Day 1289 : No binge today. 
Welcome to the thread, @Whereswaldo! Thank you for sharing your story, congrats on 100 days AF, and cigarette free! I hope you find this thread helpful/inspiring in a positive way. Youāre not alone in turning to food after alcohol, other people on this thread have as well. You can do this. 
@Jana1988 Fingers crossed then for your no-sugar-challenge. 
@Whereswaldo Welcome friend 
. Great job on taking this first step and sharing here with us. As with every addiction, every behavioural pattern you want to change: What is your plan?
Your brain is right now trained to follow certain triggers and cues with certain behaviours automatically. You can retrain it, that is neuroplasticity. But as with every kind of training: You need to have a plan, simple steps to follow, starting as simple as humanly possible, and a conducive environment.
Think of any time you either tried to learn something absolutely new that required actual day-to-day training or a time where you trained someone in this way. Ever saw a kid try to learn walking? This is you right now with food related behaviour. You need all the patience in the world, kindness, and a plan how to set up an envirionment that will make this training for you easier.
We are here for you. Letās get this new practice of yours going 
215 sugar
79 UPF
86 gluten
65 dairy
27 overeating/bingeing
Hello @Whereswaldo Welcome in this thread (full of nice people btw) 
Congrats 
on your success with being AF and cigarettes free 
Thatās amazing!! And sorry that you have issues with foodā¦
I wonāt lie to you, it is hard. But I believe itās possible to get better and thatās why Iām hanging around here. Other peopleās stories, experiences and advise is helpful.
Like with everything, itās lot about trying out what works for you, different plans, approach and mindset.
There are also podcasts about binge eating out there and different articles.
I hope you will find your journey towards freedom as easy as possible and that youāll enjoy working on yourself 
Weāre here for you to support and help 
3 weeks no binge!!! 3 weeks! Wow. Itās a biggy for me 
0 days no sugar though but itās OK, I donāt mind as long as I donāt binge 
I am so happy! I canāt even tellā¦
Slowly going to implement exercise back into my life. I did some stretching today for beginning so far. Iām a bit scared and hoping that being active again wonāt lead me to binge 
Thank you everyone for your encouragement 
@acromouse that is such a kind thing to say, thank you I have always enjoyed swimming, but itās the changing rooms since transitioning that are the issue, and even more so since the incident 3 years ago. I really want to overcome it.
@Jana1988 thank you so much, I really hope I can start going 
congrats on 3 weeks 
and good luck for getting back to exercise
@Whereswaldo youāve taken the first step, admitting and recognising you have a problem. Itās true, itās very hard with food, I wonāt put you off by saying how long Iāve been trying, but I wontāt give up trying, so I know one day it will click, it will for you too 
keep sharing
35 days no takeaways.
10 days no crisps.
9 days no binge-eating.
4 days no sugar.
Everything felt like too much yesterday. Iāve not felt well but I canāt figure out what is actually wrong. I thought maybe tiredness but I tried to nap and couldnāt. I feel like Iāve been drugged or something, itās not nice at all. My pulse is high but only slightly more than usual, my blood pressure is fine, my blood glucose is fine, but I feel light-headed and dreamy but not in a good way. Itās making me feel unsafe, which triggers flashbacks to traumas. And of course, all I want to do is eat and eat and eat to make it all go away, crisps mainly, because crunching is what āworksā for me. I donāt want to reset for anything. Meditation wasnāt working for me yesterday, I was just finding myself becoming aware that the meditation had ended, but I hadnāt heard any of it, I donāt know whatās going on. I donāt really have any other coping mechanisms. I wrote most of this last night, but decided to give meditation another chance around 21:30 and I must have fallen asleep because I did not wake up until 8am!! I usually wake up at 2am to feed the cats and take my morning meds., then I usually wake up properly around 5:30am, but I went back to sleep after feeding the cats and taking my meds at 8am, and didnāt properly wake up again until midday! Itās very unlike me to sleep so much. I had such a vivid unpleasant dream too, it felt so real. Anyway, Iām glad my counters are still going atleast. 
š©µ
Day 1 of walking
Day 15 of low-carb breakfast
I think I have this breakfast thing nailed. It helps to buy the right foods to have around. I donāt expext to get a high walking streak. I just canāt go every day with my job and commute. I have already lost a few pounds.
Hey @Kareness Canāt you include walking into your journey? E.g. if youāre using public transport, can you get off few stops earlier and walk? Or if you drive, can you park your car further from your work and walk?
@Jana1988 no can do. I have to drive my electric car up to the charging station at work. And I also have about a 20 lb laptop I have to carry. Iāll try to go at home after work today.
Ah I see. That is shame. Otherwise that would be a good way. Something I do when travelling by bus or tube.
How are you otherwise finding the walking? Do you enjoy it?
The walking is sometimes enjoyable. Some days it feels better than others. Iāve been working through some foot pain. But the last time I walked felt great, no foot pain and my pace was good. So hopefully I will have more walks like that!
@Kareness In my experience what I eat depends very much on my food environment. So having the right stuff around me and not the āwrongā stuff makes a whole lot of difference. Glad to hear your breakfast is working for you.
@Jana1988 Congrats on three weeks girl! You rock! This is huge! 
@CATMANCAM I hope your state will improve and you will be able to see things more clearly soon.
I am not a person in transition so I can only imagine what difficulties you are going through. I can only relate in sofar as I have always found the idea of gender binarity and the idea that someone at some point assigned one of these genders to me completely made up. I always felt stifled and opressed by it. Never seen as the person I felt to be. And always pressed into some mold I did not belong to. It is a bit like when everyone around you tries to impose their faith and religion and the rules beloning to it on you and you just experience it as completely arbitrary and opressive. So I identify as non-binary and in this way can relate to the situations you describe especially around public bathrooms, changing rooms, health care and some such where suddenly this gender construct is just confusing and causes anxiety in the mildest of its forms and opression, violence and trauma in the worst case.
Your longing to be more outside, experience the world and yourself more is very much palpable through your posts, so maybe, maybe there is some way for you how you might be able to access a pool once in a while.
Take care friend, you are not alone.
215 sugar
79 UPF
86 gluten
65 dairy
27 overeating/bingeing
TRIGGER WARNING
This is amazing. Iām sitting at living room between my boyfriend and his mum and both are munching here on a pack of crisp when weāre watching telly and it gives me no cravings whatsorever 
I look at them both and remember how Iād normally do the same. But not last 22 days and 16 hours 
Welcome to the thread! It is surprising when you realize how addictions pop up in different ways. I knew I had a problem with food, I had it before I was even drinking, but after I quit drinking and was working on stopping binge eating I spent a while really struggling with mindless scrolling on Facebook shorts, YouTube etc. I was really surprised because I am not a techy person at all, but my desire to escape just popped up in a different form.
But the tools you use for alcohol you can use with food. Although you do have to eat, certain foods are more bingeable than others, and you can learn that and keep away from them.
Day 1291 : No binge today.
23 days no binging
Iāll have to either postpone or fully drop my āno sugar challengeā. I realised that when I do some activity, itās the easiest way to fill in calories and get energy.
So far I managed not to binge on it, that makes me happy enough
My new goal could be not to eat it in my rest daysā¦something to think about 
I guessā¦
I cycled to work yesterday and I was 100% more hungry than usually. There shall be no surpriseā¦ I defo must be prepared with more food om these active days. That should help me to stay on track 
@acromouse thank you I relate a lot to what you shared š©µ I identify as trans-masculine so I also feel I donāt fit any binary gender, and most cis men terrify me (for valid reasons). Somehow, I need to overcome my fears and just start using the changing room so I can enjoy the swimming part.
37 days no takeaways.
12 days no crisps.
11 days no binge-eating.
1 day no sugar.
I had to reset sugar on Monday, I had some ice cream and a milkshake, it didnāt make me feel good the way I was shaking when I opened it, like an addict, it had only been 6 days. Anyway, Iām trying again, as always, and Iām glad it wasnāt a binge, despite finding myself standing in the crisps section, I didnāt buy any.
š©µ
@CATMANCAM Go for that pool I know some people who do not like changing rooms and put their swimming suits already on at home under their normal clothing, so that they just have to undress only once after swimming. Congrats on double digits free of not bingeing 
@Jana1988 Really glad to hear your progress on bingeing triggers. Maybe the sugar thing is not a really good idea right now. On the other hand there are other ways to replenish your energy without sugar. Try things out, find out what works for you 
217 sugar
81 UPF
88 gluten
67 dairy
0 overeating
My hormonal shenanigans are not making my eating life easier 
I definitely do not binge, which I am very grateful for. The loss of control around that always scared the hell out of me. I also do not use food as a reaction for my emotions, or to calm down or any such thing. And I can identify cravings for what they are, and am usually not bothered to much by them. This also is a great development in my life.
But the hormonal changes I am going through at this time in my life disrupt the whole satiety/hunger system that is supposed to tell me, when to eat and when to stop. So on the one hand I get these insane hunger pangs like a person starving, on the other hand my digestive system sometimes feels very upset and uncomfortable and I just donāt want to eat. These disruptions are at times so strong that I have not access to my basic satiety and hunger signals. Itās just my conscious mind knowing that the signals I get do not make any sense.
I get all kinds of other signals through my body and mind that donāt make sense, like pain without a cause, anxiety, fatigue, worries, nausea, anger, strange bodily experiences, etc. I know this is all caused by hormonal shifts. I know this will pass. I know how to deal with these.
The eating realated surges are far more difficult to deal with for me due to my history of dietary restrictions and binge eating experiences. In such a situation when insane hunger hits me I have a hard time seperating the decision making part of my brain from all the urges brought by my eating history.
Yesterdayās overeating episode did not trigger any shame or guilt or loss of control for me. I am glad about that. That is a special kind of freedom. But I did feel very uncomfortable, stuffed, did not sleep well, had all kinds of indigestions, was fatigued, etc.
So I want to employ some more tools to guide my eating decisions when I cannot rely on my bodily signals. The first thing I am going to try out is portion sizes. This is going to trigger some anxieties about restriction. So I am going to try the following rule: After 20min after eating my set portion size I will check with myself if I still am hungry, and eat if necessary. Letās see how this goes.
What forms do you consume your sugars/carbs in? Some will be more addictive than others.
If you donāt already, pay attention to high/low Glycemic index, so simple starches during/around the workout, complex from/up to two hrs before/after the sesh.
Even simples starches donāt have to be binge worthy/hypertasty foods. In the lifting and bodybuilding world we eat a lot of white rice or even cream of rice for sped up availability, dextrose for instant energy. None of these things give me cravings.
Youāre doing great, keep it up!