# Hoping for advice from people that understand.



## shinyweight (Apr 8, 2011)

I am hoping that people here will be able to give me some advice or experiences on something I have been having a really hard time finding information on. First let me share my story.

I am a 24y/o male.
About 3 years ago I decided to try and lose some weight just to kinda see what would happen. At the time I was fairly comfortable at my weight of 260lbs and it did not bother me excessively.
Over the course of a about a year I lost weight down to about 150lbs. Doing this came relatively easily. To begin with I simply ate more sensibly. After awhile I started counting calories and really getting obsessive.

This eventually lead to me starting to binge. At the time I didn't really understand/think about it. And it just ended up being something I regretted the next day and continued to count calories and maintain my weight.
However, eventually I was unable to continue this. My food obsession became to strong. I ended up trying to forget calorie counts and all of that stuff and just go back to how I use to eat.

Doing this obviously lead me to gain weight. Back up to about 185lbs.
Then my one heavier friend decided to try loosing some weight. I also decided that would be a good opportunity to go back on a diet and get back to the weight I was. This also went rather well and I was relatively quickly back to around 150lbs. This did however cause my obsession with food to skyrocket. I started collecting food related things and looking at "food porn" as often as possible. It felt very wrong. Quickly my binging began to come back full strength and it was not easy to resist.
This has caused me to be where I am at today. I am currently 185lbs. I have been doing a nearly no carb diet for about 1.5 months now. However, this has not really done anything as I almost refuse to count calories as it causes me an extreme amount of mental preoccupation with food. During this time I am eating as much as I want with no carbs. I still do seem to be gaining weight relatively quickly.

So right now I feel like I have two choices.
Go back to calorie counting and become a 'food zombie'
Or forget about weight and dieting and all that jazz and just try my hardest to enjoy life.

It seems like an easy choice, however, currently my all day binging tendencies are a bit scary and I am having a hard time overcoming them.
I cant seem to figure out if my binging will stop once I return to a more natural weight. Or if my binging is a separate issue.

Has anyone been in a similar situation as this? I would appreciate your stories and experiences very much.

Thank you for reading.


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## knottyknicky (Apr 25, 2011)

I'm not going to get into your diet because I'm not qualified to do so, but on the surface it doesn't make sense that if you were eating no carbs you'd be gaining weight, unless your portions are so huge that your body cannot burn the calories off. While I'm typically a fan of lowish carb diets, no carbs isn't good for most people. I think you'd really benefit speaking to both a nutritionist and a therapist. I'm sensing some kind of disordered eating and you might need to learn tools to cope with that now before things get out of control, either way. I will say though that 185 is still a vast improvement over your previous weight of 260. How tall are you? Is it possible your body is comfortable at 185? Again, seek help. You deserve to be able to eat normally and healthily without obsession.


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## Jes (Apr 25, 2011)

shinyweight said:


> So right now I feel like I have two choices.
> Go back to calorie counting and become a 'food zombie'
> Or forget about weight and dieting and all that jazz and just try my hardest to enjoy life.
> 
> .



It sounds like you're going through some difficult times and I'm glad you're reaching out for support.

I think you have at least 1 more choice in your list, above.

It seems to me that there is probably a psychological component to your eating patterns. I'm not saying you're crazy, but I am saying that you might have an eating disorder or an obsessive compulsive thing happening with food, or some combination of these issues. That's nothing to be ashamed of. And I hope it's nothing to be deathly afraid of, either. 

If you can find a way to talk with a professional for some one-on-one or group therapy, that's not a bad idea. Many people know how to offer good, helpful advice about this topic. 

If that's out of your price range or your comfort level right now, there are lots of books that will address this issue. Take a look around your public (or other) library (I can give you tips on this, just PM me), or search Amazon for some well-reviewed titles. I'm sure people at Dims can offer some helpful titles too, as this is not a unique topic on these boards. 

Reading about your issues would be a very good first step to taking control of your disordered eating.

Good luck.


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## Cors (Apr 25, 2011)

Well this is a size acceptance forum, so you probably already know what people are going to say. 

I think the Minnesota starvation experiment will be of great interest to you. In it, male volunteers who are physically and psychologically voluntarily undergo a restrictive starvation diet and the effects are striking. Previously healthy men started obsessing about food, calories, control and exercise all day long. Virtually all reported an impulse to binge uncontrollably, as it is the body's natural response to the whole famine/feast cycle which was what happened to you. Many did, some purged out of guilt, others exercised excessively and a few even dropped out of the program because their behavior spiralled out of control. When the guys were eventually re-fed after their semi-starvation period, they ate far more than they used to. It took them quite a few months to adjust to eating more normally again, and in a year or so most subjects were back at their normal body weight though a few quite never lost their obsession with food. You can read more about it here and here. 

I assume you never had issues with binge eating in the past, so it is highly likely that once your body gets used to not restricting, your appetite will adjust itself and you should go back to your set-point weight. While you wait, you might find it helpful to try to identify what exactly triggers the binge episodes for you be it food, emotions or situations. You can then try to work out how to best avoid or deal with these triggers and if professional help is needed (you also be interested in this quiz). 

As an ex-anorectic, I strongly urge you to escape the urge to control and obsess while you can, something I know is easier said than done. With the proliferation of diet websites and applications that can help you track every calorie consumed and burned, it is way too easy to let the obsession take over your life and even if you had intended to maintain say, 150lbs, the lack of proper nutrition could easily hijack your mind as it did with the men in the experiment and most anorectics and send you on a downward spiral. 

Good luck, and feel free to PM if you think I can help in any way!


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