Outdoor Girl’s BodyBlog

This question comes up from time to time in the forums.  Compulsive eating is something I have dealt with almost all of my life, although it’s certainly gotten much better in the last four years that I’ve adopted this evolving fitness and clean diet routine.  It was actually a series of compulsive eating days that started me on this journey.

Hearing that others suffer from the same makes me sad but at the same time has let me know I’m not alone, which is empowering in a way.  In my worst days it would feel like panic - like I was drowning and food was air. Not even hungry, once in this mindset I was fixated on food and trying to fill up on water or otherwise distract myself was postponing the inevitable - binges.  Obviously it was an emotional response and food was my way of self-medicating.  Not having bad foods in the house was no deterent, I would simply go to the store.  It was like a nightmare and caused a cycle of self-loathing and more binges.  

Since it has come up a few times I thought I’d share some of the things that have helped me get over the binges. 

Dealt with the emotional aspect of eating.  Eating is a very emotional response for me and often a coping mechanism.  I started a journal (much like the ones in the journaling section here at bb.com) and wrote out my feelings, when I felt I was heading towards an epidode, etc.  It helped to see things written out like that and start sorting out my feelings to separate them from the "comforting" emotional reaction of eating my way through it.  Also….very important.  When I did go above my target calories for a day or ate something I shouldn’t have (I have a weakness for Mexican food and pizza), I was very strict about not getting down on myself about it, because that could in itself create a spiral of emotional eating from the frustration and panic.  "Consistency is key" became my mantra - the little slip ups here and there do not really matter if I stay the course the rest of the time.  I also would not use it as an excuse to go off the diet for the rest of the day. 

Fitday.com  I starting logging my food and learned a LOT about my diet that way.

I quit refined sugars and sugar substitutes.  Cold turkey.  It was NOT easy, but in Arnold’s book he describes it very well - I’ll paraphrase a little less eloquently  - the human body is not meant to ingest condensed amounts of sugar like that.  Often it will react by overcompensating with insulin response.  I know it made me hypogylcemic (I was professionally diagnosed).  It also made me moody, cranky, and ironically….more hungry.  Other than maybe 5 times in the last four years I have completely stayed away from refined sugars and sugar substitutes.  Oddly many people try to influence me - "it won’t hurt to have one cookie or a muffin or a donut…"  I get more feedback on that aspect than I do any other part of my routine or diet.  It’s a personal choice I’ve made and to be totally honest, no cookie or piece of cake or other decadent treat has actually been as good as I thought it would be.  And in hindsight not worth the price I was paying for it.  Now there are fruits that are almost too sweet for me and I do not crave sugars like that at all.

I learned about low glycemic index.  I don’t measure my foods or look at the food ratings, but I do understand I can’t just eat an apple and be okay - in fact it will make me hungry in less than 30 minutes if I do.  However, if I combine it with a fat and/or protein, like a couple of slices of lowfat cheddar cheese, it’s a satisfying "meal" and I don’t get hungry.  So I always work to reduce the gylcemic index of my meals by adding protein and/or fat. 

Drink plenty of water.  I tend to do better when I drink enough water.  I read somewhere that your body may indicate hunger when in fact it’s actually thirsty, or at least that’s the way we can intepret it.  I get water in before I even eat my first meal.  It’s an ongoing challenge but it has helped a lot.

Eating many smaller meals throughout the day.  I now actually get to a point once in a while where I don’t want to eat the next meal or even think about food because I’m on a constant crusade to get the proper meals in and it’s time consuming.  And difficult when traveling, etc.

I did find that not depriving myself of food, such as going on a severely low calorie diet, and trying to have a more reasonable approach has really helped.  If I try to go too low on calories at any time I start to lose my good judgement regarding meals.  One BB.com forum poster had fantastic advice: when your objective is to lose bodyfat, start out by lowering your daily calories no more than 100 per day, one week at a time.  In other words, your average daily calories should not go down more than 100 calories per week.  If you lose weight, then stick with it until the weight loss stops.  If you don’t, lower another 100 calories per day average for the next week.  Not shocking your body with a sudden and marked calorie deficit definitely helps keep things more managable.

Anyway, I hope sharing this is helpful to someone.  If nothing else, know that you are not alone.

I have come a long way in three years.  I did take some photos around the time I first started but was so humiliated that I ended up deleting all evidence of them.  My starting progress photos here were taken in November 2007, fairly close to goal, and even then I am shocked at the difference month to month.

My pants seem to lose their fit every couple of months and I have given up trying to keep up with buying comfortable clothes.  So my jeans need a belt and fit a little weird, and maybe aren’t terribly flattering.  When I reach goal I will indulge in a new wardrobe, until then I will have to make due because it’s getting too expensive. 

Since I do almost 100-200 reps of some form of squat exercise each week my glutes are growing, I really notice it in clothes I have worn for a while that no longer fit right.  I measured my glutes and truly regret not taking lots of different measurements over time, from calves to glutes, to whatever can be measured.  While I have been dilligent about waist, hips, thighs, bust, and arms, these don’t tell the whole story when transforming the body with weight training.  I really wish I had some way of knowing how much my glutes have grown.

Which brings me to the point of my rambling here.    If I could go back and measure everything I would, and keep much better track.  I am also really glad I have been taking photos over the past four months because they have helped me see my progress, even when I didn’t think I was making any, it was evident in the pictures.  It’s hard to be objective when I see myself in the mirror every day, but side by side photos can be very powerful. 

Seems to be mixed opinions about weighing yourself every day.  There are normal, day-to-day fluctuations that can cause the scale to swing a few pounds here and there. 

For me, I like knowing what’s going on with my body.  Today I weighed in two pounds heavier than two days ago.  I know it wasn’t the addition of bodyfat, but I suspect it was water and possibly too much salt intake over the weekend.  I don’t get discouraged by the temporary change, I like knowing about it and understanding my body better.  I also rely on a measuring tape and some very specific measurements.  I’ve been getting my bodyfat measured every couple of months.

Weighing in and using the measuring tape almost every day help keep me accountable.  If the numbers go up a little, I become more resolved to sticking with my plan so it’s not permanent.  If they go down, I become more resolved when I see the progress. 

That’s just what works for me, anyway.

Well, I say "one month" because that’s when I started taking my progress pix.  I actually started almost three years ago, with short distance running and a bench and some weights I had at home.  Of course my diet and workouts evolved and I am more focused on the weight training now and go to a gym because I use much more equipment.

In any case, I’ve been keeping a workout journal for sixteen weeks now, and while it’s difficult to see the progress day to day, having the progress photos really helped me see what has changed in the last 30 days.  Right now my goals are to continue losing bodyfat while also hitting the weights hard to grow muscle. 

Happy holidays!

I am so appreciative for the encouragement and advice I’ve received!  I am fairly new to all of this (weight training for two and a half years but seriously for about a year).  I continue to work on cleaning up the diet and am hitting the weights hard in a five day split.  Somehow I stopped doing cardio but I’m making progress anyway, so I will spoil myself and not add it back until the scale and measuring tape get stubborn again.

I am thrilled with a new PR of 185 pound squats and 155 pound deadlifts.  It’s always nice to see measurable progress.  New progress pix is up from a couple of days ago, although it was taken two weeks after the initial photos I’m not sure I see much change.  In any case, I’ll keep at it.

I’m nearing the end of my first 12 week routine, which got me back into working out after my absence from it over the summer.  My strength and muscle tone came back pretty fast, but I still struggle with losing bodyfat.

Visiting other BodySpace profiles I’ve come across some truly inspirational people in fitness.  One woman in particular was kind enough to send me a few tips, one of which was to really evaluate and clean up the diet.  So that is what I am working on now.  I don’t know how many times I have to hear that most of fitness is decided in the kitchen for it to sink in, but for the past three days I’ve been planning my meals very carefully and it has already made a difference in my energy levels. 

Part of eating better means I’ve been trying some new things, like canned tuna (which I truly dislike).  In some cases, the "fun" of eating is gone, but in other cases I still get to enjoy a cup of coffee every day and I’ve discovered some great protein bars that are blissfully good!  So not all is lost.

The lifting has been good, a few nagging pains (but except for a week of off certain bodyparts they have not hindered my schedule), a few new personal bests.  I entered some of my lifting stats and it was interesting that they were converted to estimated 1RMs. 

I am nearing the end of a 12-week training cycle which includes a 5-day weight training split and various cardio.  I have seen quite a bit of improvement (despite what that stupid scale says)!  My lean body mass is higher than I’ve ever recorded, but I still fight to lose bodyfat a meager half pound at a time. 

 I am researching various topics voraciously to set up my next 12-week cycle, which I plan to make really count.  This includes different training techniques for weights, switching types of cardio, and taking my somewhat clean diet to the next level - better balanced and slightly lower calories to help with bodyfat loss.