Posts by lennat

I am the same way as you. I was on a diet for two months, lost 2 kilos (about 4 lbs) and during the holidays I started binging. It lasted 2 whole weeks, during which I gained almost 9 lbs. Can you imagine that? Two months worth of discipline and working went down the drain. My disappointment when I hit the scales was unbelievable. What's worse, I sabotaged my own self. Realizing that and going back to the gym to get those endorphins flowing I think helps.

Also, I need to tell you this: try to think why you eat. Sure, you have cravings, but why? And I am not just saying you're feeling low so you eat, but why are you feeling that way? (Not just you, all of us). Personally I know what my problems are. It's just hard to work them out, so... I binge. It's not worth it though. It really isn't.

One more thing I forgot to add. I noticed (I know it sounds stupid to first notice this at the age of 32) that when I binge I don't swallow my food. One bite just pushes the other down. When I try to eat like a normal person and swallow my food I eat less. Try it.

I have the same problem as you.  I am not American and I don't live in the US so I mostly eat things from my country.  What I do is try to break down the foods into ingredients and add them all up.  Some things you won't be able to find, but look and see if you can find a calorie-counting book in your country (Iran) that lists all the foods.

I hope I helped. 

If I were you I'd check with www.skyscanner.net first, see if they have any really really cheap tickets first and then I'd choose a destination!

Original Post by tyrdrop:

lennat- why are you only on this for a week?

I'm doing well. I think today is my third binge free day. I am super motivated right now, because I want to keep/make myself hot for my b-friend. :-P I am not even expecting anything to happen anytime soon, but hey, motivation is motivation.

 I wrote that it's not healthy because it's not a well balanced diet.  I can't have any fruits or bread or even honey!  I am craving freshly squeezed orange juice and fruits!  At least I didn't write chocolate, lol

I try to eat entirely unprocessed foods and my diet is ALWAYS A or (very rarely B+ when I binge, and even then it never goes lower than that).  I think that the quality of food we put into our bodies is more important than the calories we eat.  I would rather eat good organic food and consume 500 extra cals a day than eat MacDonald's and stay within my range.

Subway sandwiches are ok if you have them once in a while but every day?  Same goes for Lean Cuisine.  Nothing beats a home made meal and even if you have absolutely no time to cook I am sure that a chicken breast and some steamed broccoli can be made in less than half an hour. Let me know how it goes

today is my 3rd binge free day! 

My nutritionist changed my diet from normal to a version of atkins.  I'm eating eggs and bacon for breakfast, protein and a BIG salad for lunch, and the same for dinner.  On tuesday I had steak, yesterday I had pork and today chicken.  For snacks I can have nuts, cheese, ham, or salami.  I can't say I like this diet, but since I am not allowed to eat ANY sugar or other non veg carbs I can't binge.

I'am only going to be on it for a week though (it's not very healthy), I don't know what will happen next. 

I quit smoking a year and two months ago and I put on 5 kilos .... which is 11 lbs.  I totally hear you. 

Quiting smoking is EASIER than quiting binging :( 

You know, I am sure that your mom loves you and cares for you and most of all puts her child's best interests above hers.  If you explained the situation to her and kindly asked her either not to buy those trigger foods OR to hide them she would understand. 

Plus to gain a pound you have to consume about 7000 calories.  You consumed 8530 so you only gained a pound!  Things are not so bad, see?

Original Post by krismasself:

Sugar is as addictive as alcohol or drugs for some of us! You experienced the "phenomenon of craving" which was ignited by the sugar in the brownie. You may never be able to handle sweets.

Alcoholics and drug addicts can only recover by being completely abstinent ... that is, never introducing those chemicals into their bodies again. So why is it that we resist the idea that we may have to do what they do? We must abstain from sugary sweets, and we can only do that one day at a time. If we imagine doing it forever, we will fail. But we can do, for 24 hours, what we can't imagine doing forever!

Other foods, such as salty or high fat, may have the same effect on certain people. I know that all these things are alcoholic foods for me, and until I surrender them completely, I will never fully recover! So I do my best, with the support of all of you folks, to abstain from those things daily. I'm far from perfect, but I am making progress.

This is the first time I've heard someone explain so well how I feel towards certain foods. It's unbelievable, but once I start I JUST CAN"T STOP. The hell gates open and it can go on for weeks, months even before i can put a stop to it. My nutritionist had accounted for this with small chocolate desserts calculated into my calories but I find that I can't handle it. I've stopped eating sugary foods all together.

However, it's not limited to sugary foods. It can be anything. For instance, we went to this garden party with my husband this summer and I remember eating until my stomach was sooooo stretched I was in pain, and I mean agony. I couldn't even breath! I kept chewing gum to get those gastric fluids in there to alleviate the pain.

Now all I can do is try to maintain a healthy diet, with no occasional slip ups because for me it's not easy to say "tomorrow is another day I'll start fresh". Tomorrow will be the same and before I know I will have gained 10 kilos (22 lbs). To give an idea, in college I didn't gain the freshman 15, I gained the freshman 40. It took me more than a year to lose it.

The thing is, I remember a time when food wasn't important to me. I didn't think about it all the time and it certainly didn't play in important role in my life. Now it rules my life.

 Do any of you think that someone like me could go back to being ok with food, ever?  Will it always be such a struggle for me not to overeat?

By the way, by conventional standards I am sort of ok with my weight right now.  I am 5.4'' and weigh 143 lbs.  There was a time however that I weighed 115 lbs and I remember that I used to look so good.... Of course I was younger then (18) and now I am 32.