To myself to think I'll never be able to eat normally?

[PrincessHoneysuckle]

I would love to be a normal eater but it's all or nothing with me.I either stick to 1200 calories for several week which I lose weight on or I binge eat,there doesn't seem to be anything inbetween.
I just want a normal relationship with food.

Yep I could have wrote that!

It's definitely a struggle for some of us. I always found sticking to a reasonable amount of calories like tensing a muscle, it takes conscious effort. As soon as I stopped thinking about it then things go wrong. Intermittent fasting has been the answer for me. I've found the balance that means aside from the spells where I'm eating nothing, I don't have to think about it and can eat what I want. I find being hungry sometimes infinitely easier than being hungry and counting calories all the time. I'm a healthy weight now and feel really good about maintaining it.

I love "nice" food but if I want to lose weight I have to cut it out completely as I have no self control.Ive just eaten a packet of bourbons and dont feel sick

I have managed to return to normal eating - I've done it twice - I fucked up many years after recovering by thinking I was better and then going on a diet - which eventually sent me spiralling down the binge starve route again, having recovered a second time - it took me a couple of years, I will never go on another diet - I'll happily stick to size 12-14.

You need to change the way you think and your relationship with food.

Not over-eating IS normal eating! Not having "treat" food or "treat days" is normal . It's hard if you have always had a very unhealthy attitude towards food, and are used to huge portions, but if you stick with it, your body will learn to adjust and be used to more normal portions.

Some people genuinely cannot eat an entire pizza for diner, and won't sleep if they have over-eaten in the evening. A "normal" diner is a slice of pizza, maybe 2 once in a while.

It should never be about depriving yourself from food, it's just a balance over an entire week, and eating a lot more proteins and greens. If you think a pack of bourbons is "nice" food, and not eating shit is depriving yourself, you are not going anywhere. You can eat a healthy and balanced diet only eating food you like!

I wasnt like this before I had ds,hes 5 now and I'm 39.I dieted a lot to lose my baby weight as I put 3 stone on which I lost after 18 months.

I can recommend Ruby Tandoh's book Eat Up - such a great book which really examines how we eat and how we can change our outlook on food to eat happily.

You'd actually be unusual if you were able to eat normally.

I don't understand this attitude at all! What do you feed your kids? Don't you give them a "normal" diet? It's over eating crap that is not normal, what make you think eating normal portions, not starving, not stuffing yourself is anything but normal?

No wonder people put on weight with that attitude.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/009182561X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8

This book set me on the road to recovery - it helped but there was more work to do.

I think its comfort eating and greed mainly.I cook healthy meals for all of us especially ds but I binge eat in secret aswell

Can I ask, where did the eating a whole packet if biscuits come from? Is it a childhood ‘comfort’? What were you feeling just before you ate the biscuits?

I do feel like I have friends in two camps, those who bond over downing a pack of digestives; and those to whom it would literally never occur. There seems to be such a gulf between what constitutes ‘normal’ ways of eating between different people.

@FeelingUseless100 I cant just stop at one biscuit,really cant.Its greedy as hell.

The thing is not to diet, it's so hard though. Once you get into yo yo dieting then it's so hard to get out of it. I've been my slimiest when I e not dieted and I was happy, you can tell by my figure what my state of mind is, and at this moment I'm the largest I've been in years! I've recently (2 days ago) turnt to Paul McKenna for help and I'm listening to god I can make you thin. Not to diet, but to rewire my thinking as I've gone a bit binge crazy. It's early days but I just want to be NORMAL around food.

Sorry about all the typos, my phone is charging and when it's on charge the touch screen goes a bit weird!

Over eaters anonymous

I’m the same. I’m either restricting and calorie counting to lose weight, or I’m binge eating and gaining weight. I can never just eat “normally” and maintain a healthy weight.
I have no self control when it comes to things like chocolate - as soon as I get the taste for it I end up eating the lot even though I know i’ll regret it and feel sick after. I think it might stem from growing up when I wasn’t allowed to eat junk food. When I left home and had the freedom to eat what I wanted I started bingeing on it

'Some people genuinely cannot eat an entire pizza for diner, and won't sleep if they have over-eaten in the evening. A "normal" diner is a slice of pizza, maybe 2 once in a while.'

I don't think you're really in a position to tell people what a normal attitude to food is if you think a normal dinner is one slice of pizza.

I don't think a normal dinner is one or 2 slices of pizza, my normal eating friends have 3 or 4.
@Ellabella989 do you binge because you tell yourself that you'll diet tomorrow? That is why I do. But tomorrow never happens, for me I need to try and tell myself that I can eat chocolate any day of the week, the shops will always have chocolate, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't!

I don't think you're really in a position to tell people what a normal attitude to food is if you think a normal dinner is one slice of pizza.

I didn't mean a pizza is an everyday dinner, I was talking about portions!
Pizza once in a while is absolutely fine!

I think she realised that anyoneseenmykeys
1 slice of pizza is not a portion. A portion is more like 3 slices.

I think people were commenting on the one slice rather than the pizxa itself Anyone.

I have a very healthy relationship with food and if we have pizza I'll have three or maybe even 4 slices depending how hungry I am.

A whole pizza or restricting yourself to one slice is a more unhealthy relationship.

" I cant just stop at one biscuit,really cant.Its greedy as hell."

For me, I imagine it's similar to an alcoholic having a drink - it takes the edge off in some way from the constant background stress, and it's impossible to not keep that going as long as there is food there to do it with. I've found when I'm in a relationship and can sit in a hug on the sofa, the craving to binge is noticably reduced. I don't think saying its "greed" is accurate for most severe overeaters.

When I was nice and slim and ate normally I'd eat half a shop bought high end pizza (think Sainsburys Extra Special sour dough etc) and eat half with a salad. I think that's a pretty healthy portion, maybe 700/800 calories so with in keeping with a normal calorie allowance.

Seek professional help - no point doing anything else