Am I self sabotaging myself? I do so good for weeks. I get down to 145 and them BOOM! I lose all willpower and motivation and binge for days. I have been in the high 130's so I know I can do it. And I know how it feels. It feels great! I only have 10-15lbs to lose. When I binge I feel horrible (mentally and physically) but I can't seem to stop myself. Does anyone else go through this? And if so how do you deal with it?

Yes, I have the same problem. In June I got down to 143, lost motivation and by the end of July I was 151. It's so frustrating.

Before having my son I could stay pretty easily between 125 and 135 and I KNOW I can get back to that, but it's so much harder than I expected. For me, daily weighing is the only thing that kind of kicks me in the butt and keeps me accountable. If I take a few days off from weighing myself, what that really means is that I am slacking on my fitness plans. I am doing an accountability thread where you post your weight each day for the month of August and I am hoping that will help keep me on track.

My story was almost the same as yours! Except that I was bumping up to the mid-150s...

I realized that I was out of control with carb binges. I decided to try a pretty strict low-carb (but not extremely low carb) diet for a set amount of time - 4 months, to be re-evaluated at the end of that time frame.

I have been FAR from perfect, I still have my slightly binge-y moments and I still have very little ability to control what I eat when I am with others ... but that being said, my insane chocolate/bread/candy/etc binges are eliminated and I have managed to lose 16 pounds in a little more than 3 months. Nothing short of miraculous, given that I had been trying to lose those "few" pounds for more than two years.

According to my original plan, I was to be done by the end of this month. I may continue for a while longer before going into maintenance, haven't decided yet. I have to figure out my maintenance diet AND I need to incorporate regular exercise into my life.

I chose to focus on weight loss first. Seems like in the past I was always coming up with complicated diet/exercise regimens and honestly I think I would just overwhelm myself and give up. Also at the fittest I probably ever was - running regularly, doing Body Pump classes regularly and yoga - I was holding steady at close to my maximum weight.

I SHOULD be doing more low-level exercise like walking and yoga and I do try to get that in but in general I am terrible about that. By no stretch of the imagination do I think dieting and being a couch potato is a good idea, just for me personally, I struggle a lot with making time for exercise.

So in summary, what worked for me was:
1.) committing to an eating plan for a certain time frame rather than "I have to lose X pounds."
2.) reducing carbs (eliminating sugar/white flour products etc) was what I had to do to free myself from the constant cravings.
3) I decided to focus on diet first - exercise is only walking and yoga classes.

Best of luck to you! I have to say, I was in a really, really low place when I started. It feels really good to accomplish goals (even though it was so incrementally slow that I didn't really even appreciate that I was achieving anything - hence the time commitment rather than focusing on the 0.9 pounds loss that was my average!!)


ETA: I totally agree with what seize the day said about daily accountability! Sometimes it keeps me in line knowing I have to post my weight the next day

Thank you both for your responses. The last two days have been the worst binging in over a year. In the past year my "diet" (I hate that word) has been low carb/low to no sugar. I get most if not all my carbs from fruit and veggies. I go to the gym at least 3 days a week (2 miles on the treadmill and 20 min on weights). Last summer when I started the low carb I lost over 10lbs. Since spring it has just slowly been creeping back up. I love how I feel eating this way. My cravings are very minimal if at all but for some reason this week I have been awful! I turned 42 last month so that is not helping either. I know I will get past this. I have to!

You for sure will get past this. Focus on not buying the products you binge on, so when that craving hits, you cant feed it.

I saw a weird thing on Dr. Oz this morning. I guess this woman was a doctor, specializing in binge behavior. Be sure and check with your own doctor before taking any advice. Anyway, she told the woman on the show, who was having trouble, to tap - how to describe this location? - below her neck, in the front, if you drew a line from shoulder to shoulder - in the middle of that. For me, it was about six inches below my chin.

She said to tap that area repeatedly, which is a firm surface, and doesn't impinge on your throat, saying something like "I am worth taking care of." She was to do that, I believe, when she felt like bingeing. Not sure if she was to do it at other times - might make sense. Anyway, I'm going to try it, when I remember!

Best wishes with your plan. I know you'll find a way that works for you!

Ugh I'm at the peak of that kind of cycle... Got down to 140 and ballooned back up.. Great job me *sigh* hope we can stop this cycle!