This topic contains 65 replies, has 35 voices, and was last updated by keeptrying 8 years, 10 months ago.
I can relate to many of the comments in this thread! I agree with some of the aspects Ginax mentions, but ultimately eating is a complex issue, and the 5:2 allows us peeps to have some control over our food choices, while hopefully highlighting some of the underlying issues, the reasons why we binge. I’ve struggled with food related issues for many years, and am about to start of the 5:2, I’m looking forward to sharing experiences..BB
This thread is helping me a lot but when people say don’t keep trigger foods in the house, I have shops at the end of my road. If I’m craving sugar I’ll have an internal battle in my head and then eventually just go and buy some. Not having it in the house doesn’t stop me at all.
The only thing that stops me bingeing is not being alone, which unfortunately is not possible 24/7 as I work from home, alone!
We’re going away next week for a few days which I’m really looking forward to as I’ll be with my OH all the time meaning I can’t binge. I have everything crossed that 4 days of not bingeing will get me back on track and I’ll be able to start 5:2. Wish me luck!
Wendybird, I understand your craving for sugar and binging but you need a mindset adjustment. The only person that can prevent you from walking to the shop to get a sweet is you. You can’t transfer that responsibility to anyone else. You must decide to win the internal battle in your mind.
Others can help you stay the course but you are the one that makes the decisions. Write down your reasons for not binging and post them on the refrigerator, pantry and your bathroom mirror. I also hang a pic that highlights my worst fat look! LOL And do get all the junk out of your home. It gives you a lot more time to win the internal argument.
Hi all
I’m on my 3rd week of the 5:2 and feeling very motivated. I too am having / had trouble with the bingeing and called myself a “compulsive eater” at work. Even tried hypnosis which didn’t help at all. But doing the fasting is helping me get back some control. I watched myself binge last week and luckily was keeping a food diary. I compared it to what I’m doing on a fast day / other days. I realised on my binge day that I only had carbs for lunch and then couldn’t stop eating all afternoon. On normal days, I have been trying to add protein into my breakfast and also making sure I have a decent portion of protein at lunchtime. I’m finding that this is really helping to control the bingeing. I can now just have a small treat or even say no thanks to the team biscuits next to my desk! Hope this helps.
I’ve been on this diet for 3 years. I have only lost 2 stone, but I would be much fatter if I didn’t do it. I’ve behaved like a child – eating lots to compensate after a fast day. Then I have calmed down. I have lost about 1lb in the last year, but eaten a lot of cake. I’m getting more and more fussy about cake now and don’t want to eat as much. I like feeling empty, hope I’m being saved from diseases and only weigh myself on the morning after day 2 of fasting. The day after is great. It’s easier than thinking about dieting 7 days a week. I just do it out of habit now. I don’t have to use stupendous amounts of will power.
I know this thread is really old but I just wanted to add my own experience as a warning to anyone who wants to do this diet. If you have any problems with binge eating (and bingeing is different to overeating), please do not touch this diet with a barge pole. It does not help with binges, not real binges. It may help regulate overeating or large portions by making people distinguish between real and perceived hunger, but it does not help anyone who has binge eating disorder. The complete opposite in fact, because this diet encourages a cycle of starving and bingeing.
I went on the diet in 2013 to lose a few pounds. I have always struggled with bingeing, but thankfully it was contained to once every two weeks or so. I lost weight quite quickly on this diet, although the hunger made me feel ill after the first week or so. However, whenever there was a non-fasting day, I would eat uncontrollably because it would feel like this was my only chance before I had to go back to the horrific starvation again. When I say binge eat, I mean 5,000 or more calories in one day, not an extra cream cake. The weight loss slowed down and I felt miserable. I stopped the diet but the mental element remained with me and my binges became much more frequent than before I started. I ended up gaining back more than I lost.
I am now starting a recovery process. I am going to go to see a counsellor. I am about 2 stone overweight now and the past three months have been endless binges ad feelings of guilt and disgust. I am going to do it this time and be healthy and remove this horrible mindset.
I am sharing this in the hope that it stops at least one binge-eating person from embarking on the 5.2 diet. If you have no emotional or psychological eating problems, you can ignore me and carry on. But please do not say things about how it helps binge eaters to control binges because it does the oposite. Binge eating disorder is a recognised eating disorder and you should NOT do this diet if you think you suffer from it.
Hi blingbling1.
Well done for being able to stand aside from your 5:2 dieting, when you recognise that not all diets suit all people. Just like all people not all people can be being helped by the same type of psycholgical therapy.
I don’t think I am a binge eater in the true sense but I certainly have developed massive overeating or what feels like binge eating on non fast (NF) days.
I started out with 5:2 about April/May 2014 and I was impressed with my weight loss in the first couple of months. However, as you will pick up from any previous posts of mine, I soon developed a huge over eating problem on NF days. It has become so bad that I will have to stay on the 5:2 forever, in order to maintain a level of weight, not including losing weight.
I cannot stop over eating on NF days – from the moment I start eating at all whatever time of the day it is. Therefore I am trying to not eat at all for as long as possible on NF days, as I know I won’t stop til about 11-11.30 pm. Believe me, I as disgusted with myself.
Unfortunately, in recent months my health has worsened a little and I have had prolonged anaemia. In addition due to an underlying illness I cannot get out very much in winter months, finding it very difficult to get out and about and distract myself. Thus my weight has increased to pre 5:2 days. I NEVER used to eat as I do now, pre 5:2.
I have stopped writing posts on here because of my disappointment with myself, and whilst I am truly pleased for those who have done so well, I feel very dismayed with myself and don’t want to bore everyone with my ongoing woes on 5:2 and weight.
I am hoping to improve a little healthwise, although it won’t be much better than I am, ever. When I have a little more energy and the weather ceases to be so windy (and cool for someone with my condition -albeit better than it could be for British winter months!), I hope to be able to get out a little more.
I WON’T be giving up on the 5:2 as it is the only thing that’s ever worked for me. GOOD LUCK TO ALL and happy new year and blingbling1, please look after yourself and good luck with finding what works best for you.
Hi lydiac
I really felt for you when I was reading your post. That sounds a bit like what I experienced too, but eventually I could not do the fasting anymore and I realised that it was making my bingeing worse. You need to remember that this is not your fault and you should not feel disappointed in yourself.
Even though the 5.2 diet moved me from relatively irregular bingeing (not within the binge eating disorder definition) to full-blown binge eating disorder, I still went back and tried it a further two times because I felt that I must have done something wrong, I just had to be more disciplined etc. There are so many articles and comments about how it’s so easy, so effective etc. I felt that if it works for so many others, why not for me? Plus all the comments about how it actually HELPS bingeing made me think that I would be successful if I just tried it again.
The second time, I lasted a week and then binged. The third time, I lasted a few hours on the first fast day before ending up in tears, shovelling toast in my mouth.
Then I realised that this was never going to work and that I had been right the first time.
It’s up to you of course whether you stay on the diet and I note what you say about nothing else working. However, I definitely found that the further along in the diet I got (admittedly I only did around 3 months or so), the worse it was getting. The dread of an approaching fast day made me panic and eat. During the fast days, I felt awful, shaky and with headaches. The fasts got harder and harder as I went along. I hope that you continue to feel able to do the fasts.
Good luck and I hope your health problems clear up. But please don’t be hard on yourself about the diet- it’s really not as simple as it is depicted and there is definitely a darker side to it. I am hoping for a binge-free 2016.
Hello
I am new here, and was going to start a new thread about bingeing
however thought perhaps I should add to this one.
I have binge eating disorder – but that doesn’t mean I binge all the time.
Much of the time I eat ok – and binges are normally triggered by some massive emotional response to something, leading to frantic eating to fill what is actually an emotional void – not an empty stomach
– consequently eating never actually works
also I would say I battle with sugar addiction as it seems many do
I know for example that when I ‘NEED that biscuit’ – that once it is in my mouth, the need for another one is far greater than even the initial need
I am currently very overweight and just feel frightened of food so much of the time
I have just begun to look at the 5:2 diet – simply because at the moment I am not so hungry, so figure it is a good time to start.
– but alongside that – I am keeping a food diary that not only records what I eat, but also when (and why) and if it is part of a binge (out of control) – even if the amount is not vast
and I try hard to have ‘meal times’ (although today has been a bit ‘grazey)
as I find I eat much better when I have proper meals
anyway that is a bit from me, I hope someone reads this
Hi there! Binging is nothing that should stop anyone from incorporating some healthy foods. That’s how I got started in alternate fasting. You see,
before I actually did the fasting, I would eat apples or unsweet applesauce, lemon-water, green tea, seeds and nuts (walnuts) between meals. After a few days, I would try the actual alternate fasting (one day only) …the fast day was consisting of the items mentioned and broth throughout the day. Just for the one day. I did that for a month. The next month I would do two days a week. Then as time went on I lost my desire to overeat on the OK days. My OK days do consist (at times) of mac ‘n’ cheese, a sandwich, and such. Even ice cream. Don’t get me wrong, I do my Ok days with oatmeal and banana, broiled chicken, fish, brown rice, beans, organic soups. But the good news is that now…the fasting days are the norm for me. Just keep in mind, there is nutrition on the fast days. That’s what I made sure of. I love my fast days.
I enjoy my unsweet applesauce cup, cups of low-sodium broth, lemon-flavored green tea, or you can do the broth with loads of veggies. Just for the one or two days a week. I lost 110 pounds in 14 months. I did it slow because of my age, plus I didn’t want too much saggy skin. Don’t give up. Oh and I love to see me fitting in smaller clothes. Have a good day!
I have only been on this diet a week ( 1st time dieter).. But God I am struggling already!! I am not a big meal eater but realised I am a picker! I can’t go in the kitchen with out helping myself to the treat cupboard or the fridge or even picking bits of the kids tea .. Terrible I know!! I is there anyway of stopping it.. When I do it I know I shouldn’t be but think oh it’s only a bit. But them bits add up!!
Hi Keeptrying
I can only speak from my own experience, but if you have a diagnosis of or a suspicion that you have binge eating disorder, I would be very, very careful of the 5.2 diet. As I say, this is a subjective view, but I think everyone’s view will be subjective.
I don’t know about you, but I have a fear of being hungry or not having enough food. I think it might stem from childhood as I had a lot of siblings and you had to eat quickly to get anything! And I know that lots of people say that they feel awesome on fast days, can exercise and just get on with their lives. I could not. I felt absolutely foul. I felt dizzy, it would trigger a migraine, I would feel nauseous and cold and would sometimes have to resort to drinking green tea with cayenne pepper in to try to curb my appetite. It did not get better, if anything, it got worse. And the night before a fast day, I would be dreading the next day.
For me, it did not lead to any natural reduction in what I ate on non-fast days. Quite the opposite. I think you have to remember that people with binge eating disorder don’t have the same natural appetite control as other people. We can easily put away 4,000 calories in a short space of time. Also, and I don’t know if you have the same issue, but binge eating disorder in itself is a starve-feast cycle. Even when I was not on the 5.2 diet, if I had a binge, I would beat myself up, vow to be healthy and restrict my food. Until I caved and had a binge. The 5.2 diet encourages this cycle of behaviour- ie I can indulge today because tomorrow I will starve. For someone who already has the mind set of a binge eater, this can be disastrous and was for me.
As for what I am doing now, I am on Myfitnesspal. I have a daily limit of 1650 calories per day. I have signed up for and am training for a half marathon. Yes, I have to calorie count every day, but because I don’t have normal appetite control, I have to accept that. Even if I was on the 5.2 diet, I would have to calorie count- 500 on fast days, 2000 on other days. But I feel good and I can eat a decent amount each day. It is early days still, but the weight is coming off. I am not weighing myself, but I can see the result in the mirror, through taking photos. I have gone 16 days without a binge so far.
As I said, this is just my experience and it’s of course up to you whether you try the 5.2 diet. I just want to give a perspective from someone who has a disturbed relationship with food and gave it a go.
thank you for the replies
blingbling1 I get what you are saying
although binge eating disorder is not always a starve/feast disorder
I never starve myself, and my binges are almost always in response to emotional triggers
although I admit I have great difficulty controlling my intake of sugary foods but that is separate from the binges
(currently wading through a packet of custard creams!!)
my world always seems dominated by food, fear of it, needing it, hating it
and so for the time being I am just going to try counting every morsel on fast days, and not counting at all on the others
in the past when I have tried seven-day-week diets I become completely obsessed with it all day and night and just drown in it all
I don’t react like you when fasting, my past obviously being very different to yours
Anyway I can but try, but will not be telling my mh team!!
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