How do I know what is normal?

  • I feel like I haven't reference as to normal eating, over-eating, and binging. I may applaud myself for not eating as much as I could have but in reality it still may have been a binge. Anyone else struggling with this?
  • Being able to track things at your finger tips helps a lot. I first thought it would be tedious to enter everything into a program, but with LoseIt! (and many others I'm sure), once you log a food once, it's saved into "your foods" and it's easy to reference back. It really helps prevent a binge. And I've decided as far as anything unhealthy (Take-out, pizza etc.) If it's not already in the database, I'm not eating it. I'll live without.

    To me, it doesn't matter how MUCH food I'm eating, so long as it falls in my calorie limit. Some days I'll have 3 BIG meals, and others I'll literally snack all day. I do watch my carb intake, but I don't let that control my diet.

    I'm not sure what sort of program you're on or if you log everything you put in your mouth. But I'd greatly suggest it and you'll be amazed how easily it works.

    hope this somewhat answers anything? haha
  • This has been suggested to me and I guess the addict in me is resisting because I don't want to actually face what I am doing to myself. I'm trying to do things one step at a time. I have gained and lost so many times it's not even funny. I've come to realize it's a mental issue. I love binging, I love eating, and in the moment I don't care about the consequences. As I told my psychiatrist, I get a lot of happiness from food and even more from eating large quantities of it. I need to find other things to make me happy so that I don't use food as my only source.

    I'm ok with eating too much. I just want to stop the binging. There is a difference for me. Does that make sense? I feel like once I have the binging out of the way then I can work on limiting calories. Or maybe I'm in denial. I just don't know!

    I have already started getting a little bit of exercise every day, so that's a start. Ugh. I need more therapy.
  • A friend of mine recommended a book to me called Intuitive Eating. I told her there's no way it could help me because I have a serious issue with food. I came home and checked it out on Amazon and so many people said it changed their relationship with food....and these were people that had binge issues like me! I ordered it used and it only cost me $4....I should be getting it today. I wish I could tell you I know the solution but I don't. I've also lost and gained the same 50-70 lbs. so many times. Right now, I'm counting calories and I'm also doing some Intermittent Fasting (IF) (we have a thread under General Diet Plans and Questions. The nice thing about IF is you don't eat for some period of time and then you eat during a window of time....that way, you can eat a larger amount of food while still eating the same amount of calories that you would have if it were more spread out. Not sure if I'm explaining it well. There are different methods of IF so if one doesn't work for you, there are easier ones, etc. Also, check out Volumetrics....although you probably already have.

    Either way, I totally get the food addiction thing because I have it and I've been struggling with it for over 20 years. I hope we can find a solution.
  • I use myfitnesspal to check my calorie levels when I can't tell if I've eaten enough. I'm a big fan of intuitive eating, but my eating disorder lies to me and tells me to eat enough to make me feel sick. I know how many calories I can eat in a day and still feel healthy because I did a few months of tracking. I know how much usually makes for a satisfying meal for me. If I've already reached those calorie numbers, I think of some other way of dealing with my hunger. The difference for me is that I don't let myfitnesspal tell me what the right number of calories is for my goals. I set the calories. I decide what is good for my body. I just use the computer as an objective outside opinion on wether that next bite or next serving is going to be overeating or not. Because honestly, that place in my brain that tells me to stop eating before it hurts is a little wonky.