Other Bingers Wanted for an 8 Day Experiment

buggaboo73
buggaboo73 Posts: 169
edited September 21 in Motivation and Support
OK So Memorial Day Weekend is coming up......you know the one......you break out the shorts and swimsuit and spend a lot ot time hating yourself.......sound familiar? Well I'm freaking out a little bit because I lost 17 lbs on MFP during Dec - Feb and then I spent from Feb until now binging, emotional eating, and yo-yoing at least 5 lbs of it back on.

So this is my plan, I am not going to look beyond Memorial Day Weekend for right now. I'm going to focus on the next 8 days, staying at my calorie goal and getting my body moving for 15 mins or more each day. Only for the next 8 days. If you're a binger, you know what I mean, you think about the lifetime commitment involved here and it's enough to make you dive face first into a tub of Ben & Jerry's, right? Me too. That's why for now, I am only thinking about the next 8 days. Stay at my calorie goal and find a way to move for 15 mins a day. I can do anything for 8 days.

Now the next thing, and this is why I call it an experiment, is that I'm going to make a list. I'm calling it the "things I want to eat over Memorial Day" list. Every time I'm feeling like I just can't LIVE without a certain food that will disrupt my diet, I am putting it on the list. This is a promise to myself. The items I still want at the end of 8 days I promise myself I will allow myself to have over the holiday. Not as a binge, and not everything on the list -- only the things I still want at the end of 8 days......but the thing is I'm telling myself yes, you can have ice cream, you only have to wait x more days. That, I can deal with. Then put the focus back on the diet.

I want to see how this works. At the end of 8 days I will take a look at how I'm feeling, and then start thinking about the month or weeks after the holiday. But not until then. Right now it's just about stringing together 8 successful days with a promised reward at the end.

Anybody want to join?

Replies

  • squoozyq
    squoozyq Posts: 305
    Isn't that too much of a restriction? Maybe having a little bit of something every other day or so, just a taste or a handful might be easier for long term goals as long as the rest of the time you are moving and eating within your calorie range? Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to eat! Who knows, I just know that I would likely go nuts for 8 days and binge at the end. I can't live without chocolate, so I include it in my 'diet' or should I say 'lifestyle change'.
    It's the long weekend here in Canada....and I don't crave anything imparticular, but next weekend is my daughter's 10th birthday and I would like to go to DQ with all of the kids after dinner. So maybe I can cut out everything else and make that my goal?
  • amiiwest
    amiiwest Posts: 3 Member
    Good luck with your experiment. I have a suggestion, though. If you're set on this kind of restrictive diet, perhaps set aside one day a week - perhaps, every Saturday you can "let yourself go" a little. I think that might be more productive. You aren't going to see real results in just 8 days - you might get encouraged by lost water weight, but real weight loss takes much longer. I'm not sure what you are hoping to accomplish in 8 days?
  • elizabeth1222
    elizabeth1222 Posts: 51
    count me in , I know About Binging and sometimes it gets out of hand
    writing it down it's a very good idea I know I can take 8 days
    the thought of accomplish it and tell myself that I will reward myself
    at the end with whatever I crave that will push me to succeed
    it's a matter of training yourself and learning to take control
    not letting something control you.
  • Thinwithin2010
    Thinwithin2010 Posts: 166 Member
    My husband and I have 1 day a week where we take 1 meal and have anything we want.. You will be surprised at how many good food choices you still make, how you don't find the need to stuff and you aren't restricted..So no guilt! You feel like you can wait all week for the chosen day... We use it as date night and go out to eat. Our biggest choice is figuring out where to go.. So make 1 of the weekend days your day but remember 1 meal not grazing the day.. Good luck
  • curvykatie
    curvykatie Posts: 870 Member
    Count me in! in 7 days its my universities summer ball so that will be my goal.

    good luck!

    Katie
  • buggaboo73
    buggaboo73 Posts: 169
    I think I must have not represented my plan very well......I'm not talking about anything more restrictive than what my calorie goal is on MFP on a daily basis already. I'm just talking about STICKING to my goal for 8 days. I'm not hoping to lose a million pounds in 8 days either, this is just about the psychology of it, showing myself that I can do it. I just chose Mem Day Weekend because it's the right time frame and it's notable.
  • buggaboo73
    buggaboo73 Posts: 169
    Isn't that too much of a restriction? Maybe having a little bit of something every other day or so, just a taste or a handful might be easier for long term goals as long as the rest of the time you are moving and eating within your calorie range? Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to eat! Who knows, I just know that I would likely go nuts for 8 days and binge at the end. I can't live without chocolate, so I include it in my 'diet' or should I say 'lifestyle change'.
    It's the long weekend here in Canada....and I don't crave anything imparticular, but next weekend is my daughter's 10th birthday and I would like to go to DQ with all of the kids after dinner. So maybe I can cut out everything else and make that my goal?

    Well, first off I am not being any more restrictive than what MFP recommends on a daily basis. I'm just talking about doing what non-bingers can do successfully on here every day and that is stay in the 12 - 1500 calorie range depending on how much you want to lose in a week.

    As for chocolate, if you can fit it in your calorie range then I don't think it's a big deal unless it's a trigger food that's going to make you binge.
  • buggaboo73
    buggaboo73 Posts: 169
    My husband and I have 1 day a week where we take 1 meal and have anything we want.. You will be surprised at how many good food choices you still make, how you don't find the need to stuff and you aren't restricted..So no guilt! You feel like you can wait all week for the chosen day... We use it as date night and go out to eat. Our biggest choice is figuring out where to go.. So make 1 of the weekend days your day but remember 1 meal not grazing the day.. Good luck

    Thank you for understanding what I was trying to say! I want to make the list so my brain doesn't go OH THIS IS TOO MUCH and eat a whole tub of ice cream. Instead what I'm saying to myself is, here I'm writing it down, and then it's a real, viable, tangible possibility that if I still want it in 8 days I can have it. Psychologically that's a biggie for me. I know I can wait 8 days.
  • buggaboo73
    buggaboo73 Posts: 169
    Good luck with your experiment. I have a suggestion, though. If you're set on this kind of restrictive diet, perhaps set aside one day a week - perhaps, every Saturday you can "let yourself go" a little. I think that might be more productive. You aren't going to see real results in just 8 days - you might get encouraged by lost water weight, but real weight loss takes much longer. I'm not sure what you are hoping to accomplish in 8 days?

    I am hoping to show myself that I can do it, for 8 days. This is NOT a long term plan, it's a one week plan to show myself that it works, that I can succeed one step at a time. After the holiday I will then take that information and see where I want to go next. For example, I might use this list making procedure to hold off binges all week and reward myself every Saturday with one item from the list -- going forward. But the thing is I can't think past 8 days right NOW, because I get ovewhelmed and binge. So I'm saying in 8 days I will look at this week and see what I can do long term to stop the binging cycle and be healthier in the future.

    I've been a member here since December so I'm really not going, oh I'm going to lose all my weight in 8 days. I'm simply saying I've fallen off the wagon lately, there has been a lot of binging, and I want to experiement a bit to find a way that works better for me going forward.

    Also I will not be restricting calories any more than my food plan is already set to, and what I've been working with since December which is 1200 - 1350 calories.
  • buggaboo73
    buggaboo73 Posts: 169
    count me in , I know About Binging and sometimes it gets out of hand
    writing it down it's a very good idea I know I can take 8 days
    the thought of accomplish it and tell myself that I will reward myself
    at the end with whatever I crave that will push me to succeed
    it's a matter of training yourself and learning to take control
    not letting something control you.

    Thank yoooou!! OK Let's get moving huh? I think there are three of us now. Thank you for 'getting it' I was a bit frustrated when I saw some of the replies on here. This is why I asked for other bingers cause I knew that people who don't binge won't get it. It's not about losing a ton of weight in one week, it's just about sticking to the darn plan for a week and trying to find ways to control the binge! :flowerforyou:
  • buggaboo73
    buggaboo73 Posts: 169
    Count me in! in 7 days its my universities summer ball so that will be my goal.

    good luck!

    Katie

    Sounds good Katie! I'm not thinking we will lose more than the pound or so that we would lose in a week, but psychologically this may be very good for us going forward.
  • curvykatie
    curvykatie Posts: 870 Member
    Count me in! in 7 days its my universities summer ball so that will be my goal.

    good luck!

    Katie

    Sounds good Katie! I'm not thinking we will lose more than the pound or so that we would lose in a week, but psychologically this may be very good for us going forward.

    Yeah - ive got into a habit at the moment of if i have one bad thing - i'll have them all - then go out any buy more so this is gonna help me massivly!

    we can do it!!
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