Hi everyone! It's my first time posting here, so I'm not completely sure how to participate. It's Day 1 for me, though. I'm just trying my hardest to go at least one day without binging. Just one to begin a journey of healthier eating habits. I can't remember the last time I had a binge-free day. I am able to note that my binges are mainly carb-centered, particularly chocolate nutrition bars and lots of Kashi Heart-to-Heart cereal. If anyone has any tips on how to curb these carb binges, that would be so amazing!
Yikes, Day 1 for me! Yesterday was sort of a bad binge, but I was binge free for 3 weeks. 2500 calorie days make for bloated tomorrows! I hate that full feeling the next day! Keep your chin up Danzingirl. I think you're doing great. You seem like me, I go through spurts too. The best advice I can give and actually follow myself is just to jump right back on the wagon the next day.
Day...not sure. Less than 2 weeks. I'll add them up at some point This is getting easier every day (hope i'm not jinxing myself). I think i have finally found a calorie level that allows me to lose slowly, yet not be hungry. There have been a few very brief moments lately when i felt a slight binge-panic feeling (like finishing a meal and wanting to eat more), but they went away very quickly. I think it's because i know there is another meal just a few hours away, with plenty of yummy food, so there's really no need to panic.
Great job everyone! Seems like everyone is doing pretty well this month!
I ALMOST slipped today. Mental am physical exhaustion hit me and before I knew it, I had eaten 700 calories for lunch! Normally this would FREAK me out... But I still have 400 calories left for the day and my big lunch actually filled me up- and after waiting the "I might as well go crazy now" feelings for about an hour, I'm feeling pretty great now and I think I can make it
Funny how I woke up with my worst binge thoughts I've experienced in the last 90 days. Some of the techniques I have learned didn't really kick in but I did manage to find some coping skills just in time. Once I got through the distress, I was fine.
One word of gentle caution, if you are thinking about a cheat day or cheat meal. I'm happy it works for some people, but that mentality led me into a deeper hole and a downward spiral. I let myself think that I could be "good" for X number of days or weeks, then let myself be "bad" and reward myself with food. At first I could control it, just eating one big meal every few weeks.
But then I started getting lax in my discipline. I would give myself a cheat day and told myself, first thing in the morning, I go back to the gym. And I would. And even though I typically added 6-10 lbs of water weight and felt uncomfortable, the water weight disappeared after 7-10 days. I thought, "I can do this" without consequences.
Pretty soon, one cheat day every few weeks turned into a cheat weekend. And pretty soon I would tell myself it was ok to not go to the gym on Monday but to wait til Tuesday instead. Then a cheat long weekend followed by a few days off at the gym because I told myself I deserved a break. Because I was initially able to get back to my original weight after a binge, I became complacent. Then the scale started going up and it wasn't water weight...
And before long, I was binging several times a week.
I have an all-or-nothing mentality that I'm trying to break. It's either "I have to be good all the time and if I eat a bad thing I've failed." So on cheat days, I would tell myself to eat as much as I could because on Monday I had to go back to being "good" again. My therapy sessions deal a lot with being in the middle, allowing a full spectrum of foods and gym behaviors (easy, hard, or take the day off without guilt). If I want more, I can have more tomorrow or at the next meal. This mentality, along with making sure I really want a particular food before eating it, has really helped me.
We are all different, so a cheat day can work well for some. But if you have trouble with black and white thinking patterns or tend to feel guilty if you make even a small mistake, cheat meals/days might really hurt you. I have learned that I this practice is really harmful for me.
Day 3 for me!
I'm super hungry right now, despite having a good size dinner. I did work 9 and a half hours today though, plus a 20 minute jog, so I think my hungriness is justified.
I think I will treat myself with something tasty.
KittyKatFan - I feel like you wrote that specially for me. You could be describing me exactly!! I came on here tonight to share that I'm feeling very binge-y and anxious, and REALLY anxious to binge. I'm not going to give in tonight, but usually when these feelings get stronger and stronger, and come more often, it means I'll eventually cave and binge. And I want to so badly this weekend!!!! But your words describe me exactly. If I allow myself one big cheat/binge, it's a slippery slope. The "just this once" binge almost always extends to the next day, and then even if I get back on track for a few days, I'll binge again a few days later, and again, and before I know it, I'm up 3-5 pounds and have to restrict for weeks/months to lose the weight again.
I still really want to binge, but you're reminding me of the awful consequences of doing so. Thank you!!
Good luck to everyone!!! We can do this!! It's hard, I know, but we can do it!!!
Last edited by DoingMyBest79; 02-23-2013 at 08:54 PM.
As hard as it is to do so, I have to realize that any planned cheating activity is going to be unhealthy for me. I just can't control it.
If it works for others, great. But for me, it feeds my all-or-nothing, "if I mess up once I'm a failure" mentality. Which I'm working on changing, but eating planned meals and snacks has been one of the major reasons I am now on...drum roll please...DAY 91 BINGE FREE!!!
I thought I'd let you all know I fell off the wagon a bit, but I've got a strategy to get back on.
I finally feel like I'm moving in the right direction though, so I'm not too perturbed by my binge. Before this last month I was binging every other day, sometimes days in a row. I've been going 2+ weeks! I really do think that, while I get my sugar addiction under control, that small wins are better than nothing. I'll take two weeks no binges over every other day!
So my next going is three weeks no binges. Of course, I don't want to use that as an excuse to binge in three weeks but I do want to recognize how much an achievement that is.
I decided not to go to dinner, and instead eat stuff I had in my fridge- kale and a slice of vegan pizza (essential no-cheese pizza), I wound up having 3 slices, a bowl of cereal 2 bowls of soy yogurt and granola, a chocolate coconut bar, and some chocolate peanut butter
I can't seem to get a streak of more than 3 days... But tomorrow will be another Day 1, and I do feel like I'm getting better. I'm learning how to reason with myself before and during a binge.
Pushing through well, day 6ish haha. I am holding on strong, I almost went overboard yesterday but stopped myself. Had too much sodium for sure, but water should help flush that out of my system.
This is getting easier every day (hope i'm not jinxing myself). I think i have finally found a calorie level that allows me to lose slowly, yet not be hungry. There have been a few very brief moments lately when i felt a slight binge-panic feeling (like finishing a meal and wanting to eat more), but they went away very quickly. I think it's because i know there is another meal just a few hours away, with plenty of yummy food, so there's really no need to panic.
