i have a question about bingeing...

so to start off, i must say i'm very good about not going overboard. i always stay within my maintenance calories (1,500 - 1,550).

this past week has been rather hectic, and i was too busy to feel hungry, so i ate about 1,300 to 1,450 calories a day.

however, last night i was at a party, and since i ate pretty somewhat low for the past week i decided to eat what i wanted... 

i just counted it up... and well... the number kind of scares me... i ate 3,200 calories!

eekkk! 

SO, my question is, should i try to work that off for the next couple of days, or should i just forget about it because i was eating somewhat below my maintenance calories for about a week? 

Don't confuse ''binge'' with ''over-eating''. 

to me, "over eating" is just going over your maintenance by a few hundred calories... and that could be with healthy food.

i, on the other hand, went WAY over my maintenance, and ate really unhealthily.

i'm sorry that i think differently than you do.  

Your fine!! Dont bother working it off!. On average people consume less some days and more others. This is very normal. Thats how weight stays the same. Enjoy your grub. 80-20% remember?

thank you. i actually worked it out on a calculator (i know, i'm crazy right? lol... i guess i just don't like the idea of "messing up"), and it only came out to an extra 260 calorie a day... which i most likely missed over the pass week anyways. 

so, right now, as i type this, i am treating myself to a square of mint chocolate. mmmmm :D

Well done, you have a great attitude! You were under calories for a while, than you went and splurged a little!

It is completely normal to feel a little silly about it, as it is not something you usually do! When people do something out of the ordinary, they notice it more!

Good on you for being able to sit down and have a little chocolate - there is no point in depriving yourself just because you went over your calories for one day! (which would have been more then compensated for with your days you were under your limit!)

Normal is eating under and over your allowances, and not worrying too much. It is not good once you start trying to compensate for over eating by restricting and actively compensating. If you just accept this natural calorie fluctuations things should sort themselves out naturally, thinking about it too much becomes a preoccupation! And it leads a lot of people into the dreaded binge and restrict cycle!

The typical maintenance intake for a healthy, adult female who is reasonably active is 1900-2100 cals a day.  If you're routinely getting 1500 cals a day then you're undereating.  If you're only maintaining your weight on 1500 cals a day then it's possible that it's unnaturally low for you.

So the binge..... if you deprive your body of energy for long enough it will eventually demand more.  If you were to increase your daily intake to a more reasonable level you'd probably find you felt better all round.

i'm not a very active person... and my burn meter says i burn around 1,550 a day.... so i don't know. i'm only working with the information i have.