lean mass I had lost about a month ago, and I've been spending the last month starting to get back into resistance training (when I was losing weight I was just running 8-10 miles a day and doing nothing in the way of resistance training).  I keep trying to take in a 300-500 calorie surplus, but every couple of days I get siked out and scared I'm gonna gain bad weight again, so I go back to a small deficit.  I've made some progress just because of beginner gains, but I know if I want it to keep up eventually I'll have to start taking in a consistent surplus.  The problem is that while I'm still limiting myself I do these binges sometimes, which brings me back to the questions in the original post.  

So there's some background - hope that helps.  Glad to hear I'm not the only one with those questions.

if you ask me...you're the best judge since it's your body. so, what happens when you go 3500 calories over maintenance after a few days have passed, you've had a BM, and the water weight is down? everyone's body is different and the way we metabolize food and energy is different so it's hard to say what EXACTLY will happen but in theory yes, you'd gain a pound.

You need to just move on from the binge, they happen to A LOT of people as im sure you well know by now. Know that your body is extremely efficient and will take care of everything eventually. Hypothetically, lets say you gained a pound of pure, unadulterated, jiggly fat. With you working out and eating right you are going to build more muscle which digs into your glycogen stores which are located in your, wait for it........... fat cells!

That being said, eat like you would have anyway and let the act of the binge go. What you need to be more worried about is WHY. What is going differently in order to make you binge. Something at home, school, the ladies;) ? focus on that and realiz what you need to switch in your mind in order to get past it and then the binge will not only not happen again... but the reason behind it will be resolved and you will feel a ton better.

Also, what are you doing to build muscle and what does your diet look like. make sure your not getting 'too much' protein and avoiding all the good carbs and veggies. Not to mention a fat or two in there. I know when i first started trying to gain/build i went to the extreme of a REALLY high protein, low everything else diet. No bueno indeed. Take care of whats inside and the rest will follow brother!

I don't have anything to add, but I am in your EXACT situation. As a female, there is no difference in the mental fight to avoid bingeing and also build muscle.  Either way, for those people that DO NOT calorie count and weight-train they eat what they feel is healthy enough for their goal results and they EVENTUALLY achieve the results they are looking for. Yes, calorie counting makes it easier and makes the goal more achievable, but it does not change anything in the long run.  I don't know about you, but calorie counting gets so annoying that you eventually want to stop and either trust yourself or make sure you make wise decisions, so that you don't have to CONSTANTLY log EVERY DARN THING lol.

 In short, the term bingeing sounds so negative, so if you want to call whatever you overate a "binge" then you are going to feel worse about it; trust me.  Indulge in what you want, but not everyday.  Don't punish yourself or you will continue to find yourself searching for forums/creating forums and question your actions and get similar responses.  In the end, you will not solve anything unless you remove that mental roadblock of thoughts.  Just try it : )