I am a binger – any info on fasting and bingeing

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Bingeingqueen

3:07 pm
11 Feb 15
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Hi all,

I have been various weights during my life. My main concern is I am a binger, so I eat an awful lot in one go and if I let myself, I would eat all day. binge whether dieting, eating regular meals, tired, depressed and then sometimes it goes away and I can have a week without bingeing and have no idea why. I have found the only way to help myself is not let myself have limitless supplies of food, so a portioned off “ready made sandwich” say helps me. It’s expensive but I have learnt I can’t have a loaf of bread in the house. Food has always given me a high and that is any carbohydrate so even the healthy stuff… wholegrain bread and oatcakes! On the advice of professionals and having read books, I have tried the three meals a day thing but I always want more. It’s like after breakfast I want more breakfast….

I am looking for advice, over Christmas I was ill. I had flu, and I couldn’t eat. The relief, the feeling of “this is what it is like to feel full” and I lost a few pounds, but my main elation was that I wasn’t seeking a high from food all day long and I actually felt full. So, I wondered if IF may work for me (even though for years fasting has been said to INCREASE bingeing, (btw I think if I were to starve myself I would undoubtedly binge but my elation chamfered the improvement in my mood (despite feeling so ill!)) the fact I wasn’t fussed by food as food was’t an option, I had no appetite was such a nice feeling and I wondered if IF could potentially be a way of managing rather than worsening my binge eating disorder.

I wondered whether anyone has any personal experiences or scientific evidence to back up my new theory… intrigued!

Helen R

6:47 pm
11 Feb 15
Permalink

All I can say is that this is a much easier diet because you’re not thinking ‘I can’t have this’, but ‘I can have this tomorrow’, So it seems much easier to me emotionally as I’m not giving anything up.

I generally pick all day if I can, and have snacks between snacks, but I feel really positive about this now. This is my 3rd week, and up to now I’m not worrying about the 5 days much, but I am simply getting used to the 2 days. Once I get the hang of this, I feel it will be easier to eat less and more sensibly during the 5.

One day at a time, and don’t beat yourself up if you encounter a problem.

sanguinepenguin

7:29 pm
11 Feb 15
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Queen, I’m interested in what you’re writing about because I, too, am a terrific binge-er. I have been known to eat entire loaves of zucchini bread (maybe it’s banana bread for some) or whole frozen pizzas (cooked!) because it’s there and I can’t stop myself. I’ve always hidden my eating habits from others (I only binge when my husband is away for work) and am deeply ashamed of them. I have tried food journaling but conveniently “forget” about it on a day I binge.

All that in the open now, I am very hopeful that I will find 5:2 helpful for me. As Helen talks about above, I think about all the things I can have “tomorrow” when I’m doing the fast day. Given, I’ve only been at this for two days, so don’t take my word for it. But please know that I commiserate with you and struggle right along with you.

Also, because I have a carbohydrate addiction, I am toying with the idea of “forcing” myself to include those “forbidden” foods every day that I’m not fasting. Maybe it sounds crazy, but I’m hoping that if I include a controlled portion—e.g. one or two slices instead of a loaf—of foods that are triggers for me, that I’ll find myself feeling less deprived and less likely to go off the rails.

Those are just some of my thoughts. I hope they are helpful for you. It is one day at a time, and I wish you good luck.

Bingeingqueen

7:36 pm
12 Feb 15
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Penguin, I sympathise. Thank you for posting. I also only binge on carbohydrates, but I haven’t been purposely avoiding them. I find cakes, biscuits, sugar cereals and white bread (the usual suspects) to be irresistible, but I also have been known to binge on wholegrain sugar free cereal. I have never binged on eggs or broccoli though!

I think, of me personally, it’s probably a combination of genes (I’m also a constant craver, I will eat all day long if I can, the only time I get a stop trigger is when my stomach hurts or I am ill). I am desperate to find something that may be something I can maintain, I don’t want to just go back to my old ways, or go for a fad. Staying motivated will be tough…

I am so with you on wondering whether to try the forbidden foods, I have tried hot chocolate fudge cake on Sunday and to be honest I wish I hadn’t. I also posted on another thread about this issue, I remember years ago, when the carb avoidance thing wasn’t in, I worked for a company and we had free fresh bread and cakes every day, let’s just say I didn’t do moderation and I never got bored of the food- every day I would overeat, for years! So I’m not sure that would work for me, but it may for you of course. Another tip I have, it is expensive and I feel guilty but I often buy myself a baguette-panini-sandwich each day, so I don’t have access to limitless supplies of bread. I have also found saving this until I ma truly hungry has been helpful. i.e I buy the sandwich at lunchtime and eat it at 3pm instead of 13;00 and it satisfies my need for bread or carb at my most vulnerable and hungry time, but also even if I want more, I can’t have it, there is no more…I have tried making sandwiches, freezing the bread and Ihave to be honest, I will usually raid it, especially when sleep deprived so it’s easier for me if there aren’t limitless supplies of anything as I will just eat my way through them. However, I know or lots of people, you’re idea of having a small amount of what you binge on each day may work to satisfy that craving. For me I think it intensifies it- but I have never been normal and also I rarely feel “full” (hoping 5:2 will help me with this) so I will just keep going. I think carbs just give me a huge dopamine hug. Sorry to give you so much self analysis, please feel free to criticise, it’s not something I can talk t many people about (oh the shame) but also I am happy to try whatever it takes!

Thank you for posting, please keep me updated on how you are doing 🙂 I wish you the best of luck too. I’m here as your supporter 🙂

Bingeingqueen

7:38 pm
12 Feb 15
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Hi Helen,

Thats great, well done for achieving doing it for 3 weeks! Do you think you my be eating a lot more on the non fasting days do you get a greater urge to binge (are you someone who binges already)

Thank you for your support and post. Please keep us updated on your progress!

Helen R

2:32 pm
13 Feb 15
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Ah thankyou! The first week I really made an effort and ate no bread, to give myself a jump start, then the second week I let myself eat normally on the non fast days, so for breakfasts I would have cereal or toast or crumpets, then a sandwich for lunch when I got in from work, then I would have biscuits with cups of tea in the afternoon, then my dinner and probably something in the evening, again biscuits or an apple pie (the little mr kipling type ones)or some fruit.

This week I have found it much more difficult and yesterday I had a peanut butter sandwich in the afternoon and picked a bit in the evening.

I am a terrible binger, especially in the evenings, my biggest problem is bread and crisps and biscuits(I follow a vegan diet, so I can’t shovel in as much chocolate as I used to).

My work has been a bit stress this week, so that’s obviously a trigger, but next week is the half term holidays, so if I keep myself busy and distracted I hope to have a better week.

Although, today is a fast day, and I’m already planning my breakfast for the morning!

sanguinepenguin

7:13 pm
13 Feb 15
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Hi Queen and Helen,

Back on here today after spending a miserable day in student conferences and at the library trying to get my own work done. Nothing else, it kept me out of the cookie jar, so to speak 🙂

I had the very dilemma we are talking about this morning. I woke up very early, at 5:15, and had eaten breakfast by 7:30 or so (I don’t work on Fridays) and went out to take the dog for a walk, feed the horse, let the chickens out, etc. Around 9:30, when I was done with the walk, I was already ravenous again. I remembered that we have flour tortillas in the fridge and suddenly wanted one. Not for any good reason; I was hungry and it sounded good. So the whole way back I’m thinking, debating, about this tortilla and how terrible it would be to have it, and on and on and on. And I just decided to eat it. But I made myself make a meal out of it, not a snack. I included a protein and a vegetable, and some cheese, of course! And I feel better. I’m OK. And I didn’t binge. On a binge, I might eat three or four of them, all loaded with cheese. And that’s not to say that I won’t have a down day, but for me this is all about one day at a time.

To help, I started a public food journal/blog for myself to document my 5:2 experience and to help keep me accountable. I used to have a shared google document with my friend and we would journal about our food, workouts, and lives. It was a lot of fun and really kept me on track. Unfortunately my friend stopped doing it but I’m trying to keep it going in the form of my own blog. There isn’t much there because this is my first week, but here it is if you want to stop by: https://livingthe52life.wordpress.com/

Also, what’s a crumpet? It sounds delicious.

Bingeingqueen

8:20 am
16 Feb 15
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Penguin,

Forgive me, I thought I had replied- call it mummy brain, but I think I posted on my other link. Thank you for posting your link, I will certainly take a look.

Ah the early morning thing, I find that hard, especially with children. I have a child that is super hungry as soon as hey wake up – it’ soften healthy cereal like weetabix or porrigge but it’s that whole process of making him something, and if his siblings are here they only eat nutella and sweet cereals (which are something I find hard to resist). I am not often woken at 5 thought, thank goodness, but I find mornings very hard, especially if I do eat at 6.30 when the others do, by 10.00am my mood, energy is low and I’m seeking more food! So you did very well. Tiredness is a big obstacle for me. I am trying to plan my fast day around a day that it’s unlikely I will be woken in the night, have too early a start… however, if this is something I want to maintain, I will have to accept some days will have barriers!

You did well with the tortillas, they are something, alongside bread and cereals (and cakes and biscuits, of course), that I could snack on all day and would eat a whole load. I also totally get, that one may not binge on them if a proper meal is made from them- it was great that you did that, especially as you were tired too. I don’t know if I could get to that place of delayed gratification and hoping 5:2 will teach me this too.

Well done!

Bingeingqueen

8:27 am
16 Feb 15
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Helen,

I think you sound like you are doing well. I had got into the habit of just buying sandwiches which feels ridiculously extravagant, but so many times I have taken a pack of seeded bagels home to last me the week… bread is something I find more tempting than anything else, even chocolate. So I think on a fasting day I’m not sure I can trust myself with moderation.

How did the fast day go!

Thank yo for sharing.

Helen R

3:16 pm
17 Feb 15
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HI,

Penguin, it’s a great idea to have made a meal out the tortillas, very mindful and great that you felt better after eating it. I will check out your blog, hope it helps you stay on track. A visual record makes you accountable, especially if your friend stopped doing it.

Crumpets are delish!

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=crumpets&qpvt=crumpets&FORM=IGRE

I have mine with peanut butter.

Queen, thankyou for your encouragement! My fast days re going ok, I have been sticking to the same foods, tofu with vegetables, so I don’t have to think about it and I feel more in control of it. I went on a shopping trip yesterday and found some tins of soup and veggie chilli which are less than 200 calories, so on my next fast day I might try the tofu for breakfast then a one of these for dinner with some salad greens.

Hope you’re both having a good week,

Happy Pancake Day!

sanguinepenguin

6:27 pm
17 Feb 15
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Hi Helen and Queen,

I weighed yesterday and had a 1.1 lb loss, which wasn’t as much as I was hoping for, for had to be happy with nonetheless. It’s nice to be losing, rather than gaining.

I made a hearty vegetable soup yesterday that effectively cleaned out my fridge and freezer of a lot of veggies and made for a great fast day meal that was low in calories. Yesterday was probably the easiest fast day I’ve had, but today is proving harder. I didn’t sleep well (again) and am not feeling confident about what I’m going to teach in class today, so my escape route tends to lead me to food. I’m feeling sorry for myself and thinking that cookies or chocolate will make me feel better. Lies. 🙂

It’s sometimes hard to think of better options, though I know they are available. But I think my brain wants something and tends to fixate on it, making me unable to work out another solution. I’ll figure something out.

Hope you both have/had successful days – though it’s close to nighttime for you two. I’m just starting my day over here on the west coast.

mcca

7:55 am
18 Feb 15
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Hi Penguin, Queen and Helen,

Can I join your group? I’m a lifetime binger too and it’s nice to finally find some company on here. I’ve been doing 4:3 now for 4 months and am still bingeing on my days ‘off’. Having run the usual gambit of eating disorders in my early 20s (nearly 40 now), this is an ongoing problem and it sounds like you guys are familiar.

I’m not sure I can add anything helpful, because I am still trying to come up with a solution to the bingeing (I am doing 3 strict fast days a week and have been the same weight for a month, which indicates just how much food I can put away in those other 4 days….), but would love to know if anyone comes up with anything that works.

Today is my non-fast day and I have already started (at 6:30am) with half a Yorkie cookie (sugar is my fix) and toast with peanut butter (love those carbs too). Going to try really hard to fill up on vegetables etc but my brain just tells me to eat crap.

Queen – sounds like you are exhausted and just looking for some energy boost. I completely sympathize – small children who get up early are very tiring. Is there any chance of working in a 20 min power nap at any point in your day? Probably asking the impossible I know. My kids are older now (8 & 10) but I have vivid memories of a baby with colic going to bed at midnight and my older child getting up (every single day, and I don’t just mean getting up and going back to sleep – I mean getting up to start the day) at 4am. Great quantities of chocolate and coffee were the only things that kept me awake through the day.

Penguin – well done on the tortilla. I know what a big deal something like this is. It’s no small victory.

Helen – vegan? Hats off to you! That’s hardcore 🙂

Bingeingqueen

5:51 am
19 Feb 15
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Mcca,

Of course you can join the group- welcome.

Please understand I can put away a lot of food int he space of a few hours so please don’t feel alone. We had a mother’s meet the other day and boxes of cakes were brought, and I don’t usually avoid cakes because I am restricting my intake,I just find I don’t have a stop button! I ended up having “one cake” which led to a lot more! I think, currently for me to achieve this having a endless supply of cakes in the house isn’t helpful.

I am really tired so that can make life a bit harder, but coffee and chocolate help! I just wondered, I have a huge sweet tooth, and in the mornings, when I was breastfeeding (my day would start at 04:30 – those days are now gone, thankfully!) I would eat a huge bar of chocolate. It was a habit that became hard to break… then I moved on to a chocolate protein bar for breakfast and they hit the spot too, I am not saying give up your yorkie biscuit (sounds v nice) but for me that may open up my appetite even more.

I am just in a debate about whether to have breakfast, I have had it so ingrained in me to eat it, but often I overeat at breakfast time and if I have it, I wanting more food by 12.00! Yet if I don’t have it I am in fear I will be increasing my risk of bingeing later on. I also have the issue, I am not hungry in the am, but often I am woken early and need to get breakfast ready for others and I am very, very grumpy in the mornings…!!

Penguin, I find not eating definitely causes insomnia for me- another slight worry with the fasting. I am wondering on fast days whether to have some carbs in my evening meal, I would certainly be wide awake all night if I just had protein and vegetables. I am sorry to hear you’re not sleeping though – there could be many reasons, what I do know is, on nights of little sleep, the next day, or the following day after that I macabre queen (check out my name!) so stay away from those cookies- because, take it from me, you will feel instantly sleepy.

Penguin I really can relate to your lack of confidence with work that day and your wanting to seek comfort in food. Food is an easy outlet, it’s just there isn’t it. Yet fasting makes you have to be more mindful, however, other ways of dissipating stress aren’t so easy, i.e a jog, a walk, is there anything else you can do for a few minutes when you feel this way..

The thing I am stuck on, is trying to find something I enjoy as much as food… how sad is that… something to look forward to…how do you guys reward yourselves when food is not an option…

🙂 Good luck all

comespring

9:22 am
19 Feb 15
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Hi there – I’ve just dropped in to say how much I’ve enjoyed reading your thread. As a compulsive eater off and on for a good many years, and having struggled with my weight as a result I appreciated your honesty in talking about this often shameful secret. I’ve been doing 5:2 for over 6 months now and I know it’s helped with the binging but I’m not sure I can put my finger on exactly what it is that’s changed. In the first few months I had non-fast days when I literally couldn’t stop eating but that hasn’t happened for several months now and that’s despite not fasting over xmas/new year because… well, why would you?? 😉 Now, while I still harbour a fear that I’ll just wake up one day and lose control and eat myself stupid, the possibility of that happening is really starting to feel less and less likely (is this me talking???) As I tend to over-analyse, I’ve been wondering about a couple of possibilities for it, and obviously they’re peculiar to me but I know it can help to share. One is that 2 FD’s a week (and I only do 2 and I always eat 500cals) may have helped me to get more comfortable with hunger? My binging is always emotional and I think there was also an element of ‘food-panic’ – I just had to eat if I got hungry (and obviously quite often when I didn’t 😉 ) and the sense of deprivation when dieting was overwhelming. Food was also intensely pleasurable (and still is) so that often motivated a binge. Now, having got to know hunger in all it’s guises over 6 months, I find that often when I’m hungry on a non-fast day I delay eating quite a while without meaning too, and occasionally actually forget I’m not fasting and could therefore eat something! There just feels like a whole lot less panic involved, and that’s definitely different. The other is that I wonder if I haven’t developed a kind of respect for my fasting self and all the hard work ‘she’s’ doing on a FD? Now I find that at times, that’s enough motivation to stop when I’m thinking about eating because I’m cross/bored/anxious/emotional, to go ‘You know what? I don’t think so!”.
Before I start to sound all self-righteous, I do still struggle with actually believing I’ve lost so much weight (almost 20 kg or about 40lbs) and do worry that at any minute the binging demon will descend like some kind of ogre (I have lost lots of weight at different times, and always gained it back and I have a lot more to lose yet 🙁 ). However, with 5:2 I do feel more in control of my eating, whereas with other diets it’s always felt ‘imposed’ on me, and my rebellious side has eventually declared ‘enough!’ (or not enough 😉 )
Anyway, sorry to rave but it’s so refreshing to read about struggles that I can relate to and that I’m still grappling with on this journey to a healthier me.

Re the not sleeping on FD’s, I’ve pretty much accepted that I won’t sleep well on that night, despite saving all my 500 calories for a protein and non-carb vegetable dinner. As for using other things as rewards? I don’t think anything will ever give me the always-reliable and instantly gratifying sensation of a good binge (we do it because it works, folks!) so I just have to put on my big-girl-pants and accept that I need to make other choices to be healthy.
Good luck ladies, and I hope you keep posting here about this often-hidden experience.

mcca

3:31 pm
19 Feb 15
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Hi everyone, welcome to Spring!

This thread is really helpful, it’s so nice to know there are other people out there who have the same problems.

Penguin – super blog, I’m signed up to follow you! And 1.1lbs is a loss, it’s great, well done!

Queen – I agree, Yorkie cookie for breakfast is really not a good idea. Re the breakfast debate… there is another way of doing fasting that I tried for a while where basically you fast for 16 hours every day and eat for 8, and miss breakfast (www.leangains.com) so you eat from say 12pm to 8pm or 1pm to 9pm and therefore don’t go to bed hungry. The lean gains website talks a lot about the ‘breakfast myth’ (you know, the one that says thin people eat breakfast and all that). For me, missing breakfast basically means a smaller window in which to be shoveling stuff into my mouth, so trying to delay it might be worth trying. (Completely irrelevant but why are all breakfast things so lovely and carbohydrate-y? Has anyone ever tried working out the calories in muesli? With a decent sized bowl I could easily eat nearly 1000 calories….).

Well ladies I have to say I was feeling quite despondent the other day when I found this thread. It did give me motivation for my non-fast day (yesterday) to not completely pig out. I was around 2000 calories which was basically a frigging miracle for me (I can easily clock in 4000 and not notice, and I am not exaggerating). I’ve got to say, I was still pretty hungry after that, but I did stick to it, which is unusual, so thank you to all of you… this thread focussed my mind.

ALSO – I discovered this amazing recipe for pretend ‘Cherry Garcia’ ice-cream. And I am not even a big bananas fan. Here’s what you need:-

1 banana, chopped into pieces (skin off, obviously) and frozen
A couple of frozen cherries
Two dark chocolate buttons (41 calories, ladies, 41 bloomin’ calories for 2 measly buttons. No wonder my arse is indistinguishable from my thighs).

Put them all in a food processor & blend for 30 seconds.

Ta-dah! Pretend Cherry Garcia ice cream! And it’s not bad!!

sanguinepenguin

7:12 pm
19 Feb 15
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Thank you to everyone here; you’re all wonderful!

I’m definitely thinking that a poor night of sleep is just going to be a by-product of a fast day. While it won’t stop me, I’m going to have to give some consideration to when I schedule my fast days so as to not make me miserable the next day. Also, I totally woke up at 1:00am and had a few sips of ginger ale. It’s like a mini-binge in that it was mindless and unnecessary. I could have had water just as easily, with the same effect, likely. Any of you do that? I used to do it with orange juice – stand in front of the fridge at 2am and chug. Juice – another thing I can’t keep in the house.

Yesterday was my second fast day of the week and the first with my husband home. That was rough. I haven’t told him that I’m doing this because I know how crazy it sounds. How did any of you broach the subject with your families?

Mcca, that’s “ice cream” sounds like it just might work. And I don’t know what a chocolate “button” is, but I think I’ll just use chocolate chips. Lower in calories, for sure. Probably smaller, though.

Helen R

7:15 pm
19 Feb 15
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Hi all!

Penguin you lost 1.1lb! That’s fantastic, and you’re going in the right direction! There is a teaching and fasting thread on this forum, did you look at that for fellow teachers? I’m a teaching assistant and I find it’s easy to get through the day at school as I can take what I need to eat and not indulge in the staff room and eat the biscuits and cakes there. It’s much harder at home, but we need to be positive and be kind to ourselves if we make a mistake, because the alternative is making ourselves feel like shit and we don’t deserve that!

Welcome Mcca and Comespring! Being vegan is less scary than it sounds, bread, pasta, chips and lots of biscuits are vegan! I’m quite lucky when it comes to breakfasts, as long as I have something I don’t eat a lot at that time, as long as I get a big cup of builder’s tea I’m good. ON Monday I had my first fast day of the week and wasn’t hungry so I managed to skip breakfast altogether. I’m doing my second fast day tomorrow, so I will see what I feel like when I wake up.

I haven’t noticed how I’m sleeping on fast days, I will start to take note, but I have had a couple of bouts of trouble sleeping recently, I turned 40 last year, so I am interested to see if this improves as I never had trouble with this in my life and usually sleep like a teenage boy!

Isn’t it difficult to find something else to do when you want to go and eat something? I’m trying to get into meditation, going for long walks to the beach and trying to exercise at least once a week.

Comespring your post is really interesting, well done on that amazing weigh loss! I agree it’s great to feel hungry because you haven’t eaten, and to be able to distinguish this as real hunger. Hopefully it will all fall into place for us over time and become second nature to eat healthfully when we are hungry!

Helen R

7:26 pm
19 Feb 15
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@penguin have you tried lemon water? I started putting lemons in my water filter thing, and although it’s not sweet, it’s enough of a taste to make me think I’ve had something that is not just water.

comespring

1:02 am
20 Feb 15
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Hi All, so lovely to see you all here,

I was thinking about your question penguin about not having told your husband, as I was really reluctant to say anything to him as well. For me, I think it’s part of the secrets thing that goes with binging, but also I’ve tried so, so, so many diets that I was reluctant to tell him about the latest effort. I did tell him fairly early on though as it got weird at dinner time 🙂 but I didn’t tell my kids for some months and even now, I haven’t been shouting it from the rooftops because I am always conscious that I’ve been here before and then put it all back on. Maybe I’ll be a spruiker for 5:2 when I’ve kept the weight off for more that 2 years (my previous record) but I suspect I’m just not the evangelical sort 😉
Thanks for the cherry ice cream recipe mcca – it sounds yum and as it’s going to be 40oC over the weekend it might be a good time to try it. Take care all and keep posting how it’s going.

mcca

6:38 am
20 Feb 15
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Hi everyone. Just wanted to say thank you again for this thread. I’m finding it so nice and reassuring to know there are other people out there with the same problem.

I keep thinking of replies to specific points raised so here goes with quick-fire suggestions & questions! :-

Helen – I thought all vegans were super skinny! I see what you mean about biscuits and crisps though. On what to do instead of hunger…. oddly enough I find that doing some exercise actually curbs the hunger. There’s a great website ‘fitness blender’ where you can choose home workouts by duration, difficulty, body area etc so I usually choose a 20-30 min HITT one. Believe me when I say that at the beginning of this, if you’d told me I would have been able to exercise on a fast day I would have laughed you out of town. But after a couple of months the tiredness etc gets better.

Penguin – what to tell your husband – have you watched the BBC Michael Mosley documentary that started this whole thing off? It’s on YouTube… definitely worth watching (a) for inspiration and (b) excuses that wash with children and husbands. There are all kinds of worthy reasons to fast (none of which I give the slightest thought to) such as a significantly reduced risk of Alzheimers, diabetes, lowering cholesterol etc – the medical issues that fasting is thought to address are so many that it’s pretty easy to find one to say “my great-grandma / grandma had this and so I am fasting to reduce my risk”. You never know, if your husband watches the documentary too, he might end up fasting with you. A lot of men are doing it in the UK for health reasons.

Penguin – non sleeping – it gets a bit better. And if you can start eating later in the day and save up calories that’s better too. Soup is your friend (keeps you fuller for longer). Also Nairn’s oatcakes have about 40 cals in them each so if you can save 120 cals til late you could have this as a pre-bed snack?

Penguin – a chocolate button is equivalent to about 2-3 chocolate chips I think. It’s basically an oversized chocolate chip that is flat and is about the size of about a quarter. Can you believe that 4-6 chocolate chips would have 41 calories in them???? I could eat them by the fistful. Correction. I have eaten them (regularly) by the fistful.

Spring – your post is inspiring. Really hoping this will change my relationship with food and hunger too. So odd for us bingers how actually we CAN do a fast day – that not eating on those days is just accepted. Your weight loss is amazing. How did the 40lbs come off out of interest? Did you loose & plateau a lot or was it steady? I keep really plateauing every 5lbs, and have only lost 18lbs in 4 months, despite fasting 3 days a week!

Spring – maintaining weight loss – I have a friend who is a personal trainer who said that once you loose weight, you have to keep it off for at least a year for your body to re-set its idea of what you should weigh – it will keep trying to go back to the weight it thinks you should be otherwise. I’ve always lost weight and then – as soon as I feel good – I suddenly decide “oh, now I am a thin person, I can eat whatever I want” and of course it all goes back on, plus more.

Queen – non food rewards – I have a message on my cupboard that says “you are not a dog. Do not reward yourself with food”. It makes me laugh but I keep thinking “yes, I am a dog. I totally reward myself with food”. I think Spring has hit it on the head – nothing else works like that instant hit of a good binge (unless you get yourself a Class A drug habit, which would make you loose weight, but then you’ll just have to find a whole new forum, ha ha) so unfortunately I think it’s trying to stay focussed on deferred gratification (the enemy of the binger) and tomorrow’s weight loss. Every 7lbs I am planning something nice for myself. Secret botox next. Yes, I am planning to be one of those scary 40 year olds desperately trying to look 20.

Queen – morning foods – I remembered I used to have this for breakfast when I was in my 20s and thin, and it filled me up. Blend a banana with a yoghurt (soya or normal – whatever it is, has to be a flavoured / sweetened one) and some milk (can be soya milk – I used to make it with Alpro yoghurt and soya milk), maybe add some berries. Drink with a straw (this slows down how quickly you can consume it). From recent things I keep reading, I think a fuller-fat yoghurt might actually work better than a low fat yoghurt here, because you don’t have any of the demon carbs and the fat will keep you fuller for longer.

mcca

6:44 am
20 Feb 15
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New Recipe!! (I only do recipes that take 5 mins by the way, and easy ingredients. Way too hungry to do anything else).

No-carb pasta:-

You need a spiralizer. I got a handheld one for 8 GBP from Amazon. This one is the shape of an egg timer and you basically hold a courgette or other tube-shaped vegetable in it and twist.

2 courgettes (Penguin – this is zucchini)
1/2 tin chopped tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
Salt or 2 anchovies
Chilli flakes (optional)
Parmesan (optional and you can tailor how much according to how many cals left that day).

(1) Spiralize the courgettes onto a clean tea towel
(2) spread it out over the tea towel and then wrap it up tight. Leave for at least 30 mins for some of the water to drain out.
(3) Heat the garlic in a large non stick pan, add the salt/anchovies, chilli flakes and tomatoes. Cook right down for around 5 mins til about half the liquid has gone.
(4) Add the courgette spirals and turn it all over to coat the courgette for around 3 mins til the courgette is warmed and covered with the sauce but still al dente and not all soggy.
(5) Plate it up & sprinkle with the parmesan.

(6) Eat, eat, eat like it’s 11pm and nobody’s watching! xx

Helen R

11:50 am
21 Feb 15
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I have just had a few squares of chocolate, AND I WRAPPED THE REST OF THE BAR UP AND PUT IT AWAY!

*dances a jig*

desperate but driven

2:14 pm
21 Feb 15
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I just want to thank you all for sharing and say that you all seem like fantastic women! 🙂 I can identify with everyone on this forum. I have a husband and family that don’t know I’m on 5-2. It’s because I feel foolish after all the trends I seem to follow. I introduced being vegan, no sugar, no carbs, etc. and they pretty much think I’m crazy. I started 5-2 on Jan 2. I have lost 6 pounds although it was 7 when I weighed this Thursday yet I’m up a pound today. Going to attribute that to 16 handles frozen yogurt and a couple pretzels last night. My downfall is pretty much carbs and sweet things like everyone else! I have had binging issues on and off for years. Not where I ate thousands of calories but maybe 500 to 1000 and then would throw up after hating feeling full and a failure. This doesn’t happen often but I’m in my 40’s and has been present since I was a teenager. I believe we all struggle and that many of us have food issues out there. However, like me, no one knows. Just another secret.

sanguinepenguin

6:15 pm
21 Feb 15
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Helen, you rock! It might seem small, but it adds up to a huge accomplishment!

My only success from last night was telling my husband to order me a mini ice cream instead of a small. Hey, it’s the little things, right?

D&D, welcome. This is definitely the place to tell-all and not be judged. I’ve had a rough few days and it’s the coming here and reading about successes like yours and everyone else’s that keeps me going.

MCCA, you’re too funny. Thank you for all your insight and humor. And keep it coming!

By the way… I told my husband this morning. He was pretty quiet, but respectful, and even agreed to try a fast day with me. I tried to frame the diet as being more about health than weight-loss, which he cares about as his father has had three heart attacks. we’ll see how it goes. It took me a little to get up the gumption, but we got a little crazy with the fried bar food last night so I think he was primed to hear it.

Helen R

10:30 am
22 Feb 15
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Penguin, well done for telling your husband, it’s great that you;ve got his support now, I bet you find it easier now.

D&D, hello! We’ve all been there, trying so many different diets over so many years. You’re doing so well already it seems so keep at it! have you noticed a difference in your attitude to this diet? You’ll share it with your family when you’re ready.

Here is a post I’ve copied from another thread on here:

“The things that worked for me were finding that I didn’t need breakfast until late in the morning, or indeed, until midday. On fast days I usually had porridge for breakfast, home-made thick soup for 2nd meal and something like roasted veg and couscous for my 3rd meal. I had 2 bowls of soup, if I felt like it `(and usually did). My final meal was usually quite large, so I would always feel that I definitely wasn’t suffering. I would have loads and loads of veg – just no potatoes and about 3 dessertspoons of couscous. Important to drink throughout the day. I got in loads of different herbal teas, so I could have a selection to stop me getting bored. I finished each fast day with chamomile tea, because that knocked me out and I went to bed early. I would plan what I was going to have for breakfast the next day, but when I woke up, I wouldn’t feel hungry.

I found it helpful to keep busy during fast days, and I also had a secret chocolate stash for stress emergencies. I broke up milk chocolate into tiny pieces and put them in the freezer. If I was feeling very stressed about anything, I could have a small piece of chocolate, and that seemed to help.

The other thing is that there will be weeks when the scales don’t move, and you just have to grit your teeth and keep going.

If I can do it, other people can, because I’m definitely not a super-human person.”

The thread is ‘Almost a Year’ if you want to read through for some inspiration, but I LOVE her idea of measuring out portions of chocolate in the freezer (blimey, I’ve typed that three times with x instead of z, so annoying!) I’m definitely going to do that.

mcca

8:54 pm
22 Feb 15
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D&D – welcome!

Helen – massive success with the chocolate, might seem like a small thing but we all know it’s not.

Penguin – I’m so pleased your husband reacted well. And the stuff about it being good to reduce your risk of a heart attack are all true, so it’s great he is joining you.

I am in the danger zone. Just seen someone who I haven’t seen for 6 months and she went on and on about how much weight I have lost (it’s around 19lbs now, which is great,I’m not complaining, but I have a way to go)…. And I feel smaller and wore jeans for the first time at the weekend. My face is starting to look….well, more like a face than an egg that somebody tried to draw a face on…. So anyway what’s the problem I hear you asking… Well this is the point at which I start feeling better about myself and go back to overeating. So I am going to keep checking in with you guys to try to keep my focus.

Do any of you ladies ever read those ‘what kind of eater are you’ quiz type articles where there are multiple choice questions for when you overeat such as when you are (a) tired (b) not tired ( c) happy (d) sad (e) depressed (f) late at night (g) stressed (h) relaxed (I) at parties (j) on your own (k) at work (l) at home…… And I’m always just left looking, looking for the option that says ‘all of the above’……

Bingeingqueen

9:59 am
23 Feb 15
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Hello all,
Welcome come spring and DandD.

It sounds like you are all doing very well. I had a weekend whereby there was a lot of bread (I overeat on healthy stuff too…), cakes, chocolate, cereals, biscuits- we had little people guests. All was going well, but Friday night my son had a cough and I was up until four and woken again at 6.30 (poor me! I hope I am gaining sympathy here because it happened last night too!). It wasn’t a fast day but by 3pm I was eating whatever I could get (raining outside) there was no escape.

So I struggle actually having to be around food, if it’s there and I have access to it,I’m afraid there is usually a point in the day I think hmmmm..maybe just one bit… even a sandwich and I’ll eat the loaf. I definitely think keeping busy, being out and about and not having free access to food. For me I don’t want to use the term food addiction, but I just love food. I wonder if the whole country right do well on the less access to goodies they overeat… as I said though, for me it’s not just “junk” food, it’s that as well – a demon near a cake or sugary cereals (I don’t even feel I like them that much but feel compelled to eat more and fell hmmm when stressed, tired etc), I also struggle, when tired to be around simple things like oat cakes (I’ll eat the pack), seeded bread (I just keep going)- bread of any sort, even though it’s healthy…!

So what I am trying to get round to is addressing mcca, I think not only does the fasting diet teach you about true hunger but you are right to recognising other things about yourself. I have to identify my “triggers” and be honest. I actually get a high, when I’m feeling down at the thought of scoffing a load of food! I am absolutely like you, self-sabotage and was fascinated to read this topic came up in another link on another fasting thread. I will have to see if I can find it… and many of us do it. I think you have to recognise you love food, and when you turn to it (as you have), and that won’t change (well for me it won’t) if I am a healthy weight… or at a lower BMI. I think it’s finding a balance between being mindful, without stressing yourself out completely and getting anxious. BTW in terms of research or professional training in this area- I don’t have any clue what I’m talking about other than what I have observed in myself and others. For me, terming eating days as feasting would also be a mistake, if I let myself I would eat everything offered. Although I do think, fasting is brilliant at allowing ones self to recognise true hunger (and let’s face it, I think lots of people don’t do this now, i.e breakfast – eat, snack time, walk past a shop- creamy coffee snack, someone offers cake, snack, lunch time- eat again, afternoon, snack, see a friend – snack again, tea time with friends or family, better eat again, sitting on the sofa or out and about – eat again. I don’t meant to sound patronising it’s almost cathartic for me to write this so forgive me!) it doesn’t stop on the non fasting days and for me, every day I have to be mindful. i also have to avoid that “feeling a little too brilliant euphoria” when I started looking nicer, and everything is going really well as I can do one of two things, i.e get complacent, or start thinking why bother. So for me mcca, at your stage, it would help to re-evaluate my goals, think why I started doing this in the first place. Think of all you have achieved, would you like to maintain that… and actually I don’t know about you, I hate that feeling of just wanting to eat all day- it takes up so much time and energy, I don’t sometimes get full when everyone else does, but find my stomach would hurt at night.! It feels nice to just be nice to yourself – sorry for all the slightly corny vibes, but I honestly think you have to look after you, for something more than the aesthetic, it isn’t just about that. Obviously as you noticed you may eat when you recognise what type of eater you are (me too, me too I would tick every box, I am definitely the compulsive, elements of emotional and a feaster!!!) I have to be honest with myself. In some ways that’s a great thing to recognise in myself, I notice if I am in the type of mood whereby I will read a book without really reading it, turning pages finding I haven’t read it, driving home then getting home thinking I did that on autopilot.. (don’t worry about me too much everyone!) but it’s the same with eating.. I can’t go on autopilot. Fasting addresses that a bit for me. It stops autopilot. Sorry I can’t remember who posted it, but food will be my “drug of choice” I appeciate “food is just food”, but I also recognise when I turn to it and I can do it without thinking…

I’ve had a bit of a therapy session sorry everyone.

I am actually finding I haven’t got as low as the 500 kcal on fasting days yet. I can get to 700 and I do that because at the moment, I always have my child during the week although I get some mornings off, but we often go to somewhere for a coffee cake is offered so I have been having a milky coffee instead of lunch which is bumping the kcal up a little but gives me something to look forward to and divides the day up (if anyone has children they will know what I mean about dividing the day up). I have then been able to manage supper without anyone knowing I am fasting, I have the meat fish with a pile of greens. In that sense it works perfectly for me but then I haven’t done it correctly yet- 500 is very low. At least I am starting to feel truly hungry before a meal and it has made me be more assertive to saying no to all the extras I’m offered. I am not so good on days whereby not busy and I have access to food all day.

Helen – that’s a brilliant paragraph, thank you for posting. That’s useful to me,and I wonder if that’s something for non fasting days, I have noticed, I know breakfast is meant to prevent bingeing but often I feel very tired after breakfast and a lot hungrier, no not hungrier, but it almost opens my appetite more so trying to decide what to do on non fasting days too. I do need a warm drink when I get up though so looks like that may be coffee.

Appetite – I think exercise may help reducing it. So I am trying to find ways to exercise without tiring myself completely, being shattered is really hard for me. I’m not sounding very resilient!

Helen- I do think you sound a bit super human 😉 freezing chocolate sounds a great idea but I’m not sure if I am more weak willed, if I had a day at home I may eat it all….

Penguin, your husband sounds really supportive.

DandD you say you feel foolish with all the trends that you follow. Many of us are the same, but it is about finding what works for you, as long as you are getting healthier and not less healthy. I understand the novelty of something new will wear off so it’s seeing if you can also maintain it- I like the fasting diet as it’s not “eat this or you will fail” it has lots of tips…

I have written too much. Good luck all and thank you for your posts… amazing support for me.

LittleWing

11:14 am
23 Feb 15
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Queen – totally know what you mean re breaking the day up with children, was very relevant to me before my eldest started school! a milky coffee is always high on my list of wants for the day after fasting. I have managed to significantly reduce the amount of milk U can get away with in a coffee now – so kong as it’s frothed! Means I still wake up to a cappuccino of sorts on a fast day!

Re husbands – I empathise! I got quite upset on my last fast as he is a slim jim who has never in his life had to watch what he eats – quite the opposite in fact, as a skinny teenager he was encouraged to eat. I am big because I’ve had a baby, and as beautiful as that is, my body has paid for it. Varicose veins, moooore stretch marks, a big cesarean scar across my tummy that still makes me wince just to look at…. not to mention the hips bum and boobs! And for him… nothing! In fact his tired stubble and shorter ‘quicker drying’ hair cut and thr doting love he showers the baby with have made him more attractive to me than ever! So… he eventually thanked me for everything my old bod has been through and for what I have to do now. I suggested he do just 1 measley little fast day with me. Just out of empathy. Well, you can probably imagine what he said….
Gaghhh Men!!!

desperate but driven

1:30 pm
23 Feb 15
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Hi all,

I think it was Helen that mentioned bread is a trigger. Well on Saturday I was with the kids and we decided to go to lunch. We went to this amazing french place and I had a ham and cheese crepe with salad. It was so good and actually quite light. The problem was that after I ended up eating pink berry (frozen yogurt) a bran muffin and even some french bread later I. The afternoon! It was like once I started u couldn’t stop! I felt nauseous and disappointed with myself when I went to bed. Hate that feeling! So why don’t I stop? Ps my husband is also a skinny Minnie who barely gains weight. Eats carbs and bread all day long. so Sunday was my fast day which I pretty much stuck to. However I ended up drinking white wine last night! Too much! Only 2 big glasses but my tolerance seems to have gone way down. I’m feeling hungover! Anyone else notice this? Maybe from fasting? Was trying to skip breakfast today but thinking maybe u should eat yo get rid of the nausea;)

sanguinepenguin

4:10 pm
23 Feb 15
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I have a lot more to write than this, but the following is a public service announcement: I just did my second weigh-in. For all the boozing and eating I did this last week (no bingeing, though!) I still managed to lose almost 3 lbs. 2.8, to be exact. I can’t believe it. It really works! I’m sure next week will be a draw with either no loss or a slight gain but I’m beyond thrilled. Freakin’ ah-mazing. More to follow. Cheers to all of you wonderful ladies. I’m so glad to “know” you!

desperate but driven

5:18 pm
23 Feb 15
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Congratulations Sanguinepenguin! I am happy for you and thanks so much for sharing! cheered me up actually:) I love hearing 5-2 works!:)

Saladplease

5:35 pm
23 Feb 15
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Bingeing is something I have really struggled with also–your post inspired me to stop lurking and actually create an account, because it’s been such a huge struggle for me. I would eat well for 3-4 days and then undo it all with a binge. So frustrating and it really does not feel good. I was actually able to maintain a BMI in the low 20s despite my bingeing, but mostly through things like still having a fairly “youthful” metabolism, staying ridiculously active, and being very rigorous about what I was eating when I wasn’t bingeing. Not good! Bingeing and weight concerns were really taking up a huge amount of mental energy and I knew I needed to “fix” myself somehow. I had tried 5:2 a couple of years ago and definitely experienced rebound bingeing, so I wrote it off as not for me.

Anyway, early last year I decided I was really tired of always wanting to lose 5-10 lbs and never getting anywhere because of the binges. A friend suggested I look into the book Intuitive Eating. If you struggle with binge eating, I would REALLY suggest looking into Intuitive Eating and incorporating some of the suggestions into your life. Personally I found that just incorporating a few of the IE recommendations really helped me to break my binge cycles and made practicing 5:2 (and now 6:1) much more sustainable.

One of the things that really worked well for me was to STOP weighing myself regularly. Obviously this varies from person to person, but I realized that weighing in was really serving as a gateway to a binge. If my weight was “good”, I’d be thinking “oh, I have some space to eat something extra” and then next thing you know, there goes half a pizza and a pint of ice cream and a packet or two of chips. If my weight was “bad” I’d think “okay, I need to start a new diet! I’ll start it tomorrow and get all the binge food out of my system today”, and boom, there’s another binge. If I don’t know what I weigh, it’s easier for me to evaluate urges to eat in the context of “is this food actually going to nourish or satisfy me”, and in the case of many of my binge foods, the answer is usually “NO”, and it’s easier for me to take a pass. At the same time, when I do decide to eat things like chocolate, bread, dessert, etc., it’s much easier for me to just say to myself “hey, you know what a reasonable portion size is” and then stop.

I started off by committing to not weighing myself for a month. During that time I had one mini-binge but otherwise basically just ate well and focused on paying attention to hunger cues, etc. At the end of the month I checked in and lo and behold, I had dropped a couple of pounds. After that I decided to try IF again and I found that not weighing myself really did help with avoiding rebound binges–since I had no idea how much I had lost on a fast day I had no idea how much extra I “could” eat on non-fast days, so I tended to not eat extra treats or otherwise cancel out my fast day progress. I did 5:2 for about a month and then dropped to 6:1 as I had dropped a dress size and felt I was looking pretty good. I am still comfortably fitting in the smaller clothing size and am finding that 6:1 plus being mindful on non-fast days is working really well for maintaining that size. I’m not sure what I weigh now but have my annual physical coming up next month so I guess I will find out then. I won’t say that I have 100% stopped with binges but they are much much less frequent now and I am also much better able to rein them in and stop eating before I go completely off the rails. Most importantly, I don’t feel like binges and thinking about food obsessively is something that’s running my life now.

Anyway, I realize this is getting to be a ridiculously long first post so I’ll wrap up now.

Helen R

9:27 pm
23 Feb 15
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Just popping in to drop this off, it seems helpful!

http://www.doyouyoga.com/4-healthy-eating-tips-from-a-formerly-heavyweight-food-lover/

Hope everyone’s been ok today! x

desperate but driven

1:32 am
24 Feb 15
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Thank you so much salad please!!! You sound so similar to me. I really appreciate your post. 🙂

Bingeingqueen

8:02 am
24 Feb 15
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Hi guys,

Thank you all so much for posting. It’s really great to have a support group like this, especially as I can’t talk to anyone in every day life about this… the answer is always “moderation”.

A few questions or trying to seek advice:

Ah Helen, thank you for the link (and well done btw!!). The thing I struggle with it whether to INTRODUCE cake into my non fast days… the issue is, I don’t really like cake, yet it’s one thing I have and I just want more. I am like that with sugary cereals and bread too. Bread is easy to overcome in a way, as expensive as my approach is, as I mentioned before I buy a ready made sandwich, or a bread roll. Then I just don’t have excess in the house. But cake, I just eat it and want more, don’t really enjoy it yet I will binge on it when I have it to be sociable – especially if I am really tired. So I’m not sure what you guys would do… I do eat a lot of chocolate though, but these days I chose a high cocoa content bar and I eat way too much, but that’s my “thing” as it were. I actually love chocolate more than anything and I savour every bite! I also don’t know how to cope with weekends (we have lots of children (my husband’s) here at the weekends) and they love all my binge foods, white bread, nutella, bread generally, sugary cereals, biscuits, cake… and on Sunday afternoon, I am hugely at risk when we are at home, I am usually exhausted and my mood is low, so I haven’t thought of a way to overcome this yet – brilliant mindfulness would be good, but that’s something I’m working on, but preparing food for kids and being in the house is hard. I wouldn’t use this as a fast day but I can eat a lot during the whole afternoon!

Insomnia with fast days. This is a biggy for me, as I’m already tired a lot of the time, my little one is a light sleeper. Yet on a non fast day, if I eat breakfast or after lunch I always feel very tired. So I was wondering whether a high carb (as opposed to the current advice of high protein) pre bedtime meal would be less likely to induce insomnia- i.e 500 kcal of porridge…

Just my struggles for the day…

Helen and Penguin well done – great results !!!

Bingeingqueen

8:04 am
24 Feb 15
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PS I meant to add I went to a baby shower and we all had afternoon tea, there was about 15 of us, and I noticed nearly every woman there had more than two bits of cake… so I sometimes feel alone when i feel like a greedy monster… but I think lots of people struggle. I’m probably stating the obvious, but life is about accepting we’re not perfect and finding solutions.. (Helen, I did read the link see 😉 ) x

desperate but driven

1:36 pm
24 Feb 15
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I find with me it tends to be all or nothing. Meaning,if I start in the cakes,bagels,bread it keeps on going. For me these seem to be trigger foods. Let’s face it, no one gets full from cake! 🙂 I do have a couple suggestions as j am home with kids often. I tend to do better when u use one of the weekend days as a fast day. This way I have lots of resolve and I’m determined. I can have coffee and workout in the morning. Have late lunch of like egg whites and veggies if I’m starved. Sometimes just an Apple snd liquids do can save Cals for dinner. It’s weird but my family doesn’t seem to notice. Another tip I’d that I buy these chis bagels from Amazon. They are 80 calories with 11 grams protein and 7 grams carbohydrates so really good. I love them. I live in US so not sure who can find them. However there are lots of low carb high protein and fiber options out there. It’s a bit sad but I consider the chis bagel my treat. Throw one of those laughing cow soft cheeses with done all fruit jelly and it’s very satisfying. I also heavily drink chicken bouillon and miso soup on fast days to get me through. Last trick and promise to quit rant:) I drink no sugar added instant hot chocolate or diet hot chocolate. I know fake sugar is gross but sometimes you need a sweet! Better than consuming half a cake:) have great day everybody! Xx

desperate but driven

1:38 pm
24 Feb 15
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Chia bagels! Hate autocorrect. 🙂

sanguinepenguin

6:21 pm
24 Feb 15
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So much to catch up on!

D&D, I definitely find myself being more susceptible to the effects of alcohol. Not a bad thing, in my opinion.

Saladplease, I’m right there with you on the “dieting starts tomorrow, I’ll just finish this cheesecake tonight so I’m not tempted later…” That made me laugh, though somewhat ironically.

Queen, I have definitely pondered whether or not to introduce “bad” foods on my non-fast days. I’ve really dedicated myself to not trying too hard right off the bat so I’ll be less likely to fail, and that includes allowing and sometimes insisting on having those forbidden foods. It’s harder than I thought it would be—the urge to resist is so ingrained in my “diet” lifestyle and I’m trying so hard to make it my regular lifestyle. I’m having some success, though, and haven’t binged on those foods at all. I do still find myself eating a little mindlessly, but the quantity isn’t out of control, it’s just what I’m eating, when and how. Standing over a bowl of dip and a bag of chips and just shoveling them in… not really a binge in my book because I don’t finish the bag of chips or the bowl of dip, but I’m not “thinking” about it. I’m just doing what my body is telling me to do. That habit still needs to be addressed.

After this weigh-in I’ve decided to do two more weeks of 5:2 without messing around with counting calories or adding fast days. I really want to get a baseline of progress (or lack thereof) and have a better idea of how my body is reacting to this way of eating/not eating. I have always been super gung-ho about diets and exercise for the first 2 weeks and then fall off the wagon. I’m trying to use more moderation this time around.

Bingeingqueen

3:19 pm
25 Feb 15
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DandD – chia bagels sound yummy, it doesn’t sound sad at all. I have oatcakes or bagels for dessert as I love them so much!

Penguin, you’re approach sounds fantastic. I think this is a much more flexible approach – from what I’m hearing you are working out what has or hasn’t worked before. To make this a sustainable thing for the future is promising and seems to be a much more comfortable with food type of approach.

I am a little different to you in that I binge on “good” foods too- I will eat bowls and bowls of porridge, weetabix (yes plain weetabix with warm milk- I could eat a pack!) I just keep going, even with golgi seed flaxseed. If it’s a carb I can eat and eat and not really feel full (or maybe I just go through fullness!). I love chocolate but I keep it dark and I still have that everyday, but I don’t miss cake or sugared cereal, and when I have tried eating it every day I find it hard to be mindful with it, and I’m not thinking “I love this” nor do I crave it when I don’t have it (only when tired and it’s placed in front of me) oh and sometimes I walk past that cafe and see the 3 tiered cake and think mmmmm! So for me (I think your approach os spot on for you though please forgive me for going on about it I’m just deciding what may be best for me. I think I’m going to keep the chocolate in and maybe only eat cake if out and only have access to one slice. I really respect how everyone is doing on here! I think with me just eat less do more is appropriate I just love food- all food, and I feel tired a lot so the strength I used to have when I would recognise I had had enough.. isn’t as good as it used to be!

sanguinepenguin

3:46 am
26 Feb 15
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Queen, I understand. I know, KNOW, I will never be a person who can keep snacks in a desk drawer at work. I don’t even want to go down that path, to think about what that would do to me. If I had nuts or pretzels or chocolate in my vicinity while I’m having to do work or being restricted to a desk or something… forget it. So when I say that I’m working to introduce bad foods in moderation, please know that I mean I’m only introducing them in amounts that I can handle. I still won’t stock my larder/pantry with cookies or snack-type foods. That would be diet suicide. Instead, when I feel hungry, I don’t deny myself having something right then, even if I think it’s kind of the wrong thing to want. But it can’t be an unlimited amount of something.

Moa

10:29 am
26 Feb 15
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Hi, another binge-eater here! I’ve been careful about applying that term to myself as I don’t have a severe eating disorder, but I binge often enough that it’s a real problem so maybe I should just accept the term. I go through rounds of eating really healthfully only to gorge myself on nutella and chocolate and cake until I feel nauseous at night, or I eat normally throughout the day, decide to treat myself to a sandwich and end up eating an entire loaf of bread. If I can eat, I will. I liked Salad’s advice regarding weighing yourself, I think I’m going to try to weigh myself less too! I can definitely relate to squeezing in one last thing before starting yet another diet if my weight has gone up and relaxing far too much if it’s gone down a little bit.

I’m an emotional eater above all and feel this need to fill myself up completely whenever I’m slightly sad or have had a bad day or when I’m just tired. I guess my main challenge is figuring out how to deal with feelings in other ways than running down to the supermarket (it’s really too close to my apartment for my own good…) and smothering them with sugar and trans fats. It doesn’t help, I just end up feeling incredible amounts of shame afterwards instead.

comespring

10:35 am
26 Feb 15
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Hi folks, so good to see others joining in this conversation about binging and finding ways to make peace with food, or maybe it’s more about not being so scared of it?? Such honesty and laughing at the familiar stuff (especially the “I’m going on a diet tomorrow so I need to eat all the crap in the house TONIGHT!!” Lol, been there, done that 🙂 )I think for me that fear of food has been a problem, as in, food always lurked malevolently in my pantry/fridge and if I didn’t keep it in the house it could lure me/bully me/tempt me/seductively call my name all the way to the supermarket or Hungry Jacks (the Aussie Burger King) for a double delux something or other :-0
I think I did (and sometimes still do) give food a LOT of power that it doesn’t actually possess. Anyway, keep up the great work sharing stories and stripping away the power of secrets (and food!).
Edit – just read the line about snacks in the desk draw Queen… NO!! Just can’t do it!! If it ever happens one day I’ll know I’ve gone and got cured, or died and gone to binge-eaters heaven x

desperate but driven

1:24 pm
26 Feb 15
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Hi everyone,

I can relate to all of you. So yesterday was a non fast day for me. I ate half yogurt with muesli for breakfast and had light salad for lunch. Was super hungry few hours later. Are 2 pretzel rods and an apple. Couple hours later ate some Asian snack mix with Nuts because I was going to an event and a couple of us were starved. Later last night I ended up eating a mini chia bagel with turkey and Swiss cheese. All would have been fine if I would have stopped there

mcca

10:24 pm
26 Feb 15
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Penguin – fantastic weight loss result! You go girl!

Helen – thanks for the link! It was a good read. My inner fat girl is often talking to me telling me I’m just going to eat it all anyways so might as well start now…

Queen – thanks for all your supportive words. I definitely relate to the way you can start and not stop with things… the amount I can eat is absurd. I think you are right about re-evaluating goals, and not just my shallow ambitions (having thighs that don’t chafe) but also the bigger ones like not having utter self-loathing that comes about on a daily basis in my ‘normal’ life (i.e. not on the Fast Diet) from over-eating and having almost no control around food.

I’ve been thinking a lot about your initial question – does fasting INCREASE bingeing? I can definitely see that for some people it could. But I think I have worked out the answer for me – if I wasn’t fasting for 3 days a week, I would be bingeing for 7. So, the fast diet hasn’t stopped my bingeing (except on a very few days when I tried really hard to eat like a normal person), but it has stopped me bingeing every single day.

Honestly, I don’t think I am ever going to be a ‘normal’ person around food. I see how other people eat, and even though I can see they eat too much of this, and get tempted, and that sort of thing, they do have an off switch. I don’t. But the fasting thing seems to be working. It’s not going to make me normal, but I am hoping it’s going to help me find a balance I can live with.

Queen – re 700 cals vs 500 – if there is any way you can start taking your coffee black you will get to the 500 no problems… it was the only way I ever got it down to 500. And I am a gal who used to have DOUBLE CREAM in my coffee and I never thought I would like it black!

mcca

10:25 pm
26 Feb 15
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PS welcome Salad & MOA – nice to see you guys here! Welcome to the crazy people post xxx

mcca

10:30 pm
26 Feb 15
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Sorry one more then I will shut up.

Queen – your question as to whether to introduce cake on a non-fast day…. I personally wouldn’t. Just because I tried to do a similar thing with something I thought wasn’t a trigger food for me (cheese scones) because sugar is my poison… anyway it only took me 15 minutes to discover that I had created myself a whole new trigger food and had eaten 4 with butter!! One thing that has sort-of worked on one of my (very few) good days was when I chopped up loads of fruit and had a mini-binge on that before I got going on ‘proper’ food. This seemed helpful.

Helen R

4:44 pm
27 Feb 15
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Hi everyone!
Hope you’re all well, being kind to yourselves and looking forward to the weekend.

Well done Penguin for that 3lb loss, that’s this much:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WS-yxI9qD88/TsumHnrP4BI/AAAAAAAABTc/dF67NT1VnEQ/s1600/3lbfat.png

Salad, how you describe allowing yourself to eat more when you see the scales go down resonates with me for sure! I feel myself doing that the day after a fast day. It’s crazy how our minds work, but great (you know what I mean) to hear other people experience it too and be willing to share it. I will definitely look into Intuitive Eating.

Queen, don’t have cake if it’s not your thing. I am the same with cereal, I can eat really big bowls of cereal for breakfast, but love to snack on it in the daytime too, even just from the box! The recommended serving size is ridiculous, it’s like two spoonfuls!

I don’t know what my weight loss will be like this week. (Overall I’ve lost 10 lbs as of Monday, that’s in 4 weeks so not too bad.) Today is my second fast day (I managed three last week) but I have my period, so I’m a bit heavier anyway, and normally I would hit the bread and peanut butter really hard. On Wednesday I let myself have a sandwich about 8pm, and yesterday I had a muffin at the same time, just to try to control the cravings. I will go to bed early tonight.

My brain is going ‘peanutbutterpeanutbutterpeanutbutterpeanutbutterpeanutbu
tterpeanutbutterpeanutbutterpeanutbutterpeanutbutterpeanutbutter’

sanguinepenguin

3:22 pm
2 Mar 15
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Helen, thank you for that *delightful* infographic 🙂 Kind of puts it into perspective, doesn’t it?

I weighed-in this morning after a fast day yesterday. I’m down another 2.8 pound, 6.6 total in three weeks. I’m in shock. I ate a gi-normous bowl of oatmeal before bed last night to help me sleep. It worked, but I promise you that I woke this morning absolutely dreading getting on the scale.

I guess I shouldn’t have worried. I know it can’t last, though.

How is everyone doing? How was the weekend? I did OK, but that’s mainly because my husband and I were so over-fed from my dad’s visit (my dad can eat cheese and wine with the best of them!) that we voluntarily ate salad and water for dinner. And, the husband flew away again for work yesterday, so this week might or might not be a tough one. We’ll see, won’t we?

mcca

10:15 am
3 Mar 15
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Hi everyone – well done Helen & Penguin, great results!

I need help please, ladies. Terrible weekend. Binge followed by a proper purge. Not good at all. I feel like I am 19 again, and not in a good way….. I’ve worked out that my problem is not the fast days, which I seem to manage fine (I mean, I still think about food all day long, and every fast day is a struggle, but I actually stick to them somehow, 3 days a week, every week, for 4 months, which is a big thing for me)… my problem is the non-fast days and having absolutely no control whatsoever. Any suggestions or tips would be most welcome. 🙂