Thank You for your welcome messages. Hopefully soon I’ll get to know some of you better and get involved in some mutual support!

I admit to having a chocolate bar or a bag of crisps as snacks – but I haven’t binged since starting this journey. I am going to continue eating “treats” on non-fast days and not feel guilty about it.

There are thing I could change to lose weight more efficiently and quicker, but I’m very happy with my progress and I’m not struggling as much as I have on other diets. I have a goal for the first 12 weeks and will make any necessary changes then.

Today I had a HUGE steak with peppercorn sauce and mash. It was a nice meal and I loved it. It was different from the steak meal I would usually have. No chunky chips, onion rings, butter, fried onions or mushrooms. I am having tasty indulgent meals on non-fast days, but I am changing it enough to stick to my calorie goals.

I know people don’t like to track calories on non-eating days, but I need to or I will overeat. Today I shopped for the next 4 days and have already scanned all the bar-codes and know how many calories I’m eating. It took 10 mins and I think it’s well worth the effort. I have 500-600 calories spare on one eating day – enough for a cheeky Snickers and a bag of Quavers!

Hello my dear Misfit Islanders!!! Firstly, wow. Just WOW!! There’s so much going on and so many new folk to welcome and I love your ‘new blood’ comment Chubster, fits well with the Island mentality, where every new ship wreak is greeted with love!

So first a BIG island welcome to bigbooty, PinkHouses, donnabalchu & sqircle, it’s so good to read your stories and I can relate to all of them. I’ve been doing 5:2 for a while with some success but it’s always a struggle and this place is a good spot to hangout for both the ups and the downs.

So, I’ve been away from home/computer for a week so just catching up with all the news. You have been doing wonders ladies and as Jade so eloquently put it, ‘don’t mess with success.’

Sadly, I haven’t been having much success myself but it’s now February 1st and so in the spirit of starting over (and what binge eater/dieter doesn’t LOVE the new month AND Monday combo?? 😉 ) I’m starting over and its a FD today.

Wish me luck! Spring xx

comespring, it’s lovely to meet you and thank you for welcoming all us newbies to your thread! It’s a wonderful thing to find a community of people who understand what you’re dealing with and can really appreciate and share the tiny triumphs along the way. 😏

JadeLark, I’m so sorry you’re still plagued by hunger. This is concerning given how long you’ve been about this. I would have hoped that the body would adjust somewhere along the way to be satisfied with an appropriate kind and amount of food as it gets smaller and its metabolic needs diminish. Is there still a trigger food you haven’t identified and eliminated?

Be tough, kiddo! Today is a food day, is it not? Are you going to have something you enjoy?

Two FDs down for another week!

I got those damned stomach acids going again over the weekend. I can handle garden variety hunger but when those &^%$ gastric juices are flowing I’ve got to give them something to digest. …besides my stomach lining. 😗 I had chicken broth and tomato juice — both with sriracha. And LOTS of lemon water. Kept it under 100 calories per day but I really want to be able to say I completed a water fast again next time!!!! Hope I can next weekend. OTOH, I don’t mean to be obsessive and undermine my long term efforts. ::sigh::

The good news is that I’m a size down in my jeans! And I’ve already had my aerobic workout this morning from getting them zipped all the way up. 😄 Moving down always makes me happy — less because of the smaller number than because I’m Humpty Dumpty shaped and when I can get my waist in a smaller pair they look less like demin palazzo pants from the hip down. The visual is exaggerated (in a good way) and really encouraging. AND I can sit in them comfortably if snuggly. I like the snugness. It reminds me of what I have to do.

I’m having lunch with a friend today to break my fast. A favorite Spanish-inspired restaurant near my house has a wonderful stew that will be perfectly appropriate: garbanzo beans and spinach topped with a poached egg. I’m really looking forward to it. I really like the place but haven’t been there in about a year since my husband and family don’t care for the food like I do.

Then tonight I get to try my pastitsio and tatziki samples. 👏 I’ve been looking forward to them since Saturday.

Carry on my lovelies! Be good to yourselves and make yourselves proud today!

Good morning to all the wonderful co-inhabitants of this fair Island. All of you funny mad scientists with bastard sugar babies 🙂 and those of you leading the charge into new territory (how big is this Island??). Wow, Chubster, great effort!!! You are definitely the custodian of the “new normal” badge, something we award each other with here on the Island when it seems we’ve cracked it. Jade and Annette are our reigning champions although I haven’t had the honour very often lately – I seem to achieve it just before the lizard rears its ugly head and rips it off. I so know (and love) that feeling of getting into the next size down and I’ll hold that image of you snug in your shrinking jeans as inspiration for today.

Jade, I love the way you describe the psychology of this up and down stuff. You are SO right that ‘sometimes it’s just not easy’ Yep, being a big girl is hard and my big girl pants are often baggy around my knees. Essentially, when I’m not as resilient psychologically (as is the case now) then I’ll generally choose the easy road to soothing myself (food) and not tough it out but sabotage myself instead. Sigh. But I’m getting better at reading the cues/recognising the triggers and that is a good thing.

So at the risk of sounding like an unreformed binge-er, I failed again big time last night after a good day fasting until about 6pm. I didn’t even put up a fight, just lay down and let it happen I’m afraid, although I did eat standing up, if you could call it eating and not ‘inhaling the contents of the fridge’.

But today is another day right? I stood on the scale this morning and it was sad but it needed to happen. I’d missed 2 weeks of weighing through denial and then being away but the scale has spoken and it ain’t pretty. I’m listening though so it’s one hour, one meal, one day at a time till it’s going down again. Thanks for being here fast friends, after reading your posts I feel an urge to go and kick some lizard arse. Spring xx

Spring I’ve gone through that same thing several times since the holidays – just crawled into the pantry or fridge and surrendered.

And since the holidays, I’ve seen the number bounce around – if it’s down, I immediately feel hungry. If it’s up, I’m annoyed…and then hungry, out of spite. Like I’ll show you, scale, I’ll effing CRUSH you the next time. HA!

So, either way, the scale messes with my appetite. I MEAN IT’S AS BAD AS SUGAR ALMOST. Maybe even worse. So I’m boycotting the scale. If I do 5:2 and use MFP (which sucks but is better than the bi-polar weighing trauma), I don’t need the scales. Not to mention my clothes will tell me what’s going on.

Might not be the way for anyone else, but I know the scale is not helping. xx

Oh pooh. I just wrote a whole screed and it disappeared… boo hoo. Much too tired to re-write it now so I’m sending you all some strong vibes for slaying lizards instead. Spring xx

Isn’t there a lot of sugar in BBQ? GA style may be different than what I’m used to but I make my own BBQ sauce so I know mine has a good bit both from the actual sugar I use and the ketchup which is *loaded* with the stuff.

The meat is fabulous though. No question about that! Do you stick to the meat? Is GA BBQ pork or beef? We get TX style out here so it’s beef and sausages.

I had a no-no night last night. I wish I hadn’t done it but I marvel that what I chose were cashews, bean salad and a handful of homemade granola (YUM, BTW). Certainly any extra unplanned eating isn’t good but I *certainly* could have done worse. And that handful of granola — which is pretty sweet with maple syrup, raisins and dates AND has oats — didn’t demand another one and another one and … You guys know the drill.

I’m going to enjoy what I eat today and see if I can fit in an extra fast day tomorrow to atone for my no-no’s.

I imagine those broken down cars must take a *long* time to get tender. 😏

Good to see you dear Jade & Chubster (I like Jade’s shortened version of ‘Chubs’ 😉 ) and so sorry but I have a pressing/looming/urgent deadline for a project and cannot linger. But it is going to end soon (or I will have topped myself, so either way it will end) and I will come out of the cave and back to the beach with my towel and tote and hop onto an available deck chair for a damned good chin wag.

In the mean time I have the lard baton firmly in hand and wish you all Super-Strength if you’re also fasting today (and probably more if you’re not, as the non-FD’s are the real killer!). Spring xx

You guys make me laugh. I think I have definitely found my people!
Annette – I totally agree about the sugar thing. I’m so much better when I leave it alone.
bigbooty – I used your cut out one thing at a time method when I was starting and I found it helped a lot.
Chubster – I’ve used your white knuckle fast day suggestion this week and (mostly) managed 3 fast days in the last 4. I’ve been a horrid, moody thing while I’ve been doing it though, lol. Feel a bit better tonight.
comespring – hello and thanks for the welcome. I think part of my most recent binge was due to the new month/new week coming and I was trying to get all of the bad out of the way. Made sense in my head at the time when I was living the sugar high.
Jade – honky-tonk-badonk-a-donk!! and sugar lizards!!! I’ve been having that yo-yo problem too this year. When I’m good I’m good but when I’m bad …. holy hell. But I think I’ve been experimenting too with what else works apart from what I was doing last year. Eating large share bags of choccies every day – not so much.
squircle – that seeing how much I can get away with seems to be my undoing a lot of the time. Are you also the type that wants to know how wet the wet paint is if you see a sign? Always pushing the boundaries ….
Although not back to what I was at least my scales are happier with me than they were this time last week. 🙂

Squircle, how did I miss your post?? Just saw it but congrats on the loss and otherwise you’re singing a song we all know – those days happen. Having them happen less and less frequently is the goal, and 5:2 seems to make it easier not to string those bad days in a row. You just dust yourself off and get back on the 5:2 train. Even Dr. M theorized that people would sometimes overeat on the regular days but that, overall, there would still be a calorie deficit. So voila, there you are, proving his theory. And even though I’m currently tracking my daily calories with MFP, if I am still just really wanting something when I’ve reached the limit, I’ll allow myself to go over. I find it sometimes happens when I’ve had a big lunch. It’s why I skip breakfast and often try to have small lunch on nFDs, so that dinner is really just whatever I like, without the sinking feeling that I’m out of calories.

But again, focus on the positive – a clear calorie deficit and 3# loss so hooray for you! Well done – don’t let the slip up get you down. xxx

Hi guys! I’ve fallen behind and, really, only skimmed all you’ve all been up to the last several days. So sorry that happened but hope to get up to speed and stay with you again.

Lots happening here. I just found out that we are making a temporary move up north to Vancouver. …and doing it in 2 weeks. I LOVE Vancouver so this is in no way a problem but it means touching a lot of bases and tying up loose ends here before we go and organizing what does and doesn’t go. We’ll both need several months of all our prescription meds and a good number of over the counter things that we rely on. I’ll have to have a working kitchen with me and clothing for the cold of February through the heat of June and the rain we never get here in LA (but I *hope* to be buying some smaller things up there over time 😏) . We’ll need the bedding that creates the comfy nest we both insist on every night. And I’ll have to get this all in my car.

My husband leaves in about a week. I’ll follow him up when I get everything nailed down.

So, food hasn’t been so much on my mind. …except, of course, that today is Super Bowl Sunday in the States and that means an 18-hour snackstravaganza. 🍕😧🏈 I did set aside some time to plan a menu and prep and shop for a small feast. This morning I’m doing the cooking. Then I’ll go out shopping while the hungry hoard devours it.

Happy to say that a couple items on the menu are things I can look forward to tomorrow — Cuban black bean soup (which is food of the gods but still is blessedly limited to beans, some veggies and a bit of ham hock) and chicken meatball sliders which (without their buns) will still be yummy and perfectly legitimate for me.

The size 14 jeans zip up effortlessly now. I bought a few extra pair to pack for Canada but I’m looking forward to those size 12s already!!!

Proud of all you guys have accomplished and overcome. Forgive yourselves for any breaches and fine tune and experiment until you hit the combinations that support your best selves. I’m so grateful to have you company and support as we change our lives for the better! …not to mention those lard batons!!!

Off to fill those snack bowls and then to steadfastly ignore them. 😏

Serious props to you, JL, for going all Spock-like on the Super Bowl dessert! I mean, SERIOUS props! If ever there was a day set up to conspire against us it was yesterday. Not only awesome arrays of the most enticing foods but then a barrage of food commercials all day as well.

Something you have worked at the last months has *changed* you and come to your aid at the right moment! You must be elated. That’s a powerful resource to have in your pocket!

I was so proud going into Super Bowl Sunday to say that I had managed my first water fast in 3 weeks. Then, taking some sliders out of the oven at half time, I gave in and scarfed the mozzarella that had melted onto the baking sheet. God! it was good all mingled with the meat juices and seasonings! Then, at bedtime I was really having hunger pangs and I thought they’d make it hard to relax into sleep so I had half a deviled egg. But I think that was the right move. It really calmed my stomach. (How amazing is it that half an egg and some mayo was actually satisfying?!) Besides, all that was still well within what a conventional FD allows.

I haven’t gone back to read the intriguing history of the lard baton. comespring just referred to it earlier in the week. Now I’ll have to read backward to see its full mystique AND get some appreciation of what you veterans have achieved over your long IFs. Time to do that!

The packing given the limitations of the size of my car will be a challenge but Vancouver is *such* a beautiful city it will truly be a reward to be there. We look forward to any chance we get to be there and think about retiring there some day.

Sliders are mini burgers on tiny dinner rolls. Three or four sliders probably equals a conventional burger. The idea is you just “slide” them into your mouth. The ones I did were ground chicken seasoned with Italian herbs and formed around pieces of mozzarella. I am really looking forward to having one for lunch. I’ll skip the roll and have a cup of that fantastic soup instead.

Yum, sliders. I remember when they were introduced here and some restaurant just made a regular burger, quartered it, and called it “sliders” – lame. I do love the true little cocktail-sized ones. Man, those chicken ones sound delicious.

Chubs I’m excited about your plans for Vancouver – have always wanted to spend enough time in Canada to get to know a place there. So far just day visits really. Nice to get an advance taste of where you might retire – my dream!

OK, so lately I’m trying that “sway” thing Spring mentioned a while back. I.e., what mood am I in today – whole foods only? fasting? counting with mfp? I try to pick one, at least 6x/week, to stay accountable. So far it feels like it gives me room to feel normal. I thought about a FD today but then there were cookies and pizza at work, so today was an MFP day, not really that hungry tonight. It’s been forever since I ate the food offered at work, so that was fun. But tomorrow I’m sure will be a FD – Tuesdays are insanely busy this semester. Speaking of which, off to bed with me – cheers all! xxx

OH YOU ARE ONE OF US ALL RIGHT. Chubs, trust me on this – normal people have days like this. Our biorhythms or whatever’s at play inside guarantee it. But because we don’t know how to deal with food like normal people, it’s easy to forget that. I get it, I have been afraid that one wild-craving day meant the jig was up, I was a fraud, I will never be normal. But look at YOU, you regained sanity the same day. Girl you are more normal than most.

That said, yeah the goal is to control ourselves every day. I’m trying to fight fire with fire, by assessing what kind of fire I have to deal with that day. Sometimes I just have to nibble and tally it up – even if I go over the tdee limit, I am being accountable. NORMAL PEOPLE ALSO OVEREAT SOMETIMES. Dear God, my co-worker brought in TWO King Cakes for Mardi Gras today. Can I fit a slice into my FD limit? Not sure. May have to fight that fire with flexibility and make this an MFP day.

Anyway, for me, continued 5:2ing (esp including more whole foods and less sugar) made those wild days come around far less often. But they still come around, and lately I’ve realized that they just do – for everyone. And sometimes I can resist but M*****humper that is hard. So sometimes I figure “tomorrow will b much easier” and what do you know, it IS. So now that I’m closer to my goal I sometimes just give myself the day off – within reason (Spock would approve I think). xx

Today went better.

I added lime juice to my water throughout the day and broke the day up with sessions on the treadmill. (I had been skipping that lately but shhhhhhhh! don’t tell anyone.) And I concentrated on marshaling a little determination to balance out the hunger attacks. So, I made it to lunch and had the big salad of veggies that I think may be more important for me than I realized previously.

After those things the hunger was more bearable. I promised myself a piece of mozzarella if I needed it during the afternoon but I talked myself out of it each time I thought the time might have arrived and now I only have about 90 minutes to go to dinner. I’ll have salmon and veggies. I know that works for me and I really enjoy salmon. I doubt I’ll have any problem after dinner. That’s never a particularly vulnerable time.

I feel pretty sanguine about tomorrow going better too.

I had thought I might insert an extra fast day or mini fast day on Wed to compensate for Mon. But now I’m thinking it may be more important to get on an even keel again than to be obsessively chasing any potential weight loss I might have screwed up with one bad day. I’ll just get my program clean first and then keep going.

On a topic that’s not “me”, did anyone see a new item around here that 18:6 may be of no weight loss value at all? I think I saw such a thing but it zoomed past me before I got to read it and see why. I have been arranging my food day meals within a 6 hour window but maybe there isn’t really any point to doing that.

Hope you guys have the success and motivation you need too and I thank you for the support that helped me turn it around before discouragement turned into dropping out!

Hi ladies! I just joined the forum, and I saw this topic and it resonated with me because I am a former binger. I thought I’d share my experiences about how I overcame this issue; its NOT true that compulsive/binge eating is a lifelong incurable affliction. I will try not to bore you and summarize what helped me overcome this issue, because I know how awful this cycle is. I hope this isn’t taken the wrong way, I just want to share what helped me!

I was overweight in my youth because I developed a comfort eating (eating for emotional reasons in spite of not being hungry, ignoring hunger cues/fullness cues) habit in response to stressors in my life at that time. In my teens, I was very unhappy with my weight and I started dieting, which eventually spiraled into a full blown eating disorder. After being on an extreme diet for a year, I eventually developed severe binge eating and suffered with that for 5+ years. I would eat 10,000 calories in a day or MORE (god only knows how many calories I consumed on some of my worst binge days/periods), whole half gallons of ice cream in one sitting, whole bags of chips, whole boxes of crackers, etc… All in one day. I would think about eating 24/7 and always want to eat no matter how full or how much I ate in a day. I thought about food all the time and was consumed with the urge to binge. I would diet for weeks at a time (every diet you can possibly imagine, the worst of them being The Fat Flush) to try to make up for my binges and my weight fluctuated 10-20-30+ pounds in any given few months time because of this cycle. While being on a diet, I was consumed with the urge to binge, and I was only able to fight this urge for so long before giving in. I think overtime I would have been less able to diet and my weight probably would have increased far more, given how much I binged on the off days.

Eventually, I was mentally and emotionally exhausted from the anxiety, fear, and shame of the binging/dieting cycle, and I bought every book I could on the subject. The emotional toll of being a binge eater was ruining my life. I remember being on wonderful vacations and not even being able to enjoy myself because I was so consumed by my thoughts of binging/weight loss/dieting. And I look back at pictures of myself then and I looked fine (not as thin as I always dreamed of, but fine!). The majority of my mental energy was being focused on dieting/not binging/worrying about my weight. I read all of Geneen Roth’s books (very good starter books), and many others as well. They all say basically the same thing: that dieting leads to binge eating disorder. I 100% agree with this. What preceded my binge eating issue was my emotional/comfort eating problem; it led to me eating more calories than I needed and resulted in my weight issue. This was NOT binge eating. I didn’t develop the binge eating issue until I started dieting to try to lose weight. I 100% think people at risk of developing binge eating are generally emotional eaters who use dieting to control their weight problem. I don’t think its some cursed genetic condition that is incurable; from all my research it seems there is a huge emotional component driving this condition. In my mind, this is why the average person who diets does not develop binge eating disorder. My weight loss obsession/misery with myself/dieting led to binge eating. Geneen Roth does a beautiful job of articulating this relationship.

I followed the advice of Geneen Roth’s books, I did have some set backs (a binge or 2), but I think within a year I was completely FREE of the urge to binge, and I have not binged since. I don’t obsessively think about food anymore, I no longer hate myself because of my weight or am always preoccupied with my weight in the same way I used to be (I don’t like being overweight, but before thoughts about my weight consumed me). I am not afraid of certain foods like I used to be. I will say that a lot of this was a gradual thing, but the extreme binging was the first thing to disappear, and slowly overtime my relationship with food became mostly normal. I consider myself cured of binge eating. I am VERY careful about dieting, because I believe I could have a relapse if I fall back into the dieting cycle.

For me, binge eating was easy to rid myself of. Unfortunately, it requires committing to not dieting for as long as it takes until you are sure you have beaten the issue, which I find many are not willing to do. My relapses were due to not fully giving up the dieting mindset. Even though I am not at an ideal weight now, for other reasons, I know I would never have been able to maintain my weight if I continued the dieting binging cycle, I’d probably be far heavier than I am now given my metabolism has slowed down even more (damn thyroid!!!).

I have never really kicked my comfort eating habit; essentially I tend to eat past fullness, and I can eat when I’m not hungry. So my weight is not ideal, but that’s mainly because I haven’t committed to fully addressing that issue (I would say 90% of my meals are in front of the computer/TV/i’m distracted while eating). This is what I had before I developed binge eating, and until I do more work, I’ll be stuck with this.

Anyways, to summarize, Geneen Roth’s books are a excellent starter resource.

I found this book to be amazing as a practical outline of the steps to take. I found Roth’s books to be wordy with less practical guidelines. I needed a simpler book with straightforward structured advice.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00260GHM2?keywords=normal%20eating&qid=1455118172&ref_=sr_1_2&sr=8-2

Anyways, I wish you all the best!

I would like to say hello and wondered if I could join in this group. I began 5:2 a month ago and have received some wonderful support on the ‘brits’ thread.
However I do suffer from binge eating disorder and so have been following your thread for a few days.

I am currently following (trying) a system the local e/d service recommends on overcoming overeating by Peter Cooper (based on the steps of Dr Christopher Fairburn (both uk books I think)
so at the moment I have to record everything I eat/drink and when and where and how I feel
and also try to adhere to a timetable of regular meals and snacks
(they don’t know I am doing 5:2)

Josie I am interested in what you said about those books – there seem so many books on this topic – many of which seem VERY highly praised

The one/s I am following also are against dieting, and are more focussed upon building good habits and learning to RE-recognise when we are hungry and to learn not to eat on impulse (emotional usually!!)

anyway, I hope you will let me tag along in with you all

Hi Keeptrying,

I wish you lots of luck with your journey in overcoming binge eating! It sounds like you are on a pretty good plan, and just remember its a gradual journey and if you have setbacks, its not the end of the world. Stick to it and you will beat it! I tried a lot of things, and everything helped me in one way or another, even in small ways.

I don’t recall reading his book, but that sounds like a similar methodology that many of the books lay out, specifically the mindfulness (recording when you eat, your feelings, etc.). I think the difference between his recommendations and the others is they don’t require a strict regimen, you are suppose to try to sense when you are hungry, and if you are not hungry and feel like eating, you can and you are not suppose to judge yourself or try to stop yourself. They key is when you eat when you are not hungry, you write down a lot of details about what you were feeling/thinking about at the time you felt like eating. The “Normal Eating” book goes over this really well. For me, I think it is somewhat like dieting to require yourself to stick to a strict regimen while attempting to overcome binge eating. I didn’t need to do that. I liked that I still had “permission” to eat when I wasn’t hungry, but at the same time I had to be mindful of why and not judge myself for doing so. If I ever relapsed while doing this, it was because I secretly had the dieting mindset still (I was trying to use the methodology to eat less and lose weight, so I still judged myself and felt extremely guilty if I ate when not hungry. AKA it became like a diet).

I think the key is its all individual, everybody is different. Some people do better on regimens, some don’t. I suck at diet regimens. But I don’t think anyone should suffer with binge eating for years and years and always have to worry about it! So if one thing isn’t working, keep trying new things!

Not sarcastic just informational.

I didn’t see any reference to any of the methods of fasting only references to something else altogether so I thought I’d ask if you were doing intermittent fasting as well. If your record keeping is helpful to you then that’s a big plus to add to an IF program.

As this spot is all about support I’d hate to get off on the wrong foot or make you feel unwelcome so I’m glad you asked and I could make myself more clear.

Yup! I’m easy to confuse. …and probably more than a little one-dimensional. 😔

Go for it, josie! We’re all up against a heartless ravaging beast so if something works for you, how wonderful is that?! And if you share it and it helps someone else, what could be better or more generous?!

I’ll just go sit in the corner for a bit. Hope no harm was done.

Hi everyone I’m a newbie well will be on Monday, after reading many many blogs I know this is the one for me as I am a massive bringer! I can easily eat my daily allowance of kcal in a hour or two on chocolate, cake or biscuits! I never feel sick from eating all this and the amount I could eat of such foods is scary!
I’m 38 from the uk and currently weigh in at around 270lb, I’m active and no illnesses that effect me and my weight battle! I’m getting married this year in October and desperately want to lose 50lb and get to the weight I feel and look my best but more importantly I need to find a way of eating that will help me for the rest of my days!!
I’m good at dieting it’s keeping it off that I struggle with! Only last year I went from 278lb in January to 230lb in May! I had that success through eating clean calorie counting and exercise, only To pile it all back on plus extra! in fact on January 1st 2016 I was a record weight of 292 lb.
Am I doing the right thing? Can this work for me? Any advice will be welcomed??!!!

hi Plainy
I have only just joined this thread – but I am also on the ‘brits’ one, and saw your posts there.

I have lots to lose, and also suffer from bingeing.
I think the trouble with just losing weight is that it doesn’t deal with the issues that make us binge, or that is certainly the case for me.

I know that MANY years ago, when I was at uni and a size 12, I still hated myself, had very poor self confidence, and I felt big.
So I know that even if/when/as I lose weight, it is very far from being the answer to my problems.

As regards the TDEE, I don’t really take any notice of it at the moment because I have about 5 stone to lose, so I figure if I can avoid the chocolates and cakes and eat lots more veg, then something good must happen!!!!

I have been on 5:2 for a month now, and unlike many people, I found the first 3 weeks the easiest. Right now I am struggling – but that is because my mh has ‘stumbled’ again, and so all I want to do is stuff my face. Just about managing not to but its making me SOOO ANGRY !!

You have a lovely goal to aim for, and I am sure you will do well.

Good morning, everyone!

Plainy, I am soooo very glad to hear that you are not plagued by the myriad of health and movement problems that so many big girls face! What a fabulous time to take control and avoid them forever! I know everyone will think that a wedding is the reason to do this — of course it is! — but the opportunity to save yourself a lifetime of discomfort and misery from moment to moment has to be right up there.

Good plan, I think, to give yourself a couple days to prepare mentally for it. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for you on Monday that this is the start of a healthier rest of your life.

As for sticking to TDEEs, my recommendation would be that you try it and then experiment with variations to arrive at what works for you. I started 5:2 without quite knowing how it was done. So, from my beginning I’ve done it my own way. I don’t count calories on FDs or NFDs. I do my fasts back-to-back and I do them pretty much without any food. That’s what works for me. It’s *easier* for me to do without than to try to limit.

But, here’s the good news: if you find out what works for you — what will be sustainable — it’s not really so hard at all. There are tough days but there are far more days that are do-able and some that are effortless. If you read enough you’ll see that there are people like JadeLark, and annette, and come spring and PinkHouses who have been doing this for a year or more or the best part of it.

It was also really easy for me for the first 6 weeks, keeptrying. Then I had some tougher days but with a name like keeptrying, I think you just *have* to stick with it, no? 😉 I said some time earlier that I succeeded and failed at dozens of diets but every one of them taught me something that I could bring to 5:2. That has helped me make it something very individual and supported me in using what’s helpful and modifying what isn’t.

josie, I am *all about* what works for you! So I enthusiastically endorse anything you bring to your program. And I’m *delighted* to have you join in our community effort. I hope you’ll find, as I have, that the urges to eat beyond your actual metabolic needs can disappear when you eat quality food, avoid your trigger foods and give your body a couple days off to keep up with them.

Everybody else, let’s keep on keeping on ’til we all fit in our pink shorts! 😉 …unless, of course, we’re avoiding shorts as a public service. 😦