Overeating!

I'm really quite worried about how much I can eat. I know that it isn't healthy or normal ... but I would like to know HOW bad it is.

In a day where I eat what I want (not even binging, proper meals, like) I can easily consume 4500 calories. 

I saw this TV programme about one of the fattest women in America or something and it said, "So and so has eaten up to 7000 calories in a single day". It really disturbed me.

Some days (like I said, not binging ... binging is a whole separate issue for me!) I eat about three times as much as my dad who is, obviously, a fully grown man ... doing manual labour. 

I'm actually very slightly underweight ... but that can't continue, right?

Also, does anyone else have the same problem? If you're comfortable sharing, what's your BMI range?

Help me!

Hi rachel!

Eating 4500 and being underweight, is a blessing!  As long as you don't binge or purge or fast after eating a lot, it doesn't matter.  I know how you feel, cause everyone in my family, me included, no matter how much we eat, we don't gain more than 10 -15 lbs.  Imagine this...I was on a hormone therapy for the last six months, I was eating like a pig and still only gained 15lbs!!!! The doctor was really suprised.

My BMI is 19.8...when I will lose those 15lbs I will go down to 18.3.  All my life, except this period with the hormone therapy, I was underweight, but very very healthy.  I've started dieting about 2 weeks ago, I have blown the diet 3 times, but still I lose weight!  I have a small frame, so this is why my weight doesn't add up.   

Just make sure that you eat healthy food and not junk.

 

 

Thanks.

You're one of those people everyone hates, huh?  

I actually do have problems with binging ... and purging and fasting (oooh! How healthy am I sounding here?) to compensate, but this overeating is something different entirely. It isn't like a binge ... it's just like ... greed?

I really want to stop being so unhealthy around food, but I'm just worried that if I continue eating like I am at the moment I'm going to get fat, fat, fat! I'd like to eat 1200-1400 calories per day (I had that much for BREAKFAST this morning, by the way!), but I just have no control, it seems. I can only last about two days. Does anyone know if it'll improve if I just "go with it"? I don't even mind if I gain up to 5lbs, to be honest ... I just want to be healthy.

Sorry. That wasn't very clear.

I'm still interested in hearing about people's experiences with consuming a lot of food and weight gain, too!

Original Post by chrisavgi:

My BMI is 19.8...when I will lose those 15lbs I will go down to 18.3. All my life, except this period with the hormone therapy, I was underweight, but very very healthy. I've started dieting about 2 weeks ago, I have blown the diet 3 times, but still I lose weight! I have a small frame, so this is why my weight doesn't add up.

Chris, you do realize that a BMI of 18.3 is considered underweight, right? May I suggest you reconsider your goals so that you don't choose one that is unhealthy?

Anyone can easily consume 4500 calories.  Three square meals of McDonalds and there you go.

Now, if you were to try eating things you don't necessarily want, like 4500 calories worth of strawberries, then I'll be amased.

For now, you bless that little metabolism of yours.  It won't last forever.  A close friend of mine, much like you, can out-eat me any day and lose weight.  Or at least she could.  She just texted me about ten minutes ago complaining that she's developing a muffin top.

Yeah, I see what you're saying. I probably could eat 4500 calories of strawberries, though! I'd definitely rather have that than a McDonald's, anyway! (I'd rather eat 4500 calories of my own excrement [would that have any calories? An interesting question!!!] than a McDonald's, to be honest!) But ... yeah ... I would find it hard to overeat on ... I dunno ... raw cauliflower, I guess. It isn't like it's junk food I eat, though. I'll have three plates of boiled rice and boiled vegetables and still want more, you know? I just don't ever seem to feel like enough is enough these days.

If you aren't gaining weight and it's not all junk food, then I guess it isn't a problem. If you really want to eat less calories, deficit by like 500 calories not jump all the way down to 1200, that's the proper way and probably easier for you to do anyway

Thank you.

Trust me, it IS a problem.

I probably should have clarified this ... but the only reason I'm not overweight at the moment is because I don't overeat every single day (I'm actually even more unhealthy most days, believe it or not).

Will the urge to eat such an obscene amount go away if I stick with trying to eat properly for a week or so? Because if I carry on eating like I have been I WILL pile on weight ... there isn't a question there, really. Pretty quickly, too ... and that really scares me.

Sorry ... I'm not even sure what I want to hear here. I'm just a bit freaked out and kind of depressed by my own greed and lack of control, I suppose!

Is anyone here substantially overweight or obese? In the pre-cal-counting days, would 4500 have been a lot to you?

Well to try to answer one of your later questions here, the urge to eat such large amounts of food probably will go away if you continue to eat balanced meals and stick within an appropriate calorie level for your size.  That's how it is for me anyway.  Once my body realizes "oh, we're back on this calorie alottment again are we? okay, fine" haha it seems to accept it and stop making me feel like I'm starving all the time.

Hope that helps a bit :)

I've heard several times that the average american consumes 3800 calories/day.  But the average american is also fat.  It really doesn't take that much effort to eat 4500 calories...pancakes with syrup for breakfast, a few handfuls of nuts throughout the day, anything with too much peanut butter, a large, fatty dinner, and a big piece of cake for dessert will get you rather close.  I think we've all done it many times.  I think the key for people who are of normal weight is they naturally compensate by eating less over the next few days without really thinking about it, thus creating a deficit to make up for the overeating.  But for you, your problem is more emotional or psychological becaues your body, physically, has to be satisfied after a certain amount of calories but before you get to that 4800 mark.  I'm sure i've had days where i've consumed 4000 calories, right now im 5'6" and weigh about 123lbs.  My bmi is probably in the 19.5 range.  Some days i just wanna eat!  But normally I only eat between 1800-1900 cal/day because i am just looking to lose about one inch off my waist, i dont need to lose any more pounds.

But to answer the "is it normal" factor to eat like that, no, i do not believe it is.  I think it is just one part of your other issues with binging and purging.  Are you trying to avoid other issues by eating?  That is a big factor with some people.  Try to think what you are feeling when you go for that third dish...

hkellick you are right, BMI 18.3 is considered underweight, but not in my case.  You see I have a very small frame, so I guess the BMI category may not be accurate for me.  I have little bones, can't find a bracelet or watch that fits me, unless it is for children  .  The good thing about having such a small frame, is that when you put on weight it doesn't show much and when you lose, you don't look like a skeleton.

 

Woah, the average American consumes 3800 calories a day? That makes me feel better! Ha, ha. I suppose it's the people like me (I'm not American ... but you get the idea) who push up the average, though.

I sometimes binge (again ... not overeating ... that's different) and then fast for the next few days to make up for it, but I've been making much more of an effort to avoid any form of purging (fasting included ... even though it doesn't really fit!) lately and now I'll have 3000 one day and then wake up starving and want to eat even more the next! It's actually quite scary. There's definitely no natural compensation going on.

Anyway. Thanks, people! I think this has confirmed what I already kind of knew - i.e. if I nourish my body properly and try to be consistent then the problem is likely to get better.