Today will be my 7th day binge free! I am now working my way up to maintenance, so there is no reason for me to binge EVER AGAIN. The thing that caused my binging was being too strict with my dieting....well now, i only need to diet more if i overeat/binge...so as long as i stay away from that endless cycle, i'm good!!
I'm feeling kind of sad because a friend just invited me to happy hour and i made up an excuse and said i couldn't go. The real reason is that i've lost weight recently, and i want to do everything possible to keep it off. I am transitioning into maintenance and i don't want to all of a sudden gain a few pounds in a day, panic, and binge and/or restrict. I know happy hours will always be there, but friends may not always be there if you keep turning them away. I tell myself this is temporary...and hopefully i really mean that. I fully intend to have a lifestyle of moderation where i am not afraid to go out to happy hour because i'm afraid i'll lose control.
I'm feeling kind of sad because a friend just invited me to happy hour and i made up an excuse and said i couldn't go. The real reason is that i've lost weight recently, and i want to do everything possible to keep it off. I am transitioning into maintenance and i don't want to all of a sudden gain a few pounds in a day, panic, and binge and/or restrict. I know happy hours will always be there, but friends may not always be there if you keep turning them away. I tell myself this is temporary...and hopefully i really mean that. I fully intend to have a lifestyle of moderation where i am not afraid to go out to happy hour because i'm afraid i'll lose control.
It can be hard to find that balance, especially initially. A good strategy is to suggest an alternative activity right off the bat; "I'm sorry, I can't join you tonight, but are you free tomorrow afternoon for some shopping?"
That way you aren't giving up you social activities, but you're doing things with your friends that don't focus on food and drinks.
Well, I had a bit of a slip up today. I got a little carried away, but I grounded myself and ended it with a strong "no" to having anything else even though I really wanted a granola bad.
So I'm proud of today, and I think I ate a bit under maintenance, too
So, that'll be day 20.
I was doing well until yesterday and i binged big time Combination of factors, one being that i've lost weight pretty quickly recently so my body was kind of hungry. Another one being that there was 1/4 a carrot cake in the freezer (and i love frozen cake, i think it actually tastes better than room temperature or refrigerated). I had bought the cake when i went on a previous binge. Not keeping it in the house doesn't help me not to binge, because i will simply drive (not walk--drive so it will be faster) to the store to buy binge food if the urge hits me. Nothing will stop me. But perhaps in some small way, having that carrot cake in the freezer gave me the idea to binge. So i guess i won't make that mistake again. It's kind of pathetic, but i'm going to make my goal really easy: to binge on something less bad the next time. One thing i could binge on is an entire angel food cake, which is only about 1000 calories. There were 1800 calories just in the carrot cake i ate yesterday (and that was by far not the only thing i ate!)!! I know it's pretty messed up to think "ok i'll binge on angel food cake or peanut butter instead of carrot cake" but i've pretty much faced the fact that i am NOT over my binge eating, so my only hope is to make it less frequent and smaller binges. I thought it would be better to just tell myself that binging is not an option, but when i do that, like yesterday, it catches me completely off guard and the results are even more disastrous, i think.
So, telling myself "binging is not an option" did not work. The other approach i have tried in the past, which, like i said, is kind of unhealthy, is to "plan" my binges. But maybe it will work to wean myself off binging slowly, instead of going cold turkey. So i guess i will try this: I will stay on plan for one full week, from today until next Monday, and then next Tuesday i will allow myself to binge on peanut butter. Nothing else, only that. That will limit the damage somewhat. Is this insane--do i sound like i have a massive eating disorder???? Maybe i am still feeling crazy from all the sugar i ate last night.
Last edited by surfergirl2; 05-29-2012 at 12:16 PM.
Hanging in there. No binges but have been overeating carbs the last few days. I got stressed at the supermarket the night before my flight and ate my feelings in the form of a chocolate bar and a protein bar. Calories-wise no awful days, but there's no reason to ever eat 3 granola bars right before bed or eat 3 servings of pretzel bites out of the big bag.
Is this insane--do i sound like i have a massive eating disorder???? ...
Well honestly, yes... but we all sound that way at times because we do, or did, have some sort of an eating disorder. It's not to say that you always will, but obviously right now you're still dealing with it, and thats okay. There doesn't need to be any shame in that.
I can't say that your new strategy is or isn't the right way. All you can do is try it and see if it helps. If there were an easy way to do it that worked for everyone, someone would have figured it out by now and sold the secret to us all.
Hanging in there. No binges but have been overeating carbs the last few days. I got stressed at the supermarket the night before my flight and ate my feelings in the form of a chocolate bar and a protein bar. Calories-wise no awful days, but there's no reason to ever eat 3 granola bars right before bed or eat 3 servings of pretzel bites out of the big bag.
It sounds like you're just enjoying being at maintenance! Not every day will be "perfect" and its completely normal to eat when you're feeling stressed no matter what people may tell you. You haven't had any super freak out binges so in my humble opinion, you're doing great!
And we got to the end of May!!! If you had to say what was good about this month and what was bad about it (food wise), what would you say?
Good: didn't binge, got to first target weight.
Bad: did not exercise much, did not eat enough veggies/fruit.
Good: I got to go home the other day, and now have a renewed sense of satisfaction with my healthy meals and my workouts. I got out of that toxic environment and away from those old triggers, which hadn't effected me in sooo long. I also hit some new PRs at the gym, and even though I had a few bad days diet-wise, I stuck to my workouts and ended up gaining some muscle because of it.
Bad: I definitely had some off-plan eating. I had about 3 days of eating way more than I would like to, and one full-on binge about 10 days ago. Thats a lot more eating than I normally do. Even then, I can't say it's necessarily "Bad". I know why I did it, I don't really feel all that guilty, and I ended up using those calories toward building more muscle.
My original goal for May was not to weigh myself, and not to have any binges. I changed that mid-month by realizing that I need the accountability of a weekly weigh in. I didn't stick to my plan with my diet... but thats okay. Its all a part of life, and not every day is going to be "perfect". I'm no worse off than I was before, and what's more, I think I have learned a little bit about acceptance.
Combination of factors, one being that i've lost weight pretty quickly recently so my body was kind of hungry. Another one being that there was 1/4 a carrot cake in the freezer (and i love frozen cake, i think it actually tastes better than room temperature or refrigerated). I had bought the cake when i went on a previous binge. Not keeping it in the house doesn't help me not to binge, because i will simply drive (not walk--drive so it will be faster) to the store to buy binge food if the urge hits me. Nothing will stop me. But perhaps in some small way, having that carrot cake in the freezer gave me the idea to binge. So i guess i won't make that mistake again. It's kind of pathetic, but i'm going to make my goal really easy: to binge on something less bad the next time. One thing i could binge on is an entire angel food cake, which is only about 1000 calories. There were 1800 calories just in the carrot cake i ate yesterday (and that was by far not the only thing i ate!)!! I know it's pretty messed up to think "ok i'll binge on angel food cake or peanut butter instead of carrot cake" but i've pretty much faced the fact that i am NOT over my binge eating, so my only hope is to make it less frequent and smaller binges. I thought it would be better to just tell myself that binging is not an option, but when i do that, like yesterday, it catches me completely off guard and the results are even more disastrous, i think.
