No!!!!

Ah - a whole week of completely bingeing at night (really, between 3-5000 cals for the whole day)... which really isn't like me. I feel like I'm 10 pounds heavier and scared to even step on a scale. How long do you think some of the water weight will take to come off so I don't completely lose it when I decide to face the scale? 

I had a binge, too.  As I began figuring out when the best time was to step on the scale, I realized I was just playing games.  So I looked reality square in the face and stepped on the scales.  The world didn't come crashing down and I didn't let the truth keep me from regrouping and getting back on track.

You can do it, too!  Step on the scale.  Find out what binges do so that next time you're tempted to binge, you know what the true effects are.

I don't expect to never binge again.  I'm much more interested in learning how to deal with it when it happens.

Good luck!  Keep me posted.

I can completely relate..however I have been doing those big binges for like 3 months now...at least 3 times a week. I know I don't have "water weight" but pure fat.  Just get back on track and don't bother about weighing yourself. It might just discourage you. Start eating healthy again, exercise and that will most likely work better for you then seeing a false number on the scale that will not make you happy at all.

Wow, feels like we have had a parellel week. I too binged practically every night last week and that is so not me either. I have had 1 or 2 day binges before but for the last year I have been so FOCUSSED! I have lost 40lbs and was so scared to face the scale. But mamarose is right - you have to face the music and the scale. In the past I would have avoided the scale and the 4 pound weight gain (yikes) would have been a 15lb weight gain and it only would have gotten harder and harder every day to get on the scale. All of a sudden, it's three weeks and too many pounds later. Been there, done that. So I stepped on the scale, got up this morning and went to the gym where I belong!!!!! 4 pounds is alot easier to handle both physically and emotionally than the alternative (let a month go by and it's multiplied significantly).

Mamarose - this quote has helped me to cope with the binge and the aftermath,..."Nothing in this world can take the place of persistance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistance and determination alone are omnipotent" - Calvin Coolidge.

Get back on the wagon!

Agree with timetotone regarding scale if it is not a positive reinforcement. For me, weighing myself once a week or once a month or not at all does not work. I have been overweight for most of my adult life (38 now) and the one thing that I have consistantly done in the past year is weigh myself every day. I have been struggling with maintanance now but weighing myself is helpful for me. It's not for everyone. For me my clothes and their fit are also important, but by the time I feel my clothes are too tight it might be a 10lb gain and I'm not willing to risk it. At this point weighing myself every day is a reinforcement of my good behaviour and a warning when my behaviour is "off". But you must take every weigh in with a grain of salt - water weight, hormones, salt, etc must be factored in and and you can't worry about every pound. It is when (like the last week), I have been up half a pound, a pound, then half again,... up, up, up pattern. So it keeps me on track in a good way.

Glad to hear I wasn't alone this past week :) I never thought about a higher number on the scale helping me get back into routine, but I guess it would kick by butt back into gear. Definitely an eye opener and a good reminder of what I don't want to continue. 

I like that quote, as well jen. Very true! Good luck getting back on track as well :)

same here.  been there done that.  gained again.  i really wanted to start new this month, but binged like the past 3 days.  i'm so tire of this.

the scale i know it's scary, but you have to face reality.  in july because i avoided the scale i gained another 10 without even noticing.  now i have like 25 pounds that i want off of me.  so use it.

I can relate to you helpless when you say "gained again" (sounds so defeated) - but you are learning every time it happens and the important thing is that you got on the scale earlier than you did the last time you had a binge (turned into an extended one!) - I can sooooo relate as last year I was 20lbs from goal (163ish), ate my way through July and half of August and found myself a whopping 45lbs from goal (180ish) by the end of summer. Having to lose 40lbs is ALOT different psychologically than having to lose 20lbs. When I look back on the last 10 years worth of my journals I see that this pattern repeats itself and repeats itself and repeats itself,.... you get the picture. But this last year I have managed to lose 40ish lbs to get to goal (139 today) and have kept it off since I hit goal on April 26th (I consider it my new birthday and will use that date to focus on for the rest of my life,..never will I be over my goal weight on my "birthday"). The scale is a tool that I use to keep me on track. If you use it in a healthy way it can really help. I am 38 this year and the scale will ensure that I am "Phat and 40" instead of "Fat and 40".