Search the Community

Every few days I will binge on junk. It ruins my calories. I know when I am going to do it. I can feel it in the back of my mind. and with in a few hours I will have a huge bag of chips or pies or lollies. I don't want to do this. I am looking for 'circuit breakers' that I can use to cut the process before it gets too far along. Is this something you experience and have over come? What strategies do you know of? Any and all suggestions welcome.

Hi Nerds, I just found an *amazing* podcast that I thought I'd share with y'all. I have dealt with anorexia, bulemia, exercise bulemia, stress eating, body image issues... and each of these at times when I was running/training for marathons and doing CrossFit. In the past few months, I've re-framed my relationship with food - and part of it recently has come from a new podcast I found. Paige Smathers runs Positive Nutrition and the Nutrition Matters podcast. She takes an intuitive eating, weight neutral approach to nutrition. If you've dealt with any of these issues, check it out!

Helloooo there!! My third challenge as an Assassin begins Last challenge was slightly underwhelming, yet overwhelming. I was physically sick, then itsy bitsy depressed, and now I'm ready to start a new little chapter in my life. I created the Fox-Box during the last challenge: it's a box with journals, stickers, and all sorts of items that make me feel positive. I also found a base for my self-therapy: a combination of logotherapy and working on my life traps. As I'm writing this, I'm feeling very hopeful about the future, and leaving the past behind seems easier with all the possibilities that are ahead of me. This challenge is all about picking myself back up after feeling depressed, and of course, GETTING THEM PUSH-UP GAINZ!!! 1. Re-calibraining This goal is all about changing. Re-calibrating my brain, if you will. I have lived with pretty toxic thoughts, and now those thoughts have been making my life more difficult than it needs to be. I'm continuing with the self-therapy, and now I have a new tool: affirmations. I started using this technique last week, and it just works for me now. If there's something I can't change and I feel bad about it, I tell myself, "I'm fine with this". And then I start coping with it. That's to put it simply Look at all these lovely affirmations. After feeling lost and numb for a long time, I'm now creating myself anew. I love this feeling of change happening, and I am letting go of what no longer serves me. This goal is just the daily habit of using the tools I have, and journaling. I'm thinking of planning more Introvert Pampering days so that I have enough time to chill. 2. Food! Whenever wherever When I was depressed, I didn't have much energy to prep proper meals. I'm getting better now, and I want to start getting my veggies and healthy carbs back in. I'm using affirmations here, too: "I am not a person who eats chocolate". "I do meal prep, and enjoy as much healthy food as I need and want." I know that I don't need to count calories or be too cautious about what I eat. It's about balance: listening to my body, but also using my knowledge to pick the foods that make me feel good. 3. Push up! This is it! I'm back! I am going to train push ups three times a week, according to the program of startbodyweight.com. I am currently at the three quarters push-ups + 5 seconds eccentric part. Last workout, I did 5 - 5 - 5, so next one will be 6 - 5 - 5, and so forth, until I hit 8 - 8 - 8. With steady progression, I should get there by... let's see... by November the fifth? That's possible, but I am not stressing too much about it. I'd like to get to 8 - 8 - 8 by the end of this challenge REWARDS?? My challenges always lack rewards... I think the goals themselves are rewards, but hmmm. I need to think of something. Like a massage? ** That's it. Let's have ourselves a good challenge! I am happy to be here with you all

Hellooo friends! You have stumbled upon my Intuitive Eating Journal. There will be a lot of feelings about food and my relationship with food. A lot of feelings. Hopefully most of it will be love towards food. I f**king love food. Why The Fox Is On The Run Tale as old as time: I have been a chronic dieter since my early teens, and I've tried pretty much every diet there is. I believed that being healthy meant being thin, so I hated myself for not being able to get thin (healthy) enough. I've also hated my body and myself for not having enough willpower to do what it takes to lose weight. My self-worth has been tied to how well I managed to eat. I'm sure we all know what self-hatred is, so I'm just going to go to the turning point. This spring, I was counting my calories and focusing on paleo-ish foods, when I started to feel fed up. I felt bloated and anxious, and eating was like an obstacle course I had to pass every day. Thinking about food took so much mental energy from me that I just wanted to let go for a moment. I had listened to a couple of podcasts about body positivity and intuitive eating, and I guess I had started to realize that I have all the information about what a healthy diet is, but there's something wrong with the implementation. I was in a constant fight with my body: "I'm not supposed to feel this way, I'm not supposed to eat like this", and so forth. So, the next morning, I didn't rush to eat my regular breakfast, but listened to my body: was I hungry yet? How much did I want to eat? What did I want to eat? After some time, the hunger signal kicked in, and I had my breakfast. And the hunger went away. I decided not to eat until I would be hungry again, and magically, the hunger signal kicked in a few hours later. I ate, listened to my body, and kept doing this. Listening to my body's signals was the turning point: I realized that every day, I had ignored my body and my feelings, and tried to make myself be good by following a diet made by someone else, someone who doesn't even know me. Basically, I had been telling myself every day to shut up and do as I'm told. Not cool! I realized that I had tied my self-worth to my food choices. Every day, if I had eaten "right", I could tell myself that it had been a good day, and if I had eaten "wrong", I would punish myself by eating less the next day. I can't say that I've had a full-blown eating disorder, but my eating has certainly been disordered. With the help of some body positivity resources and intuitive eating instructions, I started to work on my feelings of worthlessness, and now I feel like I have a better connection to myself and my body. I will never diet again, nor count calories. Where The Fox Is Running To Bacon and eggs. Obviously. My mission is to practice intuitive eating, and stay mindful about my food choices. After I stopped dieting and labeling foods as good or bad, I had a bit of a honeymoon: I ate everything I wanted, whenever I wanted, and didn't feel bad about it. After a couple of weeks, the foods I thought I had no control over (chocolate, ice cream), started to feel "meh". And then I started to get worried. If there are no rules, how do I construct my eating habits? I do want to keep my diet healthy: it is a fact that eating less processed foods makes me feel good, and eating a lot of processed foods and sugar makes me feel bad. And that's the key: There will be no rules, but guidelines. Following the guidelines helps me to pick the foods that make me feel good. My goal is to feel good and healthy, not to lose weight. It's a tough one, because I've always eaten to lose weight, but it's necessary if I truly want to reject the restrictive mindset and listen to my body instead. I can't control my body mass as much as I'd like to, anyway, but maybe I can make myself feel healthy and calm. And after a few weeks, I feel better. My stress levels and my self-hatred fueled anxiety have gone down. I am now learning to stay mindful about my food choices, and ask myself, how the food will make me feel - not if it's good or bad. It has been mentally very hard to process these feelings (as I forgave myself and let me just be as I am, I spent a few days crying because I was just so relieved), and it's still a process. I want to keep working on this, though, because I haven't felt this carefree and happy in a long, long time! This will probably be enough for now! I will gather resources and some ideas to the next post.

As you may or may not know, I'm a huge Orphan Black fan. I find so much inspiration in such strong women. So, let's do this accountability thing and kick some ass.... Some information about myself: I collect ball joint dolls I'm vegan, but in a completely chill way, I will never judge or condemn Orphan Black obsessed...did I say that already Game of Thrones obsessed Currently kicking disordered eating to the curb Gender queer lesbian Harry Potter nerd to the max Now to this accountability stuff....I have lots of goals I'm trying to accomplish, some fitness related, some not. Here's what I'm going for: 1. Continue doing my Jillian Michael's workout dvds until I find something different. I know it's kind of cheesy that I do these but I love Jillian Michaels and feel totally inspired by her. Doing workout dvds isn't my ideal, but for now (being afraid of the gym or any running outside activity) it works. I also walk a lot and try to get my 10,000 steps in daily. 2. Save $300 a month I just went through a major breakup and I'm dealing with the aftermath by living with my parent's in the podunk city I grew up in....it's killing me. So I'm working on moving to Seattle, but this involves money. 3. Move to Seattle See above. 4. Get some abs This has been on my to-do list for years and years. I can never seem to make it happen. So, it's always my goal...I just don't know how to get there yet. 5. Cook an elaborate vegan meal at least once a month I don't cook a whole lot, and since the breakup I've been eating so shitty, a lot of microwaved vegan goodness. I'd like to move away from all the processed fake meats and such. I think that's a good place to stop. I'm going to try to update everyday. Sometimes this might just be a place for me to vent or talk about my day. Not necessarily always about fitness...you've been warned! Take care lovely people!

Hi everyone! I've been here before, but now I'm here as kind of a last ditch effort. I'm here because I've had a hard time with some disordered eating habits that have hit me again more recently. I'm weak, unfit, and my mind is suffering. My goal in coming here is to feed my body and inner nerd. I'm really really hoping to meet some people here. I have a really strong support system when it comes to my disordered eating and I am hoping to break all ties and fill the void with something healthier. I'm excited to be in a place that loves the nerdy. I'm less of an RPG nerd and more of like a reading/harry potter/cat loving/doll collecting nerd. I actually hope to learn a bit more about RPGs though. That's the best I've got as far as an introduction goes. Look forward to seeing some of you around and getting strong, fit, and well!

Battle With a Demon Vs. Prologue: The Battle Begins Tigera stumbled into Div's office, clumsily shutting the door as she dropped her bag on the floor. "I think I'm losing," Tigera said without preamble. "It's getting stronger, I can tell." Ed the Demon smiled sadly at the sorceress-in-training. It, of course, had smoothly slid through the door before Tigera managed to close it. "Of course you're losing. I mean, look at you. How could you ever think you had a chance?" Div rose from behind her desk, glaring at Ed. "OUT," she said, waving her hand. The demon scowled, but slowly faded. Ghost-like, it blended with the background until Tigera could almost forget it was there. Almost. Div sat back in her chair, gesturing for Tigera to sit as well. The older woman (much much much older) was an elf. They made up the majority of the faculty at the Academy, largely because their ability to see demons made them uniquely suited to mentoring young spellcasters. Everyone had their own demons to deal with, but when you start using magic…well. Your demons become a bit more real. "I'm not strong enough," Tigera continued. "It starts talking and I can't make it shut up. And once I start letting it get in my head, I can't do anything. Magic gets hard, I just don't have the energy. I can't make it stop. I don't know what to do." "Please sit," Div said, motioning again to the chair in front of her desk. Tigera looked at the elf's face, then sat. "Now. You already know what strengthens it." "When I'm out of balance, yes. But--" "So to defeat it, you need to regain that balance. It's an essential part of magic." Div rose, moving to one of the shelves that lined the wall. "Every element of your life must work together. They must all combine to give you the peace of mind necessary to banish it forever." Div picked up a smooth black stone from the shelf and turned back to Tigera. "You want mental strength? Alright. That doesn't come from the mind alone. It also comes from the body." The elf sat back at her seat, placing the rock in front of Tigera. "Physical strength leads to mental strength. This--" she tapped the rock "--is part of a set of Balance Stones. Each stone tests one element of your life. You see the character inscribed in it?" Tigera nodded. "When you can make that character glow, your body will be adding strength to your mind instead of taking it away. The demon should be much weaker then, and we can move on to other ways to vanquish it fully." The elf sat back in her chair, dismissing Tigera for the time being. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Main Quest: Be happy Sub-Quest: Gain physical strength Goals: 1) Work out three times a week. At the moment, this will be the Recruit Workout. As the challenge progresses, I may move to a different bodyweight routine. 2) Walk an average of 10,000 steps per day (or a total of 70,000 steps per week). 3) Eat three balanced meals per day. This is an intentionally vague goal, because it has to be. The demon I’m struggling with is disordered eating (and mild depression, but that’s heavily tied together with the eating), so if I create rules for myself about the types of food I should/shouldn’t be eating it will likely lead to restriction. Same with setting calorie goals or tracking macros. So instead, I’ll just log several things a day: a. Binge: Y/N b. Restrict: Y/N c. Meals eaten: number d. General health of said meals: i. 0: Completely unhealthy. Probably a binge in meal form. ii. 1: Some good, some bad. Mixed. iii. 2: Great. Healthy food, but also enjoyable. Balance is the key, so it could even include a dessert if I haven’t been doing that a lot lately (that probably won’t happen at the beginning, as sugar is quite triggering for me). The tracking for this goal will be very subjective. But that’s because my main quest is related to mental health, not strictly physical. And, for me, eating is very problematic (much more so than exercise) so this is the best solution for me. Life Goal: Participate in the Honorable Order of Rebellious Appraising Yeomen as an apprentice. Goal is to complete my apprenticeship this challenge and become a Journeyman! I think this fits very well with the mental health theme of my challenge. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* As Tigera walked back to her room on the north-most side of the Academy campus, she turned the stone over in her hand. Physical strength. That was something concrete. That was something she could do. It wasn't like the whispered taunts about her appearance or her friendships or her life that Ed made--she didn't know how to change those things, which was why the demon mocked her for them. But this...this she could do. As she walked back to her room, holding the stone in her hand like a talisman, Ed rematerialized behind her. The demon was fainter now than it had been in a long time. The battle had begun.

I'm trying to pay attention more to my diet because I'd like to lose weight or at least body fat (5'6", 164 lbs). However, I also have a tendency to obsess about food and fitness, and I don't want to fall into that again. Because of that I've been hesitating to count calories or set restrictive negative goals ("Don't eat X"), but I'm worried that without restricting in some sense I won't be able to improve. At the same time there's part of me that feels bad for even wanting to lose weight because I feel like I should be "over" that and just be happy with working out to get stronger, and eating healthy for its own sake. Does anyone else struggle with this?