Oh Warrior, I know what thats like. *hug*
The great thing is tomorrow is a new day!
I have been thinking of it kind of like an experiment. Instead of thinking of yourself as failing for the day. Think of yourself as a scientist and this is just data. Look at what happened that caused and think of one thing you may be able to do differently next time. So if I eat something and later that night I am stuffing my face I look back through the day and see oh look, I didn't drink my water, so it may me feel extra hungry. So tomorrow I will make sure I get my water in. That kind of thing. Sometimes these things work, and I just keep trying to find an angle that does.

I am happy to report I have no binged since last Monday, so I have a full week under my belt. I did eat a little more on some days, in terms of adding more veggies or a piece of fruit.
I am going for week 2!

Hi Lisa! Welcome!

Hi Lizzi! Yes sometimes it is better to just let yourself have what your craving rather then wait till you eat what you were craving to begin with and 10 other things! lol.
For some that can lead to more binging, its really tough, you kind of have to play with different things and find what doesn't set you off.

It seems for me I can eat a skinny cow ice cream- 7g. of sugar without it sending me into a bing, but if I were to eat a pack of cookies its all over folks and I think the ones I eat are like 36g. of sugar. I did cut the skinny cows out anyway.

The biggest help I am finding is working on the mental side. Keeping myself focused and watching the things I say to myself are key.
when I walk down the cookie isle tell myself ew, garbage, eating that will make me feel like crap. I used to tell myself, ohhh yummm, I want that soo bad! Big difference! lol.

So tell me guys even if you did have a binge this week, did you have a triumph? Did you keep from binging when you really wanted to? Lets Focus on our strong days!

Tea,
You are doing really great! Going for week 2? Whoohoo. Did yoiu think you would be able to say that? I love the attitude of viewing any failure as part of the ongoing science experiment. Yesterday I found I had eaten 3 meals all before noon. It made me a little panicky - like, "what if I run out of meals?" But I was okay and only needed the other 3 meals thoughout the rest of the day and evening. I must have been truly hungry and needed those first 3 meals only 1-1/2 to 2 hours apart. All part of the science experiment. Perhaps if I had ignored the hunger because "it isn't time to eat yet," I may have trigger a binge later on.

So that is my latest lesson in all this - eat when I feel I need another meal. Do not delay because I think it is "too soon."

I hear you on that for a while there I was hungry like an hour and half after eating and it was soo hard to wait, sometimes I made myself wait and other times I just ate. If I decided to wait I would do the dishes or check email or something to keep me occupied until it was time. I think the longer I go without binging too the stronger I feel. I don't want to mess up my clean streak lol. I know my trainer will give me a free meal probably when I get into the mid 130's. Hes going to make me work a while though, and thats ok with me because I find it easier to stay on track. I think my work pants just might fir tomorrow I hope :s

Your doing great, looking at the causes and how you may be able to fix it next time I think is good. I have read too that some people journal, how they were feeling, what happened that day etc. I think I will just put it in my workout journal, I started making myself log what I ate, yikes. you know you have a problem when you run out of room to write it down lol.

YES! I'm trying to do the scientist thing, too! Trying to be objective instead of judgmental - instead of "You pig! Look what you ate!", say "Hmm, I wonder what triggered that...did I get too hungry? Did I miss a meal? Have I had my water? Did I exercise?"

I also want to start keeping a food journal cuz I've noticed some things can trigger a binge - WATERMELON!! That's a huge one for me - I wonder why? White flour as well...I seem to be able to have a little sugar.

Oh, and the shakes are more anxiety than low blood sugar. I have type-2 diabetes and for a while took medicine that could make my blood sugar too low - THAT was weird! It's not that feeling at all - and usually I'm not even hungry. It's the same feeling I had when I first quit smoking...that addiction feeling...I want it to go away.....

Liz

aww yes I know that feeling, I do get the shakes as well but only if I have let too much time go by between meals. I hate that addiction feeling. I tried to quit smoking the other day and my husband smokes too, so we try to quit together,that didn't go so well we ended up in a huge fight.

Good job changing your view though, at least we can help ourselves instead of berating ourselves for messing up!

Today is our anniversary and i want something naughty and I keep saying... no, you don't need it. But is so ingrained in me to have cake and stuff on special occasions. I am trying to change my thoughts but man its hard.

speaking of which its time to eat!

Tea, celebrate your marriage today! But remember you didn't marry a cake or other type of trigger food, instead you married a person who means so much in the world to you that you want to improve your health so you can spend as many minutes and seconds with him as you can =) Good luck and happy anniversary!

Thanks again to everyone sharing their triumphs and struggles, because, together, we can be much stronger than in this challenge alone.

I also find that keeping trigger foods out of the house is key. If I do have any, I certainly keep them OUT OF SIGHT by putting them way up high in a cupboard or way behind my staple foods.

I am also finding that I have an easier time with my free meal if I have it away from the house, somewhere where I can decline leftovers and can share the meal with a friend. With company, I'm less likely to overeat and can put more focus on the company and conversation, rather than the food. I also know that upon returning home, I'm back into my healthy zone and the free meal is over.

And the more I focus on choosing the most nutritiously dense foods I can feed my body, the cravings seem to stay away. But if I start indulging in too many empty calorie foods (especially diet sodas), then the cravings seem to come back quicker.

Keep up the great work everyone!

Diane

Diane, Thank you for sharing what works - it is a very good idea to just eat "free meals" outside of the home and keep your kitchen reserved for Eating for Life! I once had a very smart lady tell me she never had ice cream in the house. When it got to the point that she just had to have some, she would go out to a restaurant or ice cream shop and sit down to a sundae, or just a nice bowl of ice cream. She would indulge and then LEAVE. Ice cream over!

I think that's a great idea - make the "illegal" food just part of a treat package instead of eating just for eating's sake. That's how it should be! And, how it was before food became so easily available! People didn't have time to make cakes or make ice cream every day! And there were no drive thrus so you had to plan your meals around your day and make conscious choices about what you were going to cook and eat...

And, Tea...I hope the time comes for me when I can have one reasonable portion of cake and a glass of champagne for an occasion and be totally fine with it - and see it as just part of the experience. Until then, I'm not sure what I'd do in your situation. Cake is a huge trigger for me! I seem to be able to handle ice cream, tho...

Hope it went well for you! Happy Anniversary!

Liz

Its a huge trigger for me too. I set a message to my trainer, just telling him how I felt, not asking for anything and he told me to take a small cheat meal and have some cake lol.

So what I think I will do is make something off one of the many healthy eating blogs, and protein based rather then carb based. Our wedding cake was cheesecake so I think I will make a healthier version and something healthy for food. ooh gotta go to work, be back later!

the binge monster....I will remember that.
I like the suggestions of ....taking pics of the food before eating and trying to figure out whats going on that I want to eat more.
Its embarrasing that I binge. i work out so hard and I know what I gotta eat ...but the binging kills all of the other efforts. UGGG.
Thanks for everyone who posted something. I want to keep reading them praying and having faith that one binge moment will pass with sucess!

Hi! im new to this and i've been just kinda browsing around. But i will say i completely relate to binging! I'm really bad about doing it after i go to bed! I wake up at all hours of the night and eat whatever i can get my hand s on! Horrible i know, lol! Its greta to know im not alone in this and i look foward to finding new ways to avoid this bad habit!
~Kristen

Hi mwait and Kristen!

Its frustrating I know! Try some of the suggestions and see which ones work for you. I have done the same thing Kristen, gotten up and finished off the cookies and had more ice cream , then fall back into bed utterly stuffed ugh. It really does help to know there are others out there suffering the same thing . I was beginning to think I was going crazy plus I was extremely ashamed of myself and did not want anyone to know.

Everyone is different but staying away from sugar is key for me and processed carbs, I just cannot have them right now. I am really taking note about how good I feel eating good food, how much better my body works. Its just amazing.

Were here for you! have a great day!

For me my bingeing starts when i get stressed out with my child. She lives with me fulltime and she's quite difficult. I am here in the US by myself so the help and advice that i need from family members are missing in my life. I can't seem to break free from it at times, i am constantly surrounded with kids snacks and treats.

Hi I am brand new here so I appologize in advance if the answer to my question can be found somewhere. I haven't found it yet. My biggest problem is that I over eat. I eat pretty healthy, but I don't count portions. I just grab a bag of almonds and start into the bag and eat until I am full, etc. So good food, just too much of it. I am struggling w/43 extra pounds. No matter how much I workout, my weight stays the same which tells me the problem iis with my food intake. I read Bill's book years ago and he used to say to measure a portion by hand size. I am not sure that works for me. So my question is how much is a portion of protein? like chicken? How many veggies should I conume in a day, because I could eat a garden and think it wouldn't matter, bc they are veggies. How much in carbs? as in grams a day? I usually find that I eat too little by day and then come 8 or 9 at night I am starving. I eat anything I can find, because I am so hungry that I think. . . "oh who cares about my weight, I am sooo hungry" I pig out til about 2am. Sitting at the computer at that time and eating. Thanks!

Portion control is a common issue for just about everyone. We generally underestimate how much we eat. I totally think that Bill's rule of thumb for protein and carbs (palm and fist measurements) is a great way to moderate portion control on the fly. If however, you find that this is too shaky for you --which it is for me, I usually go with about 85-100g protein and 100g of carbohydrates. Grab a scale and start measuring. space out your food, so that you are eating throughout the day, and can have something at night. I lost 50 lbs using eyeballing techniques, though, so I would say try those first before you break out the food scale

I have always had a bottomless pit for a stomach and could somewhat get away with it because I was so athletic, but as I get older I just keep adding weight and am finding it harder to lose weight when I want to. Binging is a huge issue for me. I'm the type of guy who can eat a large pizza as an appetizer for a huge meal. My latest thing has been going to friendly's and eating two ice cream sundaes at the end of the meal (my wife can't eat her's due to a dairy allergy that my daughter has ((my wife is nursing)).... ) I feel like I'd be wasting the food otherwise, because both of our meals come with ice cream. I really need to make a change.

So glad I found this post! Thanks for starting it Tea!!

My hardest times of the day are right after lunch and when I get home from work. After lunch I always want something sweet and my coworkers who sit on either side of me have stashes of chocolate. I started the HHC today and I ended up having 3 pieces of chocolate.....not a binge though! That was progress.

Everyone has great ideas!! I will come here often to read and post.

I count my calories and weigh my food using FitDay.com. So even though I had 3 pieces of chocolate, I will add those to my log and they will go toward my calorie count for the day. I've tried just watching portion sizes, but I tend to overestimate. The other thing I've done is not buy any ice cream.....I could eat half a gallon sitting in front of the TV at night after the kids are in bed. I know what my triggers are.....stress, boredom, not feeling well, procrastination. I've got to learn to start sitting with my feelings and dealing with the real issue rather than stuffing it away w/food.

Looking forward to making this journey with all of you

Thank you all for sharing. I'm in awe because I felt soo alone yet here you are with experiences similar to mine. Today I blogged about my journey which included binge eating cycles. I'm so glad to have come across this forum! What helps me the most is to GET AWAY from the food, BREATHE DEEPLY (this alone reduces that tense feeling and supplies the brain with much needed oxygen so I can think more clearly), and, assess the situation - ie. What are my goals and why, am I truly hungry or could it just be stress, am I tired, thirsty, do I really want that food item or is there a healthier alternative that will do.

Thanks again for encouraging one another!! Bye bye binge monster!.. Isn't he one ugly dude or what?

By the way, love the binge plan of action - protein shake and apple, then a wonderful mug of hot tea! Yummmmy. Sending love and peace your way beautiful community!