[Marianna]

Hi.. I haven't been on this forum for ages... lovely to be checking back in. Over the past 6 months I have lost 13 kilos or 28 pounds I am a compulsive eater and have really been working on why I eat and doing intuitive eating.. slow and steady is working well for me! Though I feel like things have stalled a bit and I am eating way too many badish carbs.. so I thought I would start phase 1 next week. I have become a vegetarian in the last 6 months and feel like I need some extra guidance and support and it doesn't feel as simple as meal and vege to get my nutritional requirements anymore. I also need some exercise inspiration

I am terribly sporadic on the forums due to university commitments, but just wanted to pop in and say hi so it didn't look odd if I just dropped into threads Hope everyone is well

See you around,
Marianna

[weezle]

back!

Congrats on the weight loss too! It's good to have you back!

[Kiko]

back to the beach! Lots of us "oldies" are still around, with many new wonderful chicks in the mix.

[cottagebythesea]

Back, Marianna! It's good to hear from you again. Do feel free to drop in whenever you get the opportunity!

[tomandkara]

Hi Marianna! Congrats on the weight loss! Hope you'll be able to share some of your inspiration with us!

Kara

[Liannie]

Hi Marianna,

Welcome back to the forum. As a relative newbie here, I certainly welcome your presence among us. We all draw inspiration from those of us who have been successful and we certainly understand those of us who struggle.

There's another group of us who are doing The Beck Diet Solution and we have a thread under the General Diets section. It helps a lot with compulsive eating because it is a daily regimen exercises for cognitive behavioral change. I got the book on Amazon. You might want to check it out if you get a chance.

L

[Barb0522]

Welcome back! Lots of us remember you from before. It's good to have you back. I'm redoing phase 1 myself.

[Marianna]

Thank you for the lovely welcomes

I was using the overcoming overeating books last year and they really helped me to examine why I was eating. I started making sure I always had food with me when out and doing the intuitive eating. I found after the initial flurry of eating really junky foods I settled into a south beach phase 2 style of eating. I also became a vegetarian - mostly for ethical reasons, but also I started to feel very stodgy after eating meat and switching to being a lacto-ovo vegetarian has actually reduced my cravings for carbs I have found.

I typically don't eat too much pasta and rice due to the effects it has on my body and also the corresponding lethargy I get afterwards. But with exam time and university I found that I was relying on them as quick and easy meals. Now that I have a break.. I would like to do a bit of a detox with those types of carbs. I always lose weight on phase 1, but more importantly my body feels great while doing it. Much more energy and mental clarity after those first few days.

For anyone who is interested, I have also found meditation to help. Eating and my weight for me is a symptom, not the real problem. So I restarted meditating and working on the "why" behind my eating. I also started to develop a gentleness towards myself about my weight and eating. Stopped beating myself up for doing it. It is a habit of a lifetime that takes courage to work through and the negative self talk just actually perpetuates the underlying problems. Pema Chodron's audiobook "Getting Unstuck" has been very helpful in addressing and identifying the reasons why I eat the way that I do.

Thank you for the book recommendation - I will have a look at it.


M

[Marianna]

I have noticed a very interesting thing during the past week - I have started binging again, which I haven't done in ages and also being obsessed... did I mention obsessed with weightloss.

My daughter has been quite ill with the flu season in the past week and I have just been really chowing down. I was even contemplating lap band surgery... which is really shocking for me.

The only thing I can think of is the anxiety of starting yet another diet! So I think perhaps I will can the phase 1 plans and just fill my house with great phase 2 foods and place no pressure of a phase on my eating. Just get back to being mindful of my body and my food needs. Not dieting has worked well for me over the past 6 months. I am so happy with my weight loss over the past few months. I don't think I am ready to diet again. I started getting fixated on not being able to eat certain foods this week, on how much weight I would drop over the 2 weeks of phase 1, doing charts on how long it would take me to reach my goal weight losing 1 kilo per week etc etc etc.. such a spiral for me.

SO I think I will lurk in here and the recipe section and get into a phase 2 style of eating again - without the pressure attached... funny thing this dieting/weightloss/body issues/compulsive eating thing isn't it? No binging when I don't diet and unrestrained stuffing myself when I just plan on going on one