Need to hear from former bingers/food addicts

As opposed to many here, I still indulge, but I track everything and stick to my daily goal as much as possible.

This means that the 2.5L tub of smarties ice cream (smarties in Canada are like M&Ms but better) I got at Costco at the start of January lasted ten weeks. I just had my last serving two days ago.

It would have lasted a week, ten days tops before I started MFP. In fact, since my wife and I started we've noticed all sorts of things lasting a lot longer. Some of it even expires and gets thrown out, which is a shame but better than trying to eat it all before it expires. Our food bill has gone down significantly.

I did this...I was a binger and a food addict. I would drive a 100 miles for a special pizza, burger, food place. It is good to recognize you have a problem. Therapists can help somewhat, but you need a support group such as OA (Overeaters Annonymous to work a program of recovery. I was in the program for over a year and it helped me immensely. Someone in the group recommended myfitnesspal and so here I am! I eat what I plan each day and record everything I eat. I've lost 18 pounds so far! Yippee! Long way to go but heh!

For me it was a cooking challenge.

For every junk I would crave I would research a healthy alternative to cook.

I want chips...I learned to make pita chips
want ice cream...make my own frozen yogurt
craving cookies...make 2 ingredient cookies with oats and banana's
Craving candy...have fruit

the only junk I can't find an alternative too is hot chocolate....any ideas?

you can do it, you just got to keep at it until your body and mind adjust to the change. took me about a month (and I still cheat every now and then and feel like crap)

Therapy was really helpful for me. My therapist taught me that it was never about the food. I was eating to fill something in my heart that was never going to be filled with ice cream. I highly recommend talking with someone. They can help you develop new coping mechanisms and get to the root of why you binge. Good luck! :flowerforyou:

This. And read books on emotional eating. I truly believe that in order to heal, I need to develop better coping mechanisms than eating. I need to figure out my triggers and how to deal with those without a quart of baskin robbins.

first I enrolled myself in a christian based course which is helping me a lot. one of things someone encouraged me to do is to buy a 3 ring notebook. with paper and dividers.

section 1 thankful section everytime I am tempted ot binge I write 5 things I am thankful for

section 2 mind dumping journal this is where I write down everything I am feeling it doesn't matter if it makes any since

section 3 positive affirmation section everytime you are tempted to binge write down something you like about yourself

this will get your focus off to something else

the first step is awareness so kudos to you for recognizing the need to change

you can do all things through christ who strengthens you.

It's a long process and there will be a lot of failures. I binged twice last week. After losing 70+ pounds, I have decided to lower my goals to 1 pound per week for the last 40-50 pounds I want to lose. I plan on losing a little more than that per week but at least I know that if I eat max calories then I am at still on track to lose 1lb per week. I believe that this new approach will work because I don't feel depressed and hungry and miserable all the time. I am very excited about it because for a while I was panicking. After many months of success I was suddenly binging again but I've felt so good since eating more, I think I'm back on track. Trust me, I know the urge to binge very well and eating 10,000 calories in a day would not be hard for me to do. Use MFP every day and log everything you eat as accurately as you can. Don't try to lose too much too fast. Weight loss is mostly diet. If you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight. Eat nutritious foods whenever possible but don't be a fanatic about it. Try to eat a balanced diet, don't forget to eat fruits and veggies every day. Frozen veggies are your friend. Find an exercise that you enjoy and stick with it. I did c25k and I am now training for a full marathon. If you screw up and binge, just accept that it happened and move on. The overall calorie surplus from binging does not mean that you have screwed it all up and should quit. Just continue on the next day, eating as you normally would within your calorie limit. Good luck! Ask your doctor before starting any changes to your lifestyle!