Breaking a bad S day binge habit

surfersuz · Post by **surfersuz** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:06 pm

I'm curious to know what some of you do for your S events on S days. I've seen some posts mentioning a certain number of events planned instead of a general free-for-all.

The reason I ask is because I have a nasty binge habit and even though I am doing Vanilla No S the reason I couldn't ever (or didn't) continue on with this was because of the bingeing on weekends. I want it to be different this time around so I'm trying to figure out how to make it different for 2013. I came to believe that I had developed bingeing as a habit after I read Kathryn Hansen's book Brain over Binge: Why I was Bulimic, Why Conventional Therapy Didn't Work, and How I Recovered for Good. I read this after I attended OA for some months and the book made more sense then the meetings. She states that a binge eating is developed when traditional dieting is started because our primal brain drives us to do it, the body is restricted and is therefore screaming for calories. It's hard to overcome, therefore you binge. Then as you continue to binge eat and gain weight - even though your body is not in need of those calories anymore - you have already developed that habit so the primal drive continues. Has anyone read the book? I'm curious to know your thoughts regarding this.

mulliganagain · Post by **mulliganagain** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 7:15 pm

I haven't read the book, but I'm always looking for a good read. I'm going to look it up right now!

"S" days is where I failed in the past before, and that's why I started incorporating intermittent fasting with No S. I personally fast for 19 hours a day (and eat during a 5 hour window) every day - even S days. Generally my window is 2-7 for NS days, and 12:30-5:30 for S days. The good news is that when I'm not in my eating window, I don't eat - no matter what day it is. Period. That keeps me from binging! It also keeps me from trying to modify no S in ways that are not good for me.. for instance at one time I tried to do No S but made my "S" days Friday evening-Sunday until evening, and even that little modification made me start questioning EVERYTHING about No S. Now there's no question - I don't eat Friday after 7, so there's no point in making Friday after 7 "S" time anyway!

It's easier to stick to the rules.

I know a couple other people who saw that I was having success with intermittent fasting, so they tried it out in their own ways. One made herself an 8 hour eating-window every day (instead of 5 hrs) and another simply made a strict "no eating after dinner" rule, which works for them.

I admit it was hard for me to get used to, because I'm a HUGE night time binger. Once I got into the habit, though (after many tantrums thrown by my inner child

) and convinced myself that I wasn't starving (

)I think it's the best aid I could have given myself to make No S work to the best of it's ability for me.

surfersuz · Post by **surfersuz** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 9:20 pm

Thanks for that reply. See, that's something that I was looking for - someone else who been having a hard time with bad habits as well. So glad that you've found something that helps! A replacement good habit I suppose with your fasting. Don't think that is quite right for me but good to know that once you got over that initial hard time of stopping eating at night it's become easier. Gives me inspiration

mulliganagain · Post by **mulliganagain** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 5:06 pm

Everybody's different!

That's my favorite part about message boards - everyone can throw ideas together and we can take what we want and leave what doesn't work for us.

I bought Brain over Binge: Why I was Bulimic, Why Conventional Therapy Didn't Work, and How I Recovered for Good last night and I'm going to start reading it today during lunch. It came suggested by you AND it had some great reviews - I'm excited to dig into it!

surfersuz · Post by **surfersuz** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 6:14 pm

Great!! Can't wait to know what you think of it. It ties in very nicely to No S I believe.

Nicest of the Damned · Post by **Nicest of the Damned** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 7:30 pm

I have a couple of mods that I do to keep myself from binging:

The Sitting mod. No eating in any position other than sitting, even on S days.

The NEP mod. This stands for No Eating from Packages or No Eating without a Plate. If I'm going to eat something, I have to put it on a plate or in a bowl and put the package away before I can eat it. If I want more later, I have to get the package out again and put more in the bowl. The only exception is single-serving packages of food.

Those two mods keep me from doing something like eating an entire bag of chips on an S day.

surfersuz · Post by **surfersuz** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:31 am

That is great advice. The behavior while bingeing is the disturbing part - and embarrassing. Eating at the fridge shoveling food into my mouth is not how I want to be seen. Ever. But I have been caught before. Geez.

I like the sitting and putting things on plates. Civilized.

Minkymoo · Post by **Minkymoo** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:47 pm

My method of overcoming S day binge eating (which nowadays only occurs when I work on a weekend and let myself dip into the staff chocolate and biscuits boxes... again & again & again), is to purposely choose some awesome treats for myself in advance for the weekend and, as is suggested in the "Phases of No S" sticky, to focus on making S days pleasant and satisfying. I am slowly learning that how I feel after a biscuit binge is the opposite of those things.

Good luck to you, I hope you find a way that works for you. There is a lot of wisdom to be found in Reinhard's book and on this message board, which I enjoy reading.

I am a year in, but having taken some fairly major detours in 2012 I am hoping to be sticking to the No S route and even though my results are (so far ) fairly minor, I consider this diet equivalent to eating 'rehab' for me.