Chicks in Control - Binge-Free Challenge: 3.14.11 - 3.20.11 - We are in this together!

:cheer2: :cheer2:Welcome to the binge-free challenge!! :cheer2: :cheer2:

This is a place where you can come in and talk about binging. Feel free to post about your successes and your struggles and keep track of how many days you've been binge free. You can also vent about anything and everything you feel like getting out. We are here to share our feelings and to encourage and inspire each other.

No negativity! We are strong chicks and I KNOW we all can do this!! And we don't have to do it alone, we have each other to get us through the rough times.

ALL chicks are welcome -- no one is excluded! If you are trying to lose weight, not trying, maintaining, recovering from an eating disorder, in the midst of one, or have ANY kind of problem with food, we would love to have you join us!! Please do not hesitate to post your feelings. Jump right in head first!!! We WILL catch you! :hug:

Good morning chickies! Not sure of the day since every day is day 1 but am feeling all right. This weekend was challenging...my mom has been visiting for some much-needed emotional support and she's leaving tonight. We were living it up this weekend and while I didn't binge, I did have more to drink that I usually do and ended up snacking on unnecessary things. It shows on the scale :( But, tonight I also leave for a business trip so those are always easy to manage in terms of food, etc. Since I stay in hotels, nothing is readily available and junk food requires getting dressed and driving to the store. With that said, I hope to be back on track by the end of the week.

I won't be able to check in with you guys so wishing you all a good and healthy week.

305!

Starting with a new therapist today--hopefully she'll be better than the last one (who was not good at all!)

Paris, only 60 days left until you cross the 1 year mark. That is amazing! Great job!!! Good luck with the new therapist. :)

Today is Day 156. Feeling good. :)

wow, you all have been doing so well for so long! i'm just coming off a wild weekend...binge-free for 6 hours :) even though i try to be understanding with myself...that i like quantity, that sometimes it's ok to indulge, etc...i think i've learned a couple things about myself: 1. i weigh less when i keep myself from even the occasional binge (so duh!) and 2. the "damage" done always escalates from 1 tick to 20 because the binge isn't isolated. it goes on and on and on.

i feel like there are so many areas i need to key in on right now: binging, clean-eating, mindfulness, exercise. and i'm a little overwhelmed. :/

but i'm going to start here, so that hopefully these 6 hours grow! :D

partypantalones, I am in a similar boat, coming off of several days' worth. I think it's too much to tackle it all at once - any improvement after a few days of nonstop binging is a cause for celebration.

I am on day 6 again but I feel good and strong this time. I WILL beat the binge monster and I WILL be able to fit into my summer clothes and not need to buy a bigger size!!

Hey guys. This weekend I had a weak moment. On Saturday, around 11 PM I ate about 20 saltine crackers I didn't feel hungry for, and about 6 small cookies. I feel pretty guilty. I didn't stuff my face without thought, I ate them while enjoying them, but I knew I wasn't hungry. This was after eating a full dinner (a fried fish sandwich, which I also felt guilty about), and I felt guilty while I was eating the crackers and cookies. :( :( But, the rest of the weekend wasn't bad, and I didn't throw in the towel on Sunday just because I over-ate Saturday night. It wasn't a binge because I wasn't stuffing my face or numbing my emotions. I just over-ate because I felt like it. Afterwards, I felt bad.

So that makes today 44. Even though I'm not sure if I should start over or not.

i think I'm on day 51! Really wanted chocolate & peanut butter today, we didn't have any here thankfully. If I wasn't broke, I'm sure I'd be at the market getting it right now. Feel very weak today, like I don't care anymore. Once these thoughts pass, I'll be happy I didn't binge.

great new avatar fruitlady! Beautiful!!!

Today is Day 1. I am trying out not eating breakfast because in a natural weekend state, I'm not hungry until the afternoon, and starting to eat early in the day gets me thinking about eating constantly all day.

Thanks Vixsin! The therapist went well. She asked good questions and had good insights, and this was only the initail intake meeting.

She's not an eating disorder specialist, but I don't know how much of a difference that would make, since I've managed to resist the behavoir for some time now. I figure she'll be good to figure out why the behavoir is there, like any other negative behavoir.

306!

Glad to hear it, Paris!

Today is 157!!

day 60. struggling today. been working a lot recently which keeps me out of temptations way but I am now off for a week and home alone for the majority of the day. never really thought about it before but being alone is obviously a trigger for me. I dont even feel hungry I just want to pass some time eating. Strange :?:

day 45. Went for a long walk yesterday and talked on the phone for about 2 hours. Didn't have the urge to binge because I was too busy being busy!

Today is Day 35 I think - Exercised A LOT yesterday and was ravenous - like my body just could not get full - so I ended up breaking even calories in/calories out wise. Decided to give myself a few more calories this week since I've been working out pretty hard and am pretty close to my goal weight. Aim for 1/2 a pound instead of a pound.

That said, it's <still> hard to tell the difference between psychological and physical hunger. At some point yesterday I got full, then wasn't REALLY hungry for dinner but wasn't REALLY full after. And woke up starving today. I wouldn't call yesterday a binge, but didn't make the healthiest choices in trying to get my body satisfied.

It's all still a struggle and the hardest one is trying not to think about food ALL THE TIME. Calculating and recalculating my calories/burn for the day. I use Fitday and I still calculate and re-calculate different scenarios.

Day 52- all cravings I had yesterday are now gone. I went to the market today & bought all healthy food, no chocolate or peanut butter.

I've been on a one way roller coaster lately. i just can't stop binging. it's worse every day, now it's gone that far that i binge already in the morning and troughout the day. it's ridicolous. i'm tried to do good today, bribing myself with a new jacket, but unfortunately it didnt work. i binged but not that much. it was within my daily calorie limit. but still. i was frantically wanderig around the town and thinking what could i buy to satisfy the monster in me. so i was walking from a store to a store. if only someone knew what i was actually doing... i'm very embarassed by my behaviour but i just can't break the cycle. only 20 pounds left to gaining all i have lost. i'm thinking of buying some green cofee but still hesitating, after reading some negative reports.
i see some of you ladies doing pretty great. keep it up. i wish i could do that too. i'm thinking about writing a blog to clear my minds and be accountable with myself. hopefully it'll work...hoping to reach day 1 tomorrow.

Day 7

Day 7, I ate more than I should have on a diet but I didnt binge and I didnt let it ruin my day. Even if I am up a bit tomorrow my life isnt over and it wont be anything a good hour workout cant fix :)

Day 17

Hitting a big obstacle today! A trigger.... ECK!

having an improntu BBQ with family, I would love to have said NO, but this is the only way my kids see their pop (hes an ***, and wont have anything to do wtih us, and the only way for them to see him is at family gatherings at other family members houses. *SIGH*) but that means facing a full Aussie BBQ, with food galore and add to the mix 3 horrible SIL's that tell me everything I should be, and everything I should do, and how to raise my kids ...
Now thats a trigger to stuff my face and ignore the lot of them
but I don't want to break not just my binge challenge, but my diet and weight loss as I finally believe I am suceeding in beating my binge monster, and to binge to avoid goes against everything I am trying to do.

SO I WONT BINGE, or even eat beyond my diet plan! I can do this!

day 3 :D

Got through day 23 yesterday, hooray! Great job everyone.

158!

I am soooo tired today. I just kept tossing and turning all night. It's hard to guage real vs. fake hunger when you are tired. I am drinking coffee at work right now, trying reaaallly hard not to over-eat just because I'm exhausted!

307

day 36 - These past couple of days have been a real struggle for me - It has been SO hard distinguishing between mental and physical hunger. Today I am planning healthy meals/healthy snacks spread throughout the day:

Cereal - 730AM
Granola Bar - 1030AM
Sandwich/carrots - 1230PM
Luna Bar - 230PM
Almonds/Apple - 430PM
Grilled Cheese Veggie Burger/Salad - 730PM
Yogurt/Fruit - 9PM

Goal today is to break even and then jumpstart weight loss again next week. Feeling SO ANXIOUS, like the anxiety is coursing through my body and I just can't shake it. So I want to eat, but that just makes me more anxious. Goal is to give my food plan up to God and ride the anxiety out in between meals.

Today is REALLY hard - Finding it difficult to "sit" with my feelings - Want to eat them or just make them go away - but alas eating won't make them go away so I just sit with them.

Find myself wanting to root out the cause but I don't think I can really pinpoint anything. So instead I just SIT with my DARN feelings and try not to react. Stupid anxiety.

Bought some dark chocolate, had about 300 cals of it and then went around and handed it out as the "chocolate fairy" to my office - then put the rest on the communal table. Was delicious but feelings still there. Think I'm going to go for a drive.

53 days since I binged, I think my stomach shrunk. Even if i over eat, i can't eat that much. I don't know how I even fit 5300 calories(including breakfast, lunch & dinner) of food in my stomach in one day when I used to binge. Now, if I do over eat it's more like 2500 calories for the day including my meals & I'm stuffed.

Hi everyone ~ I'm on day 73. Weekends are hardest for me, so I love being at work and being in my routine during the week. Hope everyone is doing ok today. Happy hump day. :)

Breathing instead of eating. Breathing instead of eating. Breathing instead of eating.

day 61 and still struggling with not being at work.
Sarahinbalance ; completely understand what you say about having to sit with your feelings.I really should try to dig deeper and understand the root cause but at the minute it is easier to just take it day by day and control the binging. hopefully as time goes by it will become easier to separate my emotions and the need to binge and I will be able to sort out the way I feel without raiding the fridge and making the situation a whole lot worse.

VERY close to relapsing - If I go over again tomorrow then I will have to start over on Day 1. Ate according to plan and then had 1 spoon of PB, a spoon of Nutella and a Luna bar. It IS over eating but I'm done. I'm stopping for the night.

DAMMIT I want to figure out what is going on with me. I've been feeling anxious all day - I walked 3 miles this AM and 2 this evening with the pups, drank some relax tea, lay in the hammock for a while and SOMETHING is going on. And it's effecting my eating.

LADIES I am committing to you - I will eat 2100 calories tomorrow, I won't eat dark chocolate and will just eat sustaining foods, I will eat nourishing foods spaced out throughout the day and I will undo the damage I did today (calorie wise).

I'm trying so hard and doing all the things I know to do to take care of myself but can't figure out what is going on with me. PRAYING to wake up in a different mood/attitude.

Today is Day 3. I overate yesterday and felt a bit of desire to binge but I didn't do it. Today will be stressful - my cell phone stopped working just as my mom embarks on her journey to Japan which obviously may not work out according to plan, and I am feeling a bit fidgety and crave-y from messed up eating hours and having ice cream yesterday. I won't blow it though. I can't afford not to fit into these pants.

Survived yesterday (miss autistic chucked a screaming tantrum so i didn't go to the bbq for dinner, though I did send my other daughter and OMG at what they said about us.. funny they must think my other daughter deaf as they were rather blunt.. I am sad now, I know they are nasty but I don't know if i should confront them or just avoid them)

anyway!
now is day 18

omg wish I'd saw this last night when I started a thread under "weightloss support" CRAVINGS and BINGEING late at night are my #1 problems and sabatoges my GOOD days. I've intended to have it together this week haven't done so well with it Mon. & Tues. but TONIGHT I want to win this battle! TONIGHT and the rest of this week. (im craving now but I shall fight it!) glass of water and plum for me until these my MIND stop playing tricks on me!!...I will definitely be checking back. Hope everyone is doing well with this challenge!!

308

Day 159!

Day 36 - Good workout, eating whole foods, hungry now but waiting a bit for lunch time. Just breathing and putting one foot in front of the other.

Tough week.

Day 54!

I HATE the fact that I finish my snack and wonder what's next - Sarah, the point of a snack is to satiate hunger until the next meal. SIGH.

So SICK of my relationship with food.

I guess this thread is as good a place as any to de-lurk!

I'm only on day 1 of no binging ;). I binged all day yesterday, but today I've kept myself in check except for a bit too much mindless snacking. Hopefully I'll be with you tomorrow on my Day 2 of being binge-free!

Day 2 on my binge free challenge last night was not as bad as I had anticipated, night binging is my hardest..lets see how night two goes...YOU CAN DO IT PARAFILM! we've all been there!

Weight gain from my 4-day binge is gone after less than a week! A bit more than halfway through Day 4 and feeling great.

The scale was up this AM but I will just move on and weigh myself next week - I have definitely been eating more/unhealthier this week but know it's not REAL gain.

Survived yesterday, had a really nice grilled meal with my fiance, watched a movie and today is Friday. Praying for moderation this weekend.

Day 38.

I'm new here but not new to the struggles we all go through. :)

This is only day 6 for me, once I make it through today. The last few weeks have been so awful in terms of staying on plan for a day or two (IF I'm lucky it would be 2...), then binging. Part of the problem is my boyfriend got the super premium ice cream from costco for a party we had a few weeks back and nobody ate it. That is TWO containers of ice cream at 280 cals a serving. And ...yeah...right...I'm going to just weigh out one serving. So several days last week and the week before I ate 1000 calories of JUST ice cream! Uggg. Luckily that's gone now (because of me) and I told him we can NOT have that in the house anymore.

This week has been good. (I aim for 1600/day) Tuesday I had 2000 because I had an extra glass or two of champagne at a work function, but I was happy that it didn't cause me to come home and snack out on salty or cheesy stuff like drinking often does. And, according to my Fit Bit, I still burned more that day than I ate. So I don't consider that day a failure, just not ideal.

I too am worried about the weekend. I'm going out with a friend tomorrow night and I know I'll have some drinks. And I want to and need to. :) So my choices are: Work those 3 glasses of champagne into my plan and stay at 1600, or allow a higher calorie day but still refuse to binge. (Honestly, 3 glasses of champagne is about 300 calories, so it's not like we're talking about a huge issue.) I'll workout tomorrow, and having this FitBit tell me my calorie burn each day helps me keep it in perspective.

Sorry to ramble. It's just nice to be able to talk about this stuff with someone. I could never let my boyfriend hear this internal conversation. He already thinks I'm too obsessed every time I pull out my kitchen scale.

I'm glad we're all in this together. :)

160!!

309!

Weight gain from my 4-day binge is gone after less than a week! A bit more than halfway through Day 4 and feeling great.

Good for you, krampus! http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-dance005.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)

Today is my first day being binge free. I have always know that it was an issue. Even as a child I would eat so much that I would throw up. It is nutty to me that food is a comofort thing to me. I HATE it. I am so glad that there is this amazing support group to help me finally get over this nasty cycle.

I have been 4 weeks without a binge today! I am very happy about this! I am gonna try SO HARD to do this for at least the rest of march...which is halfway over ALREADY so I think I can make it. Time is flying by this year. I ended up weighing myself today and I am at 156 lbs. lol Its taken 4 weeks of non-binging and being on plan to get even close to the weight I was at just like 6 weeks a go. If I stayed on track or at least just cut my binges down by half I might be in the 140s by now. This makes me kind of depressed. However I am getting close once again and that makes me happy. ; )

Hi this is day one for me too

I'm on day 48 without bingeing.

I'm upset because I realized something today. Last Saturday my fiancee & I went out to lunch. I finished what I ordered, and I was still hungry. He had ordered fried fish sliders, and had 1 left over. He offered it to me. I was honstly still hungry, it was not just in my head. I was afraid to eat the fish sandwich, because "fried" foods usually act as a "gateway food" for more high-calorie foods. I was hungry, though, so I ate it. I am not upset about that. I AM upset because AFTER I ate the fish sandwich, and felt horribly guilty about it, I came home home and ate MORE food that I WASN'T hungry for. Then I kind of said "well, I've already broken some rules, may as well break them all" and the next few days over-ate. I didn't BINGE-- like I didn't all-out eat like a total pig. I just over-ate at meals, and didn't care. I ate a huge slice of cake after dinner. I ate extra crackers that I didn't actually feel physically hungry for. I grabbed 2 cookies, intead of 1. I'm just mad at myself, because I've been doing that all week. I let a stupid fish sandwich derail me. If I let the fish sandwich be 1 exception to an otherwise good week, then no problem! But it's all the extra things combined that hurt my efforts. :( :(

Day 55!

No binges since the 7th! 11 days!

I'm curious as to what point we consider ourselves to have binged. Like, is it a calorie amount, a physical sensation in the body, etc? Is it simply going 'off plan', even by 100 calories? Where do you define it for yourself?

For me it's that out of control feeling. Like, Tuesday I went off plan by 400 calories but didn't consider it a binge because it didn't have the emotional charge.

I think it's probably different for different people... for me a bing is I start eating something I know I shouldn't and I eat the WHOLE thing rather than stopping at 1 or 2 servings.... my problem is I do this and then I do it again the next day .... saying oh I give up and continue down this dangerous road!

I agree just10... a binge for me has its own emotional and physical aspect where I'm eating myself into a food coma--I'm eating even though I'm not hungry, even though I'm uncomfortably full, even if I'm not really enjoying it, and there's really no way to get myself to stop eating.

There are definitely times when I go over my calorie limit, or overeat a little bit, or snack when I'm not hungry, but I don't really consider it a binge until I get that out-of-control feeling.

My Day:

8:00 am: Alright, if I want to hit my weekly goal, have to be on track today. ate my normal yogurt for breakfast.
9:30 am: Co-worker brings in steaming platter of the best smelling tray of chocolate chip cookies EVER. (thinking to myself) I'm not eating one. I can't eat one. Maybe I can eat half of one....maybe i'll eat just a small one. ate a small one
10:00 am: ate a big one
10:30 am: only two cookies left on the platter, must get a third before they're all out!
11:00 am: what is wrong with me?? why do I have no self control? why are those cookies so damn good? god I missed sweets.
1:00 pm: at a company event. they're serving my favorite, wings! well they are my favorite, maybe I can have a few. I already messed up today, how much could it hurt? Today is gone anyway, might as well make the best of it and really splurge (yah cuz THAT makes sense).
3:00 pm: By 3 pm, I proceeded to eat 6 wings, 3 onion rings, a jalapeno popper, piece of cheese quesadilla, and some fries.
5:00 pm: Well I screwed today up. While I'm at it I might as well stop and get ICE CREAM for dinner. then I won't eat anything else I swear
6:00 pm: popcorn with butter
6:30 pm: chocolate with mouse

Now: I hate myself. Why does this thought process always go down in my head? The second I mess up I convince myself its logical to keep on messing up for that day. How can I keep convincing myself of that? How can I keep on believing that? Why am I sabotaging all my hard hard work?? I really have been trying so hard to be healthier. I wish I didn't do this to myself.

Day 3...feeling full feeling good (afraid to weigh though) i feel like that sometimes too Sarah but we HAVE TO PUSH through!!

Day 20, so far so good

tomorrow I have a tournament to go to (all dayer) and being around a bunch of people sitting watching and eating from the kiosk will be hard.
I am planning my day and I will stick to that

day 64 and the scales have finally come unstuck. lost 3lbs this week.
chipmunk cheeks ; congrats on the four weeks. Dont be too hard on yourself you are doing great :cp:
Born this way ; dont hate yourself. today is a new day and you can continue to eat healthily and put yesterday down to having a little wobble :hug:

310!!!

Day 1- I really blew it yesterday, i am considering it a binge. I couldn't stop myself, i had no control. My calories were 4200!

Today started out great and then I decided to have some leftovers for lunch. It triggered something in me to want to eat, eat, eat!! I have maintained control thus far. I sat and figured my meals and snacks for the rest of the day. I will only be going over by 20 cals if I STICK to to the PLAN!! Its gonna be a rough day I can already tell!

UGHHHHHH today is day 2 and my not so darling husband (for today at least) and I got into an argument.. AND now all I want to do is eat eat eat. I decided to get on here instead to hopefully help! I hate days like this. And the argument was over something stupid not even worth the argument and def. not worth the 4.3 lbs I lost this past week. Does anyone have any tips on how to distract myself when I want to binge??

Melissamartiinson ; I dont know what time it is where you are but I find that the best distraction is to get out of the house and away from temptation. Can you go for a walk, go to the gym or go visit friends or family ?

Not sure what "column" to put yesterday. I ate WELL over my plan (3000 vs. 1600) but I didn't have that out of control feeling. I was genuinely hungry when I got home. I think the problem is/was two fold: I waited too long between lunch and dinner (6 hours, as I went out for un-planned drinks after work), had 2 glasses of champagne I wasn't planning on, and then when I got home STARVING, basically just snacked instead of sitting down to a real meal, so my "you're done eating now" switch didn't get flipped. I was so hungry when I got home that rather than even putting together something easy and quick, I just grabbed some cheese and a tortilla and kind of kept snacking. I never got SUPER full and never had that "OMG I MUST KEEP EATING" feeling, so I'm not sure if it counts as a binge or not. Either way - it was a calorie-dense as one.

Strangely, (and awesomely) I was down a half pound from yesterday. Maybe my metabolism needed a boost.

Tonight I'm going out for drinks with a friend and am not only pre-planning my dinner before hand and snack after, I'm going to PREPARE them and stick them in the fridge. That way, when I get home, even if I'm starving, all I have to do is nuke it for 3 minutes. Surely I can wait 3 minutes?

So including 3 glasses of champagne I plan on having, my calories for today will be 1763 if I stick to my plan and my average calories for the week will be 1848. A little higher than I'd like, but nowhere NEAR the last few weeks. (last week I averaged 2500 per day!)

Man, every day is a struggle with this stuff. But we're in it together. :)

UGHHHHHH today is day 2 and my not so darling husband (for today at least) and I got into an argument.. AND now all I want to do is eat eat eat. I decided to get on here instead to hopefully help! I hate days like this. And the argument was over something stupid not even worth the argument and def. not worth the 4.3 lbs I lost this past week. Does anyone have any tips on how to distract myself when I want to binge??

Run, Read, Knit, Find new and interesting recipes, chew on some ice (yes I know that it's bad for your teeth) call a friend, read a book, my favorite.... scream into a pillow,write in a journal, write down your feeling on a piece of paper - fold it real small - get a fire proof bowl and then light it on fire!:hug:


Oh and today is Binge Free Day 2 =)

21 back up to 3 weeks, now to wonder how long it will be until I fall again.
Have a dinner planned for the 2nd April that I am not sure I can go to without considering it a binge.. MY goal is to survive until then BINGE FREE!

hi everyone:)
are you guys doing another binge free challenge? I really need some support from people who know what i'm going through. this past week i ate well and worked out daily, but two days on binge eating just put me back at where i started:yikes:

sorta bummed :(

311!

I just weighed myself and am down .8 pounds from yesterday, and yesterday I was down .5 from the day before. I know some of that is water, etc, but it shows me that the 3000 cal day I had on Friday didn't do as much damage as I thought. I was actually hungry for all those calories, so maybe this is one example of my body operating the way is supposed to. :)

Yesterday I stayed on plan, though my cals were planned a little high, and I feel really good overall about how this last week went. Whether I call Friday a binge or not, I'm still not sure, but it's good to see that one really bad day like that didn't throw off my whole week of good clean eating. I averaged a 1 pound loss this week, so I'm pleased. (But not pleased enough to celebrate with cake! :) )

Day 2- made it!

day 65.
fruitlady ; keep going you can do it :D

Run, Read, Knit, Find new and interesting recipes, chew on some ice (yes I know that it's bad for your teeth) call a friend, read a book, my favorite.... scream into a pillow,write in a journal, write down your feeling on a piece of paper - fold it real small - get a fire proof bowl and then light it on fire!:hug:


Oh and today is Binge Free Day 2 =)

Thank you for all of the great ideas!!! I made it through day 3!!

tubbaki, I'm in the same place right now! Looks like we got pretty similar stats. Same thing happened to me this week, two days of binging and i gained back the 2 lbs i lost the week before :/ Guess I can kind of make up an excuse and blame it on break-up binging. Now that's through, let's say you and me get through the next 7 days together, & get back on track on our way to 115! :)

tamara- thanks! 65 days for you is amazing, good job!

Day 3- I really want to eat & eat, even though I'm not hungry. So far I haven't, hope I can make it today.