Welcome to the binge-free challenge!!

This is a place where you can come in and talk about binging. Feel free to post about your successes and your struggles and keep track of how many days you've been binge free. You can also vent about anything and everything you feel like getting out. We are here to share our feelings and to encourage and inspire each other.

No negativity! We are strong chicks and I KNOW we all can do this!! And we don't have to do it alone, we have each other to get us through the rough times.

ALL chicks are welcome -- no one is excluded! If you are trying to lose weight, not trying, maintaining, recovering from an eating disorder, in the midst of one, or have ANY kind of problem with food, we would love to have you join us!! Please do not hesitate to post your feelings. Jump right in head first!!! We WILL catch you!

I know this thread doesn't start until tomorrow, but I'm posting preemptively because I'm just that cool.

Today will be my Day 1. For the last week, I've been afraid to post, desperately not wanting to start over, but not sure I could feel okay about continuing to count. The last time I was on here and wasn't sure if I binged or not--well, I did. It was a binge. It was a small one--much less damaging than the kind of binges I went on last year, that's for sure--but it still counted. It was still out of control, emotionally driven, and extremely anxiety-inducing. As much as I wanted to say I've gone two months without binging, I can't say that with a clean conscious. And since I'm doing this for me and ONLY for me, there is no reason to lie to myself.

I have gotten better...but I'm not perfect yet. This is still a problem. If it was something so easy to fix that I could do it in two months, well, it probably wouldn't have gotten to be such a bad problem in the first place.

So I'm just going to say that I went 50 DAYS totally binge-free! I overate here and there, but boy, was there a lot of success involved. It's not something to brush off! (I'm telling myself this more than anyone else. Because I keep wanting to brush it off. All-or-nothing thinking has become such a habit for me that I do it automatically.)

The fifty days I went binge-free, I noticed a change in my self esteem. While I wasn't thrilled with my body, I no longer stared at it in horror on a daily basis. I didn't find myself grabbing my lovehandles, pinching my thighs, feel my throat closing with tears when I saw my stomach extend after a binge. Though I've slipped up the past couple weeks, I still am far better off than I was. It's never a waste. If I can make it 50 days the first go, I know I can make it longer my second. So that's where I stand now.

I'll try to come to this website daily again. Life's picked up, which means that I'm less focused on food, which means I've been slipping up more, which means I'm more ashamed to post here. That's silly, isn't it? Slipping up only increases my need for this place. It's helped me so much so far, I don't want to just throw it away.

Eurydice:

Thank you for posting today! I am so proud of you and your accomplishments! You said it yourself, you made it to 50 days!!! That is nothing to shake a stick at! Making it 50 days entails A LOT of hard work!!! My first go, I made it to Day 58 and then fell...HARD.....for almost a week. And then I did what you're doing....I picked myself right back up and got back on the horse.

Binging was and for some of us still is slowly destroying us from the inside out. You are doing the right thing by taking your control back. By doing that, you are taking YOUR life back. Your life doesn't belong to food, it belongs to YOU!

Remember to be gentle with yourself, we all slip up. That is part of the process and what makes the victories that much sweeter.

Hang in there! You're doing great!!!

I had an emotional binge yesterday on nuts and BANANAS of all things. Scale damage is minimal and I feel good and ready to Quit That Sh!t. Instead of focusing on guilt I'm just focusing on making today better.

I also stopped taking birth control. I am filled with hope that it will "fix" my crazy mood swings and total disinterest in sex.

Vixsin, thank you SO much for the response. It really helps me feel more confident in what I am thinking. To know that you slipped up after a large number of days also helps. I'm glad to know that this is still possible, even after this fall. You are an inspiration

Krampus--Man, I would love to binge on bananas I always go for grains or dairy. I hope getting off birth control helps. It's amazing what altering hormones can do to your mood.

Today is Day 27- Tomorrow is 1 month since I binged which is awesome and I'm proud of. Last night I had a mini-victory because I stopped when I was full (made lentil soup) and sat with the feelings. Sundays are typically really hard for me and the anxiety makes me want to eat.

Last night I had a dream that my fiance broke up with me - It was SO realistic - Things have been so good between us and there has been so much love - I woke up crying and he held me for a while reassuring me - Finally fell back asleep and had another disturbing dream right before I woke up. I have huge bags on bags on bags under my eyes and feel almost like I'm getting sick - Feel COMPLETELY out of it - Going to try to go to the gym for some eliptical and see if I can't work this feeling off (and maybe make the under-eye bags smaller).

Eurydice - Welcome back, it is hard to start over again and 50 days IS amazing. Give yourself a hug and then keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Krampus - I have definitely done the nuts thing before, had days where I stayed in my calorie count but half of my daily calories came from nuts - it's hard to stop! Good job on choosing scale damage minimizing binge grub

Day 1, no worries.

Sarah, I'm really sorry about that dream. Those dreams always shake you to the core and stay with you.

Day 1. Last night was completely horrible, haven't had a binge like that in almost a year. It practically ate half a loaf of bread and half a box of cereal. I am hungover on carbs this morning.

Guess what I'm giving up for lent?

I'm so sad because I was doing so well too. Why do I keep damaging my body?

hi ladies! welcome to monday !

i am proud to say i made it through the weekend sans-binge!

i see that there have been some challenges and some reaffirmations. to me it is important to remember that i am striving to be binge-free for my health. it should not be about my scale, my clothes or my negative thoughts. it is ultimately about my health.

having said all that: the scale is happy with me, my clothes feel moderately better, my belly is not nearly as bloated, gassy and distended. i would like to keep up this plan for a long time (eating same food every day) just to keep things consistent and "mindless" for a while...

this week is highly stressful for me as i have major surgery on fri and i am not a big fan of relying on other people to help me out and of course i need a ton of help post surgery (sinuses and septum are being fixed but i have blood issues so it is complicated)

lets promise to ourselves to be healthy today, because today is the only day that matters!

'Morning, ladies. It's probably weird for you to hear this, but I am so glad it is Monday. The weekends are the hardest for me because I am not on my routine of work, exercise, etc. that I am during the week. Not all weekends are difficult, but this weekend was brutal for some reason. I was craving everything: cake, sour gummy worms, cupcakes, anything and everything sweet. I envisioned buying a bag of sour gummy worms and eating the whole thing, and I envisioned making cakes and brownies so I could devour them. It was a really hard weekend, but I stuck to my guns. I hope you are all doing ok.

298!

Happytobemom--good job sticking to it over the weekend!

Krampus-good luck with day 1 !

Sarah--almost a month! Amazing! I can totally relate to a dream shaking you so much. Over the weekend, I had two dreams about the guy I just broke up with--they really impacted my mood!

Eurydice--So interesting about the impact on your self-esteem! It makes total sense, you're not harming your body so much, and of course you feel good about that! I'll have to pay attention to that!

149!!

Good morning and happy Monday chickies! It's day 1 ... every day is day 1! No binging at all, had the urge last night but it was averted by sheer will power which is a great thing if I say so myself. Not happy with the scale, though, it crept back up two pounds which is way too high for me but I am trying hard to not freak out and be upset. Perhaps it was the salt on the 1.5 margaritas on the rocks I had last night. I went to the gym again this morning and sweat some so maybe that'll help.

Today is day 37! I had dinner at a friend's house last night. She made fried potatoes and shnitzel (which is kind of like fried chicken). I ate small portions of both. We also had dessert, small pastries. I had 2 small pastries. I am really proud of myself for being able to eat normally in a real-life situation. That's my goal with all of this. Intiutive eating is really helping with this. I haven't binged in 37 days. Since I try really hard not to overeat, when I do take an extra bite or 5 that I don't need, I find that I am WAAAY more sensitive to it now. And I can stop now where I didn't need to before. I haven't been perfect in those 37 days.. I've definitely over-eaten at times, but never stuffed my face without control.

This is Day #1 -- again.
I pray that a week from today, I won't be posting the same thing.