Eating Less: Say Goodbye to Overeating by Gillian Riley. Anyone want to start with me?

[TheShapeofYou]

I've ordered this book and it arrives tomorrow. Have never done it before but have read some reviews and watched the short TEDx talk on YouTube and am hopeful it will help me.

I'm 10-14lbs over where I'd like to be, so I'm back in the middle-top of the healthy BMI range. I'm a SAHM and over eat because I'm bored/surrounded by food/emotional eater.

Does anyone want to join me in a support thread please?! I'm also hoping to start C25K for the first time ever on Monday

Read quite a bit now. Love the quote from Eleanor Roosevelt " no one can make you feel inferior without your consent"

Oh my god... I feel like I’m rebelling against the freedom to rebel. I’ve eaten so much crap today and it’s like there’s a little voice in my head saying “yeah but it’s a choice!!”

Another day tomorrow....

I'm a bit like this too Wrapped. I'm hoping that if I go with this I will hopefully come out the other end understanding that I have got choice over what eat but I also have to accept the consequences of some bad choices. Wait and see........

I had a good day yesterday, I dare say I'll have some tough ones!

I have been sitting having a think this morning and it’s occured to me that ALL of my justifications for addictive eating come down to self pity: I’ve had my period this week, I’m a single mum, work has been busy, I’m tired and lonely - they all have self pity at the root. And so whilst I’m a bit more aware of the lightening fast justifications and acceptance of them, this week I’ve just deemed those justifications to be sufficient because my life is just so terrible! And it’s really not - you’d look at my life from the outside and yes I have troubles but no more than other people and a lot less than some.

I’ve decided to draw a line and move on and to really try hard to notice the embarrassing levels of self pity I have: eating crappy food will not find me a partner nor end work worries! It’ll ruin my teeth and keep me overweight though.

Silver, well done for spotting a pattern. Mine is boredom, loneliness and habit. I'm finding the setting a specified time gap between eating very helpful.

Thanks shell. Today is going well, so far! Have set myself a time of 5 but not got a plan of what to eat yet.

Wrapped and Shell we're making progress - even though we don't think we are, by becoming more aware of our overeating triggers. I think my eating problems stem from low self esteem, and habit too, I also have picked up from doing diets (WW etc) that I can eat "as much as I want" and i eat big portions, packing too much food in as if I'll starve or become ill if I don't eat enough

GR says we can get past all these triggers to overeating and rewire our brain.

This coming week, I'm going to work on Ts and Ps and facing up to my Addictive eating - perhaps take 2 examples like afternoon picking and big portions and focus

Just remember how long it's taken to put this weight on and how long you've lived with it - so it's not going to come off overnight

Rose that’s very true. I think I’m going to focus on Ts and Ps too - afternoons are my downfall so I think I might keep something I like (like an apple or something) on my desk so if I do get actually hungry I can have that rather than cakes and biscuits; and I can put that into my T/P so lunch at say 1 then plan check in with myself at 3 and see if I want my eg apple. And if I don’t, fine.

I like the bit in the book where she talks about feeling where in the body you feel addictive desire and letting yourself just feel it. So I’m going to do that too.

Marking as this sounds intriguing, thanks. May ask if library can get book for me.

Hi, I'm jumping in to join too. I was very close to signing up to Jane Plan last weekend as I have 3.5 st to lose and keep overeating. But a little voice in the back of my head told me that following a plan like that wouldn't solve the problem. It wouldn't teach me to engage with food in a healthy way. Even if I did stick to it, I wouldn't learn anything. So I kept looking, found this thread and bought the book and I don't think I've ever read a book that so thoroughly describes the struggle I have in my brain about eating.

I'm working through it and while I did have a mini binge on Thursday, that's helped me realise I do need to put the effort in in the moment.

I'm struggling to give up daily weighing, but that's something to work on.

Nice to meet you all :)

Welcome String and Red

Welcome @Rednailsandnaeknickers and@StringandGlitter - we're all in this together - feeling our way together.

I weighed myself this morning ( Yes I know!) Anyway I've lost 2.75lbs since Thursday. Absolutely ecstatic!!

Thanks for the welcome.
I'm rereading the book more slowly and going to do the exercises this time. In chapter 1 I identified with 18 of the 21 statements that describe addictive eating! Oh boy! (The Ines that didn't ring true for me were the 12th, 20th and 21st in the list as I like vegetables and I don't think the scale rules my life). The rest all did ring true round eating too much, too fast, in a trance, feeling hungry after eating a full meal etc.

I think it is true to say addictive eating is a problem in my life. Onwards and upwards.

Congrats @frustratedashell. I know it's not supposed to matter, but good for you! What do you think is working for you in terms of eating less?

Hi Glitter, thank you. I'm not overly sure what's making the difference. The setting the time to eat is good. I have 2 guinea pigs so I have to buy fresh veg/salad. So we share it lol. I just feel motivated at the moment. I'm not working at the moment either, which previously made me graze all day. But I've stopped that. I start my new job a week tomorrow

Really busy day at work BUT I have eaten 3 planned meals with NO snacks and I have felt fine all day. I know that I have to feel the addictive desire in order to beat this but it’s amazing to go through a whole day and not feel it at all!

How’s everyone doing?

I'm fine. Keeping it low key. Doing T and Ps and the Outline.
Hope you're all ok

Hi I'm doing well still. Having said that I'm going out for afternoon tea later with a friend. Have had a small lunch and will have a small dinner tonight. Had dinner at my mums last night. Chicken salad , no coleslaw or mayo. Followed by strawberries but no cream. The time thing is working well.

I seem to be totally disinterested in food at the moment - must be the heat!

Interesting to see this thread. I have a long history of disordered eating and am becoming desperate to find a way to be 'normal'. I'm also obese so every so often I panic about my weight and start a diet which backfires on me every time.

I read Eating Less years ago, possibly 10 years or even more. I found it interesting but the method realy didn't seem to sink in for me. Looking back I think what happened was that I conveniently 'forgot' everything when I had the urge to overeat, that addictive desire just took me over.

I'm tempted to sign up for GR's next webinar course. It starts in September so I think I'll re-read Eating Less and maybe start with the Ditching Diets books first to see how I progress. The sign up fee is quite a challenge for me and I can't afford to sign up and then not find it helpful.

How is everyone else getting on? I'm finding that I have very little interest in food in the hot weather, but then what happens is that I get extremely hungry and end up overeating the wrong things!

For those of you who have been doing well, how are you deciding about what to eat? Are you trying to eat healthier but not count calories or are you counting calories or carbs or similar?

Hi No it sounds like you’re having a rotten time with your eating, something probably all of us on this thread can empathise with. To be gripped by something like this is hideous and can feel all consuming (at least, it has for me)

I find that Times and Plans feel almost magical in their helpfulness. I’m trying to treat myself as well as I possibly can - I have children and always ensure they have balanced, delicious meals. Whereas typically I’d be too full of biscuits and cake and crap to want to eat with them, now I eat a sensible meal and Plan not to eat until my next Time (either a snack time when I’ll have some fruit, or a meal time when I’ll eat a good nourishing meal) It’s going really really well. I make sure I eat some protein, a good carbohydrate like whole meal bread, brown rice, oatcakes, and some vegetables or fruit at every meal. And because I’ve given my body good things, I’m not usually hungry until a socially acceptable next meal time so I’m just not really interested in rubbish chocolate/biscuits/crisps.

I feel so SO much better. I’m having the odd episode of addictive desire but nowhere near as badly as before I applied these principles to my life.

Something I found really helpful was GRs point that the neurological changes that need to occur for us to be released from this torment can ONLY happen if we can use The Outline to intervene with ourselves at the very moment when we feel addictive desire.

Re not feeling hungry. I don’t eat breakfast unless I’m hungry. At some point in the day it’ll occur to me that I haven’t eaten and if I’m still not hungry but feel like I ought to eat (eg it’s lunchtime) I just use my rational brain to make a decision about the best meal I could have at that time - something that covers all the protein/good carb/veggie bases. I don’t count anything. This is working for me.