Chicks in Control - Binge-free challenge ~ Sept. 22 - 28

It's Monday again! Let's stay accountable. Please post your challenges and successes and keep track of your binge free days!

Today will be day 15 for me.

I'm going for a binge-free week. :) I'd like to be 100% on-plan with both diet and exercise this week, but rather than setting myself up for disaster, I'm gonna say, let's go for 90% on-plan eating and exercising, with NO BINGES for the week!

Thanks for the thread! Hope to check in with good reports this week.

Back to Day 1 for me - rough week last week, anticipate rougher one this week (my parents are visiting..) but the hubby's away so I'll have no one to blame but myself if I go off track! :)

I give it a go.

I will stay OP and no binges for me !!

:yay:

I'm not sure if I've ever binged as badly as I did today. Maybe the day I ate a whole half gallon of ice cream. I hope I can remember this feeling and NOT binge tomorrow... I'm holding out for ONE day binge free.

Day 1 for me. I'm going to keep trying.

After a disastrous evening -- and feeling horrible this morning, of course -- I am more than willing to say "I'm in"!

Hopefully this will be the ONE time I'm able to stick to this commitment.

full of grace, cher, luvin - how is it going?

iris, chickie, Lizzy - hugs to you. Today is a new day, forget about yesterday and move forward.

Day 16 for me.

Hi everyone! :wave: I'm new to the Chicks in Control forum. It's my first time visiting.

I realize that I need to do something about my binge eating. I've recently switched from a diet plan to a non-diet plan and find the freedom to eat whatever I want a bit overwhelming. I've been binging on all kinds of junk food that I've been avoiding and I've got to do something QUICK! I think it is an adjustment period I'm going thru from switching plans, but I still have this nasty habit of binge eating that I learned about 2 years ago when going thru a particularly boring time in my life. (Prior to that I had never binged before.)

Well anyways, I hope you don't mind if I join you all. I don't really have a goal but to make it thru one day at a time. Maybe the accountability will help. I'll try to check in daily. Nice to meet everyone. :)

PS. Hi iriswhispers! :wave:

:welcome2: Blue Serenity!

& Hello Ladies!

Well I made it through Day 1 and now halfway through Day 2 (passed by bag of Munchies on sale for $1, but got caught in line and the Smarties were calling my name! - so I bought an indiv. box, and will enjoy it throughout the rest of the day (better choice than a large bag of chips & cheesies I think!) Not considered a binge when its I stop at one right?!?!

Have a good day & stay strong!

Man I've been doing AWFUL!

Count me in as day 1.

hi blue serenity! welcome to the chicks in control forum! =)

yey, cher! I definitley don't consider it a binge if I stop. good choice on the individual box. I have to train myself that it may be more cost effective to buy the big packs of things, but in the end I think it's better to spend a little more money and not end up gorging and feeling miserable.

spoz and lizzy... I've been a binging maniac lately so I'm shooting for day one as well. I'm trying to keep myself busy and am heading to my cubicle shortly instead of working from home because then I won't have the pantry and frigde to lure me into a binging frenzy.

Day 2 is done!! I'm going to bed - nigh'night folks!

I made choc.chip cookies for my son today - It was hard to resist the temptation to eat the remaining dough in the bowl while the 1st batch was cooking but I did it! I even logged in the bit of dough that ate off the beaters & spoons! (I'm trying not to avoid/pretend that I ate 'extras') - the scale can always tells the truth anyways so why fight it eh?!!!

Hi everyone, thanks for the welcomes. :)

cher37, :yay: good for you! I would have had a hard time resisting the cookies! lol You're right, those bites here and there do add up.

I made it thru my first day, even stayed on plan. Workin' on day 2 now!

Well, I've managed day 32 before so I'm not sure why the last few weeks have been so difficult. It's like after being good for so long has just sent me into crazed woman mode!

Anyway day 2 for me anyway and I'm doing okay at the moment. I guess even if we're going back to day 1-2 over again we're still TRYING.

Hi y'all,

Day One for me here today also. New food plan and that's always very exciting, right? Exciting and scary. Going to an OA meeting tonight so that'll "keep me off the streets"...heh.

Peace,
Chickie

Welcome Chickie!

Hi there Spoz, stay strong girl - you're doing it!

Hello ! Wardhog ... I wish I was on day 17 - think of the weight I'd lose!!

Day 2 for you Blue!!!

Iris - How are you doing???

... well, I'm on Day 3 & I have to head out to the store but I won't do it until after lunch w. my boy (that way I won't be hungry - this should do the trick right!! LOL)

Have a great day everyone :)

Can I play too??

I am on day three - no binges. The weekend is normally my killer time so I am optimistic that I will make it through today and tomorrow but Friday night - ugh!

Day one... here's hoping!

Welcome to blue, chickie and asparagus!

cher, you are a strong woman for passing up chocolate chip cookies! Great job!

spoz, iris - keep going! You can do it.

Lizzy, how's it going?

Day 17 for me today. We are leaving for vacation in a week and I need to keep it up until then.

On target for the day, poured myself a bowl of cereal... had two spoons and then threw it away. 'm so proud of myself because I hopefully havent gone too far over calories for the day and because its the first time in weeks I havent eaten several full bowls of cereal at night. So maybe tomorrow I wont even pour a bowl.

Ward your doing great :)

Asparagus, cher and iris - you can do it!

Well...having to report back to 3FC really works!!!

I am currently sipping v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y on a 4oz (yes, I measured!) glass of wine. It was very hard to not top up 'just a bit more' - but I knew that I made myself accountable - so I made the decision to put the bottle back in the fridge & replace with a bottle of water beside my wine :hat:

I also had 2 (& only 2) choc.chip cookies today!!

So I'm menu planning for tomorrow's dinner w. my parents & it is soooo tempting to go over (on my bread especially) - but hopefully, with a good night's sleep & good food intake I'll be ok (& maybe reward myself w. a glass of wine when they leave for the hotel!)

Anyways, I just wanted to share how grateful I am to have you guys to be accountable to - it does feel good to know when you've been able to exercise control (& not regret on the scales in the morning) ... let's see how optimistic I am after the weekend w. my parents !! Ha Ha

Have a good night everyone & stay strong! :hug:

I just had the mother of all binges. And I dont know if it's over yet. :( I'm just thankful that the majority of the time I dont eat quite as much as I have today. And tomorrow I'm going to the gym first thing to work my butt of..

Good Morning Ladies :)

Spoz ... You are SO close to your goal - only 6 more lbs to go! Good for you going to the gym!! That'll help you get into the right mindset. I know that when I go & workout & burn 400cal. - then I think twice about having a chocolate bar or bag of chips "did I work that hard just to blow it on this?" Stay strong - keep your eye on your goal!

Man cher, i have 40 lbs overall to lose and this is only my first ten! but thanks anyway hun. I know I can do it I've done it before, just second time round seems a little more tough.

You're doing really great :)

Well, I've managed day 32 before so I'm not sure why the last few weeks have been so difficult. It's like after being good for so long has just sent me into crazed woman mode.

Spoz (and everyone), I was wondering do you think it is possible that keeping track of binge-free days is harmful? I'm not trying to put anyone down or anything for tracking days but I am just curious to see what others think. It would seem to me that keeping track would make things worse (at least for me) if and when I do have a bad day. Is it possible that being good for 32 days is the reason for the binge, subconsciously? Like "I've done so well for so long, I can manage a day to play" or "I've been so good, I deserve a day off" or even a little slip up one day and it becomes "I've worked so hard for nothing!" and a huge binge is triggered. Again, I'm not putting anyone down, just trying to look at this from a perspective that I seem to have towards dieting in general ... the "all or nothing" mentality. (That's often me and very hard to overcome!) What you said, Spoz, about being good so long has me wondering all this. I also understand that counting the days may help others to realize that they have accomplished something, so I can see the positive side of it too. So please don't think I'm judging anybody. Just thinking out loud. :grouphug:

Personally, I don't think I want to track the number of days I've "been good." I just want to pluck away at it one day at a time putting each day behind me whether it was good or bad.

Well...having to report back to 3FC really works!!!

... but I knew that I made myself accountable ...

I also had 2 (& only 2) choc.chip cookies today!!

... how grateful I am to have you guys to be accountable to - it does feel good to know when you've been able to exercise control


Way to go Cher37! :yay: I am very thankful 3FC is here and agree with you totally! As I get to know more people and their stories I realize that we're all in the same boat and if there is something you're going thru, there is always someone else who's been there that can offer support or advice or just a cyber hug to help you along your way. And as we each overcome individual obstacles we are able to help someone else on their journey. I've been able to see things about myself thru others that I've never realized before. And I believe that it is truly helping me along to the common goal. So if you are like me, struggling, then I hope you know that someone else is sharing your pain and even learning from you, yes, even thru the struggles.

You know.. you might have a point there. I often think it's going to be difficult to maintain some day when I'm so obsessed by numbers. And for example if I let myself down on 'day 2' I'll probably go and binge again wheras if I hadn't counted I'd probably just get back on track... I'm trying to avoid counting days now, and just avoiding the binges and using this thread as a ref rather than a religious counting game.

Blue - interesting point. I think it's helpful for me but I can see how it could be a trigger for someone else.

spoz, I hope you're having a better day.

cher, excellent job!

Day 18 for me.

I have just read the "Sticky" for this forum and am finally prepared to admit, in public, that I am a binge eater.

Yesterday, after 4 days of normal , planned eating, I skipped breakfast, got hungry and ate, and ate, and ate :-(

I am not clinically overweight, but I recognise that my current eating habits are unhealthy, and I would love to join this challenge for the sake of my health and sanity.

So, Today is day one, one step at a time!

So for some reason I was starving yesterday. I had eaten all my meals for the day and was just so hungry and craving sweets. So I had a Dove Choc Bar but still craving. Later I went to the store to get beans for dinner tonight and I ended up eating 2 cookies and a small bag of m&m's. I am not sure if that is a binge or not. I personally am looking at it as a triumph because in the past I would have eaten probably 20 cookies and a big bag of m&m's. But what is the definition of a binge?

Ok so I did my own research (turns out I didn't have to go too far :)).

A. Eating, in a discrete period of time (eg, within any 2-hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances. Nope.

B. A sense of lack of control over eating during the episode (eg, a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating). Nope

2. The binge eating episodes are associated with at least three of the following:

A. Eating much more rapidly than normal. Nope
B. Eating until feeling uncomfortably full. Nope
C. Eating large amounts of food when not feeling physically hungry. Nope
D. Eating alone because of being embarrassed by how much one is eating. Nope (although I did eat alone but that is only because I was alone at the time.)
E. Feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or feeling very guilty after overeating. Nope
F. Marked distress regarding binge eating. Nope


So I think I am still on track and am counting this as day 4.

haha, cher, I had to laugh at your wine sipping and measuring - I used to drink pretty often and i LOVE red wine, but now it's definitely a treat for me. I know how it feels to really savor it! (however, I will admit that i don't measure too closely... just eyeball it in the glass!)

asparagus, sometimes I "overeat" or eat off plan, but I think there's some distinct differences between that and a binge. From what you said I agree with your conclusion not to consider yesterday a binge.

spoz, good job getting back on track by going to the gym. Keep at it! I hope today's better.

wardhog, 18 days - wow! keep rocking it! =)

blue serenity, I hope things are going well.

so I somehow got through yesterday, ONE day without binging. i'm going for day 2. For me I think it really does help to count - i feel like once I've got some "clean" days under my belt I want to keep up the streak.

Congratulations on a binge -free day Iris :-)

Ok - yesterday was clean for me and I had a good, portion controlled breakfast, and I have packced a nice lunch and snacks for the day at work, so fingers crossed.

Day 5 - did very good yesterday - no cheats and hit the gym and was under my calories. Give me strength for this evening!

Ok it's only 11am but I'm having lunch then going out for the afternoon then hitting gym, so I'll do alright today. Just needing that strength for the evening too! You can do it asparagus you've been doing brilliantly :)

Iris, hows day 2 going?

Hey everyone, quick check in. I did well yesterday, no binges. Ready for today! (Can't remember if I reported in for Wednesday, no binges then either.)

WTG Asparagus and Iris! :yay:

Everyone is doing great! Keep up the good work.

Day 19 for me. I know I will overeat (and drink) on my vacation, but I wonder if I can keep from bingeing. Hmmm ... Anyway, trying not to think too far ahead and take one day at a time. :dizzy:

So I need some help. I am going to my ex-MIL's house tonight (long story but we are friends now) and we are going to be drinking some wine. How much is too much (calorie-wise)? I wouldn't even know when to classify it as a binge or not...

survived day two, although i did have a second helping of dinner, but i don't think i'd call that a binge.

I just overdid it a little bit today - my planned lunch didn't work out that always throws me off. If I stop here and now and just eat a normal dinner I'm going to call it day 3... here's hoping cos I have to go to the grocery store and that can trigger me sometimes.

spoz, good luck this evening! stick with it. =)

asparagus, remember last time you went through that binge checklist kinda thing? i'd say the same goes for the wine. There's a difference in taking in too many calories in a day and in binging.

congrats on all the success yesterday!

full of grace, cher, luvin - how is it going?

Very good, thanks for asking. :) As expected, I've not been 100% (had some social commitments that were going to make it tough to stay 100% on-plan and on exercise for the week), but I've been very "good" and absolutely have not binged, which makes me very happy.

I've made some less-than-ideal choices, but made up for them with increased exercise or shifting calories around to still have a good day overall.

:D

Hope everyone else is headed into a fabulous weekend! :)

Hey everyone,
I'm fairly new to 3FC. I really need this forum. :) I do horrible at binging. This week has been good. Except, for today. I went with my mom to pick up her medication and we had to wait so we went to get some drinks. Well, then we got some fries. Then for supper I had seconds. I'm starting right now to go back to no binging.

Good luck to everyone.

Hi Folks- yesterday was binge free for me.
Wishing you all a good day.

I'm hanging in there. We're going to the cinema this morning and thats usually where if I'm feeling particularly like screwing my week up, I go crazy. Soooo I figure I'll get one small bar of chocolate or one small cereal bar or something that once it's gone I cant go mad with.

It seems like everybody is on a roll! :)

Just want to say HI and report a good day yesterday, no binges.

Welcome barbarajean2605 and AudreyHephurn! :welcome:

Thanks for the warm welcome Blue Serenity :-)

I am so relieved to have found 3FC and you Folks especially - reading your personal stories made me face up to my problem and wish to change.

I am UK based so my posts will appear at odd times in USA.

Serenity - you raised an important point about counting "days". Our ultimate goal is to have a normal attitude to food, not treat it as a reward/sedative/comfort blanket/guilty secret.

I am taking of this as "one day at time " now - Today I can overeat/binge but today I will chose not to.

The best bonus I notice is that less food is more energy/better tasting food.

A binge induces lethargy, self loathing, swollen belly etc.

Planned eating means more separate,portion controlled meals, nicer ,fresher foods instead of whole packets of biscuits with the first tasting exactly the same as the first.

Best Wishes to you all.

Back to day one today. So far so good. :) I took my walk this morning and felt really good. Thankfully, I didn't gain today. Was a little worried. Hope everyone is having a good Saturday.


Blue Serenity- Thank you for the welcome. I'm so glad to have found 3FC. This site has already helped me in so many ways. :)

Drank way too much last night but I managed to avoid food and am doing alright. I just had a freak out moment where I realized it's nearing October and I haven't lost since August... Bugger. I'm going to have to really up my game.

:-(

11pm last night I overate - bread and cheese and meusli. no other reason than I was tired and cold.

This is a new day, the fact that I over ate yesterday does not mean I have to do it today.

Yeah I failed this weekend. I made a pork roast yesterday with the intention of having it as a weekend treat through yesterday and today. Yeah well it's gone. I ate so much I had that overstuffed feeling and then ate like 3 more potatoes. Ugh. So this is day 1 again.

Asparagus, you haven't failed! You've succeeded in my books by coming through it and with the intention to continue eating healthily. You're doing great :) :hug:

my dilemma with counting days is having days like the past two, where I kind of mini-binge in the afternoon and then get it under control. When I don't go to sleep and wake up feeling like total crap, I'm tempted to say I haven't binged even though I know there was some serious loss of control going on.

last night was fun, we had a social event at our house and it included all kinds of food and drinks. for awhile I honestly started wanting people to leave so i could pig out... but by the time everyone actually left i no longer felt like eating any more!

Week-ends are hard. Hang in there, guys.

Day 21 for me.

Hey everyone! :wave:

Today wasn't a good eating day for me. Started out fine but then I got the munchies and it went downhill from there. Tummy hurting from too much spaghetti (one of my weaknesses) ... or maybe it's hurting from too much candy. Not sure. :p Oh well, I'm back at it. Don't think I'll be eating anything else before bed unless it's pepto. lol

:yay: WardHog, you're doin' great!

iris, at least the craving to binge left, that's a good thing! All wasn't lost! :)

Asparagus, I agree with Spoz! You're keeping at it ... what do they say? "Rome wasn't built in a day!" :hug:

Spoz, good job avoiding the binge! :cp:

Have a great one! :sunny:

I started a thread for the new week! Stay strong, everyone. :)