Introducing myself, and trying to discover my issue with binges!

Hey ya'll!

My name is Taylor, I am a 16 year old girl who is trying to lose about 7 pounds. I weight 115 now. I have been struggling with starvation mode. I just recentley left it and eat about 1, 750 calories a day. I binged today, eating about 10,000 calories. I just didnt stop. I am scared of gaining weight, and after today, I am sure I did. Anyways, am I eating too few of calories or just the right amount. And, will I gain weight from my binge?

Thanks in advance!

1750 sounds pretty good depending on your height and activity factor.  If you are lightly to moderately active then I would think more than that.

My main recommendation is for you to eat a really healthy breakfast in the morning.  There are a lot of Tools on this site and a lot of threads that will give you good information about eating healthy.

Well, if you only weigh 115, I am having trouble figuring out why you need to lose 7 more pounds.  Are you active at all? Do you bike, walk, play any sports, have a job that requires some physical activitity?  How tall are you?  As far as the binging go--that probably signals that you are depriving yourself in some way of necessary nutrients.  Ok, it takes 3500 calories to make a pound gained; so if you actually ate 10,000 calories in one day and did nothing to exercise or burn them off--you had a surplus of 8250 over your 1750.  So, yes, you would have gained weight--probably a couple of pounds.  It would be easy to get those back off--exercise more for 3 or 4 days and/or cut back to 1500 calories for 3 or 4 days. But don't ever go back to starvation mode!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I occasionally feel like eating more than my allotment of 2900 calories.  Occasionally, I have gone "nuts" for a day and taken in 4000-5000 calories.  That seemed like a lot, but I make sure I exercise extra and cut back to 2000 for a couple of days.  I would suggest if you get one of those binge feelings again--find some fruits and vegetables that you like.  For example, tonight I got really hungry and knew I had better not eat any high calorie foods--so I ate two large apples (braeburns).  Sometimes when I get really hungry or just feel as if I need to eat, I will fix a pound or shredded cabbage or lettuce and use lowfat dressing.  That will fill the stomach.  If you are feeling the need to fill up on food, you don't have to choose high-calorie food.  You can eat strawberries, blueberries, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, raspberries, celery.  There are healthy breads that are 40 calories a slice and peanut butter mixes that are 50 calories per 2 tablespoons. 

Thanks for the advice. I am 5'2. I am pretty active, I go to they gym 3 to 5 times a day. I lift weights and do cardio on alternate days. However, when school starts up again, volleyball will, and my time at the gym will not happen throughout the week, only the weekend... Will I gain weight? I want to eat about 2000 calories, but do not want the weight gain that goes along with it!! Ha :) Any advice?

Thanks

Ok, this is what I plugged into the calorie-burn calculator.  5' 2"; 16; 117; moderately active.  The result was 1910 calories.  So obviously you won't gain weight at 1750.  In my opinion, for an active teenager 2000 calories would be fine, since you could be in the very active category. Again, other daily things a person can do in addition to HS volleyball, which provides a great workout, is to walk to school, to town, to friends' houses.  To bike about the town.  If you are also in HS PE, then you are burning more calories there. Take the stairs instead of an escalator or elevator.  I don't think it would hurt to weigh once a week, say every Saturday morning, and monitor your weight.  But don't worry about gaining a pound here or there.  Remember, for an active teenager, particularly, you need a really good, high but reasonable, protein breakfast.  Juice, fresh fruit especially grapefruit, whole grain cereal, lean meat, an occasional egg, etc could be things you could be eating.  If you, like most teenagers, are in a bit of a hurry, make sure you have quick but healthy breakfast options available.  Maybe you could prepare the bulk of your breakfast the night before and just take a couple of minutes to prepare it in the morning. Avoid having a Moutain Dew and dough-nut breakfast, which so many teens seem to have at schools.

Best of luck in all things!  Eat healthy and keep smiling!

Thanks for plugging that it, but my goal weight is 110. When I plug it in at home it says to eat about 1, 750 or more. However, the scale has gone down a little since my last binge, about Friday. So four days ago... I want to weight 110, but cant seem to get there. Am I eating to little?

My question is why do you want to weigh 110?  Is there any healthy reason for it.  You surely can't think you are overweight.  You are a healthy, HS girl who is active and plays volleyball.  I just can't believe there is any reason to get to 110.  But if 110 would be a healthy weight for you, then I would think that between now and the end of volleyball, if you stay at 1700 or so calories, you will probably slowly but surely lose those pounds.  I would recommend you talking to one of the health teachers or coaches at school or to someone who has knowledge about what would be a healthy weight for you to see if you should only weigh 110. 

Anyway, a pound equals 3500 calories.  Ok, so if you want to lose 7 pounds.  7 * 3500 = 24500.  So, say that for around 3 months you averaged taking in 1750 calories whereas you should be taking in 2000  to maintain.  That equals 250 calories you lose each day.  24500 / 250 = 98 days.  Now, in my opinion, that is much better than trying to lose 7 pounds in 2 or 3 weeks.  I am done some more "plugging in" things into different calculators and have found that 1750 could be acceptable for you.  But if you are a very active teenager, I just don't think 1750 would be enough.  If you are going to restrict yourself to 1750 calories a day, make sure every calorie is a good one and not a wasted one.  For example, today I ate 140 WASTED calories of nosugar jello and 425 WASTED calories of nonfat dairy topping.  Frankly, that was silly; but to make up for it, I ate 2 apples and will eat a pound of shredded cabbage with lowfat dressing for supper

I would say I am pretty active. I would just love to lose 5 pounds. I am pretty close, however, I want to eat more, but not gain more. I want to take in more calories, but dont want the weight gain... Does that make sense?

Ok.  Is there any reason the pounds have to come off fast?  Why not just make certain you

• stay really active
• eat healthy meals and snacks, starting with a good breakfast
• keep your metabolism going by good protein in first meal and healthy carbs and protein in other meals
• avoid drinking soda very often, diet or regular--drink 100% juice
• eat whole grain bread, pasta, etc.
• eat 5 or 6 times a day, but make sure snacks are things like fruits, veggies, nuts, etc.
• if you feel you have to eat a lot, no matter what (binge urge)--try eating things like air-popped popcorn, apples, bananas, strawberries, celery, nonfat cheese, melons, nosugar gelatin, lowfat peanut butter mix on lowcalorie bread
• before you start eating, drink a glass or 2 of water, if you are going over your calorie range

You can lose those 5 pounds slowly but steadily.

I dont mind losing them slowly, but tonight for example, I went to La Madeline and got a salad with fat free dressing, however, I dont think it was fat free. And then, I asked for no cheese, but there was already some cheese in the salad pre-made. Then I had 5 smaller pieces of bread with strawberry jelly. I am just kind of mad. I ended up eating about 2, 500 caries today. I have done well the rest of the week, but just went a little over board. Normally when I go overboard then I just pile on, but I did not. I stopped myself, I am pretty proud about that though :)

I would not in any way, shape, or form be concerned about eating 2500 calories on occasion.  Just a few days ago I ate over 5000 and it only took me 3 days of 2000 calories average to get back to my maintenance weight.  And most of what I had gained was water weight, anyway. So 2500 calories for you would have minimal effect, if it had any effect at all. 

The day I ate the 5000+ calories I panicked because I went from 168 in the morning weigh-in but weighed 174.6 the last weigh-in of the night.  So, I screamed silently," You gained 6 pounds, you moron!"  But then logic kicked in the next day.  Almost all of that weight had to have been  water-weight and I needed a good RR break.  Because for me to have actually gained 6 pounds in one day, I would had to take in 21,000 calories extra IN ONE DAY!  That did not happen, of course.  So I analyzed what I had eaten and drunk:  a few things stood out: 2 pots of coffee (1 in morning; 1 early evening--I know, I shouldn't have drunk so much); 3 glasses of water; 2 glasses of diet pop; 6 boxes of nosugar gelatin using 9 cups of water; 1 pound of strawberries; etc, etc.  So there was one heck of a lot of water in me.  I also did not exercise very vigorously that day. 

So as an athlete on days you sweat a lot and don't drink enough water, you can say you loss weight; or if you weigh after you eat foods with a lot of water or you drink a lot of water or juice or milk, etc., you can say you gained weight.  But the truth is if you stay close to your calorie range that is healthy, going 500 calories over on occasion or going 300 calories under will not have an overall effect on your long plan to slowly lose weight intelligently.  And if it ever happens that you feel you had a couple of days of too many calories, try to burn them off with extra exercise for a couple of days, if you can do so in a healthy manner.

Thanks for all your advice... and yes, that was a lot of water that day! :) I jump to conclusions to quickly about gaining weight, when the scale rises even two "bars" I freak out!

Unfortunately, when I was going from 215 to 170, I was freaking out every time I seemed to gain or not lose fast enough.  I was acting in a way that I should have known was really silly.  So even old timers can get obsessed with losing weight.  I hope you have the greatest school year ever!

Well thanks! I have another quick question. If I burn about 1700 calories on average with all I burn and just have by being alive, how much should I eat over that?

I thought G. I. Jane gave a pretty good answer on the other thread.  I would start slowly and, again, don't be obsessive (as I was), but you could weigh once every 3 mornings or so to see how the weight is going.  Always weigh the same time and usually have a RR break if possible--but that is not essential.  Before I worked up to 2700 calories, though, I would start at 2000 and then move up to 2200 ,etc.  In other words, transition into a comfortable calorie intake where, being an active teen, you feel good and not tempted to binge. 

In answer to your question, I, personally, think if you stay active during the school year, you could be taking in 500 to 800 calories over the 1700.  I am not clear enough on your unique set of circumstances to know what to advise specifically.  However, as far as I am concerned, you will want to consult someone you trust who can give good advice about YOUR PERSONAL AND SPECIFIC SITUATION.  I just haven't convinced myself there is any reason for you to get down to 110. 

I  hope you eat healthy, exercise healthy, and have a great high school career.  I think it is admirable that you are aware of things like diet and exercise, but for the right reasons--to make a healthy you!  Good luck!

Thanks for all your advice :) Ah, I again have eaten 2, 500 calories today. Oh goodness, is weight gain going to happen?

If you go from eating 1700 to 2500 you'll gain temporarily.  If you stay in the 2200-2700 area your body will get used to that amount of energy (which it clearly needs) and your weight will stabilise.

It's no use aiming for a very low weight if the only way you can stay there is to chronically undereat.  All that kind of artificial situation leads to are malnutrition issues and inevitable bingeing.....  That's no way to spend your teens.

If you're at a private (fee-paying?) school, someone can afford to buy you a few new clothes.  Good luck

So should I eat some more? Is that what you are saying? Am I not eating enough at 1, 750?