What is working for me
Options
Replies
-
So exciting, summerfit!
gr33nslime, yes I will keep you up to date. I am home for 2 weeks visiting my parents, so this is definitely challenging. Lots more opportunities to eat out, holiday parties, my favorite foods from home, old associations with home and overeating, travelling getting me off my routine, etc.
So far I have decided to raise my daily caloric goal to 2300 instead of 1800. I figure that with my weigh loss rate 1800 was about a 950 kcal deficit daily, so this increased amount should still allow for some weight loss, or if I maintain that is fine too. I'm trying to still have good base meals and then be cautious of my portions on sweet/starchy foods, sticking to that 30g/meal limit. However, yesterday I did overdo it on some popcorn, so a work in progress. Today we are having a latke party, so my goal is to really enjoy the latkes and limit myself to 2-3.0 -
I hope Christmas went well!
I have been binge-free for nearly 10 years and lost 75 pounds. I use a food plan every day -- breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack. Knowing what I am going to eat every day really helps me avoid three of my major binge triggers: hungry + tired, hungry + sad, hungry + bored.
I also eliminated my trigger foods, which for me were dessert foods. And I joined Overeaters Anonymous, which has been instrumental in helping me cope with the spiritual and mental issues as well as the physical issues of binge eating.
For the past 10 years, my food plan has been very specific but did not include counting calories, so I gained back 40 pounds.
Since coming to MFP, learning to count calories, and dropping 20 pounds, I've started working desserts back in. I'm massively scared about it, since I DO NOT want to go back to the HELL that was binging, but counting calories really makes sense to me and has helped me overcome a lot of fear I have around food.
Most days, since I already know what I am having for the day, I have a good day eating all the yummy food I've planned for. Because I am a quantity eater, seeing all the food I get to eat for the whole day makes me happy. It's SO MUCH food! The visual helps me be satisfied instead of scared I'm not going to get any more food.
Some days I can't pre-log because I'm not sure what I'm going to eat for dinner. On those days, sometimes I still struggle with fear of food and being honest about my food.
The other day, I had to force myself to log my calories because we went to a basketball game and I ate concession stand food for dinner then came home and ate two cookies followed by a hot chocolate (It's super cold here, lol).
Even though I had planned my breakfast and lunch so that I had extra calories for dinner, I was still thinking "I just know I ate 5,000 calories over my limit." You know how extreme we can get around food!
I was over my daily calories by 92 calories. That was it -- 92 measly calories.
Every time I have a win like that, it builds my confidence so much.
I find my journey is circular -- the more honest I am about food, the less fear I have about food, which allows me to be more honest about food, which leads to less fear, and etc.0 -
Hi Deidre - I think Christmas was a success. I did end up eating a lot more snack food and desserts than I had been, but I tracked everything and I didn't binge. It wasn't too hard to get back on track when I got home either.
It's really great to hear about your journey. It's very reassuring that you've been binge-free for 10 years. That would be such a relief! Binge eating has been a part of my identity through my whole adult life, so it can be difficult to believe that there could actually be an end to it, but I'm hopeful that I'm there
0 -
love your post! great tips thank you !0
