Weight Loss To Look Masculine

[Angry Cloud]

Hello there!
I developed problems with binge eating last October, and am still struggling with them. I had been very skinny, and fairly comfortable with how I looked beforehand, but now that I'm 30-40lbs heavier, I feel like crap all of the time.
When I was skinnier, I had defined facial features, almost no breasts, and the appearance of an Adam's apple. I would really like to have all of these things again, but I am having such a hard time overcoming the binge eating. I have been eating 3000+ kcal almost every day for months, and I don't exercise.

Does anyone have suggestions on stopping the endless binge eating?
Also, if anyone has any diets/lifestyles that work well for them, I would love to hear.

Note: I have struggled with obesity as well as orthorexia (maybe a mix between orthrexia and anorexia, I never went to a therapist, so I had no diagnosis), so the world of weight loss/gain terrifies me, and my hormones are probably really out of whack.

[DanTheMan]

I totally understand, i'm struggling with the same situation (only i'm not overweight yet) but I keep eating, to compensate with the things that I miss.
When I feel sad I eat, when I feel happy I eat. Any kind of emotion..

I'm not sure because I don't know you, but I think it could be the same with you as well, it's kind of a cycle you're going through
Unhappy -> food. Gains weight -> Unhappy -> food.

It's hard to make a start and keep motivated (i'm in the top 10 give upper list) but try to reach out for people who care about you and ask them to join you on hike's for example.
Or if you're my age, biking, soccer, football, tennis, skateboarding.
And if you have a dog walk your dog 20+ min, or anything like that.
I remember when I was living with family I had to bike 2hrs every day my legs got pumped I lost weight and felt great, the step towards exercise is a hard one.

Sorry for the long riddle, if you want to know anything or want to chat you can contact me, i'm a post chest op 2 yrs T FTM

[Jess42]

I would definately see a therapist over the bing eating. Since you said that you may even be anorexic and used to be skinny but now are bing eating, there may be some underlying Psychological issues you may need to address and why you are binge eating. Especially if something happened however minor it may seem around the same time you started binge eating.

BTW I little while ago I heard on the news that the average weight for a male is 195 pounds and the average weight for a female is 160. So I am right at the average female weight, yay for me.

[jaythegeek]

You could try easyloss weightloss app if you have an ipad or iphone.
Its an hypnosis app, it doesnt hypnotize you but it gets your mind in the right zone to eat better.
It worked for me for 6 months, I lost a stone.
Now I am just trying to lose more by sticking by what it taught me.

[katiej]

I've dropped 40lbs since December, and it was precisely because I decided that I wasn't going on a diet to loose weight.  I was changing my lifestyle, so it doesn't feel like I'm depriving myself.

I eat high protein and high fat (roughly 100g per day), and low carb (typically less than 40g).  It's roughly like Paleo.  The side benefits are that I'm not starving myself, and I feel full, so I'm not tempted to snack all day long.  And because my body is burning fat for energy instead of carbs, I have a consistent stream of energy instead of spikes and crashes all day long.

Our culture says you should eat low fat...but everyone is fat.  The food pyramid is absolutely wrong.  I eat bacon almost every day, and my cholesterol and other levels are outstanding.

And if you did some good weight training along with that, you'd build muscle really easily.

Another big hurdle for me was getting over the idea that if I eat something I don't normally eat, the rest of the day isn't wasted.  I used to say, oh well, I might as well polish off this whole bag of chips...followed by a Big Mac and fries, and of course ice cream.  It really was a mental thing that I had to get over.

[jaythegeek]

It is absolutely a mental thing. That is the main thing i learnt from the app I used.
Its how you think about food. Eat only when your hungry. Dont cut out anything, eat whatever you like, just dont overdo it.
And drink plenty of water, as someone who dislikes water it took me a while to get my head around that one, but water is so important when losing weight.
Its not about dieting, its about changing the way you think about food.
And dont snack. Have 3 main meals so you dont get urges to snack all the time.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

[MrKarl35]

I have the same problem. I would eat well all day just to gobble down 5 PB+Js right before bedtime. It's a lifestyle change, that's the hard part. Tracking calories can be difficult, something like a Fitbit that connects to your iPhone can help. It can tell you how many calories you have burned and plugging in what you have ate is easier with some of these new Apps.

Just remember a 200 calorie deficient is all you are looking for. If you keep in the -200 calories a day, that's two Lbs a month. This kind of slow, steady weight loss pace is where the lifestyle change happens. Going on super strict diets that throw your body totally off never work in the long run. Slow and steady wins the race!