What To Do When You Binge

We all end up doing it at some point. No one is perfect, and learning to restrict successfully takes time. Here are some things to remember next time you do.
1) The weight is temporary. If you weigh yourself immediately after bingeing, the number is horrible inaccurate. Not only is the weight of the food you ate there, but water weight caused by increased sodium making you weigh more. The morning after, you will see a higher weight until you pass the food wastes.
2) It takes 4 to 6 hours for your body to begin absorbing those calories. If you try to burn all the calories you ate off immediately after after eating them, you will not only disrupt your digestion, you will also do nothing to change how many calories are stored. 6 to 18 hours after eating is when your body will be burning of storing those calories. That is your time window for burning off all the calories you binged on.
3) Don't take laxatives right away. Most laxatives work best on an empty stomach. Taking them on a full stomach makes it more likely you'll experience cramps, gas, and bloating. Also, if you wait until your stomach is empty, a regular dose of lax will work just fine.
4) Don't try to fast the next day to counteract today. While you are convinced you never want to eat again, you are more likely to binge again, so don't make any changes to tomorrow's food plan. It's also easier to keep up with diets if you don't restart them every time you mess up. There's nothing special about the order of the calorie amounts in diets, so if you mess up a few times, there's very little you can do to change how fast you'll lose.
5) You don't have to weigh yourself the next day. As much as you want to know the damage done, you don't need to stress yourself out about it. You can skip one day of weighing yourself, do better the next day, and see a more accurate number the day after, panic attack unnecessary.
6) If you get stuck bingeing several days in a row, try setting a higher calorie limit and ease back into restricting. It can take a few days to get back on track, and if aiming for a low number is causing you to binge, then stop trying to restrict so low.
7) If you don't already purge, don't start. If you are not addicted to purging, stop. If you already have a habit of it, fight it. I'm 17, I've been purging for 4 years, and I have lost four teeth from it. I have had two root canals, my tonsils removed from infections, I have a stomach ulcer, and I have sores in my mouth which never heal. Stop purging as soon as you can. It ruins your life and I will never encourage someone to purge. In the words of Marya Hornbacher, "I'd rather starve than spit blood."