anyone a binge/compulsive eater??

want2bhealthy · Post by **want2bhealthy** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:43 pm

i was just wondering if eating the no s way, has helped anyone who is a binge /compulsive eater?? i am a binge eater, i always say i eat like a bulimic when they binge but i dont purge afterwards. i seemed to do so well during the day and then at dinner time i just want to binge. just was wondering if anyone else had a similar probem and if you think this way of eating will help with that or make it worse because of having s days??

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:00 pm

I know there's a bulimic following the program and as far as I know, doing well. I'm not sure what she's doing about "S" days, though, but the trick (binging, bulimic or not) is not to see them as a license to go wild. There's a huge difference between knowing you can have seconds, a snack and/or sweets -- if you want them -- and going wild.

florafloraflora · Post by **florafloraflora** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 4:54 pm

I don't know if my old eating habits could technically be called binge eating, but there were certainly some episodes that I would call binges: eating an entire box of cookies or bag of chips was not that unusual for me. Since I started No-S in mid-January my habits have really changed for the better. Now that I'm used to eating less, it's painful to eat as much as I used to, even on S-days. I learned the hard way, through some episodes of serious GI upset, that I can't eat that way anymore.

childbride · Post by **childbride** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 5:46 pm

I have never been diagnosed with an eating disorder, but my eating has been "disordered" for about fourteen years: compulsive overeating turned in obsessive dieting, laxative abuse, and restriction (under 600 calories per day). My gereral pattern, however, is to binge.

I have only been following No S for about a week, but so far, it's helping me feel more in control. My first set of S Days was a little tricky, but after a week of N Days, it was easy to feel the difference between eating normally and eating too much.

It's still difficult for me not to count calories, and not worry about things like whether I have too much food on my plate, but I do think No S is helping me feel more like a "normal" eater.

JustAnnie · Post by **JustAnnie** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 9:33 pm

I think I would qualify as a binge eater. I use to do really well with a diet during the day and then go nuts after dinner. I beat a path back and forth from the kitchen to whatever I was doing. I'm surprised there are not wear marks in the floor!! All the dieting I did during the day would be undone at night. I would sometimes consume more calories at night than I had all day. Each night I would rationalize that this was the LAST TIME I would eat like that. Didn't happen until NO "S"

Not surprisingly my toughest part of the No S diet was staying out of the kitchen after dinner. The first month was rough but after that my body became use to the idea that it wasn't getting more food in the evenings.

Because of this my "S" days do have some structure. I eat the foods I want but I still quit eating for the day as soon as I've completed my dinner. This is working for me. Do you have a time of day when you tend to binge?

czechens · Post by **czechens** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:48 pm

I don't know that I'm as much a binge eater as a binge grazer. My hard spot is between the time I hit the door after work and dinner. We usually eat late (probably need to fix that but...another time), and I tend to pretty much graze constantly between whatever time I get home and whatever time I eat dinner--especially salty, crunchy stuff. I can stand at the cooking island and pretty much clear a bag of chips, just grazing away, one chip at a time. This is the major issue that brought me to no-s, which--as long as I stay the course--is really, really helping. Give it a whirl! Even when I'm munching away (much less often since starting no-s), I see the big red No-S icon in my mind's eye, so I don't enjoy those chips nearly as much--which is progress!

Mary Rose · Post by **Mary Rose** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:53 am

I have a real problem in that area, it's why I've gained so much weight. So far it's only been a week on No-S, but in that week, I've found that the hard boundaries of the No-S rules have been helping me a lot. Oddly enough, the temptation to snack is less when I know it's out of the question. Especially after meals that are very satisfying.

Space_mom · Post by **Space_mom** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:16 am

My story is exaclty like czechen's, so I prefer to have a glass of milk with protein powder when I get home, so I don't graze till dinner!...

czechens · Post by **czechens** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:53 pm

Good thought, SpaceMom. Although what I seem to crave are crunchy, salty carbs, maybe what I really need is a good kick of protein. I'll give this a try next time I find my itchy little fingers sneaking toward that bag of chips.

florafloraflora · Post by **florafloraflora** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:00 pm

Mary Rose wrote:Oddly enough, the temptation to snack is less when I know it's out of the question.

Exactly! The question, "Hmmmm... how about a snack?" still comes up, but it gets smacked down right away with "No, not until S-Day". The follow-ups, "Sweet or salty?" and "Let's see what I've got in the cupboard" and "I probably have to go to the store anyway..." never even get a chance to come up. It frees up my mind for other more important things, and I really like that.

What gets me is when the snack cravings come straight from my lizard brain to my fingers, and I don't get a chance to think about it at all until I realize that I'm noshing. But those incidents are getting fewer and farther between.

Too solid flesh · Post by **Too solid flesh** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 11:33 am

Yes, I was a compulsive eater from childhood onwards.

A year of No S has really reduced this tendency. I found that after some months of eating moderately, I have become much better at noticing when I am full (and also when I am hungry, which is a mixed blessing!). This means that even on the infrequent occasions when I do binge, I quite quickly find that I am uncomfortably full and have to stop, so I eat far less food than I would have done in the past. This is an unexpected bonus, and a really valuable one.

Anonnie · Post by **Anonnie** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 5:13 pm

I had BED (binge eating disorder) following my strict attempt to lose weight. I was eventually treated for it as an outpatient at an eating disorders clinic. I stopped binge eating. I stopped treatment. However, I eventually began compulsive eating which I am still doing. To clarify, a binge is eating a very large amount at one time and feeling out of control, like you can’t stop. I don’t do that anymore but I do eat compulsively. I snack on junk. I graze. I eat sweets every day. I eat a whole box of cookies throughout the day sometimes (but not in one sitting, in a hurry, like during a binge). I eat when I'm bored, sad, frustrated, angry.

I haven't started No S yet, though I've been considering it for a month or so. The main reason I hesitate is because my therapist placed so much emphasis on having 3 meals a day plus 2-3 planned snacks and not classifying any food as forbidden.

In the past eating a forbidden food would cause me to binge, because I would think what the heck, I've already blown it, I suck, I can't stick to my diet, may as well eat everything else. So I'm worried about what would happen if I ate a sweet, snack or second helping on a No-S day.

stevecooper · Post by **stevecooper** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:09 pm

Anonnie wrote: "I haven't started No S yet, though I've been considering it for a month or so. The main reason I hesitate is because my therapist placed so much emphasis on having 3 meals a day plus 2-3 planned snacks and not classifying any food as forbidden."

I shouldn't worry too much about the fairly small distinction between no-s and your therapist's. If a pro has told you to eat a certain way, I'd definitely go with the pro.

There may be two meaning of 'snack' here. When no-s talks about snacks, it means a random junk food attack. When your therapist talks about it, he means a scheduled mini-meal.

So how about this?

Play around with the size of the plates you're going to use. Use a large teaplate for breakfast, a small plate for your first snack, a large teaplate for lunch, small plate for second snack, and a dinner plate for dinner. Something like that. Roughly the same area as three larger plates, but in the pattern recommended by your therapist. I believe hardened no-s'ers call this 'virtual plating'

As to forbidden foods, maybe allow yourself whatever you like on your snack plates; that way you have two opportunities a day to have whatever you want.

For me, no-s is helping by giving nice, clear rules about what to eat, when. If you limit yourself to two healthy medium meals, one healthy large meal, and two small snacks of anything you fancy, then you've got clear rules, you're following your therapist's plan, and I'd say you're so close to no-s that it doesn't matter; you can still get the support here, and discuss how it's all going.

Is that any help?

want2bhealthy · Post by **want2bhealthy** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 2:41 am

well i lost my way again, so i havent been on here. i was so happy that all of you took time to post a reply. i can relate to almost everything you guys said. i will take all the advice and get myself back on track. thank you all so much again. i really needed to read all your posts.