Doing really well this time. The illness is for something good in the end
Last two days I didnāt eat after 5pm - wow. I didnāt think thatās ever possible! I had a normal portion of dinner too. I didnāt over filled myself because of the fear of hunger I could experience later on. The only issue is my acid reflux, I still get it real bad, even if I ate so much in advance before my bed timeā¦ Iām having blood test done and in march Iāll have endoscopy, so hopefully this will be sorted soon
So, I decided I need to change my life. Or rather eating habits, but thatās life changing for me I think. I donāt want to do some sort of short/long term diet or something, I want to change the whole lifestyle. Thatās the only way. Iām starting carefully with small steps. Meaning, Iām not saying āIāll never again eat this or that.ā, because Iām not ready for such a big statement. But Iāll do my best to implement such changes that some of the food I ate before will be no longer desired. And after a while of eating differently I hope to be able to be stronger to stop eating some off the for good and say it out loud.
UPF. @acromouse I hear you for the whole time and I know youāre right about this one. To avoid it as much as I can I bought lots of natural stuff and will get on with cooking. I realised that I must put the effort into this. In the end, itās a good thing to put effort into. Itās my and my partnerās health So I have plan what to cook for next few days for lunches and dinners and I started preparing nutritionally rich breakfasts for us both so we can eat it and last till the lunch. Porridge wonāt do for me anymore. I need fibre, protein and a bit of carbs. I need not to be afraid to eat in the morning and itās easier when I didnāt binge the night before
Yesterday in the shop, we avoided isles with sweets and visited the fruit and vegetables instead and bought more of that than usually. Replacements. I am so excited about it! I donāt know why I was so reluctant to this change for such a long time. I always saw it too difficult to do it, too time consuming, itās so much easier to just grab a snackā¦ well, kindaā¦ Except, that I still had to prep something in the end of the day. So now I just prep it more, for longer if possible. And then I save the time which Iād be otherwise brainlessly snacking. Preparing stuff should also make me busy in the evening, so no binging! It will be better to do something for my new eating habits, that will remind me why Iām doing this and will put me of binging when I finally get to sit down. Thatās the idea anyway.
I am starting this week a bit ill, but extremely happy and excited
I remember my using dreams after I stopped drinking alcohol and I know exactly how the relief feels when you wake up and realise that it was just a dream
Up until maybe this last year I had recurring drinking dreams. They started out really frequent and intense when I first got sober but now they are mostly a thing of the past, thankfully!
Feeling pretty good. Havenāt had a qualified binge in a while. Today is day 3 without snacks in the house other than fruit. First day of that was difficult! I realized how often I go to the kitchen and poke around while working from home. When that urge happens now I try and chug water I still eat lots of mints. Altoids containers are super useful too!
Working From Home is quite supportive of snacking! At least for me. I didnāt snack today but the thought of it was on my mind almost constantly. Especially when I got a bit bored, I wanted to change my mood so badly by grabbing something to eat.
Glad I got through the day without doing so. Now I had my dinner and thatās it. Iām feeling very good about today (and the past weekend)
My eating dreams used to be insane. Somehow worse than the drinking dreams. Always about secrecy and total loss of control and then so much shame. In my drinking dreams I usually only had one glass of something and then would have broken my sobriety (not the way I drank).
Anyway Iām happy to see everyone making these good changes over here! So cool!
@Jana1988 just one little thing: fiber is good for your gut and overall health and very healthy to have in your diet. But itās not a macronutrient because it has no calories. The body canāt use fiber for energy, it come out as it goes in. Itās carbs you need enough of with your active lifestyle, and then some fiber also. Also adding some fats to your meals will slow down nutrient uptake and make you feel fuller for longer. Also important for the organs and joints to eat fats.
Doing fantastic girl!
I did a mini cut the last two weeks. Iāve been eating in surplus for a year to preserve muscle w my injuries and it worked well. Now a bit of the extra needed to come off so I can progress further. Was the heaviest Iāve been ever since age 18. Now Iām back to where I was last June before my accident. Looking forward to not being hungry anymore. I canāt imagine I used to make myself hungry all the time when I was younger. Lifeās hard enough without that shit, low energy etcā¦
Hello @Faugxh
Thank you! Iām ill now - doing nothing at all - so itās quite easy to navigate right now, but I donāt want to struggle once Iām back on track with my activities.
Please, would you advise me by giving examples of what fats you eat (if you donāt mind sharing the personal info). I like nuts and yoghurts, but is that the fat? I can start buying avocado regularly, I think that itās got good fat too
Well done on your hard work! Iām pleased that youāre doing well. Hope the injury is now healed. Did you start doing your weights again?
Still under the weather with cold but feeling great despite it (maybe not physically but mentally Iām over the moon).
Iām discovering a world without snacks between meals which I never thought is possible. Or maybe I lived it once as a kid and then forgotten as my lifestyle got f*cked. The freedom gained when I āfinallyā became an āadultā, that immaturity I was still carrying with me, that didnāt help to anything. Definitely didnāt help me to make the āright choicesā when it came to creating my own habits - any kind of habits.
But today I lived long enough and went through enough to see thinks more clearly. There are signs my body is giving me, there are certain feelings I have, deep down I already know answers to my questions. I always knew everything, but I wasnāt ready to hear the truth.
Today, Iām ready and thereās so much I can see!
I just realised that the world doesnāt make it easy for us. There are drugs around us everywhere, if we escape - weāre lucky. Some drugs are prohibited , but that makes the allowed ones more dangerous for us. Because we consume them without even knowing Howās this even possible? Perhaps money in someoneās pocket?
Well, I consider myself blessed that I opened my eyes for once and see it clearly now. I stopped drinking alcohol and smoking over 5 years ago, thatās two legal drugs ticked off Now is time for the third legal drug to go - bye bye sugar.
As I mentioned this before, Iād rather do this slowly and gradually, but more Iām thinking about all the food and how itās made, more the sugar appears like something I donāt want in my body. I was poisoning myself for decades with alcohol. Now sugar. I am fed up
Yesterday was interesting, because I remembered that I have some biscuits at my drawer in the office and I panicked and thought that Iāll have to move all my hard work to later date - to after I will have finished the pack. Today I realised that I donāt have to eat them at all. I will probably just put them on our sharing table and let my colleagues to have a feast. Or maybe they just belong to the bin.
Sure. Nuts and yoghurt are great, I love the 3.5% yoghurt too, I eat that w protein powder as a treat. Obvs I cook w vegetable oil and I like to have some cheese in my diet. Salmon and other fatty fishes I eat, often w skin. Avocados also great. Protein shakes w peanut butter. Iām v passionate about breads w butter, so is my beloved dog Hamish. Obvs I donāt eat all these things every day. I have a mix of animal and plant source fats Iād say. Canāt think of any more now but I usually get over 50-70g/d Iād say easily. Some fats also in my protein bars.
Thanks Iām still recovering. Iām looking forward to going back to PT from next week for my shoulder and arm, when Iām on semester break from uni. I still have some symptoms and weakness. I never stopped doing weight training tho. When my shoulder was out I just switched training styles and temporarily joined a gym and trained only legs on machines for a while.
Well done on cutting out sugar! I applaud you. I remember when I realised itās just added to everything. At first it seemed hard not to buy added sugar things, but really itās just whole foods and some special foods (protein bars) and Iām good.
Thanks a lot for your advice! Appreciate the time to type it down for me I forgot about fish which I eat a lot and I take a cod liver oil supplement for years now (it helped me with a chronic knee pain).
All sounds good and Iām not a fan of ālow fatā products because I know they replace the fat with SUGAR. Iām so excited about this new journey you know. Before I was always only scared. Perhaps of failure, because I always found it difficult to replace the sugars. I thought there are not enough options and that Iāll get bored of the same food and also that I will be more hungryā¦all the nonsense. Itās in fact the opposite! I feel more satisfied since I eat better. I canāt wait until my taste buds adjust and everything will taste even better than already does now
Itās a very beginning for me and the biggest trigger will be when Iām somewhere out, or visiting family (mainly partnerās fam) when thereās kind of pressure about food you know. Itās easier behind the closed door of my own house (lucky I donāt live with my mum in law any longer ). But I will keep on mind WHY Iām doing this and it will be surely all fine.
I was already considering to lie at my work that I developed diabetes so they sh*t up about the cakes lol. Itās hard environment to handle for me. Fortunately I must go in only twice a week and thereās not always cake (but often yes ).
Itās good that you figured out how to keep active. Except for when Iām ill, I also always do something when Iām injured. Thereās always something possible to do and I canāt be without any movement at all. So I feel your need to still do gym at least. And I think it helps us to stay sane, doesnāt it? Weights are such a great hobby. Your body must be grateful, especially us women need weight training and I need to consider start using weights too. The HIIT Iām doing is good for muscles. I can tell especially if I do it after a longer break. Sometimes I canāt walk for days after Iāve done it. But it still uses only my own body weight. Iād like to train my booty and legs with weights as I know Iād see benefit when out cycling with my club. Iād like to move from mid fast to fast group. I almost managed last year, but I need much more training to be able to keep up with these beasts. Iād be the only girl there
Iāll be honest, the first few months I did not attend any family gatherings that were centered around sugary food. I just was so afraid of jeopardizing my sobriety and I absolutely did not want to get back to the insanity of active addiction or the first weeks of withdrawl.
I believe about three months in I felt confident I could stay cool at the cake table.
Plus, if you canāt be sure there is edible food, bring your own.
@Jana1988 Re reaching your goals and making the special best group, I would not underestimate nutrition and rest.
If you really want to weight train on top of hiit youāll need to be v smart w timing the two plus you need to be prepared to eat even more. Otherwise the weight training is going be for nothing.
Anyway thatās for the future, one day at a time youāll get better and better and learn more and more.
Thatās not a bad idea. My partner kinda knows what Iām doing, I just need to stress enough how important it actually is to me. Iām not sure if he appreciates it. He might be thinking that itās just another ādietā of mine. I will make him aware that itās more than that for me.
Bringing my own food is also a great tool. Thatās definitely one for my life in the office. I wouldnāt survive there otherwise
@Faugxh Fortunately, Iām not scared of eating a lot, as long as itās the right food I need. I donāt own a scale, because for me the weight in numbers only is so misleading. You can have two different people weighing the same number but will have different proportions. I know the difference between 10kg of muscle as opposed to 10kg of fat
That will be my biggest challenge - to learn how to eat when doing all my cardio, etc. But Iāll manage, because I have you all here in this group
I love reading your posts, they are so reflective and inspiring! Iām like did I write this? Because itās so many of the things I struggle with and donāt know how to articulate.
Hope you are feeling better soon. Please keep us updated!
Iām trying to decide if I should reset my timer. Probably will. I was part of an incredibly stressful and somewhat traumatic task at work last night. They fed us dinner and then there were cookies in the break room, basically every time I took a break i ate something, mostly cookies and chips. Gave me terrible heartburn later and stopped logging cause I have no idea how much I ate mindlesslyā¦ I am trying to give myself grace because of the external situation, but also I have made this bad decision hundreds of times regardless of the stressor. But also a good reminder that, when things are bad, food will not make them better.
We are doing this task again tomorrow, so Iām trying to come up with a game plan. No snacks would be ideal. Just eat the meal they give us and bring my own food otherwise.
Bringing my own food to these kinds of events was a game changer for me. This way my mind does not have to get into ādecision modeā and thus can not slip into āconfusion modeā and then down the slope.
When I have my own food with me, there is no decision to be made at the event. I make my decision prior while preparing and packing food. On site then there is a clear distinction in my mind between āfood I decided uponā and everything else. Meaning: What I brought with me is the stuff I already decided to eat and feed myself. Everything else is not.
This way whenever some part of my mind suggests something outside of my own food, I can clearly state where the boundary is.
Putting this decision in advance, making it in a place and time where I have control over my food environment, makes it so much easier for me to focus.
Expecting my mind to make that kind of decision in a food environment I donāt have much control over and which probably has only poor choices available, is a bit too much.
@acromouse 's plan is great. Itās true that we end up having āfightā & ādebateā if we allow ourselves to believe that eating the food there IS an OPTION. If you close it and make a conscious DECISION that youāre not going to eat the food no matter what, then it really helps.
Having your own food helps to manage cravings which could be dangerous if youāre hungry. Plus as Aga says - the prep itself helps your mind to realise whatās going on, whatās the plan.
You know how you felt today after you ate the snacks yesterday. Well, if it comes to it, that you feel like eating them again, be that kind to yourself and try to remember the feelings. Maybe read what you wrote here. That could also help.
Thinking of you tomorrow, hope it will all go well for you
This is great! Write this down tape to refrigerator or cabinet. The excitement for something totally healthy and good for your mental state is monumental. I try to keep the excitement of my new life in front of me visually every moment I can. I am glad you are here.
Iām having blood test done and in march Iāll have endoscopy, so hopefully this will be sorted soon 
for good and say it out loud.
So I have plan what to cook for next few days for lunches and dinners and I started preparing nutritionally rich breakfasts for us both so we can eat it and last till the lunch. Porridge wonāt do for me anymore. I need fibre, protein and a bit of carbs. I need not to be afraid to eat in the morning and itās easier when I didnāt binge the night before 
I still eat lots of mints. Altoids containers are super useful too!
regularly, I think that itās got good fat too 
, but that makes the allowed ones more dangerous for us. Because we consume them without even knowing 
Howās this even possible? Perhaps money in someoneās pocket? 
Now is time for the third legal drug to go - bye bye sugar.
lol. Itās hard environment to handle for me. Fortunately I must go in only twice a week and thereās not always cake (but often yes 
