Hey, Chickies.

I'm an extremist. 'Moderation' isn't really something I can grasp. When I binge, I REALLY binge. And when I diet, I starve.

Sometimes, when I was on the wagon, I'd lose the pounds by overeating...and then spending 2-3 hours at the 24 hour gym on campus. I'd burn 600-1000 calories a day just to keep up with all of my frantic eating.

Other times, I was actually in control. In hindsight, however, those moments were few and far between.

Now I am in a new environment and working out to that extreme isn't possible. Even if it were possible, I don't want to fall back into that habit. Unfortunately, I'm still eating like a horse.

Now I realize this is all on me. I'm not exactly looking for answers, because I know the answer is "DISCOVER AND EMBRACE MODERATION, SILLY!"

Even so, I thought I might question my fellow featherweights. Anyone else out there suffer from extremism? Do you have coping mechanisms, distractions, etc?

The working out I can handle. I actually enjoy it. Controlling my intake...just seems beyond me. And I'm not sure I'll really ever understand why.

(P.S: Hm. I'm a bit boggled, now, to be honest. Am I not actually a 'feather' at all? I had always been under the impression the range was a bit larger than it apparently is... This is what happens when I don't read closely. Whoops. If I don't belong here (yet!), maybe someone could steer me in the right direction? Thank you. )

Shifterred, you are definitely a Feather and !

Like so many things, "embracing moderation" is much easier said than done!

When you say bingeing and starving, I don't know if by "binge" you mean, "Oops, ate a donut!" or a true binge. For more information, check out this stickie on the Chicks in Control forum.

If you are truly bingeing and severely restricting or compulsively exercising, I would really suggest you seek counseling. These are real disorders and a professional would be the best person to guide you. (I certainly don't mean that you shouldn't come here for advice and support! This entire website is an excellent resource and the support and experience here are priceless. But none of that is a substitute for professional guidance as necessary.)

If that is not the case, and you're mostly having trouble staying on a reasonable eating plan, I have a few suggestions and I'm sure others have more:

1. Make sure you are eating healthfully with a reasonable balance of protein, carbs and fats. Of course, everyone has a different definition of "reasonable balance," but I am suspicious of anything that overly restricts fat, carb or protein. Likewise "healthfully." For me, this means a focus on whole foods and reducing things like white flour (white bread, regular pasta), processed foods, and processed sugar.

2. Plan, plan, plan. Overeating, mindless eating, never-ending snacking all occur, for me, when I don't have a plan. I find my best on-plan days are when I sit down the night before and plan my food for the next day. I entire it all on myplate (on the livestrong.com website) in advance.


You may find success channeling your extremism in a healthy way -- like planning your food for a whole week or doing extensive research to learn about the best foods for your body. However, if you find that once you plan food, your extremism makes it stressful/impossible for you to adapt to unforeseen circumstances or disruptions, maybe that's not so good.

Please do stay aware of how you are feeling as you go along. I read a post the other day where a girl said she was so obsessed with dieting and calories and food that she couldn't even talk to people. Please don't get to that kind of place.

Have you come across the idea of "extreme moderation"?
It's mostly about using the idea of super firm non-ambiguous lines that you cannot cross, but drawing them in 'moderate' places. I wonder if it wouldn't be a good fit for you. For example, instead of saying to yourself 'I MUST spend 3 hours at the gym today, not a minute less' and sticking to that with zeal -- try telling yourself 'I MUST spend 30 minutes at the gym today, not a minute less OR MORE' (if the 'or more' helps you, that is. if not, it's not necessary) and stick to it with the same zeal. Instead of saying to yourself, 'I must not eat today', set some different, sensible, IN STONE guidelines -- I MUST eat today, it must be 3 meals/2 meals and 2 snacks/4 small meals (whatever works for you) and stick to it. If your extremism is really damaging your life, as thesame7lbs says, talk to a therapist. But if it's more mild than that, maybe it can be used to your advantage -- IF the extremist part of your brain can be taught that 'too much' (undereating/overexercising) is just as harmful to you as 'too little' (overeating/underexercising). Use your EXTREMIST zeal to police yourself into MODERATE behaviour. Does that make sense?

I'm still getting to grips with extreme moderation myself, so I hope I haven't explained it badly or misrepresented it. And I'm not sure it's at all for everybody, but it's helping me so far. I can't post links yet, but if you google 'everyday systems', the owner of the site (a very smart guy) has a good podcast on the idea of "extreme moderation".