Britt's 30th Birthday Challenge! (September 22 - January 21)

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  • brittdee88
    brittdee88 Posts: 1,874 Member
    edited November 2017
    blambo61 wrote: »
    Nice, on the main boards, under a Jason Fung thread, a guy was getting skewered because he said that he had fixed binge eating with a keto diet. Folks railed on him that you haven't been diagnosed with BED and stop saying you were, and that it is something that can't be fixed and must be delt with everyday. Seems like you have been helped a lot with your diet choices with BED.

    Very interesting! He may have meant he has gone 21 days without binging, which is what they say means you are on your way to recovery, but I wouldn’t consider that “fixed” by any means. It is still a daily struggle for sure. Maybe that’s why people were angry? Because it definitely doesn’t get taken seriously in the “regular” world or the eating disorder world, so I think people become very sensitive if someone suggests it’s an easy fix.
    Different things definitely work for different people. Keto definitely did not help me - it just enabled me to binge without gaining weight because of the lack of carbs. It helped my appetite somewhat but I would still binge because I was addicted and knew that I could. I would eat a whole pound of bacon in one sitting easily, and I would still eat lunch and dinner, too.
    I don’t know why this plan works, but I am assuming there is something scientific behind it (I haven’t started attending meetings yet). In any case, I am actually able to wait until I am hungry now and am not obsessed anymore AND something that’s really huge: I don’t always finish my food. I almost cried the other day because I ate a half of a sandwich, put it away, and didn’t spend the rest of the day obsessing over wanting the other half before eventually breaking down and devouring the other half at 2 am. I think people without EDs or food addictions take that for granted — the sheer amount of time you spend in a mental battle with yourself about food. I almost feel like I eat normally now. Food is still very appealing to me, but it is starting to lose its grip on me, if that makes sense. I don’t think about it constantly anymore, and I can actually STOP. This is such a big deal!!!
  • blambo61
    blambo61 Posts: 4,372 Member
    Good for you. The gentleman I referred to has not binged for years I believe with his WOE. Anyways, I thought people went off on him when he was trying to be helpful. I'm glad you found something that works for you!
  • brittdee88
    brittdee88 Posts: 1,874 Member
    blambo61 wrote: »
    Good for you. The gentleman I referred to has not binged for years I believe with his WOE. Anyways, I thought people went off on him when he was trying to be helpful. I'm glad you found something that works for you!

    Oh, then that is strange! Maybe it was the use of the word “fixed” that bothered people since I don’t know anyone who would say an alcoholic was “fixed” because they were sober for x amount of time. It’s acknowledged as a “legitimate” addiction that requires daily commitment for life while food addiction isn’t (at least not yet). Maybe that is the issue? I don’t know - I am always curious about how other people think and perceive things. It always sucks when you’re trying to be helpful and you end up offending people.
    Anyway, thank you again! It’s going well, and I am feeling much happier and much less stressed. My RBPM has steadily fallen since I began this plan, so I am all-around satisfied.

  • minigrrll
    minigrrll Posts: 1,590 Member
    The people on some of those other boards are so weird they way they get so angry about stuff. I never post on any of them and don’t read any of them any more. This board is so nice and friendly. :)

    It’s very interesting about your food thoughts @brittdee88 - I wouldn’t say that I necessarily have anything that could be diagnosed as an eating disorder, but I definitely used to spend way to much time thinking about food and trying to stop myself eating it.

    The eating half a sandwich thing is definitely me though. Before OMAD it would have been an impossibility to eat half a sandwich.

    But I do think that the intermittent fasting has been a miracle for me in that respect. Especially once I cut out artificial sweeteners and milk/cream in my coffee and started fasting “clean”. I don’t really think about food at all in my fasting window - even when I’m around other people who are eating. I don’t start to think about food until about an hour before my eating window opens when I assume I’m actually truly hungry...

    I actually can keep certain foods in the house now and not obsess over them (nuts, peanut butter, cheese). I can even keep chocolate in the house and just have 2 squares a night. And sometimes I even forget to have the two squares. It really kind of blows me away.

    I do credit most of this to the “clean” fasting though. On the rare occasion I’ve had milk in my coffee or a Pepsi Max, I’ve had to white knuckle it to my eating window and the obsessive thoughts come back in full force. If someone had told me that 6 months ago, I’d have though they were a conspiracy theorist or something!

    It’s also amazing how everybody is so different and some people can handle the artificial sweeteners or some cream in their coffee, but I clearly cannot.
  • Brendalea69
    Brendalea69 Posts: 3,863 Member
    brittdee88 wrote: »
    blambo61 wrote: »
    Good for you. The gentleman I referred to has not binged for years I believe with his WOE. Anyways, I thought people went off on him when he was trying to be helpful. I'm glad you found something that works for you!

    Oh, then that is strange! Maybe it was the use of the word “fixed” that bothered people since I don’t know anyone who would say an alcoholic was “fixed” because they were sober for x amount of time. It’s acknowledged as a “legitimate” addiction that requires daily commitment for life while food addiction isn’t (at least not yet). Maybe that is the issue? I don’t know - I am always curious about how other people think and perceive things. It always sucks when you’re trying to be helpful and you end up offending people.
    Anyway, thank you again! It’s going well, and I am feeling much happier and much less stressed. My RBPM has steadily fallen since I began this plan, so I am all-around satisfied.

    I'm glad this is working for you :)
  • blambo61
    blambo61 Posts: 4,372 Member
    edited November 2017
    @minigrrl Nice report! That is good info that I'm sure is applicable to a lot of people.
  • brittdee88
    brittdee88 Posts: 1,874 Member
    @minigrrll that is AWESOME! That’s so interesting about the artificial sweeteners and cream! I’m happy you were able to put two and two together and make changes! I haven’t had sweeteners in a very long time, and I like my coffee black, so I never really noticed. (I do notice that I used to drink coffee daily, and I haven’t had any in quite a while.) Sugar usually takes me completely off the rails, but something has really changed. I thought it was because the desserts I have been having with my OMAD are homemade and organic and not pumped with all that addictive crap they talk about, but I had a scoop out of a frosty yesterday and felt completely satisfied afterwards. A SCOOP. A standard ice cream scoop! Isn’t that insane?! What’s really mind-boggling is that I took a scoop from a small cup and there was STILL at least 4-5 scoops left in that cup. I can’t believe I used to eat a large one WITH a meal.
    I am so happy we are finding what is working for us.
  • brittdee88
    brittdee88 Posts: 1,874 Member
    edited November 2017
    8 weeks until maintenance!
    Weight: 153.4 (-5.6)

    I’m really hoping to get out of the 150’s by next week, even though that is a long shot. But whenever it happens, my reward will be starting my yoga practice again. Studios are so expensive, so I have been putting it off, but I really want to celebrate that I beat these stubborn 150’s once and for all. I know that will throw a wrench in weight loss numbers, so I want to see the 140’s first. Any time I begin any type of exercise, I stall or gain, but I am really feeling invigorated lately and want to get back into my practice. I know I will build muscle and start leaning out, so I think I will post weekly about sizes or measurements instead of weight at that point. Truth be told, if I can just get comfortably into the half of my closet that I intentionally bought a size down (S/M and US 6 stretchy or US 8 non-stretchy) by my birthday, I will be satisfied regardless of the scale number. If I know I can go in my closet and put on absolutely ANYTHING I want because everything fits (for the first time in my life), I will be ecstatic.
  • tlblanksfit
    tlblanksfit Posts: 1,573 Member
    Britt, you are doing great. I believe with your new plan, you will be in the 140's before you know it. Being able to fit into anything you want will be a great victory.

  • brittdee88
    brittdee88 Posts: 1,874 Member
    Thanks, Tracey!
  • brittdee88
    brittdee88 Posts: 1,874 Member
    edited November 2017
    I just reread Joe's thread about exercise at a calorie deficit, and I am rethinking yoga now. I practice Bikram (hot) yoga, which is higher energy in a 105 degree room for 90 minutes, which I am sure is very stressful on my body even though it puts me at peace mentally. I'm not eating much due to my decreased appetite -- I haven't been counting, but I have been naturally eating once a day for a little over a week now, and my meals have consisted of ~4 oz of fish, ~1 cup of grains, ~.5-1 cup of veggies, and a small dessert with wine. That is definitely not enough to fuel my practice, and I am concerned about increasing my intake before I've stuck with this for a while. I think that I will continue to just take things slowly until I get closer to maintenance. Maybe I will aim for starting again at the beginning of January. At that point, I will add in yoga and follow my hunger for how many meals I will need per day. I had success eating multiple FAA-compliant meals per day, and I am pretty sure I can maintain if I have 1 or 2 FAA-compliant meals and a regular OMAD meal (ie. one that includes sugar and wine) per day while practicing yoga.
  • Brendalea69
    Brendalea69 Posts: 3,863 Member
    You are doing AWESOME!!! :)
  • brittdee88
    brittdee88 Posts: 1,874 Member
    Thanks, Brenda!
  • Jim_fbr
    Jim_fbr Posts: 251 Member
    minigrrll wrote: »
    But I do think that the intermittent fasting has been a miracle for me in that respect. Especially once I cut out artificial sweeteners and milk/cream in my coffee and started fasting “clean”. I don’t really think about food at all in my fasting window - even when I’m around other people who are eating. I don’t start to think about food until about an hour before my eating window opens when I assume I’m actually truly hungry...

    I actually can keep certain foods in the house now and not obsess over them (nuts, peanut butter, cheese). I can even keep chocolate in the house and just have 2 squares a night. And sometimes I even forget to have the two squares. It really kind of blows me away.

    I do credit most of this to the “clean” fasting though. On the rare occasion I’ve had milk in my coffee or a Pepsi Max, I’ve had to white knuckle it to my eating window and the obsessive thoughts come back in full force. If someone had told me that 6 months ago, I’d have though they were a conspiracy theorist or something!

    It’s also amazing how everybody is so different and some people can handle the artificial sweeteners or some cream in their coffee, but I clearly cannot.
    I just wanted to echo these sentiments as I have experienced the same thing, and further believe that one of the keys of being successful at this is to reach this point of control. When I realized that I was no longer vulnerable to food in this way it was enormously empowering, and I do think that the clean fasting approach does help one reach this point.
    I never envisioned myself being able to be around certain trigger foods like pizza, pasta, etc, and not lose total control and dive in. Or to be able to prepare food for others and not partake if it is outside of my eating window. I have no trouble resisting these temptations, and that feels great.
    Also it is amazing how things are different for everyone.
  • brittdee88
    brittdee88 Posts: 1,874 Member
    I love that, Jim!
    I echo the statement about trigger foods, AND I was really proud of myself because I baked my dessert in the morning and did not eat it until my mealtime several hours later even though my fiance ended up eating a bunch for his breakfast right beside me! I didn't even really notice, and I had to reflect back on it later to realize how big of a deal that is for me.
    I am also unintentionally following a clean fast without even my black coffee this time around, and maybe that has something to do with it. The coffee would keep me full for hours, but as soon as it wore off, I would be ravenous and struggling to make it to my window. Now, I am really experiencing hunger coming in one or two very short waves that I am able to ignore pretty easily during my fasted window. Hunger is no longer an emergency. I don't panic when my stomach growls anymore. When I portion out too much for dinner, it is so easy now for me to put some things back before eating or leave things on my plate because I know I can have it tomorrow. I know that if I don't eat enough, I won't die, and I will eat again tomorrow. If I eat a bit too much, I know I will be less hungry the next day and eat less and it will balance out. I used to think "tomorrow" was so far away with nothing but torture in between. Now, it just seems normal.
  • minigrrll
    minigrrll Posts: 1,590 Member
    brittdee88 wrote: »
    I love that, Jim!
    I echo the statement about trigger foods, AND I was really proud of myself because I baked my dessert in the morning and did not eat it until my mealtime several hours later even though my fiance ended up eating a bunch for his breakfast right beside me! I didn't even really notice, and I had to reflect back on it later to realize how big of a deal that is for me.
    I am also unintentionally following a clean fast without even my black coffee this time around, and maybe that has something to do with it. The coffee would keep me full for hours, but as soon as it wore off, I would be ravenous and struggling to make it to my window. Now, I am really experiencing hunger coming in one or two very short waves that I am able to ignore pretty easily during my fasted window. Hunger is no longer an emergency. I don't panic when my stomach growls anymore. When I portion out too much for dinner, it is so easy now for me to put some things back before eating or leave things on my plate because I know I can have it tomorrow. I know that if I don't eat enough, I won't die, and I will eat again tomorrow. If I eat a bit too much, I know I will be less hungry the next day and eat less and it will balance out. I used to think "tomorrow" was so far away with nothing but torture in between. Now, it just seems normal.

    Everything you and Jim have said is right on the money for me. I have never felt such freedom around food. It doesn't seem to have any power over me anymore. When I forgot to have my chocolate the other night, I couldn't even be bothered to go to the kitchen to get it when I did remember. Before I would have not been able to stop thinking about it. (or any of the other "trigger" foods I now just have sitting in my pantry). It's almost crazy how easy it is once you figure out what works for you.

    Also very interesting about the black coffee for you Britt - I've heard other people say the same thing about black coffee... And again, it's different for everybody. Another reason why it's so crazy when people try to ram a particular way of eating down everybody else's throat just because it works for them. Or get angry about it all.

    The whole gut microbiome thing is really interesting to me, I'm reading a lot about it and it seems as if they are learning that what microbes you have in your gut can make a huge difference to how you react to different foods and may even influence which foods you crave.
  • blambo61
    blambo61 Posts: 4,372 Member
    minigrrll wrote: »
    brittdee88 wrote: »
    I love that, Jim!
    I echo the statement about trigger foods, AND I was really proud of myself because I baked my dessert in the morning and did not eat it until my mealtime several hours later even though my fiance ended up eating a bunch for his breakfast right beside me! I didn't even really notice, and I had to reflect back on it later to realize how big of a deal that is for me.
    I am also unintentionally following a clean fast without even my black coffee this time around, and maybe that has something to do with it. The coffee would keep me full for hours, but as soon as it wore off, I would be ravenous and struggling to make it to my window. Now, I am really experiencing hunger coming in one or two very short waves that I am able to ignore pretty easily during my fasted window. Hunger is no longer an emergency. I don't panic when my stomach growls anymore. When I portion out too much for dinner, it is so easy now for me to put some things back before eating or leave things on my plate because I know I can have it tomorrow. I know that if I don't eat enough, I won't die, and I will eat again tomorrow. If I eat a bit too much, I know I will be less hungry the next day and eat less and it will balance out. I used to think "tomorrow" was so far away with nothing but torture in between. Now, it just seems normal.

    Everything you and Jim have said is right on the money for me. I have never felt such freedom around food. It doesn't seem to have any power over me anymore. When I forgot to have my chocolate the other night, I couldn't even be bothered to go to the kitchen to get it when I did remember. Before I would have not been able to stop thinking about it. (or any of the other "trigger" foods I now just have sitting in my pantry). It's almost crazy how easy it is once you figure out what works for you.

    Also very interesting about the black coffee for you Britt - I've heard other people say the same thing about black coffee... And again, it's different for everybody. Another reason why it's so crazy when people try to ram a particular way of eating down everybody else's throat just because it works for them. Or get angry about it all.

    The whole gut microbiome thing is really interesting to me, I'm reading a lot about it and it seems as if they are learning that what microbes you have in your gut can make a huge difference to how you react to different foods and may even influence which foods you crave.

    That is a very interesting topic. I read a paper about kenyan distance runners and their gut biom and that they produce more keytones if I remember right. I read another article where some lady fixed some big gut problem with a poop supossitory from some professional cyclist. That is becoming an accepted way to treat people with certain gut issues.
  • minigrrll
    minigrrll Posts: 1,590 Member
    Totally - the fecal transplant thing is being used to treat c. difficile infections also. They've also done experiments with rats where they do a fecal transplant from obese rats into normal weight rats and the normal weight rats subsequently become obese. Fascinating stuff...

    (I like your term "poop suppository" better though! :-D )

    I've read two books recently about the microbiome topic:
    • The Diet Myth; Why the Secret to Health and Weight Loss is Already in Your Gut — Tim Spector
    • The Clever Gut Diet - Dr. Micheal Mosley

    Both are fascinating reads and both actually talk about how, partially because everybody's microbiome is different, we all react in different ways to different foods.

    The both also mention fasting as being extremely beneficial for a healthy and diverse (diversity is hugely important) gut microbiome.

    I'm very interesting in the stuff you mentioned about the Kenyan distance runners - going to have to look that up...