Self-sabotage: Undoing the benefits of fast days by overeating

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Self-sabotage: Undoing the benefits of fast days by overeating

This topic contains 11 replies, has 10 voices, and was last updated by  Minka 8 years, 4 months ago.

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  • I chose the name that I did because I was hoping that this way of eating would help me gain control over food that I previously lacked. And still do. I really want to end the cycle of overeating and bingeing. I know there are a lot of topics out there about this, and it’s somewhat comforting to know that others struggle too. But I can’t figure out the answer to this simple question. Why do I binge when it makes me feel so bad and why can’t I stick to eating normally after fast days when they make me feel so good?

    Interestingly, fast days aren’t very difficult for me. Those two days, I have the conviction to get through the day with 500 cal. But the other days, I lose all sense of control. I love how I feel at the end of a fast day, don’t you?

    Why do I keep sabotaging myself?? Anyone have tips/advice on what you do and what you say to yourself when you KNOW you’re just eating for no good reason? Constantly eating and eating when you don’t want to be but just can’t stop? I’ve heard people say things like oh, just distract yourself, but when I get into that eating zone, it’s almost like it would take a Mack truck to stop me. Help!!

    Have you figured out if you have trigger foods that you avoid on your fast days but indulge in on your food days?

    I know I have mine: starchy veggies, nuts, grains, dairy, sugar. I know some of those things like whole grains and nuts are supposed to be “healthy” but when I eat them I start having the obsessive sort of hunger that I don’t have on my fast days. I can deal with the simple I-haven’t-eaten-therefore-I’m-hungry feelings but the obsessive I-can’t-consentrate-anyway-so-I-might-as-well-make-some-toast-and-butter-it-so-I-can-get-on-with-my-life hunger takes over my life and makes a food-seeking drone out of me.

    But the good news is: 1) two fast days (I do mine back-to-back resulting in about 66 hours of fast) reset my metabolism and zap the obsessive hunger and, 2) when I avoid my trigger foods on my food days I only have the simple sort of hunger.

    I know Dr. Mosley said he can stick in a few indulgence foods but just because he can doesn’t mean that works of all of us. And I find that if I am going to do something that’s problematical for me, saving it for the last meal before I begin fasting neutralizes the after effect. …sort of.

    In order to end the cycle you must get off the wheel. See, when you are fasting you jump off the wheel for a while and then on non-fast days, you just jump right back on. Throw the wheel away. You must break up with food. You are binging for a reason, first you must get to the root of that. On non-fast days you should try implementing a calorie counter to manage how many calories you are taking in and hold yourself accountable. And when you feel a binge coming on, walk away. Think of it like a business transaction. You aren’t making good on the deal, walk away. Reward yourself with a nice bath or a facial mask.

    Hi EndTheCycle, Great username!
    I have been a binge eater since I was a teenager. I thought it must be emotional and psychological. I had to deal with a pretty messed up childhood. I changed my diet, became a lot more active, and did a lot of overcoming of my background.
    I noticed that when I binge ate I didn’t really taste what I was eating, or feel that I had eaten it, when I was finished. So I tried to be really mindful about what I wanted and what I was tasting.
    I was well ahead of the modern focus on mindfulness! 😉

    I became so fit and healthy, and binges were fewer and milder.

    When I became ill, and had to be very sedentary, my weight crept up and sweet things also crept into my diet more. The constant craving has been like the binge eating: just as overwhelming and intolerable.

    I am now interested in the physical science of how sugar effects our cravings through the hormone balance of leptin and ghrelin, and of how our gut flora can be made of bacteria that are hungry for sugar and send desperate messages to our brains.

    Cutting out sugar, and doing 5:2 help wonderfully, but I still need to be mindful, and especially mindful when, for whatever reason, my brain isn’t sending me those lovely messages that say ‘you have had just enough, and don’t need to eat anything for several hours’.

    Then I have to accept that I am going to feel hungry and unsatisfied, and use the same techniques that I use on fast days, like: ‘it’s ok Cinque, you can have a meal in three hours’ or ‘its ok Cinque, the hunger wave will come and go’ or ‘it’s time to distract yourself Cinque, lets go and do something’.

    It is really hard when our natural healthy systems aren’t working as they should, but many people (including me) find that with 5:2 they do get easier. I read research earlier this year which indicated that if we can get to a normal weight and eating pattern and keep to it for a year, our systems stop sabotaging us. Looking forward to that!

    You aren’t alone! And all power to you finding a way through this terrible situation! Best wishes

    Started reading Jason Fung, The Obesity Code. When you binge what do you binge on? Bet its not broccoli or spinach right? It is most likely sugar and simple carbs like bread pizza etc? Please correct me if Im wrong. You are fighting your hormones and the hormones are winning. So don’t trigger them. Your insulin is swamping your satiety hormone leptin. While youre in control during your fast days go to the cupboard and fridge and collect all the sugar foods, sugar drinks (including juices!!) and simple carbs and throw them in the bin. Prepare veggies, some simple small portions of meat like tuna and fish. Big bowls of salad with tofu and vinegar dressing (NO SUGAR in the dressing).

    When you come out of your fast go for those low carb foods you have prepared. Break the cycle.

    I’ve had some similar experiences on the bingeing. Before I began 5:2 I spent a week coming off sugar and starch, for me especially toast and potatoes. And cake. I found if I ate no white starch related foods at all, including so called healthy grains my bingeing was reduced massively. But I had to eat large quantities of green and coloured vegetables with plenty of butter on, meat without removing the fat, eggs in twoes, as in an omelette or scrambled. Whenever I have any starchy foods or sugar or alcohol I can’t keep to 500 on my next fast day. Very dark chocolate (85% cocoa) helps, as I am able to eat one small square. And oranges or nectarines eaten with the pith still there seem to help the want for sweet things, or mixing them with plain unsweetened yoghurt Large salads including avocado. Mostly this is successful, with many lapses, and I’m gaining much more control in the way Cinque describes. And if I give way to starch I try to use oat or other savoury biscuits or very solid bread so as not to wake the sugar fiend. It’s not easy, but just keep on pegging on! Good luck.

    Thanks to everyone for the advice and feedback. PinkQueen, I especially loved your post about seeing it as not making good on the deal. That couldn’t be more accurate, no good at all, well, maybe in those moments of mindless eating. But what happens is that if I restrict all those trigger foods (carbs, baked goods, pretzels, crackers, cereal), I end up wanting it more. How do you guys get out of the mindset that when you restrict, it just heightens the desire for it? I feel like I will be “good” for a week or so, restricting or greatly limiting consumption of things I really enjoy, and then it just builds and builds to where I let loose and way overindulge. Anyone else?

    Hi,

    I’ve not had to cut many items out of my diet as I didn’t eat much in the way of processed foods or packaged snacks, but I have drastically reduced the amount of sugar and bread I eat. If you cut things out completely they become the subject of your cravings so in my opinion it is easier to allow myself a small portion and they become less interesting and necessary.
    I plan my menu for the week and try to stick to it. I do stray from it and there are times when I have too much but it is a work in progress and I know that habits developed over many years take a while to break.

    Be kind to yourself and don’t allow guilt to override everything because if you are really serious about this WOL you’ll succeed even if it is two steps forward and one step back.

    Are you able to just not have those trigger foods in the house?

    I find if I have bread and cheese in the cupboard, no matter what my good intentions are, I know I’m definitely going to be making myself cheese on toast all evening. Same for icecream, crackers, crisps, chocolate, cookies ….

    But if I don’t have them in the cupboard then I … don’t.

    In my case, two weeks no sugar to take a control over my body. What really helps is to start eat every morning 5 dates and banana. Get at least 50 grams of fat every day. For fast day i would eat 100 grams of almond and thats it. Make it really simple. Simple diet, simple lifestyle. If you can, only eat at home. Drink only green tea and espresso.

    End,

    You are not going to detox from sugar after a week!! Its like an alcoholic saying that their cured after a week. Impossible. It will take months. Pardon the pun but there is no way of sugar coating it. The detox will be hard but its something you have to do if you want to be successful. Simple carbs are already being broken down in your mouth before you’ve even swallowed. Just think about it, you only need about 2 tablespoons of glucose circulating around in your blood at any one time. That’s two mouthfuls. After that everything youre eating must go to glycogen and fat storage. So try and make it easier for yourself. Get rid of all those simple carbs out of your cupboard/fridge. At least get rid of easy access to carbs.

    I too have a history of binge eating and also do very much know the phenomenon of restriction becoming fuel for desire. I remember once making a commitment to cut out all sugars, refined carbs, etc. and succeeding with that for 3 months and feeling and looking great only to find myself at a ‘bring a plate’ gathering where there was nothing much I could eat while everyone mingled as they nibbled on carefully home made delicacies full of refined carbs and sugars. I was what I call ‘impeccably’ starving was I walked out the door to leave. Needless to say I was compelled to buy a gourmet ice cream sandwich on the way home and though I tried to return to that way of ‘clean’ eating, was never able to sustain.

    What did really help me though, down the track was to buddy up with a friend who was also motivated to quit all forms of sugar for 6 months. We made a pact and kept it and I’m saying that after that sugar never meant the same to me again and in fact when I did try something with sugar, I didn’t even like it and didn’t eat any for 15 years because when I’d look at what was offer with sugar, I no longer regarded it as food! Speed ahead past that and I partnered with someone who loves sugary foods and that influence has affected me to the point of having eaten it again over the past decade, though I’ve recently given it up and it has been easy this time around. I know this pact I made wasn’t a be all and end all. I still ate refined carbs, though it was a step in a healthier direction.

    My journey through the labyrinth of bingeing has been lifelong and has encompassed me looking into all aspects of my life; spiritually, emotionally, physically (nutritionally, physiologically – exercise), since I can be hungry on all those levels and any or more than one of those hungers have been triggers for a binge episode.

    That’s my journey, though I met someone recently who said that her binge pattern evaporated in an instant after she read the book ‘Fat is a Feminist Issue.’ She is a woman who really got what BS it is that she shouldn’t be able to sit and eat a carton of ice cream if she really wants that! She got that she shouldn’t be shamed into feeling bad about it, she said she’s yet to meet a male who would be. Once she ‘got’ the message in that book, she just ate what she wanted whenever she wanted and slimmed down to the size she is now, which is healthy. She said that when all the charge around food evaporated she no longer felt compelled to binge.

    I trust you’ll find your way through, End!

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