Binge-Restrict, Binge again - How to Get out of the destructive cycle
Aug 10, 2020
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Explore the damaging cycle of bingeing and restricting in the fitness world. Learn the negative consequences on mental health and relationships. Discover the importance of a long-term perspective for physique development. Explore different approaches to achieving fitness goals and the benefits of auto-regulatory eating.
Binge-restrict cycles in the fitness world can lead to diet fatigue, mental burnout, frustration, and a negative relationship with food.
Breaking the binge-restrict cycle requires a mental and physical break, focusing on nourishing oneself, renormalizing eating behaviors, and developing a longer-term perspective towards physique goals.
Deep dives
Breaking the Cycle of Binging and Restricting
Many people in the fitness world struggle with a cycle of binging and restricting, which leads to negative consequences. When people go on a diet and try to adhere to a calorie deficit, they often fall off the wagon and engage in binging episodes. They then try to compensate by restricting, only to fall off the wagon again and repeat the cycle. This results in diet fatigue, mental burnout, and lack of desired physical results. This cycle can lead to frustration and a negative relationship with food.
The Sad Reality of Diet Fatigue Without Desired Physical Results
The speaker shares a personal story of going through the cycle of binging and restricting. After achieving a lean physique through a successful diet, attempts at lean gaining quickly turned into binging episodes. Despite motivational efforts to commit to dieting again, the cycle continued, resulting in the accumulation of body fat and diet fatigue. The speaker highlights the irony of being consistently on a diet, experiencing diet fatigue, and not achieving the desired physical results. This frustrating situation is all too common for many individuals in the fitness world.
The Solution: Taking a Step Back and Renormalizing
The speaker advises against further dieting as a solution for those stuck in the binging and restricting cycle. Instead, a mental and physical break is suggested. This break involves eating enough fuel to recondition the brain to understand that food will be available, and allowing time to renormalize eating behaviors. During this period, it is recommended to take a mental detox from fitness-related content and focus on enjoying life, engaging in social activities, and watching less fitness-related media. The importance of maintaining a training routine while nourishing oneself is also emphasized. It is acknowledged that this solution may require accepting the current body fat percentage for a little longer but encourages developing a longer-term perspective towards achieving and maintaining desired physique goals.
In todays video I'm addrerssing a topic that's so problematic in the fitness world, yet it doesn't get the same attention as most other topics, like how to get leaner and what's the best training split. The phenomenon I'm talking about is the binge-restrict cycle that many get stuck in for months or even years. One might complete a mini cut successfully, only to then go on massive binges, which then they of course try to fix with further cuts. This cycle is bad for every aspect of your life - it's bad for your long term physique development, your psychology, it harms human relationships and leaves a long term mark on your psyche. Many are so stuck in this cycle that they don't even know any other way of being. So what do you do if this applies to you?
I don't love talking about this topic, but I feel like I need to do it at least once a year.
So here is that video for 2020.
Website/coaching:
http://abelssd.com/
Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/sustainableselfdevelopment/
Insta:
@SSD Abel
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