reducing over eating consequences?....HELP!

[believeNme]

Hey girls. I need your advice? I've had eating disorders for ten years. And I'm doing ok right now. But anytime I over eat i get nervous that I'll get fat again, and will start over training cardio and eating very little. Is there any supplement,etc. you know of to take to reduce the consequences of over eating for all those calories to turn to fat, other than throwing up? Cause its tempting when i feel this disappointed n myself =((((( Any advice would be great!

 

[Sassy69]

yikes.... well first, welcome aboard and congrats on taking on your eating disorders. I don't personally have any experience with eating disorders, but I'm sure some of our ladies will provide some excellent and informed input.

On the topic of supplements that "reduce the consequences" -- if such a thing existed, well, you'd never hear women bitch about feeling fat. Regardless of what your motivation to eat is, the point is that you can't force fast changes in your body to compensate for an opposite extreme. The good news is that your body is also very adept at absorbing any short-term spike if you give it a little time to process. With any work to establish & maintain a healthy weight/bodyfat, you need a balanced & consistent diet. Life always presents challenges to this in the form of a big event on a weekend where there's no food options except BBQ'd ribs, mashed potatoes, corn, pie & beer. Well, hey that's life. Then you get back on the wagon. You may feel stuffed for a few days, but in a few days your body will process the food, and then a couple more days eating correctly, you are back on your regular schedule.

As far as your fear of getting fat, I'll defer to the ladies with experience w/ eating disorders as I probably can't understand that fear as you feel it - however, the fear is a mental thing, just as the feeling of having no ability to stop gorging or constantly having cravings. It all really involves a little bit of control and a lot of focus on the long term and the need to avoid panic about whatever state of eating you find yourself in. Same thing as before: consistency & balance. But you need to not make it a personal fault thing - shit, we all splurge every now and then. And, BTW, its GOOD to have a cheat meal at least once / week - for your sanity, to accommodate any social events that don't give you optimal choices or when you want to drink, and its just good to throw some "junk" in your system every now & then so it is still able to adapt to new food in there. (To compare, when bodybuilders eat a very clean, very restricted diet for a show, and then come off the show and eat a bunch of junk - e.g. salt, carbs, sugar - all sorts of wild stuff happens. A really good example is lactose intolerance after cutting out ALL dairy for a few months.)

 

[believeNme]

sassy , thank u so much for the quick reply =) It made me feel alot better. Your right. I've been working out twice a day and taking ephedra, and actually have a horrible upper respiratory cold right now, and im pushing way too hard. BALANCE is my ultimate goal, but fear of fat and most of all failure scares me into extremes. But jusst hearing back from you has made me feel better =) thanks sista!

 

[nicky007]

I too have battled with the eating disorder of bingeing. I would follow a strict diet for a few days - i/e 5 days and then for 2 or 3 days, I would have an orgy of junk food!!! Chocolate, cakes, bread, cheese, etc. Fortunately, my weight has never been an issue and my body fat % has never been more than 14% (am female). However, the mental part of it - bingeing and feeling so out of control and the veyr real fear of getting fat wrecked havoc in my world.

I tried nearly everything - drugs, different diets, etc and at the same time, I did not have the mental strength to compete again this year. However, I went on the cabbage soup diet (I know I know - not the "wisest" diet from bodybuilding perspective) ... however i did only 2 weeks on the diet and after that i had a new found appreciation for healthy food i.e. more veggies ... I still had a few episodes of "binges" after coming off but the point is I felt I had more control and the "binge " would be more controlled and last for not more than a day.

Today I follow the typical bodybuilders diet ... my body fat - checked 3 weeks ago - was 12.8%. I have not been dieting - just eating clean and when I am hungry I always eat. Once a wekk I allow myself a cheat evening which involves eating a well-balanced dinner FIRST and then whatever snacks I desire.

 

[sasharawkz]

I'm having simillar but slightly different concerns. My girlfriend is also recovering from an eating disorder. She has been in outpatient treatment for almost 2 years and feels pretty good. She would like to start exercising again but is trying to avoid old patterns. We've been through it all together and I'd like to help her out here too. (I'm a personal trainer so I'd be setting up her program) My question is...how do I find that balance for her? Can any ladies offer some inside perspective on what would be ideal conditions and what would be a trigger? I know that we'll be avoiding the gym where everyone is already in great shape, she's also said she doesn't want to work out with the mom's trying to lose the bellies either. Should we keep it to "physical activity" like playing a sport or running together and scrap the gym altogether for now? Any insight would be appreciated!

btw.... way to go believenme on overcoming such a difficult issue

 

[FitFossil]

RE: Eating Disorder

I wasted nearly 20 years of my life with both anorexia and bulimia. As the years went by, I was getting fatter, no matter how much exercise I did or how little I ate. The old "tricks" were no longer working. I felt like crap and looked it.

The bodybuilding lifestyle saved my life. I don't compete, but I follow the lifestyle of training and eating 6 small meals a day. It's been almost 5 years that I've been free of the eating disorder Hell hole.

The trigger was seeing a picture of this 75 year old lady who started training in her 50s: http://www.agelesstraining.com/indexx.htm

Being that I was in my mid 30's (when you really start thinking about ageing ), I thought DAMN, that muscle makes her body look YOUNG. After a certain age, being too skinny just makes you look old.

That's when I made the decision to build myself into the best athlete I could be. I started reading up on training and diet (and discovered Elite Fitness bulletin board). I was amazed how much easier the training got when I started eating right. I had much fewer cravings. For me, I found it much better to build in room in my diet for certain foods I can't do without (choc chip cookies). Rather than have a cheat day (which could get out of control and leave me feeling sick and bloated), I have a few every day, and that keeps the craving monster away.

No more starving and beating myself into thinness. I started reading magazines like Oxygen and Muscle & Fitness Hers. The models in there were very inspiring because they looked strong and happy, whereas fashion models always look limp and haunted. I've found the body responds much better when you're trying to make it stronger. It's that old survival instinct, and that's probably the strongest thing we've got.

 

[Daisy_Girl]

She would like to start exercising again but is trying to avoid old patterns. We've been through it all together and I'd like to help her out here too. (I'm a personal trainer so I'd be setting up her program) My question is...how do I find that balance for her? Can any ladies offer some inside perspective on what would be ideal conditions and what would be a trigger? I know that we'll be avoiding the gym where everyone is already in great shape, she's also said she doesn't want to work out with the mom's trying to lose the bellies either. Should we keep it to "physical activity" like playing a sport or running together and scrap the gym altogether for now?

It sounds like being around a "lose weight" environment would eba trigger for your GF right now. She should definately workout, but maybe the gym will be too much for her right away.

I think something like running, rollerblading, hiking, biking, swimming, etc is a good idea. Same with playing a sport. Individual activities (such as running) might help her focus on HER, rather than what everyone around her is doing. The team sport is good because it is a fun activity that focuses on something OTHER than losing weight.

She really needs to get into lifting weights too though. SHe can do some things at home, but overall, she will likely need to go to a gym to lift. Unless she is willing to invest several hundred bucks to buy some weights, benches, etc.

 

[believeNme]

hey guys =) me again. I hate to write back and have to admit i've been doing horrible. But, i've made myself throw up 4 out of the last 5 days =(((( And yet i still feel disgusting. Today I'm starting The Maker's Diet. I usually don't do "diets" anymore, but this is based on finding your purpose strengthening your walk with God, and healing the underlying roots of self0hatred where my "issues" with myself and food stem from. I was doing really well for a minute, then the holidays. It's a life long battle, but I KNOW through my faith in Christ, ONE DAY, it will happen. But good God its hard!!! Thanks to u guys for replying to the whole disroder issue, it makes me feel better to know im not alone!!! =)

 

[Raina]

I've been there. It's difficult to get out of that mindset...especially at first. You've spent years thinking food was bad and depriving your body. You've been fighting with your body. At some point, you have to decide to fight for your body instead of against it.

It's a fine line-- the line between being gentle with yourself when you slip up on a diet and being so lax that you can't stick to one at all. Try to rethink the word diet. A diet doesn't have to be about depriving, it really shouldn't be. A healthy balanced diet means that you're actually eating...and the consequence of that is nourishing your muscle if you're eating right. If you baby your muscles, giving them adequate protein and healthy fats, they'll repay you by becoming your own calorie furnace. If you baby your lean mass, it will consume fat calories even when you're at rest. A funny thing happened to me, I almost tripled my daily calorie intake (I was eating WAY too little for WAY too long...my body held onto every calorie) and I got smaller. If you teach your body that you're going to take care of it and feed it on a regular basis, it will eventually stop being in starvation mode. When you are depriving yourself of nutrition your body is in a panic all the time. It has to hold onto every bit of everything and store it as fat (your body's calorie bank) because you've taught your tissue that you aren't going to be consistent with it. Your body is always looking out for itself.

Restricting your food intake or purging will not benefit your goals in the long run. I certainly know it's the 1st solution that comes to mind when something goes wrong though. But that doesn't mean it's okay to just cave in. It also might help to pay attention to what is triggering you to want to engage in those behaviors. Fat isn't a feeling. If you're engaging in ed behavior because you feel fat, pick that apart. At least for me "feeling fat" usually means I'm feeling insecure, sad, bummed out, frustrated, etc. Then go the next step-- what will purging/restricting actually do to make you feel better? It's a very very quick "fix" that does more harm than good but the guilt will set in a little later and the pain you felt before will still be there. Not to say in any way that it's not hard to stop, but life is so much better once you're able to.

www.sfwed.org has a great message board that might help you sort out your feelings without thinking of #'s. Nobody can or should judge themselves numerically. #'s are #'s. Cut the tags out of your clothes. It can help. You're more than a number, a weight, a body fat percentage, a daily calorie intake.

Read a lot around here. Read about what your body needs to look/perform optimally. I joined this place utterly clueless about diet. I wasn't eating enough protein, I wasn't eating enough fat, I wasn't eating enough in general and as a result, I was not physically where I wanted to be. Take the urges that the eating disorder gives you to engage in that behavior and put those compulsions towards something good. Go to a site like fitday.com and be honest with yourself. Set up a diet where you're eating smaller meals every 2-3 hours. Stick to it. Make sure you're eating enough. And know that things like chocolate cake happen sometimes. You don't have to purge it. It's a piece of cake. As long as it's an occasional treat, it's fine. For me scheduling in a Sunday cheat meal keeps me on track all week. Especially at first, if you're depriving yourself of everything, you're going to have a heck of a time sticking to what you're doing.

Ask questions. Read. Take notes if you have to (I did..I was clueless). Try to look at fitness magazines and other imagines of healthy athletic bodies instead of sickly thin model types. Change what you view as ideal.

I promise you that you'll be floored in multiple ways if you baby your body, feed it properly, are gentle with yourself, and train well at the gym. You gain self confidence, you feel more in control of your life, and your body will start transforming too because it learns that you're trying to help it. Welcome and I hope you find what you're looking for here.