Has anyone kept weight off for over a year - binge eaters?

Tweaking_Time

I have OP - probably for 5 years. Look in my profile pic for the before / after shot

surreychic

Thank you for posting. I haven't had time to answer in detail to all the other fantastic and supportive replies... but I will! Were you a binge eater? how did you avoid turning to food when ...well whenever that I want to eat everything feeling came on? for me, it often wasn't even hunger.

A note to everyone I have noticed my bingeing has been one million times worse when I've had little sleep. It's like it flicks a "I want carbs" switch! I had a very busy weekend and had a week of disturbed sleep and I was eating everything, bread and cereals (my default binge foods). In one day, in a few hours I packed in about three thousand kcal in snacking on raisin wheats of all things! It isn't even chocolate or "typical" yummy foods.

Francl27

surreychic wrote: »

Thank you for posting. I haven't had time to answer in detail to all the other fantastic and supportive replies... but I will! Were you a binge eater? how did you avoid turning to food when ...well whenever that I want to eat everything feeling came on? for me, it often wasn't even hunger.

A note to everyone I have noticed my bingeing has been one million times worse when I've had little sleep. It's like it flicks a "I want carbs" switch! I had a very busy weekend and had a week of disturbed sleep and I was eating everything, bread and cereals (my default binge foods). In one day, in a few hours I packed in about three thousand kcal in snacking on raisin wheats of all things! It isn't even chocolate or "typical" yummy foods.

Ugh tell me about it. It's awful when I don't have enough sleep!

davert123

I'll say yes. My weight still fluctuates quite a bit but as compared with 3 years ago I have lost about 48 lb. I'm at my heaviest peak right now and I will shed more now summer is coming. For me the important thing to realise it is possible and you can do it. For me changing lifestyle is the be all and end all. I need to exercise regularly and this allows me to put the brakes on the yo yo , realise though physical sensation when I am putting weight on and allow me to enter a deficit more easily to shed weight (it is also very good for your body of course :-)) What I find is that as I approach my goal, other factors take over - mainly sport performance. The target weight loss I had at the start is not really that important towards the end.
I think the idea of "bad" foods are frowned on here but for people like me who find that sugar sets up a compulsion (a scientifically understandable effect), stopping eating sugar is good. Again though, exercise seems to mend my metabolism so I am more resilient. So it short it is possible to keep weight off but I think the way to do this is to change who you are as much as what you eat. Being able to come to MFP and finding this out is what makes MFP special .

hthr1969

I am going on 2 years and hovering around 200 lbs. Still more to lose but I am happy to be maintaining. Key to me is my exercise crossfit group. Tons of support there.

Gamliela

A few months ago I started to change the way I think and act in a few ways that have helped me. Food was my god. I used food for so many things. I ate unconsciously, unthinkingly. I shut off when I ate.

So I became conscious of every bite I eat. I enjoy the food very much. I eat a lot less of it. I log everything I eat everyday. I plan what I eat early in the day and then stick to it.
I watch my mind. If I have low level anxiety, I try to not ignore it. Same with rsentments, anger, self pity. I seek out an understanding person and talk out my neediness. I confess to people that I have overbearing demands that life satisfy me all the time. I try to reduce those demands without turning to the food god.
I ignore sugar and carbs to some extent, but I intend to begin to reinclude them once I start maintenance. If I can't eat more carbs without unconsciously overeating then I will have to reassess at that time.

I get out for a walk now and then and I have some physiotherapy recommended excesize I do and asanas.
I yoga meditate - pranayama.

crikey_katie

I have kept my weight off for about 3 years now, I did slip up for a few months and was drinking too much but didn't so much gain weight as I lost muscle and gained fat. Now I actually gained a bit but it's muscle. I don't do anything strict but try to eat healthy for the most part but not completely restrict. If I want some froYo I will eat it. I think a big part of success is staying active. I do work out 5-6 times a week and ride a bike frequently.

victoria_1024

I haven't kept it off a year yet, but I've been successfully losing for the past 15 months (87 lbs gone) and I've been maintaining for a few weeks. This is the most successful I've ever been because I usually just quit after a few weeks and go back to my old habits. I am so grateful that I discovered mfp and the iifym way of thinking! The old me would have given up all the food I loved and then when I wasn't able to keep that up I'd binge. The new me is sitting here eating a big bowl of ice cream and totally not caring because I have room for that in my day. It's taught me how to eat the foods I used to binge on in moderation.

Now does that mean I have been able to totally quit binging? Unfortunately not. Every so often it happens still. But the difference is that now I just pick back up the next day with better eating habits and everything is fine. I don't let one binge (or a whole day of binging) ruin my progress. I feel more in control of my eating than ever before and I love it.

SunnyDayzMomma

I'm a self professed compulsive eater, foodaholic and binger. I woke up one day and decided enough is enough (much led up to that, but a switch flipped in my brain that morning). I've lost 67 pounds since last July by teaching and training myself about portion sizes and what foods to binge on when my mouth just needs to be eating. I will now go for 3 cups of raw veggies, with a few tablespoons of dip, instead of chips. Or eat a crunchy pickle and drink a few glasses of water. That being said, I have days where I eat crap. But the difference is that because I'm USUALLY eating healthful, when I eat crappy I notice that it makes me feel crappy. Sluggish, thirsty, headachy even sometimes. And it always throws my bathroom habits way off kilter. And I'm now noticing my triggers much more clearly. Tuning into those things helps me put back the chocolate, chips, pretzels or cheese often. But I also don't rag on myself when I have too much of a treat. I log it, and move on. Weight loss is a mind game more than anything, especially for us bingers. Logging your binges is sooooo key. You can't learn from your mistakes, or avoid future mistakes, if you stick your head in the sand. I'm in the red today, because I ate too much junk. But I sure won't tomorrow, because I don't want to see those red numbers again! Please, if you only do one thing, log your binges. Own it, and respond to it. Don't try to pretend it isn't happening. (but you should seriously log all food everyday, it's the best tool for a binger). Also, another thing that might or might not help, is to see how you do if you give yourself a bite of whatever you're wanting. One square of chocolate, or 3 chips, instead of a whole chocolate bar or a whole bag of chips. Some people do better if they get a taste and then put the breaks on. Some people though can't stop or the sugar/fat/salt makes them want and think about it all the more. So see what works best, all out deprivation, or daily moderation. I'm a daily moderation person. I eat 15—25 grams (a quarter of to half a serving) of potato chips almost daily. I eat 1-2 slices of bread a day. Because that keeps me in line. Without letting myself eat the yummy, I will OVEREAT the yummy. Just a thought for ya

SunnyDayzMomma

Also.... Something I've done, which may be controversial, is instead of putting up a skinny picture on my fridge, I put up a fat picture of myself. A picture I hate. I am HUGE in it. I look at it as I reach for food and it has talked me down from a ledge so many times! It may not work for everyone but I love my new body so much and I find reminding myself of where I've come from and how much better I feel and look now, or be such a motivator. When I ate whatever I wanted, I looked like that. Now that I eat what I should, I look like this

surreychic

Thank you so much for your honest response. I am so glad sunny you have been able to self reflect, identify and combat the overeating. This morning, after little sleep, I felt I could eat the world... had just under 2000 kcal over a period of two hours, but somehow stopped and logged it all. Like you say, eat what I want I'm huge, eat what I should eat, a little frustrating in the moment but longer term happiness.

For those who are anxious (I woke early worrying about work), how do you calm yourselves down? when I reflect, it may have been the lack of sleep as a result of the anxiety that led to hunger, but I also wonder if that bingeing just calms me, so coping without that can mean I'm an angry worried mess. It's filling the gap, especially when already tired too.... I hope that makes sense, some what!

LadyGisborne

I am a binge-eater. I have been yo-yoing for many years. My lowest weight was 54kg and my highest weight 103kg. When I lose weight, I maintain successfully and then, after a few weeks / months, it is as if a switch was flipped inside my head and I cannot stop eating. I still haven't discovered what triggers it.

However, I have learnt to know myself better with the years. A combination of low(ish)-carbing and lots of exercise it what works best for me. Low-carbing tends to reduce the cravings. The exercise allows me to still enjoy sweet things (before a workout), has built lots of muscle mass so I burn more calories, and it makes me hyper-aware of my body. In the past, I could put on 20kg before I realised something was wrong. Today, 5kg make a lot of difference (you can definitely feel 5 extra kilograms when you are doing jumping lunges).

I still yo-yo, but on a much smaller scale than before (10kg instead of 50) so I consider it a success long-term.

shadow2soul

Don't know if you would consider this successful or not.

mikebooker1

bizyangel wrote: »

I have a friend who has. Like myself she didn't change her eating drastically just cut back. She never gave up wine she kept it calorie based. The wonderful thing with this app it also shows how many calories you can take in without gains if you wish to maintain. I am 51 lost 20 lbs in under 2 months. 40 more to go. It's about making decisions. Is it worth the calories as you only get so many in a day. When I first started I looked at this app like a video game. Don't go over the calories or you lose. It was quite fun. Now it's a life style.

That's exactly what I've done. I would say I've binged on food a good part of my adult life. I'd basically starve myself for 3 months, loose 30 pounds then gain back 35. This was the cycle of life for years. Then 2 years ago I hit my breaking point. I attacked the sources of the binge eating. My wife recommend I see a counselor(which I was very reluctant to do).. With help I understood​ the why in what I did. Knowing the why help me fight back urges.

I still slip up occasionally but I don't let it derail me. Its been nearly 2 years and I'm down 70 pounds as of this week. I still eat foods I crave but not as much of them. Honestly I don't feel like I'm on a diet. I just make the best decision I can in that moment. String a few good decisions together and next thing you know it's been a week and you lost a pound. That doesn't seem like much but keep up and consistently as possible and before you know it's been month and 6 or 7 pounds. Then it's been 2 months and 10 pounds. Eventually you look up and it's been 18 months and 70 pounds. That's the story of my last year and a half.

I've had some bad days and good days but overall I'm determined to conquer the day.

Sorry for the long winded post....

Lukdbestucan16

bebeisfit wrote: »

Former and current binge eater. in 2001at 260 llbs, I began a weight loss journey that took several years, but I lost 90 lbs., became a runner/gym goer, ate super healthy (I cooked all the time, still ate dessert at special occasions, drank socially) and kept the binges to a rarity. Things just worked...I can't explain it. Then in 2011/2012, I stopped caring as much, I let myself go above 190 then 200. I had a lot of stress (still do) I'm now a yo-yo. I have 2 good weeks, then sabotage it for a week or 10 days. I have a closet full of clothes that I would love to wear and I'm not sure what will send me back to those much more sane days.

Just me.good 2 weekd.then a month sabotage.n hard to come back

Francl27

I binge maybe once a week. I just keep my deficit the rest of the week and I walk A LOT.

starfruit132

What starts overeating is when I'm stressed or without enough sleep, so I start having an easy snack like a "bowl of cereal" thinking that will quench my hunger whether it's emotional or whatever. I even weigh the first bowl. Then, I do another pour to match the leftover milk but don't weigh it, then I decide I really hate to waste a bad day on food I really don't care for, so I try to find something better, and so it goes. If I limit the really good stuff (chocolate) by not keeping it in the house, I can limit the damage. I now make sure to count it and try to get back to good habits the next day.

catsfire

surreychic wrote: »

A note to everyone I have noticed my bingeing has been one million times worse when I've had little sleep. It's like it flicks a "I want carbs" switch!

So very much this! I slept on average 4-5 hours a night in February (and not in one block), and my desire for carbs & sweets went through the roof. Instead of baking a treat once or maybe twice a week, it was pretty much each day. I admit, baking for me is a stress relief, but instead of gifting away all or almost all, I was keeping most of them for me.

ahamedseen

I just can't keep the weight off