That was inspirational, boomerang, thank you for posting it.

On day 28 myself, had a bit of a struggle in the last few days with cravings, but emerged victorious. The way home from work (I walk) takes me through one of the busiest shopping/tourist streets in Amsterdam and every few meters there's a bakery/cakery/chocolaterie/crêperie/wafflerie... ugh! On top of everything, they plopped down a fair in the Dam square that's just full of Bad Stuff™. I'm not going to change my route though, I have to face down my demons.

Day 9 and one # down, to 184.5. Notice I am "binging" on the weighing. If it starts reversing its trend I'll give it up, again:dizzy: For now it seems to be motivating me to stay on track.
Kittenmancer:hug: I am sure that others will have wonderful, helpful words of wisdom for you. I can only say I UNDERSTAND!!! I lived in Eu. until the age of 14.We go back quite often, sometimes 2-3 times a year and I usually come home about 10# heavier after each trip. Of course, for you it is different; you LIVE there. On a couple of occasions, when I felt that I was truly overdoing it and I did not want to have to buy clothes that fit my newly pastry filled body, I bought ONE thing that I really, really, wanted and I ate it RIGHT BEFORE bed time. Of course at the time I was not counting calories but perhaps you can work your selection into your program. The reason I did it before bed time is because, clearly, it was a trigger food. I'd finish and go to sleep .I am one of those rare birds who needs food in my stomach or I can't sleep. I am NOT a night eater, meaning I do not get out of bed once I am there, to rummage for food. If these foods do not trigger you, you can still select one if you cannot refrain and eat it whenever it is a good time for you to do so. Maybe it can be your dinner?

Is this the best way to do this? Probably not, some would say not to eat the thing at all, to substitute, to do whatever necessary to eliminate the behavior completely. I also think that would be best but FOR ME it was unrealistic (I mean for goodness sakes, I drive 4 hrs. round trip to get to my favorite Eu. bakery in "our area"; I just do that about 2X a year though), so reducing ALL DAY binges on pastries to ONE A DAY was a really big deal. My guess, given that I am so...familiar with the dastardly items, is that one could total 500-700 calories so...can you fit it into your program? If not, maybe you can share it :rofl: (the only kind of sharing I've EVER done with such things was to eat mine and share the other person's).
In any event good luck and man, do I FEEL for you! The only way I can avoid going completely crazy with pastries is to avoid the visual blast. If I see it, it is over so I have to give you credit for even being able to walk past the stores and still have some semblance of control!:cp:
Have a great day everyone:)

day 8 here. good job everyone.

i still have thoughts of binging, but in reality, i'm not hungry when i have them so i ignore them. i'm tired of stuffing myself when i'm not hungry, there is no reason for it. i know i can make it so much further then this too, since it was not more then a month ago i hit 56 days. i'm still struggling with this whole gaining weight thing, but i'm trying to plug along and not let it affect me by binging. mostly though, i'm motivated to do better because i don't want my daughter to have the kind of relationship with food/weight that i do. i would be pretty upset if she ended up with the same problems as me.

Time to start again... I just have to keep at it until it sticks... Day 1

373 today

Day 10 and relieved to have reached the goal I had for Oct. 21, of losing 4# this month. Will have to change my current weight to 184 :)
Have a great day, everybody .

Day 2...I tend to think of sweets. Yesterday I got back into the swing of things. drinking more water to help the temptation, something i didn't do when I started to binge again.

Howdy :)

Oh man Vixsin ...you rock...a little bit late but congrats on your one year anniversary :) you're truly an inspiration

i haven't binged in a few days, i even weighed and the numbers were better than i thought. :) lately i've been obsessed with shopping and i'm spending on wardrobe like crazy. i'm only sad that i'm not a size or two smaller so that clothes would look better on me. i already have a new goal to loose a few pounds by new year and it will be super great if i actually loose anything. i'm so sick and tired of these circles of losing and gaining. i'm trying not be so hard on me as i was before...and i also i started a new job and so far i like it a lot. i hope it will help me keep motivated.

good luck yall

Day 22....

I even managed to make it through my birthday yesterday..,we went to the cheesecake factory n I did get a skinny salad and a cheesecake chocolate style but that did not trigger me..., I am def happy...
Well lots to do today....

Happy Monday everyone!!!

Day 55 of exercising and non mindless eating. :)

Congratulations. Boomerang, for losing 4 lbs. this month!! We all know that this is not always an easy thing to do. Congrats on an fantastic accomplishment! Keep up the great work! :congrat: :bravo:

DD, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! :bday2you:
Wow, I'm impressed how well you did yesterday!

Thank you so very much, Tyla :hug: Yes, I am glad to be able to relax until Oct. 21, not in terms of eating differently than I have been, but that I will not make my goal. You are doing amazingly well and I see that you are upping the ante by including exercising to your staying on program. Good for you! :cp::woops:We, slow losers, need to do what we can to help out the eating part of the program.

Congrats everyone on their accomplishments! (even if it's just one day of not binging, it's a very important first step).

The trigger for me is mostly the smell and how I imagine they would taste. Yesterday was my planned off-program day (it's actually less than half a day), so I went to the fair after a kickboxing class to get "treats". Funniest thing though, nothing *really* appealed to me. I had spent half the week dreaming of sugary goodness and now my body was like "meh, you can have that stuff if you really want, but I'd rather have some protein and complex carbs". So I went to an Indian restaurant nearby and had a buffet of chicken curry, lentil curry, mixed veggies and fruit salad with yoghurt. Still had a few chocolates that day, but overall I think it goes to show that my body is smarter than me sometimes.

Thanks tyla!!!! Yeah I have been really trying to be mindful of my eating ESP since I sprained my knee (MCL) I haven't been working out n school stress is getting to me...

Good job boomerang!!

WOW, DD you did WHAT on your Birthday? :balloons: Hats off to you. I have to say you are a much better woman than I!!!:bravo: I hope your day was joyful and filled with things you can use more than the food you so admirably refrained from eating! I am impressed!!!!:cp: A belated Happy Birthday and may the scale gods reward you for your will power!