So frustrated with my binges! page 7

[MarissaLinnea]

Yeah sure Choco. I think what a lot of binge eaters (sorry to call you that, I don't believe in labels) need is overall food reform- the High Everything diet minus of course the grains which are the devil. You need high fat, moderate high carb, and high protein- a LOT of food, and then you will feel more relaxed, have a better metabolism etc. I would never in a million years have thought I would promote such a thing but honestly it does work. Eat a lot of everything just not grains.
Primer on doing a radical refeed as the solution for chronic binge eaters:
Rrarf pdf free ebook download from www.180degreehealth.com

So I gave this a read. Some of the ideas are pretty interesting. Buuuuuut, I'm not willing to "guinea pig" myself to try something like RRARF out. I mean, it would be nice to just lay around, eat whole foods and sleep as much as I want to, but ultimately that just isn't realistic for me. I have five children that I have to look after all day. The last thing I want is to be in a total food coma because I keep stuffing myself all day long and have to constantly get up and take care of someone else, lol!!! Not to mention, I've had periods in my life where I have pretty much laid around and eaten whatever and whenever I want to.....and it made me fat and lazy which is a really hard mode to get out of as well. I've worked way too hard to get to a healthy weight and get fit to just throw it away.

[MarissaLinnea]

I'm 5'7 and about 145. I'm pretty active, I do cardio as well as some resistance training 5-6 days a week, unless I'm feeling tired in which case I cut the cardio down. I'm still pumping milk twice a day for my twin girls but am trying to wean asap. Other than that, I do normal stuff like housework and chase my kids around all day.

Mentioned above is a typical breakfast for me, for lunch I'll have a salad and another burger and possibly some chicken breast as well, or instead of the salad I've been having leftover veggies with butter, or I will make an acorn squash and eat half of that, or a sweet potato. For dinner it's a similar meal, meat with lots of veggies sauteed in EVOO and butter. I usually eat three meals a day and then have several snacks. I was eating a lot of greek yogurt with berries or apples, nuts and/or nut butter with apples, coconut milk with fruit, that kind of stuff but since that binge, I stopped eating the dairy and the fruits so I really haven't had much in the way of snacks except for that handful of nuts last night. And I went to bed hungry. But I'm afraid if I eat the fruits I have here, it will start another binge and I do not want to go there. So far I've been doing ok without the fruits, except for the hungry feeling, lol!!!

Ideally, I would love to not have to limit my diet this way. But until I get this under control, I feel like that's the only way I'm going to move forward and be successful.

I eat 3-4 eggs every morning with some meat. I limit my eggs because I'm not sure how many are ok to eat in a day, just like I'm not sure if I'm eating too little or too much fat, etc. I feel like I could eat more at my meals so I guess that would be a good starting point. It would be nice to not need to have snacks.

Choco, I was interested to see what your response is to this.

[grokina]

I'm not sure if you mentioned this already, but have you had your thyroid checked? Low carb in women can cause massive sugar cravings and reduced energy and thyroid functioning. Even if your doctor says your thyroid is "within normal limits," it may not be. Going very low carb last summer gave me unconquerable sugar cravings, fatigue, low mood, hypoparathyroidism, super-high cholesterol and hypercalcemia. All of which cleared by increasing my carb intake. I also lowered my fat intake at the same time.

You could try doing something you may not have tried yet (or maybe you have). You could try lower fat paleo with lean proteins and much higher carbs. Carbs being from plenty of sweet potatoes, regular potatoes after workouts, squash and black beans if they agree with you.

Fat is over-emphasized in paleo cooking, at least for women. Good luck to you! You don't need to be stronger, but good, clean carbs might really help.

p.s. Emergen-C lite (little or no sugar) is full of C and B vitamins. It has really helped me with sugar cravings.
Fruit does nothing but increase my hunger and make a sugar fest more likely, though that is rare these days.

[afroette]

I have accepted that at least once a month I will have an urge to binge. After last month's binge, I've decided to have paleoish options, rather than buying reesce's peanut butter cups to satisfy the binge gods.

[Daydreamer]

I think it's alright to binge once in a while.
To be honest, I aim to accept the fact that like once every month I'll binge. But not in a guilty way, more in a "body feeding" kind of way.
However my case is very different. I'm a recovering hypogonadal young man, I need to gain weight (but not too quickly or I'll end up bulimic and skinny fat and stress my body even further).
But I try to keep my binge "controlled", "planned", like, on a special occasion.
For example, yesterday I was invited to a great party celebrating the birthday of a friend's father where I played music and such stuff. There were these huge plates of grass fed veal along with some pastas & cheese. I didn't eat the pastas at all, nor did I eat dessert (tiramisu, something I'm absolutely disgusted with haha) but I had like... maybe 30 slices of roasted veal. It's probably like 5 lbs of meat. Stayed up most of the night in order to help to clean everything, to move back to my house all the sound equipment, and then when I got back home I had some mackerel, and 4 eggs with Van Houten ground chocolate and shredded coconut, with some full fat creamed coconut. It was like 5 in the morning.

It was a legitimate binge, however, today I woke up at 2 P.M. and I don't feel like eating anything at all.
I enjoyed it but my body is reasonable and tells me not to eat.
And I think I'll fast until tomorrow to be honest.

So... It's also a matter of weekly calories, the weight gain doesn't come in one night, and if your body gives you the good signals and you don't feel guilty when you plan a nutritious binge, you end up binging less, and on much greater food for your body.
I guess binging on good cuts of meat is less harmful than binging on processed carbs and junk food...

EDIT: Also, I don't agree at all with grokina, I don't see the point pretending being paleo if you just go against the basis of the way of thinking nutrition-wise. Fat is fuel. Even if you're a woman. Good quality, animal fats are what we were supposed to eat for a good hormonal and energetic balance with proteins. Your message sounds kind of a "masquerade" in my opinion.

[Comma]

Haven't read all, but here is what makes my binges go away: First and foremost: enough SLEEP (and I mean enough, as in from 7 to 7 for me) as often as you can, and absolutely nothing sweet or carby for breakfast along with loads of protein (I have an egg and a slice of bacon and a protein shake as I can't eat that much protein for breakfast), as well as a lunch of greens and meat (lean in my case, I want to loose some weight and don't on too much fat) and 1 small fruit for the nutrients. Small is important. Then I make sure to have a bit of carbs with dinner so I stay happy serotonin-wise. Works well! Have done it three days now, feel better and happier every day, and finally lose weight. If there's only one thing you can do, do the sleep.

[Leanne_R]

I'll unearth this thread because this is definitely pertinent subject in my life... For most of my life I have struggled with overeating but I didn't realize the extent of it until getting into my weight loss journey. Everyone binges for different reasons, for me it is mainly a combo of depression/anxiety. But over the past year, I have learned what helps me have a little more control over my eating.

First: Crossfit. Crossfit was a complete and utter disaster for me. As an already hormonal woman in her mid-20s, the metcons only added insult to injury. It was hard for me to comprehend that less cardio meant more weight loss, but that's just how it is for me. Now I focus on strength training, and walks-- and I don't feel bad for taking a break.

Sleep is the next big thing for me, I don't feel lazy saying 10-11 hours is optimal for me. If I'm tired I feel depressed, if I'm depressed my anxiety gets a foothold, and by now I just have a perfect storm brewing for a binge.

I do terribly with plans and diets. I can't stand the "Well eff this is day 1... again..." I struggle with this, but if I binge the next day is not "day 1" it's just apart of the journey. The "day 1" mind-set never feels like a fresh start for me, more like a reminder of failure. The idea of starting over just encourages me to binge more, I feel like I need to eat all I can before "day 1" starts. I'm a musician and I've learned a hell of a lot about music through some pretty terrible (embarrassing...) performances. Health is a journey, take the missteps and learn what you can.

As for supplements, 5HTP did nothing for me. Not to say it won't for anyone else, but beyond the chemical imbalances there really just comes a point where you need to recognize the issues that brought you to this point. I'm coming to realize that recognition and acceptance will be a lifelong journey.

There's a lot I could say about this... But this is just what comes to mind