I Can't Stop Binge Eating. What's Happening?! =(

[Spoonful of Happiness]

Warning: Long post with whining and complaining ahead =(

I love JUDDD. Really, I do. I've lost and gained weight so many times in the past few years (I guess you can call me a yo-yo dieter =() but when I found JUDDD and enjoyed success on it, I thought this was IT. I try to keep my JUDDDs as low-carb, gluten-free and sugar-free as possible (no reason besides just that they're unhealthy) but recently decided that I wanted to add more carbs to my diet just so my body doesn't react with a 5 lb gain when I have the occasional fro-yo and ice cream.

Big mistake.

I've come to realize that as soon as I introduce carbs/sugar into my UDs, I cannot stop eating. Today was supposed to be a controlled carb-friendly day and it started great! A tuna wrap! And then I added the cheese lasagna... and the cookies n' cream ice cream... and then 5 chocolate chip cookies. I was STUFFED and promised myself I would skip dinner.

Dinner came... I started with a nice tuna salad... and then added a chocolate brownie... and a Snickers bar. Want to know what's truly disgusting? My friend just invited me for fresh donuts and I'm having the hardest time saying no.

Why is this happening?? I ate so much, I feel sick!! I want to cry.

Moreover, this didn't happen as much before. Over the summer, I made sure to have little treats here and there and never overstuff myself but apparently, I've lost ALL self-control.

Excuses:
1) The first time this happened, I was PMS-ing and I cut myself some slack for that - it's a truth universally acknowledged that a woman PMS-ing must be given chocolate. I'm not PMSing right now and yet...
2) I just started college again. We're talking about days that stretch from 9:25 am until 8:30 pm because of classes, meetings and on-campus activities. My body just needs more fuel than I gave it over the summer where I did nothing.
3) I've lost 25 pounds over 4 months. My body needs a break from weight loss. I still desperately want to lose 4 more pounds but at this point, I'd rather not gain than lose, which at this point is looking HIGHLY HIGHLY unlikely.

Does anyone know have any suggestions as to what I should do? I really REALLY don't want to gain back all the weight I worked SO hard to lose.

[Carly]

Well, first off
Plan, plan, plan...
I still pack a DD lunch every DD morning and bring it to work.
I haven't eaten lunch on a DD in over 3 mos.
I just don't want to get caught out there if I really need it.
I think having DD friendly "emergency" food is comforting.
I don't keep any temptations at home, so if I want it I will actually have to go and get it. This gives me time to think about whether or not I really need/ want it.
I also brew a big pot of green tea over the weekend and freeze it in water bottles to sip on all day.

Hope that this helps. I'm sure other will be by shortly.

[Whitlin']

Carbs stay my friends if I look forward to them through the day by scheduling them for supper.

If I have them early, I may (though not always) want more and more later on. White flour carbs especially have the effect of nagging at me to eat more. Yeast bread or pizza is a culprit.

So, for instance, dessert midday or bread/donuts for breakfast can signal a hard-to-control day, while celebrating with cake in the evening is no problem, since there literally isn't much of the day left to be "nagged".

[piratejenny]

[Q]I've come to realize that as soon as I introduce carbs/sugar into my UDs, I cannot stop eating.[/Q]

I hope this doesn't sound harsh, but maybe you've answered your own question?
(I'm diabetic...I can't be "normal" around carbs either... )

OTOH, I know you've been doing JUDDD for a while, but how long since you introduced carbs? A lot of ppl who add carbs when they start JUDDD "go nuts" at first, but seem to get it out of their system after a couple weeks.

[stephdray]

First of all, my only binge on JUDDD involved a loaf of bread. An awesome loaf of bread with truffle butter. But white bread. So, carbs can be dangerous. I know it. You know it.

Some options I considered:

Give up dieting
Find some other diet where I can't ever have carbs ever.
Stick with JUDDD and don't have carbs ever.
Stick with JUDDD and plan for carbs.

I chose the last one! If I plan for ice cream at the end of my day, I have it. If it's a surprise carb, I approach with extreme wariness!

[pooticus]

Sorry you are experiencing this!!!

[cuttie99]

I agree with others. try to eat carbs later in the day and be very careful with them!! I find that the more junk I eat the more junk I crave. add moderate amounts of junk food and be on alert. Also keep those temptations out of the house. How are you going to to have brownie if there aren't any? lol The less junk around the house the less likely I am to eat it. Good luck

[Spoonful of Happiness]

The problem is that I still go to college and rely on the school's meal plan. In other words, every time I go in to have my healthy tuna salad, I see at least 10 different ice cream flavors, 5 cookie varieties and 4 kinds of cakes... and that's on a 'healthy' day. Oh, did I mention that the salad bar is right next to the dessert section? Yeah, I know.

I'm going to try to keep carbs to the evening but I fear that the time I have them is irrelevant - whenever I do, I go on a massive binge. Cutting out carbs completely curbs those binge episodes really well but as I said, I don't want to have the occasional treat and be punished by an 8-pound weight gain that is going to take me 3 weeks to get off because of ketosis.

Up 3 lbs today, which is far better than what I was expecting. Hoping 2 DDs bring me down!

Thank you all for your responses and for letting me vent!

[stephdray]

Originally Posted by Luv is a fairytale

The problem is that I still go to college and rely on the school's meal plan. In other words, every time I go in to have my healthy tuna salad, I see at least 10 different ice cream flavors, 5 cookie varieties and 4 kinds of cakes... and that's on a 'healthy' day. Oh, did I mention that the salad bar is right next to the dessert section? Yeah, I know.

Ok, so you're actually in a situation where things are pretty predictable. You know that the ice cream and cookies and cakes are going to be there every day. One strategy might be to plan for one of these treats every up day. Put it in your calorie counter in advance. You know you're going to have it. So it's not really a temptation. It's part of your WOE.

I'm going to try to keep carbs to the evening but I fear that the time I have them is irrelevant - whenever I do, I go on a massive binge. Cutting out carbs completely curbs those binge episodes really well but as I said, I don't want to have the occasional treat and be punished by an 8-pound weight gain that is going to take me 3 weeks to get off because of ketosis.

Cutting them out completely is one strategy. Another is to fight the urges while you're in the throes of it. That's hard to do. Maybe a strategy might be to get your desert and cookies and whatever and bring it to your table, and ask your companions not to let you go back to the deserts that night. Another strategy might be promising yourself that you can have the next cookie if you wait 20 minutes for it. You may need to do some experimenting here.

[Spoonful of Happiness]

Originally Posted by stephdray

Ok, so you're actually in a situation where things are pretty predictable. You know that the ice cream and cookies and cakes are going to be there every day. One strategy might be to plan for one of these treats every up day. Put it in your calorie counter in advance. You know you're going to have it. So it's not really a temptation. It's part of your WOE.

Hmmm... I like this idea. For some reason, even though I know JUDDD allows these things, I still restrict myself from treats. This is probably what brings on the binge when I do get to have them. On the other hand, if I convinced myself I at least have the option to them every other day... hmm... I think I might experiment with this one for a while and see if it makes a difference to the binging episodes. Thank you!

[buttah]

Originally Posted by Luv is a fairytale

For some reason, even though I know JUDDD allows these things, I still restrict myself from treats.

That was me as well. Until it wasn't.

[Avicenna]

We all (or most of us anyway) fall off the wagon sometimes, lesson learned and tomorrow is a new day!

You might just be hungry.

You might try reintroducing some carbs slowly (some people here have had success with reintroducing 'heavier' carbs like potatoes or whole grains first) and see if that helps so your brain doesn't see it as an all-or-nothing thing or feel deprived.

Sugar is never healthy but you could try reintroducing small amounts of that too later and see how it goes - one of the good things about JUDDD is it seems to control blood sugar which in the long run should cut down the desire to have too much sugary foods.

Originally Posted by Luv is a fairytale

Cutting out carbs completely curbs those binge episodes really well but as I said, I don't want to have the occasional treat and be punished by an 8-pound weight gain that is going to take me 3 weeks to get off because of ketosis.

Don't forget, this is JUDDD - you're not supposed to be worrying about ketosis! It might be helpful to let go of thinking about ketosis, again so it's not a feeling of certain things being 'forbidden'. (Anyway, I suspect DD's put you in ketosis but that's a different subject)

[Spoonful of Happiness]

I agree, Avicenna.
I do horribly with deprivation diets (thus why I loved JUDDD so much!) so the key just might be to stop depriving myself but instead, exercise moderation = calorie counting. Thank you all for your very helpful replies!!

[Saxy1971]

Quote:
Originally Posted by stephdray
Ok, so you're actually in a situation where things are pretty predictable. You know that the ice cream and cookies and cakes are going to be there every day. One strategy might be to plan for one of these treats every up day. Put it in your calorie counter in advance. You know you're going to have it. So it's not really a temptation. It's part of your WOE.

Originally Posted by Luv is a fairytale

Hmmm... I like this idea. For some reason, even though I know JUDDD allows these things, I still restrict myself from treats. This is probably what brings on the binge when I do get to have them. On the other hand, if I convinced myself I at least have the option to them every other day... hmm... I think I might experiment with this one for a while and see if it makes a difference to the binging episodes. Thank you!

What Stephdray stated is exactly what I do, when it comes to taming the carb/sugar beast--I always plan on a treat every Up Day--I can work myself up, saying that I'm going to go crazy on the cupcakes but when it comes to the time to have that treat, it has never failed--I eat one portion and it's satisfying. Then I tell myself I get to eat it again(or have something different that I've been craving) in 2 days! My down days have been great, when I have my little 'pep talk' about what I get to eat the next day. Sure, it's messing with my head a little....but it's prevented me from going overboard on those treats when I actually DO get to eat them; and keeps me from eating them when I should be saving my Down Day calories for something more meaningful.

Hope you get it all figured out.....eventually, we all do.

[stephdray]

Originally Posted by Saxy1971

When it comes to taming the carb/sugar beast--I always plan on a treat every Up Day--I can work myself up, saying that I'm going to go crazy on the cupcakes but when it comes to the time to have that treat, it has never failed--I eat one portion and it's satisfying.

That has been my experience so far too when it comes to sweets. Ice cream is actually a pretty satisfying food, I've figured out. So I always leave a little extra room in case I go crazy, but I haven't yet. And when I end my night with ice cream, it slays the deprivation beast. I feel much happier on this WOE.

Last night it was chocolate ice cream with strawberries, a smattering of nuts, and a spray of whipped cream. I was surprised to see that the nutritional profile of that treat was actually not bad at all.

[SoHappy]

Well here's the thing, Luv... if you can get this mastered, it's going to stand you in good stead for the rest of your life in about every way you can imagine. If you can learn this control, you will be able to eat some of everything on earth forevermore and remain slim and trim through all your years. But it's the control thing you have to get ahold of. It's not a 'NO'.. it doesn't have to be a 'NEVER'.. it shouldn't ever be an 'ALL OR NOTHING' approach. It just needs to be.. moderate control.

Not everyone can eat the higher carb foods. Not everyone wants to. And there is hardly anyone who can eat a lot of the higher carb foods without becoming increasingly obese as their years go by. But many of us here delight in being able to eat some higher carb foods, sometimes. And we can do that with confidence because we have mastered control. We get to allow ourselves to enjoy those yummies some, because we've learned the most important thing of all, and that is that we don't have to eat it all now. It'll always be out there for us, and by learning how to turn down everything but that one allowed portion, we can allow ourselves to enjoy it forever... AND do so without the fear of getting fat again.

So think of it this way.. There is simply no reason to eat tons of this stuff each UD. You will never run out of the opportunity to eat your favorite goodies. The world will never run out of these things. It's OK to say, "No thanks. I've already enjoyed a dessert today, and one is about my limit."

This stuff is all over. As you mentioned above, the dessert section is by your salad bar. But there are always going to be scrumptious desserts available, even staring you in the face, most every place you go in life. But by learning to limit yourself, you are also giving yourself the gift of being able to enjoy two things at once.. a slender body and a dessert. Gorge on the stuff and get fat. And probably stay fat. And sick. And sicker. Until you find it must be absolutely forbidden to you in your life now. How sad. Learn how to eat it with portion control and find that you have now joined the ranks of those who get to *have their cake and eat it too*.. eating intelligently and enjoying their slender figures at the same time. It's so worth it.

I don't know what other diet plans you may have been on. I see HCG mentioned. Did you binge on that too? No? Because binging wasn't allowed on HCG? It isn't on JUDDD either.

Now, know that it isn't unusual for new JUDDDers to get carried away and go overboard - wa-a-a-y overboard - on the high carb stuff sometime early on when they come to JUDDD. Those who are going to remain low carb not being counted here. LOL But after going a little crazy, most get themselves back under control and get their heads straight again, and realize they do want to eat the goodies, but they do want to do so reasonably, and at that point.. they usually do pretty well with it all.

Any chance that you actually plan out your UD foods, or do you mostly just let them present themselves to you as you go through your day. Planning helps.

I think you can master this. Good luck. Check in here often, visit with everyone on these threads, and ask for all the love and support you need. As you already know, this is a very supportive and friendly, warm-hearted group of folks finding great weight losses as they enjoy some spectacular foods. Good luck to you!

[tandc90]

I'm not the OP, but your words really resonated with me, Pat. Thank you for taking the time to share.

[Demonica]

Oh lordy, I know what you are going through! I have to watch carbs really carefully too, otherwise they send me into a binge from hell. I have just gotten to the point where I will allow myself to eat bread...but not too much because if I eat too much at a time, I get a bellyache. Sweets I have to approach with extreme caution. I have been known to bake pies, fudge, and muffins and then attack them right after I finish making them and eat every last morsel, which causes me to feel like total crap later from sugar overload. So the sweets I make now tend to be sugar free/low carb just for that reason.

[Spoonful of Happiness]

Thank you all so much for all the advice. Really, I'd be lost without you wonderful ladies!!

SoHappy, what you said makes complete sense. I need to stop approaching my UDs with an 'all or nothing' attitude and just exercise moderation. I've always known that but truly practicing that is much harder than I thought. In fact, I'm pretty sure my lack of moderation was what got me fat in the first place. I really hope I get there though 'cause I know that when/if I do, it will be sooo worth it! Love you ladies!!