I ate out today and it wasn't what I intended to do for dinner ,but with a little last minute preplanning in the car before I got to the restaurant I was able to get through it without going over my calories! This is such a big accomplishment for me!

Now it's the start of my 2nd week , and I am feeling really good about having made it through the first week. I am hopeful that in the next few weeks I will be able to start to notice some weightloss and feel more comfortable in my clothes!

Thanks 7lbs and tyla for your suggestions! They were very helpful.

Mak78- those times are my favorites- when I indulge healthily and don't go crazy, and can feel good about it
I hope I can feel that way a lot with my parents visiting me this weekend

Yesterday didn't go so well. I had breakfast up at the dining hall, and when I got home after a few hours of dishwashing for some money, I just ate peanut butter crackers and jelly until the jar ran out (it was mostly empty, thanfully), then, despite not being hungry at all, two giant bowls of chili with bread (made me feel so sick it was such a heavy and large meal). I didn't eat for several hours, and had a healthy snack of cucumber slices and hummus. Then I made a pumpkin pie... which could have been much worse. I wasn't awful with that pie.
I'm disappointed that I binged, but I'm happy it was a mild binge.
I also got my period today, so that could explain why I wanted the extra food.

Today is Day 1 once again though. I had a piece of pie for breakfast, and stopped at that

Wow tyla that is amazing!!! 40 days!!! That is a record!!! Congrats, veeery good work!!!

mainecyn, yes, we sound very much alike. Personal perfect storm is the very precise and accurate way of describing it.

As for me I am doing great. I obviously had physical cravings yesterday, but managed to handle them. Aside from a stomach ache, I am perfect!

Mak that is amazing, good for you, I wish I could do that!!!

Megan I go so crazy during my period too!!! Quite normal I guess.

Happy friday!!!

Managed to avoid a binge today, mainly because I skipped breakfast so my afternoon snack didn't make my calories skyrocket. I've started getting too hungry at around 4 or 5 pm. I need to figure out how to stop that.

TGIF!! I'm so happy the weekend is here. I'm feeling strong today, and I will exercise right after I post this. I'm so proud this is day 41! I had oatmeal, banana and carrots for breakfast and will have oatmeal, almonds and yogurt for lunch. And tonight going to have steak with veggies! That should be around 1400 cals. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Mak, I'm so happy for you! You're now into your second week!! Plus you did well at the restaurant last night. You're on a roll now! I'm rooting for you to have the best weekend, too!

Megan, believe that you will eat right when your parents are here, and you will! I'm sending you good thoughts and wishes. Congrats on doing so well this morning. Keep up the great work!

gg, congrats on handling your cravings yesterday. That is a huge deal. Greeeaat job!! Thank you for your compliment, too. And thanks for your words of encouragement to all of us. They are truly appreciated.

ILoveVegetables, congrats on avoiding a binge. As we all know, it is easy! So, excellent work! As far as 3 or 4 pm, I've been eating 15 cut, baby carrots - only 35 calories. It takes a lot of chewing, and seems to stop my hunger pangs. Good luck to you!

Thanks tyla and ggbsy! Day#9 has been an amazing day! I had a pre employment physical today ,and knew that they would be asking me to step on the scale. In the past I have felt so awful about myself and really ashamed everytime I had to be weighed in public, so rather I was up or down in weight it was always like a traumatic experience. Today I decided that I wasn't going to go through that any more! I told myself that I am more than my food issues and no matter what the scale says I have a lot to be proud of which is a big shift in perspective for me. I was all set to just accept whatever the number was and not let it discourage me if I had not lost any weight at all, I mean after all it has only been a week. I am not sure how but according to the scale I was on today I have lost 7lbs over the past week! I was really proud of myself for losing the weight and for embracing a healthier philosophy about the getting weighed and the scale in general. I also went to dinner with my husband tonight and planned my meal before going , so I knew exactly what I was getting and that it was within my calorie range. It took some real effort but I stayed within my calorie range and didn't get out of control. I left the restaurant feeling really good about myself instead completely stuffed and feeling sick. It was another real monumental accomplishment for me!

I hope I can stay strong over the weekend. I hope we all can.

Would have checked in sooner if i hadn't had my face buried in a bag of chips and been too busy slurping a McDonald's Frappe, add two packages of Reese's Big Cup peanut butter cups, a Halloween version of snickers candy bar, 3 donuts in the parking lot, 2 on the way home, and a small fry and you can see I have been busy. In all honesty the sad thing is I don't know if it could even qualify as a "binge" for me as it is smaller than others. Again, I ate in my car, eating donuts in the parking lot before I left the store,

I knew I had an issue this morning when I had to get up to take my daughter to school early for a trip..I had already decided i was going to go get donuts. Its been bad day for me. I hate doing this, I remember looking at myself this morning and said that I have to do something about my stomach, its getting bigger, rolls are coming back, the 20 lbs I've gained are going to be 35 at this point if I don't figure out how to stop. I have tried everything I can think of these past 6 months, the eating just doesn't stop, meds, exercise, self help, groups, I dont' know. I always have great intentions, yet it brings me back to where I was before, depressed, sick to my stomach, hating myself, my life, my actions, everything.

Mak, congratulations on making it to 9! Was that yesterday? So now it's day 10?!!!!!! Whatever, congrats for doing so well. Keep up the great work. Have a very happy weekend.

cyn, Start over. The past is the past. Move on to day #1. The idea is to not quit. I know you can do it. I understand how hard it is sometimes. Getting back takes real discipline. I'm on your side, and praying that you don't have any more temptations. Remember, we're all in this together. Take a walk. Just moving will give you more strength.

I made it another day. Weekends are always hard, but I tried to keep myself busy. We just had dinner, and now my husband and I will walk in the mall. Have a great evening!

Mak, I forgot to congratulate you on losing 7lbs.!!! That's awesome and amazing!!!

I think I need to change my time zone for time stamping my post because it technically was still my 9th day when I posted late last night but according to the time stamp it was after mid night so it was the beginning of my 10th day. Thanks for pointing that out tyla.

I am sort of confused about about how to feel about today. I saved a lot of my calories to go out and have Mexican food tonight which is one of my faves. It's a local small place so the menus not online. I ate half of my plate but way too many chips ,and I know can't control how many chips I eat so I should not eat them. I also drank regular soda and even though I ate signifantly less than I would during my constant overeating days it was still too much. I thought well it has only been a week how much my stomach can hold shouldn't have changed but that was not the case at all. I ended feeling sick and miserable after.

I feel like in some ways it was not an on plan day so that's not really great but in other ways I feel proud of myself that I didn't eat half as much as I did in the past ,and I learned that my stomach is not going to deal well with trying to put to much food into it after regularly following a low calorie food plan. And I am not really feeling discouraged because I also feel like I learned other important things today!

1.) I should limit eating meals out to once or twice a month because that's what is manageable for me right now. Going out to eat to many times over the weekend just increases my odds of wavering in my commitment to my food plan.

2.) Make sure that I don't ever even let the waiter put the chips and salsa out on our table at all because I don't need to not have even one chip.

3.) I don't have to be perfect on this journey. I just have to stay committed to learning about how I can help myself to best manage my food issues, so I just have to keep making progress one day at a time! Sometimes that means learning from the days that things didn't workout so well!

4.) I survived an off plan meal! All my hard work is not down the drain! I am not a failure or a loser. I am human. And I am learning what will and will not work for me which is totally ok! :-)

Mak, you're doing a totally awesome job. You've learned a lot about yourself in a little over a week. That's amazing!! Don't put too much thought in how you've done or how better you could have done. Focus on how great you're going to do and feel today. Remember, we're taking it one day at a time. Each day is different with new challenges. How we handle each day is up to us. You're doing a fantastic job!! And you're changing your old behavior! I'm so happy for you!! Keep up the great work!! Lots of hugs to you today. We're in this together.

Thanks for the reminder tyla! I really needed it because if I am not careful I get caught up in never being satisfied with myself and always critizing myself which has never been helpful. This weekend has been hit and miss with following my food plan ,and I am still proud of the efforts I make everyday to manage my food issues. Everyday is different and my best looks different from one day to the next. I have spent a lot of time learning about myself over the past few years this is the just first time I feel like I have really been able to make sense of all it so now my goal is to make the best use of it to improve the quality of my life.

Broke my streak by overeating during dinner today. My parents and I went to a pretty expensive place which had an amazing buffet. I mainly had a lot of prawns, sushi and sashimi, but definitely ate way more than I should have

Time to get back on the wagon. I've been taking too many cheat meals and need to stop.

Mak, I'm so happy that you're sticking with it, and learning a lot about yourself. It's easy to think what we're doing is not good enough. That's also a habit taught to us from someone. I do the same, and I'm trying desperately to change those thoughts. We have to realize we're doing the best we can. Can't be perfect all the time, but we can sure try to do the best we can. Losing 7lbs. is awesome!!!! Keep up the great work, and the next thing you know, it will be 10! Good luck to you!!

ILoveVegetables, eating sushi, prawns and sashimi is really good for you! You probably didn't do as bad as you thought. Just keep going. I don't think you broke anything. You're doing better than before. Focus on today, how you're going to do the best you can today. Good to have you posting again. All the best to you!! And remember, we're all in this together.

As for me, I had an a great weekend. Bought boots I've been wanting, and even though I said I was going to save them for Christmas, I wore them yesterday out to breakfast. I had scrambled eggs, an English muffin and coffee, and felt perfectly content. And I considered my boots to be a reward for staying within my range and exercising for several weeks.