Chicks in Control Overeating? Binging? Share uplifting support and gain control!

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Old 12-20-2012, 12:18 PM   #1  
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Default Challenge: 90 Days of Abstinence

Hi everyone ,

Would anyone be up to a challenge of refraining from compulsive eating, overeating, bingeing and other compulsive food behaviors for 90 consecutive days? What this "abstinence" means would be completely up to you and you could either decide to share your plan of action here or keep it to yourself. All ways of eating would be welcome. What "abstinence" means when it comes to food is different for everyone.

It is often said that it takes 21 days to change a habit, but at least for someone like me who has had varying issues with food for all of my life (mostly anorexia and orthorexia, now the past few years overeating and bingeing to some extent and generally feeling stressed out about food most of the time), I doubt 21 days would make a lasting difference. But if I were able to stick to this for 90 consecutive days and handle the emotional and psychological issues without food and separate myself from the urge to overeat for that long, I think it'd really do something. I've been without overeating for three months or longer before, but during the time I was severely restricting my calories and going to the other extreme, so it didn't make any difference on my relationship with food. But 90 days of normal, healthy eating and eating for nourishment and not for any other reason... it'd feel almost magical and so freeing. Currently I'm mentally so occupied with food that it's almost impossible to imagine the freedom not having to think about food and not having to stress about it and my body would bring... but I'm more than ready to find that out! I feel like I've come to the point where I'm ready to tackle the real issue and finally leave these food issues behind.

I know from experience that going one day and one moment at a time is the only way to make this work for me, so I'm not going to be too concentrated on the number of days - but I also know from experience that after a couple of weeks, when you realise how far you've already come, seeing the day count starts to be another motivating and comforting factor, in an "if I've already been this successful, surely I can keep it up today as well!" way. Also when I'm aiming to go for something like 90 consecutive days and I know I'll have to start the count all over again if I slip up, the slip up isn't going to happen as easily as it would if I only concentrated on one day at a time. (That said though, if I do slip up, I'm not going to beat myself up about it, but simply move on, and keep trying my best in the present moment.)

I'm planning on starting my 90-day challenge tomorrow (December 21), but I realise this time of the year isn't necessarily the best time to start for everyone, so everyone is more than welcome to join later any time that suits you best I'll write down a more specific plan of action later (probably only for myself), but for now I've only a very basic plan and have decided that my successful day is being paleo/primal, low carb, three meals a day, nothing except water in between them. I can eat just as much as I need to satisfy my physical hunger but not more, and physical hunger is the only acceptable reason for eating. I've eaten paleo & low carb for years, so it's not a challenge, but eating only for hunger and decreasing my portion sizes definitely is.

Happy Holidays everyone! I really hope to get some company to do this with... this could be a great thread for support and a place to come to when you feel like relapsing. A little like Overeaters Anonymous group I think (but I wouldn't really know since I've never been to a meeting, I don't think there are any in my country) - a safe and judgement free place to come to for support.
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Old 12-20-2012, 12:26 PM   #2  
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I'm with you! My issue is with binging/compulsive eating, and even with the progress I've made, it's an ongoing, uphill battle.

I'll start tomorrow too. I need to focus on self control when it comes to food holidays anyway. For ninety days I will not mindlessly eat or binge and I will stick to my calorie and carb limits in my primal plan!
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Old 12-20-2012, 12:52 PM   #3  
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Today will be day 3 for me, but I am in I will join you. I am battling overeating myself as well.
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Old 12-20-2012, 05:07 PM   #4  
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Oh I am so with you! Tomorrow is my day 3 of weight watchers and I found it as a good way to control my food intake. I do think my worst problem is emotional eating or binge eating. I'm a medical student so I gain so much weight before exams and I barely have time for sleep let alone exercise. Deciding to stop 'emotional eating' is important for your attitude towards food. It's something you need to survive and enjoy in. Not something to comfort yourself in and find stress release. Worst thing is, I always feel the worst after binge eating. So I am with you 100%!
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Old 12-21-2012, 07:49 AM   #5  
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me too, me too. i probably won't get to 90 days but i will try my best to do it. i'm already day 5 so 85 more days to go!
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Old 12-21-2012, 12:16 PM   #6  
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Thank you so much for joining Radiojane, Chrys, Helen and missunshine!

missunshine: It's perfectly okay even if you already knew you aren't necessarily going to make it to 90 days... more than anything I think things like this are one day and one moment at a time projects anyway, so any periods of time of abstinence are welcome Awesome job being at the day 5 already!

My day number 1 has been fine so far; I've eaten all of my meals as planned. I could still decrease the portion sizes, but I'm getting there!
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Old 12-21-2012, 08:35 PM   #7  
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My day 1 (restarted since it's still so close to when I started anyway) Was... not great but it wasn't a failure so.. yay? lol. My portions could be a bit smaller as well.
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Old 12-22-2012, 04:54 PM   #8  
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it's end of day 6 for me which means 84 more days.
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Old 12-23-2012, 05:15 AM   #9  
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Im in

My last binge was 21st december, so 2 days binge free so far Im going so say as long as I dont go over my calorie allowance I am binge free If I binge, I wont have failed unless I let it de-rail me.I will pick myself up and carry on as I did after fridays slip up, as long as I can keep doing that, I'm not letting the food have power over me. Will keep checking in.
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Old 12-23-2012, 06:16 AM   #10  
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Chrys: Perfection is not required, so it sounds like you're doing great! My days haven't been amazing so far either... but like yours, they haven't been failures either, so it's all good

missunshine: That is awesome! Have you had any urges to overeat/binge so far?

Lilbert: Welcome on board! Two days is fantastic (since at least for me it's the first couple of days that are the toughest).

I'm on day 3 and doing well - it hasn't been perfect, but it's been good enough. I've been doing teeny tiny bit of calorie counting for the first time in years and it's making me feel more peaceful because I've at least some kind of an idea on whether I'm eating too much or not... I guess my portions could still be smaller, but I don't feel like I've overeaten.
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Old 12-23-2012, 09:36 AM   #11  
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I'm with you. This thread is just what I need. I hope many more will join us.
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Old 12-23-2012, 12:16 PM   #12  
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Linda: Welcome! Wishing you much success with this...
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Old 12-23-2012, 04:28 PM   #13  
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I will join too!
Today is Day 1 for me. I can make it 89 more days. One at a time
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Old 12-23-2012, 06:57 PM   #14  
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saral- practice makes perfect... slowly you'll get into the mode of calorie counting and right portion controls.
i have this constant fear in me all the time that i will snap into the mode of uncontrollable binging and that i will keep searching for reasons to binge subconsciously, like if someone makes me angry or annoyed or if things don't go my way,but so far i've been able to resolve all the stressful situations with no food involved. i started writing a diary again which helps me so much. but so far i haven't had strong urges to binge. so many things have happened that i don't have the time for binging right now. i guess today is day seven so 83 more days to go.
good luck yall
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Old 12-24-2012, 06:13 AM   #15  
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PaintedPonies: Thank you for joining and good luck!

missunshine: Very true I used to weigh everything I ate and count every calorie and protein/fat/carbohydrate gram, but I don't want to go back to that... so I'm just doing some calorie estimates to figure out what is normal eating and what normal portion sizes are like, hehe. Good luck to you too!
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