I'm New!

[JJJPK]

Here's my story if anyone out there cares.

I'm a fifteen year old. I'm not overweight. I've always been pretty active. But, my relationship with food hasn't ever been very good. I went through vicious phases of binge eating, and then fasting. It went round and round until last Thursday, when I had a monstrous binge and decided, I'd had enough. I thought to myself, "No more binging, no more snacks." Feeling very hungry and more than a little depressed this morning (waiting OH so impatiently for it to be lunch time!) I googled, "Will not eating snacks make you skinnier?" I found your site...and fell in love. I realized, "I'm not the only one!" and "I'm already doing this!" and "Oh, 'S' days, I can totally do this!" and just that it plain makes sense. It's (as the page says) not a war with food.

How I've been doing:
Well, mentally I feel great! I've been binge free for an entire week, (whoop whoop! ) no guilt! Plus, I REALLY REALLY REALLY enjoy my meals now. Eating is much more purposeful, and my relationship with food is no longer a checkered one. All that said, it has been hard. Typically I eat breakfast at 7:00 A.M., lunch at 12:00 P.M. and Dinner at 4:00 P.M. I go to bed at 10:00 P.M. (Give or take). I've found the hardest time is after dinner. I want to be social and sit and talk and watch television with my family, and they're all eating popcorn and chocolate and I'm just like . But, I've been holding fast, so far...fingers crossed. Also, I work out six times an week and that's pretty nice because you don't even want to THINK about food while on a treadmill or banging out some squats. I typically start to get hungry about two or three hours after a meal.

Summing up: Not that any one really cares that much but there you have it! Basically I just wanted to say that I'm SO glad there's a support group, for upcoming struggles, and I'm really looking forward to getting to know all you fine people! Any tips for me as a newbie?

Na razie!

[MaggieMae]

Welcome, JJ! I love reading everyone's stories about how they ended up here ! You're learning some great habits that are valuable throughout the rest of your life. When I was 15, I exercised a lot and was a healthy weight, but at the time I thought I was soooo fat. I ended up going through a bout of bulimia and then starvation diets, and incollege I started binge eating to deal with stress. Thankfully all of that has been sorted out except for the occassional binge . Two evenings a month I go to a ladies book club. Everyone brings snacks and desserts to eat during the meeting. I'll make a travel mug of hot cinnamon apple tea and sip on it. If I'm really desperate I'll chew my way through several pieces of gum.

[Jen1974]

I love that you recognize that you didn't want to be someone who binges!! They feel awful & it's a bad cycle to get into!! I worry if you are sadly watching your family have food at night while you sit & watch that it builds up & it's impossible to continue something that makes you miserable night after night. 4:00 dinner until 10:00 bedtime would be hard hours for me to skip eating too!! School makes it hard but if you're really struggling at night, maybe you could find a way to eat dinner a little later, or is that when your family typically eats dinner? Coming home from school you can't help but be famished!! That's the time of day I'm always hungry so I do lunch then & a later dinner but I don't eat breakfast until 11:00. If youre feeling deprived every night you need to fix it because for me feeling deprived has ALWAYS lead me to eventually binge.

I have berries & coffee with cream around 8:00am because I don't' like drinking coffee on an empty stomach & I can easily make it past 11:00 without feeling hungry after that. I consider the berries & coffee & cream part of my breakfast, I just have a big pause in between courses (: Maybe something like that could work for you where you so you could plan to have a "meal" later at night when your family is having their snacks & treats? If following the rules EXACTLY doesn't work for your reality you are better off making the plan fit your life instead of failing all together.

[reinhard]

Hey, you've come to the right place to find people who care. Maybe we care a little too much! (166664 posts, mostly on this subject, last time I checked).

So congratulations, and thank you for sharing this with us! I'm so happy it's not only effective for you, but also sounds really enjoyable. It's a great gift to be able to enjoy eating, and I think (paradoxically, perhaps) moderation is the only way to do it.

Best of luck going forward and looking forward to hearing more,

Reinhard

[oolala53]

I am so glad you're here! You can avoid so much misery if you commit to this lifestyle. Try very hard not to be swayed by the crazy things other teens (and later college students) will do not only overdoing food but dieting. Believe me, there are so many women twenty, thirty or more years later sorry they ever started on that road.

I suggest you allow yourself to eat a little more food at your meals so that you are less likely to get hungry so soon. That dinner sounds rather early. But, if you decide it's a good schedule for you, that long a "fast" overnight does good things, too.

[LoriLifts]

Welcome!