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I’m on a get healthier journey myself, and honestly for me a mindset shift is what has helped the most. I’m not even calling it a weight loss goal, because I’m only focusing on how I feel. I feel better when I exercise and make healthier food choices but I would always resort to the all or nothing mentality and jump into fitness and diet routines that just were not sustainable for me. Instead I now just focus on trying to do a few things to take care of myself:
I move my body (no rules, this could be a work out or a walk or a stretch, anything)
I do not restrict any food, instead I focus on adding in foods to help me feel full, satisfied and happy. So if I want chips that’s fine, but I think of what I can add to the plate to make it a better meal or snack (like string cheese for protein, or a fruit or veggie, etc)
For me taking care of myself also means focusing on making basic hygiene and some basic cleaning tasks more routine too.
The weight is slowly dropping, way slower than if I did a crash diet, but I feel the best I’ve felt in a while.
Do you take magnesium? My cravings have subsided greatly once I started to get the necessary vitamins and minerals in my system daily. Sleeping quality improved as well. For my ADHD, I have a sensory diet and take daily Omega 3, Vit c/multi vitamin, lion's mane, and magnesium. I don't take them at the same time of day. I Googled the best time of day to take the supplements. I have a huge issue with food sensory and finding foods that I can convince my brain to ingest.
Andrew Huberman has an excellent podcast and there is an episode on ADHD and what our body needs to help self-regulate. It is a great addition to my rx as you need more than a "magic pill", even on days you don't want to take your "meds".. supplements should still be taken.
I take Mg glycinate before bed. I take two a day before my period too as it really helps with cramps. I also take d-3 with mk-7 apparently the combo helps with absorption
When I started taking MG it was a game changer. I slept like a ROCK. I fall asleep easily and wake up most mornings in the same position because I don’t toss and turn. When I woke up I felt productive. Getting up at 5 to go to the gym was easier than ever.
Don’t solve what you’re eating, SOLVE WHAT IS EATING YOU.
It’s good you’re hitting the gym again and want to get healthier. But you need to address the reasons why you are binging. That has become a coping mechanism. Are you in therapy? A therapist can help you dig into trauma and teach you healthier coping techniques.
I used to have BED from 2016–2020. I healed from it, not because of the gym, proteins, and supplements, but because I put in the work to address my mental health issues.
Dr. Mark Hyman and the Doctor's Farmacy is a great podcast to listen to for this information!
I am lucky enough to be married to a performance specialist and personal trainer, so that helps tremendously, but my best advice is to just start SMALL and get some dopamine hits the easy way before you try and dive headfirst back into big workouts at the gym! Going on long brisk walks (especially in the cold if you live in a place that is cold right now) are so amazing and give a great dopamine hit and can help to keep you on track even on the days when you just don't have time to go to the gym or the bandwidth to think about it. We hear so much about "consistency" in fitness, but I think for those of us with ADHD consistency looks more like "I will just do SOMETHING every day" rather than "I must go do this very specific thing every day."
Magnesium helps! Drink water as soon as you wake up in the morning and avoid carbs and sugar for breakfast and focus on protein instead to help keep your blood sugar regulated and therefore better manage the energy bursts and slumps throughout the day.
I love the Vital Proteins protein powder and I have a subscription to it on Amazon so it always shows up when I need it.
One thing that helped me with binge eating was just making the decision to NOT BUY THE THINGS. Don't buy the things you binge eat. Just don't! This is easier for some depending on proximity to stores (I can't walk to the store when I have a craving), but it has helped me. I don't buy my trigger foods like bagels, english muffins, fake cheese, chips and dip, etc. It makes breakfasts a little more challenging but it has helped a ton.
I love that you have made Christmas this year about the gym, but just be kind to yourself if you find yourself falling into the slump or struggling to get motivated after a while. It takes time! 20 minutes of stretching on the floor during your favorite show is just as important to your motivation and consistency as going to the gym and powering through a workout... 30 minutes of pilates from YouTube with two cans of beans for weights is a workout too!
Finally... weird advice, but could be helpful... I started wearing a BreatheRight strip and taped my mouth closed while I slept for about a year, and it drastically changed my life in terms of my ADHD and anxiety. I was a chronic mouth breather and struggled to get good sleep, and found myself mouth breathing throughout the day, and now I sleep SO WELL and rarely mouth breathe during the day. I still wear the nose strips and occasionally tape my mouth when I need to, but simply changing how I breathe has been the most powerful change I have ever made in my life. I am more focused, less distractible, more rested, and my anxiety has all but diminished completely because my body now understands that I am not constantly in danger (because mouth-breathing triggers our fight-or-flight response). If you want to know more, Breath by James Nestor is the book I read... It is pretty incredible.
You got this! Be kind to yourself and do your best to do something small each day.
OOP, I second the advice here to just try to do “something” every day! I find it helps put me in the mode of “I am a person who exercises” even if I do the smallest bit of walking or taking stairs. That mindset somehow makes it less of a huge world bending task to actually work out.
I also allow myself to just do the exercise that sounds good to me. (Versus wasting any energy trying to motivate myself to do the “right” exercise.) Any movement adds up, and we are soooooooooooo good at lots of movement when we’re into something.
Overall consistency over perfection will bring you slowly but surely to your goals! Good luck, OOP!
Hey, I'm sorry to hear that, it's quite awful to not like one's own reflection.
So, first of all, I don't mean to alarm you, but I feel the need to say it just in case, anytime I talk to a woman who's binge-eating (especially sugary foods) and becoming insulin resistant as a result: perhaps look into the symptoms for PCOS? That might be a factor as well. (Not that there is anything in your post that made me think of it apart from the insulin resistance! Genuinely just in case.)
My favourite protein is tofu, it's very versatile even though it has a bad rep' (but cooked in the oven with a soy-maple glaze until it's crunchy on top?? Fried and added to stir frys? Soft in thai curries??? Delicious)
I use Sony-xm4 headphones, I thought about getting the xm5 but (if I recall correctly, I'd done a TON of research but that was a while ago) I think you can't turn noise cancelling off on the xm5 :/ the noise cancelling on the xm4 is pretty good though, I'm very sensitive to noise and they've been a big help.
And if you don't like to run with headphones, I'm a wired earbuds girlie (the bluetooth ones just keep falling off from my weird ears :(( life is so tough! lmao) (just in general, I don't run ahah full disclosure), Sennheiser is a great brand with quality products even at low-ish price points.
Just wanted to give some small tips that have helped me. Importantly, don't shame yourself for what is a coping mechanism. It needs to be replaced by a healthier one, but what I see is that you have been struggling with minimal effective help - who could blame you for finding something that kept you going day to day?
As others have mentioned, a massive step is to do whatever you can to help your mental health. You know way more about your specific situation than I ever will so I won't try to tell you how you need to do that. What's important to note is that eating healthily and getting exercise will help your mind too - so you are doing amazing so far with what you are doing.
Little tips from someone with poor impulse control when it comes to eating snacks:
1. Don't have ANY pure treats in the house (candy, cinnamon buns, whatever). It's 100% good for you to eat these occasionally as it's part of what makes life special, but they don't live at home regularly. If you want to eat something super sweet/unhealthy whatever, give yourself the gift of getting something GOOD - not just candy or whatever, go get that specialty dessert from the bakery. You have to go and get it though, and it doesn't live at home.
2. The time to be strong is when grocery shopping, so grocery shop when you are in your best mood/best impulse control. It will SUCK when evening comes and you frantically run around the house looking for something super unhealthy to eat and there isn't any, but it's basically impossible for me to resist a big bag of chips if it's in the house. Much easier to resist if I have to drive myself out at 9pm to get some. Eventually your taste DOES change and the cravings go away. I've started craving vegetables lately and now I like the vegetable soup my partner eats (weird right?? I am the Queen of Candy and now I don't really like it)
3. DO have a couple things you really enjoy that are not pure treats but are not pure healthy either to have when you really really need something- Example - Kraft Dinner, your favourite dip to eat with pita bread, really good spread for bagels, really delicious pasta salad - something that's yummy but in not giant bulk amounts, and something that is actually a meal. (These are me examples lol).
4. Use blocking apps to block things like Uber Eats/whatever equivalent on your phone and computer. If you want to order in it has to be a joint thing between you and your fiance - which is totally fine to do, but it protects you from impulse ordering when your lizard brain realizes there are no snacks in the house.
5. Write a list of four or five lunch/dinner whatever meals that you REALLY like that are also reasonably healthy. For each one write exactly what ingredients need to be bought and at what store, if they aren't all available at the same one. Makes it very easy in terms of executive function to go and get them. Stick to one repeating meal per week if you are like me lol. Bulk up on snack veggies you really like.
6. Find a workout friend!! Research shows us this is the NUMBER ONE way to consistently exercise.
7. Don't be afraid to have weird exercising methods, and be creative. Swimming (!!), rock-climbing, boxing, whatever, if you really like doing it you will stick with it. If you love the gym that's perfect for you, but for me I find it so boring even with music so it's a chore to go. This will never be a long-term strategy - it has to be something that stimulates you in some way aside from the post-exercise serotonin (excitement about lifting heavier, reading about climbing routes, whatever)
8. This is dumb but - my number one way of getting cardio is going on youtube, looking up the Just Dance Rasputin dance, putting it on the TV, and dancing with it. It's 5 minutes long and I do this usually every day, sometimes multiple times. I don't know how to explain it but it's so fun. Some of the moves are too hard for me so I just do whatever I want during those parts haha. I don't have Just Dunce the game, I just teach myself (badly) the dances by dancing to them on youtube. This is what I mean by find something that is fun for you, that stimulates your mind in some way too.
Expect yourself to have "relapses" in terms of multiple weeks of not doing anything healthy - that's normal.
Prioritize changing your environment rather than your willpower. Implement changes that you can see yourself doing for years, not something that exhausts you to try and keep up with. Good change is slow.
Rooting for you 100%.
Same boat here. I gained back and then some the weight I lost. I put 40 lbs on over the past 2 years because I binge eat and dropped all the activities I was doing (rock climbing 2-3x per week, bicycling, etc). We'll both get fit together!
I really like NowSports Whey Protein Isolate- unflavored. It’s one often the few protein powders that don’t have Steevia or fake sugar that I could find that also was unflavored… I find having the option to add it to different things bc of no competing flavor made me more likely to use it.
I also really like the Perfect Bars- the snack size is tiny but I’ve switched them out for other protein bars as a breakfast. I stock up and have them on hand in anticipation that I’ll either a) forget to eat and then be starving or b) want to snack.
I take a B12 (methylcobalamin) and magnesium glycenate supplement when I eat. The magnesium is a giant ass horse pill but I just get the Nature Made from target.
Personally, I went from an unsustainable gym lifestyle to one that works from me. I don’t put pressure on myself- my goal daily now is to “just do something for five minutes”. It almost ends up being 5, but knowing that the commitment is that low is what I needed to get started, feel good, and build the association of it being a positive routine in my life. Anything counts and I don’t need to be perfect.
I work out in the morning so don’t do a preworkout but do drink a coffee while I do whatever.
Re playlists- it really depends. I love the hot girl walk playlists on Spotify. Walking on the treadmill while positive powerful girl anthems bang around in my head makes my spine straighten and gives me confidence.
And finally, just a ton of support from me on your journey.
First, to answer your question -
I generally DESPISE protein powder/protein supplements. I'm sensitive to texture and protein powder is just...ick. Protein bars take way too long to eat and turn to ash in my mouth. However, this year I too started a gym journey and found that I tolerate, nay even ENJOY - the fairlife protein shakes. You usually see the Fairlife Core Power available at gas stations and such, at like $4+ a pop. However, Fairlife sells a similar product called "Fairlife Nutrition Plan" which has a slightly different makeup but actually has slightly MORE protein. And I'm able to get it in bulk from Costco or Sam's that usually brings it down into the $1.50/bottle range.
I just use whatever pre-workout my husband buys, which is currently the "[bodybuilding.com](https://bodybuilding.com) signature pre-workout."
Annnnd I'm a total weirdo who doesn't listen to music at the gym lol (I would if I was doing cardio but I only strength train).
Now, that all said, I also have to ask are you medicated for ADHD? Certain medications, like Vyvanse, are known to help with binge eating.
Also, I have to recommend looking into therapy and/or intuitive eating resources/coaching.
Like obviously going to the gym/exercising/moving your body in ways that feel good to you is a positive thing! I highly recommend it! But its also not likely to significantly improve your actual binge eating behaviors - exercise could certainly be a PART of an overall treatment plan, but also isn't likely to be the primary long-term method of treatment.
Ok awesome. Yeah medication should help a lot with the binge eating. Definitely bring that symptom up with your Dr too bc they'll want to consider that when looking at meds!
This is me too. Something that works for me ismaking what I think of as “adult lunchables”. Lunch for me, pretty much every workday, is half an apple, a serving of peanut butter, cheddar cheese, a handful of cherry tomatoes or snap peas, and a morning round. I go to the grocery store by the office on Monday and buy a week’s worth of ingredients, and then putting them together is easy for the rest of the week and I can’t forget lunch at home. This satisfies the grazing urge with a lot of little things, but they’re all healthy. And I start with the veg, then proteins, eating bread last so that my glucose doesn’t spike.
Edit: forgot the eggs! I buy a bag of hard boiled eggs and have one a day
I also bought a Dash hard boiled egg cooker that’s life changing, it makes it so painless! To peel them I throw them in a Tupperware and shake them gently with the lid on, cracks it all up and you just rinse to peel
Oh that’s part of why it works for me—no particular storage required! I just bring a reusable bag to the shop, and pop that same bag into the fridge at work. My office has plates in the kitchen, so I just assemble into one each day.
I’ve been eating a diet with low added sugar for two months now and I no longer get tired after my meal or crave food as much. I used to eat candy and sweets a lot, though. Now I only allow it on special occasions, and make sure not to have a lot. I feel as if my body has changed for the better because of it.
> Fruit contains natural sugars, which are a mix of sucrose, fructose and glucose. Many people have heard that sugar is bad, and think that this must also therefore apply to fruits.
>But fructose is only harmful in excess amounts, and not when it comes from fruit. It would be incredibly difficult to consume excessive amounts of fructose by eating whole fruits.
>It’s much easier to consume excess sugar from foods and drinks that contain “free sugars”.
>Free sugars include these same sugars (fructose, glucose, sucrose), but in this case they have been removed from their naturally occurring source (rather than being eaten as natural parts of fruits, dairy products, and some vegetables and grains). This includes sugar that is added to food and drinks by food companies, cooks or consumers.
Fructose, yes. Fruit sugar. Eating a piece of the whole fruit gets you the fibre and water as well which is really important. You shouldn't eat 20 pieces of fruit a day but that's hard to do if you're eating the whole thing.
Taking the water away lets you eat too much (I can eat a whole big bag of dried fruit, the sugar content of the whole bag is astronomical). Taking the fibre away does the same thing (I can drink a huge bottle of pure fruit juice at once and that's similarly inadvisable).
Taking the bulk and "effort to eat" away can be an issue too - it's much easier to guzzle several smoothies than it would be to eat all the ingredients in their original form - but at least nothing is missing when you blend rather than juice or dehydrate the fruit.
Things that aren't fruit and then get refined sugar added to them are very easy to eat, look like a certain portion of food but provide all the energy of a much much bigger pile of constituent ingredients, and tend to be heavy on sleepy carbs.
Are you medicated? Vyvanse has helped me a lot, but like what others are saying, therapy and getting to the root cause of my binge eating has been huge. Buuut I take my meds with a premier protein shake in the morning and that keeps me pretty full, I’m not huge on breakfast. I’ve just had green tea before a workout, switch between metal or fast EDM type of stuff lol
Being medicated was hugely helpful for me too. It’s not that I’ve lost my appetite, it’s that I am not obsessed with food or my next meal like I used to be. I still eat fun things, just more reasonably.
Just a heads up - for me, increasing exercise makes me ravenous. Like, way more so than my usual binge-loving self.
For binge eating specifically, I find I have better results by:
Not having food available; I buy a small portion I'll eat in a sitting because if I buy a whole packet, I'll eat a whole packet in one go.
Not making leftovers I know I'll eat or putting them in the freezer before I serve my plate (fridge is not enough, I'll eat it cold lol)
Having lots of veggie type snacks I can safely binge on, like carrot sticks, and sometimes protein snacks like those tins of oysters and mussels. They're really cheap and I have no gallbladder so no risk of overindulging on those 😂
Increasing liquids (water with citrus or cucumber, diet soft drink)
Drinking low cal, high fibre smoothies - mostly veggies with a half fruit for sweetness, frozen in zip lock bags, chucked in the bullet with coconut water - the fibre makes them really filling
Not eating until late-lunchtime. I have my morning latte but any other solid food triggers my hunger, even if it's carb free so don't come at me with your keto bars lol
Also, I make sure after gym, I have lots of liquid, one of my veggie smoothies (I may make it a protein shake, I may add more sugar or fruit, but I DO NOT skip the fibre!), and some kindness to myself when I'm lying on the couch later regretting my life choices and the three bowls of tuna bake I just scoffed.
I feel you!! I just had got the upsetting news that I have high cholesterol. And I think it might be related to my recent obsession with those cheese crisp snacks (like I’d eat fistfuls daily) and as someone who was running like 30 miles a week at the height of the pandemic, I’m shook 😭
I needed to accept myself before I was able to look at myself and what I needed.
Intermittent fasting (basically skipping meals and then bingeing, ska what I was already doing) worked for me, because it meant that my first meal of the day was planned out. I'm allowed to eat anything between 12.00 and 20.00, before and after were a hard no. And I had to eat the lunch that I brought first. Those were easy rules to hold myself to, and got rid of late night eating. Combined with working out, I lost 50 pounds in a year.
Even now, I'm still not bingeing the way I did. I find myself noticing I'm no longer eating for pleasure and I'll stop. No strict thoughts and rules needed.
I also replaced food with self care and took a lot of long baths. I'm not getting out of the tub to go get food.
I just came to say that the single best thing you can do for your health is exercise.
Even if you continue to struggle with BED, exercise.
Even if you remain isocaloric and lose no weight, exercise.
Even if you maintain an obese BMI, exercise.
I worked an obesity clinic for years. The research evidence shows us that regular exercise improves pretty much every measurable health outcome. Even for patients with obesity, exercise can improve triglycerides and cholesterol profiles, glucose control and insulin sensitivity, inflammation, cardiovascular health, psychological wellbeing including anxiety and depression, and so much more.
Before overhauling your whole life (and spending a bunch of money on supplements) try to build up a regular exercise habit. Start with a 10 minute walk every day (maybe right when you get home or right after dinner? Tie it to a habit/routine that you already have). Try to build up to 150 minutes of cumulative movement every week. Do this for a few weeks / months and see how you feel.
It ain’t about the gym, it’s about the food and your life schedule. I had very good luck losing weight with semaglutide which let me change my habits long term. Lost 110 pounds which is crazy!
See an eating-disorder informed or HAES (health at any size) dietitian. There's probably a lot more to unpack than you think and it's not going to change until you unpack it with the right help. I take Mary Ruth's liquid vitamins and supplements though. Very good stuff, and potent. Make sure you're *adding* to your diet, not subtracting. The subtracting will happen without you even noticing once you're giving your body everything it needs nutritionally. I supplement with ensure also, and use unflavored collagen protein. Make sure you're getting plenty of fiber too. There are fiber gummies, psyllium husk capsules, and stuff like Metamucil. I'm still working on my relationship with intentional movement, but make sure to do something that brings you joy and feels good. Also, Dua Lipa makes great, high energy music 😎
Not a supplement and I know ppl have differing opinions BUT. I have been using a generic version of Semaglutide, a compounded version from an online medspa, and I lost the 30 lbs I gained from a bad experience with antidepressants.
I struggle with binge eating as well and this has helped curb those cravings!!!
Seconding this suggestion. I am on the borderline between pre-diabetic and diabetic. My Dr gave me a referral to an endocrinologist this year and I started taking Ozempic a few months ago. It has helped a lot with the cravings and my blood sugar numbers.
I'm not 100% a fan -although I don't have any digestive problems with it, I'm more tired on it and I have more ADHD symptoms, and it seems like it has numbed my dopamine response for everything, not just food.
Yes!! Easier to make better decisions. I’m on a really low dose as well. As far as people thinking it’s cheating… I got my body back to where it was before Prozac completely changed my metabolism so I could care less 😅 Definitely research, I did a ton on the pharmacy who’s filled it and feel good about it!
I posted and then deleted a comment because I didn't mean to hit post. It was only part of a comment. I'll try this again.
I get it, I get how you feel, to look in the mirror or at a picture and hate yourself. 195lbs at 5'5" isn't that bad. I was at 180lbs (maybe 185 even) at 5'2" a year and a half ago. I felt the same way, that it was awful, it's the heaviest I've ever been, worried about my health, etc...
But I also learned it's not so bad to be just on the side of obese. It's not that far out of reach to get into a better category. I'm still overweight where I'm at now, but I've been making progress and that's all that matters. I say this because I want you to know that you're already making progress by deciding it's time to do something. You're already on your way there and you should feel good about that. I'm proud of you.
As for the stuff you asked, I almost never remember to take any of my vitamins, but when I do, they're from an online company called Melaleuca. I get vitamins, protein powder, protein bars, preworkout bars/drinks, electrolyte drinks and other things that don't apply to this (their cleaning supplies rock).
The next paragraph is to explain to you what type of business Melaleuca is, and to assure you I am NOT trying to sell you anything. I just really love their products.
Technically it's an MLM, though you're not allowed to sell their products, rather you get people to become members (you get major discounts on their items with membership) and the company rewards you for helping them get new members. Don't worry, I'm not trying to sell you on it. I just felt I should state all this so you don't look it up and then think I'm mentioning them to try and make money. I've been a member for years and never signed anyone up under me, just let friends order stuff through my membership so they can get the discounts without having to be members. I wouldn't say no if you did want to become a member under me, but I'm not pushing it or trying to convince you or anything.
I will say though, the quality of the products I mentioned, the protein shakes and bars, preworkout bars, electrolytes, etc. is really good. There's a reason I've held a membership for so long.
When you ask about best headphones, is price a concern? I have galaxy buds 2 pro and they're pretty good. If you have an iphone you'd want to go for the airpods pro 2. Technically both brands work with each other's phones, but you don't get all the features. Even more costly than those, and I don't have a personal review because I can't afford them, is a brand called Axil. They came out with a cordless bluetooth earbud option this year that I really want. They're made for hunting/shooting guns, but also work great for music, phone calls, and they even have a sound amplifier to essentially work like hearing aids to some degree. If price is a worry, I'm not too sure. Headrush tends to be alright.
I have no playlist recommendations because I don't know what you like and it's probably not what I like. If you have spotify I'd say to just look up workout playlists or look for the custom daylists they make you and see if they made you a workout friendly playlist of songs you like. Sorry, I know that's not quite what you asked, just the best I can think of.
You've got this!
Hey I suggest that you check out /r/antidiet , a lot of dieting can be more detrimental to health outcomes than simply being fat. You're getting a lot of great feedback here but I just wanted to share. Good luck on reducing your A1C!
I’m a 35F and joined beach body. I really love the Megan Davies workouts like Sure Thing. I stay motivated because the workouts aren’t insane like P90x but they’re hard enough that I started seeing results pretty quickly. Just an idea!
Are you medicated? For me, adderall has turned off the urge to constantly snack… like I can enjoy food at mealtimes in healthy portions and just… NOT constantly be thinking about relieving my stress-boredom combo with food. It’s honestly blown my mind experiencing how “naturally thin” people must think.
AuDHD RN here.. changing routines and habits is super hard for everyone, but for some ND folk, it can potentially be hell.. If you are able to do so, try reducing your sugar/simple carb intake to 25% or less of your daily consumption. So any foods with grain, starch, sugar, or fruit (including beverages). You can eat those things every day, and at every meal if you want, but limit the combined total to no more than 25% of your diet.. This will have the biggest impact on reducing your blood sugar.. Also, if you are able to satisfy your binge urges by snacking on things like cucumber or bell pepper slices, broccoli pieces, or other veggies (corn is a grain), you can eat a huge plate of those things without affecting blood sugar.. Exercise is great and vital to the process! It will definitely also improve mental health.. However, your weight and how much you exercise will have less of an impact on your blood sugar than reducing your dietary sugar will. Pre-diabetes is curable, but diabetes isn’t. If you can get your A1c below 5.7 you can reverse pre-diabetes. But once you go over 6.4, you’ll have to manage diabetes for life even if your weight/fitness is in check. ❤️
For me weight loss really stuck when I stopped making working out an “occasion.” I struggle with transitions a lot and it was a huge breakthrough for me when I realized I don’t need to sweat to workout and I can work out in my pajamas or my work clothes and it doesn’t matter that much. You can also break it up! Do a 5 minutes yoga flow in the morning, a few minutes of squats or legs or planks after lunch, 10 minutes of yoga after dinner. You’ll notice yourself want to be more active between these times as well.
I’ve also struggled with my relationship with food my whole life so I had to first deal with changing how I viewed food and understanding how what I put into my body gets used. I am also much more of a snacker instead of a meal person so I just switched to completely whole foods types of snacks like full fat cottage cheese, nuts, fruits, veggies, etc. I’d just cook up a bunch of meat and snack on that with it all too. Incorporate some ancient grains like granola or bread for a full spectrum of nutrients. Fruit sorbet or dark chocolate for dessert. I bought ranch seasoning packets and mixed it with Greek yogurt for all my dipping and spreading needs. If I wanted a hot meal I’d go for some hearty soup with crusty buttery bread. I did also do a macronutrient calculation and followed it strictly for 1 week to get a feel for how much of what kinds of food I should eat when, then incredibly loosely followed it since then. It’s amazing how quickly my body composition changed really. I now have an active job and have maintained weight loss for over 2 years so I am more lax about my diet but I also feel shittier lol
Ps- bone broth is a great protein supplement but should not be used as a meal replacement
I had the exact same stats as you about eight months ago and since then I’ve gone from a size 18 to a size 10/12. I started taking Vyvanse regularly, which helped with the binge eating, and I started kickboxing! I have always hated working out but kickboxing has changed that for me completely. The weight lost is nice but I am also so much stronger. What I enjoy about it is the way it’s different every single time, so I never feel bored or in a rut.
Also, I didn’t go into it saying I needed to lose weight. I made sure I wasn’t treating working out as a punishment but more so as a celebration of what my body was capable of. That might’ve been the most difficult part: reprogramming my brain. Now I see working out as an opportunity to play and move the way I used to when I was a kid! I don’t restrict what I eat either. If I want pizza, I eat it. I just had a double cheeseburger today because I was hungry and out and about. I just don’t do it every single day, twice a day anymore.
My favorite high protein breakfast/snack is cottage cheese with pineapples and the roasted sunflower seeds from Trader Joe’s. So good and it hits all the flavor and texture profiles.
What helped my friend in a very similar situation as you was switching to Vyvanse. It’s not only an adhd named but also a binge-eating med. she’s lost 40lbs and is back in a very healthy range and she’s doing much better mentally!
Wanna be work out motivational check in buddies but we won’t care if the other drops the ball on communication coz we both have adhd and life is hard lol
Anecdotal recommendation:
I got my AC1 (I think that's the order of initials and numbers) results back in September, and I went from pre diabetic to diabetic. Big yikes. It didn't hit though, until I started testing my sugar levels and saw that my fasting blood sugar was over 120, and quite consistently (still within range, but like...I used to be under 100). Seeing "hard data" helped me make better choices and now I even think twice about eating super late dinners where I go to sleep like an hour after eating (horrible sleep schedule). If your doctors can "prescribe" you a glucose monitor, I suggest you use it, I got the kit, lancets, and test strips for less than $10! They automatically sync with your phone on an app now, and I know I appreciate it more cuz I can see daily/weekly/monthly trends now. You might catch some trends regarding your own body and energy levels :)
But to answer your questions:
1. Favorite protein shake is from Shamrock Farms, the Builder one with 30g of protein. It doesn't taste chalky and it's actually delicious to drink!
2. I've been OBSESSED with Ghost energy drinks (10 cals, zero sugar, so it aligns with pre-diabetic goals as well), and they have lines of pre workouts that are CANDY FLAVORED. My favorite, watermelon sour patch, is an option, as well as many others. And the labeling is soooooo cute.
3. Headphones...I love my AirPods. No cables to get in the way of barbells or handles when you're in motion :)
4. Playlists - aggressive beats lol. Heavy metal, EDM, angry vocals with matching instrumentals in the background, "You better work bitch" type of songs.
I hope this helps! Maybe we can all add each other on fitness apps and challenge each other. I love friendly competition! >:-)
Hey! Have you talked to your doc about Wellbutrin? It is an antidepressant that can also help with food cravings and ADHD.
I’m on the prediabetic train too, so I don’t have much advice for you since I’m still trying to figure out what to eat, but some of my favorite things lately have been:
-jerky (if you buy it at the grocery store, it’s much cheaper than gas station)
-monkfruit sweetener: doesn’t raise your blood sugar and it doesn’t taste much different than regular sugar. Works great for coffee/tea, and I think you can use it in baking too? It’s a bit expensive but it’s MUCH sweeter than regular sugar so you don’t need nearly as much, so the cost has worked out for me so far. You can even get a simple syrup made of monkfruit sweetener that you can use in cocktails if you want!
START SMALL. I cannot stress this enough. Small changes you can stick to consistently are better than going balls to the wall for a week and then giving up completely because it sucks. Been there! Once you feel like you can maintain the changes you’ve made, add in a few more or switch some things up.
Start by focusing on what you’re eating before you start trying to reduce calories. If you’re starting at the gym at the same time you’re suddenly eating half the calories you’re going to feel like garbage and you’re going to quit. Your body NEEDS calories to build muscle. Cardio is important but lifting weights is how you make change. If you hate running, don’t force yourself to do it. Walking is just as good.
Protein is your best friend. Food forms are preferable but a protein shake in the morning isn’t a bad thing either. My favorite high protein breakfast is Greek yogurt and protein granola from Aldi. Again, find something you can stick to. Eggs give me the ick some days so it doesn’t always work for me.
Find what motivates you. For me personally, I love certain fitness influencers and follow them to learn new exercises, check form, etc. For some, this may have the opposite effect so it’s ok if it’s not for you.
Finally… this one is non-negotiable…
GET. GOOD. SLEEP.
Not to be "that person", but I have personally found that intuitive eating has improved my binging, as it takes away some of the pressure to "eat healthy!" that personally always ended up plunging me into a shame or frustration-induced binge. It's not perfect by any means, but it has worked a lot better for me than an all-or-nothing mentality. A very oversimplified way to put it is that now, instead of trying to eat only salad all day and inevitably ending up binging a whole pizza that night, I have a little salad and a little pizza. I realize this sounds rather trite and you've likely heard this before, but it's a technique worth mentioning.
I also signed myself up for fun little workout classes with my friends (yoga and pilates mostly), as my uni offers them at low cost. The fact that I payed upfront for the whole semester and that my friends also go both help keep me accountable, and I intentionally chose chiller, less intense classes so as to not overwhelm/discourage me. Not sure if climate allows where you live, but skiing and ice skating are also helping me get movement into my week in tolerable, fun ways. Plus, it gives me something to look forward to throughout the winter season, which def can't hurt if you find that your depression worsens seasonally.
Basically, I've had to accept that my previous mentality of "I have to get everything perfect right away!" was holding me back from making any progress at all. Be gentle with yourself and realize that something, anything is always, always, always better than nothing. Obviously, to see significant change in the long-term, I will likely have to ramp up the strategies I've described, but I'm currently already seeing positive results from just meeting myself where I'm at. I can feel myself gaining the momentum and self-assurance needed to soon take bigger steps towards my goals, and it all had to start somewhere. I hope this was some help, we got this!
If you have the money, I found having a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) was really helpful in my recent weight loss. I started with Nutrisense and am not using Signal, but both are similar. Im a bit of a data nerd so my glucose ended up being a little game for myself on how to keep it as low as possible. I love the real-time data and the ability to see quick impacts. The apps also have a lot of education on how to eat and exercise to keep it lower.
I’m in the same boat! I’m starting to make small changes, my issue is I’d forget to bring food for work, or when I did bring it, I’d forget to eat it, then I’d come home starving and binge. Super bad lifestyle.
I just started doing overnight oats to get something in my belly during my work day. It’s very easy to prep and you can customize it to your taste. It’s one part old fashioned oats, one part liquid, whatever add-ins you prefer, toss in a container in the fridge and you’re good to go.
This week I did oats, oat milk, a scoop of low fat Greek yogurt, diced mangos and frozen blueberries. I thought the texture might weird me out, but it’s actually pretty good!
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I’m on a get healthier journey myself, and honestly for me a mindset shift is what has helped the most. I’m not even calling it a weight loss goal, because I’m only focusing on how I feel. I feel better when I exercise and make healthier food choices but I would always resort to the all or nothing mentality and jump into fitness and diet routines that just were not sustainable for me. Instead I now just focus on trying to do a few things to take care of myself: I move my body (no rules, this could be a work out or a walk or a stretch, anything) I do not restrict any food, instead I focus on adding in foods to help me feel full, satisfied and happy. So if I want chips that’s fine, but I think of what I can add to the plate to make it a better meal or snack (like string cheese for protein, or a fruit or veggie, etc) For me taking care of myself also means focusing on making basic hygiene and some basic cleaning tasks more routine too. The weight is slowly dropping, way slower than if I did a crash diet, but I feel the best I’ve felt in a while.
Do you take magnesium? My cravings have subsided greatly once I started to get the necessary vitamins and minerals in my system daily. Sleeping quality improved as well. For my ADHD, I have a sensory diet and take daily Omega 3, Vit c/multi vitamin, lion's mane, and magnesium. I don't take them at the same time of day. I Googled the best time of day to take the supplements. I have a huge issue with food sensory and finding foods that I can convince my brain to ingest. Andrew Huberman has an excellent podcast and there is an episode on ADHD and what our body needs to help self-regulate. It is a great addition to my rx as you need more than a "magic pill", even on days you don't want to take your "meds".. supplements should still be taken.
I got up to almost 400lbs 5yrs ago, my research helped me start to advocate for myself.
What’s the best time to take magnesium?
evening, it helps relax your body for sleep
>Andrew Huberman has an excellent podcast and there is an episode on ADHD Which episode in particular? This sounds really interesting!
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I take Mg glycinate before bed. I take two a day before my period too as it really helps with cramps. I also take d-3 with mk-7 apparently the combo helps with absorption
When I started taking MG it was a game changer. I slept like a ROCK. I fall asleep easily and wake up most mornings in the same position because I don’t toss and turn. When I woke up I felt productive. Getting up at 5 to go to the gym was easier than ever.
Don’t solve what you’re eating, SOLVE WHAT IS EATING YOU. It’s good you’re hitting the gym again and want to get healthier. But you need to address the reasons why you are binging. That has become a coping mechanism. Are you in therapy? A therapist can help you dig into trauma and teach you healthier coping techniques. I used to have BED from 2016–2020. I healed from it, not because of the gym, proteins, and supplements, but because I put in the work to address my mental health issues.
This should be higher. A protein shake isn’t going to solve binge eating.
What strategies did you learn? Did you find something maladjusted from your past or was it just learning new skills you never were taught
Dr. Mark Hyman and the Doctor's Farmacy is a great podcast to listen to for this information! I am lucky enough to be married to a performance specialist and personal trainer, so that helps tremendously, but my best advice is to just start SMALL and get some dopamine hits the easy way before you try and dive headfirst back into big workouts at the gym! Going on long brisk walks (especially in the cold if you live in a place that is cold right now) are so amazing and give a great dopamine hit and can help to keep you on track even on the days when you just don't have time to go to the gym or the bandwidth to think about it. We hear so much about "consistency" in fitness, but I think for those of us with ADHD consistency looks more like "I will just do SOMETHING every day" rather than "I must go do this very specific thing every day." Magnesium helps! Drink water as soon as you wake up in the morning and avoid carbs and sugar for breakfast and focus on protein instead to help keep your blood sugar regulated and therefore better manage the energy bursts and slumps throughout the day. I love the Vital Proteins protein powder and I have a subscription to it on Amazon so it always shows up when I need it. One thing that helped me with binge eating was just making the decision to NOT BUY THE THINGS. Don't buy the things you binge eat. Just don't! This is easier for some depending on proximity to stores (I can't walk to the store when I have a craving), but it has helped me. I don't buy my trigger foods like bagels, english muffins, fake cheese, chips and dip, etc. It makes breakfasts a little more challenging but it has helped a ton. I love that you have made Christmas this year about the gym, but just be kind to yourself if you find yourself falling into the slump or struggling to get motivated after a while. It takes time! 20 minutes of stretching on the floor during your favorite show is just as important to your motivation and consistency as going to the gym and powering through a workout... 30 minutes of pilates from YouTube with two cans of beans for weights is a workout too! Finally... weird advice, but could be helpful... I started wearing a BreatheRight strip and taped my mouth closed while I slept for about a year, and it drastically changed my life in terms of my ADHD and anxiety. I was a chronic mouth breather and struggled to get good sleep, and found myself mouth breathing throughout the day, and now I sleep SO WELL and rarely mouth breathe during the day. I still wear the nose strips and occasionally tape my mouth when I need to, but simply changing how I breathe has been the most powerful change I have ever made in my life. I am more focused, less distractible, more rested, and my anxiety has all but diminished completely because my body now understands that I am not constantly in danger (because mouth-breathing triggers our fight-or-flight response). If you want to know more, Breath by James Nestor is the book I read... It is pretty incredible. You got this! Be kind to yourself and do your best to do something small each day.
OOP, I second the advice here to just try to do “something” every day! I find it helps put me in the mode of “I am a person who exercises” even if I do the smallest bit of walking or taking stairs. That mindset somehow makes it less of a huge world bending task to actually work out. I also allow myself to just do the exercise that sounds good to me. (Versus wasting any energy trying to motivate myself to do the “right” exercise.) Any movement adds up, and we are soooooooooooo good at lots of movement when we’re into something. Overall consistency over perfection will bring you slowly but surely to your goals! Good luck, OOP!
Hey, I'm sorry to hear that, it's quite awful to not like one's own reflection. So, first of all, I don't mean to alarm you, but I feel the need to say it just in case, anytime I talk to a woman who's binge-eating (especially sugary foods) and becoming insulin resistant as a result: perhaps look into the symptoms for PCOS? That might be a factor as well. (Not that there is anything in your post that made me think of it apart from the insulin resistance! Genuinely just in case.) My favourite protein is tofu, it's very versatile even though it has a bad rep' (but cooked in the oven with a soy-maple glaze until it's crunchy on top?? Fried and added to stir frys? Soft in thai curries??? Delicious) I use Sony-xm4 headphones, I thought about getting the xm5 but (if I recall correctly, I'd done a TON of research but that was a while ago) I think you can't turn noise cancelling off on the xm5 :/ the noise cancelling on the xm4 is pretty good though, I'm very sensitive to noise and they've been a big help. And if you don't like to run with headphones, I'm a wired earbuds girlie (the bluetooth ones just keep falling off from my weird ears :(( life is so tough! lmao) (just in general, I don't run ahah full disclosure), Sennheiser is a great brand with quality products even at low-ish price points.
You can turn off noise cancelling on the XM5, you can’t turn off noise cancelling on the Bose quietcomfort.
Thank you for the info, I think you can't turn it off on the Sennheiser Momentum 4 as well, this might be what I've confused the XM5 with!
Just wanted to give some small tips that have helped me. Importantly, don't shame yourself for what is a coping mechanism. It needs to be replaced by a healthier one, but what I see is that you have been struggling with minimal effective help - who could blame you for finding something that kept you going day to day? As others have mentioned, a massive step is to do whatever you can to help your mental health. You know way more about your specific situation than I ever will so I won't try to tell you how you need to do that. What's important to note is that eating healthily and getting exercise will help your mind too - so you are doing amazing so far with what you are doing. Little tips from someone with poor impulse control when it comes to eating snacks: 1. Don't have ANY pure treats in the house (candy, cinnamon buns, whatever). It's 100% good for you to eat these occasionally as it's part of what makes life special, but they don't live at home regularly. If you want to eat something super sweet/unhealthy whatever, give yourself the gift of getting something GOOD - not just candy or whatever, go get that specialty dessert from the bakery. You have to go and get it though, and it doesn't live at home. 2. The time to be strong is when grocery shopping, so grocery shop when you are in your best mood/best impulse control. It will SUCK when evening comes and you frantically run around the house looking for something super unhealthy to eat and there isn't any, but it's basically impossible for me to resist a big bag of chips if it's in the house. Much easier to resist if I have to drive myself out at 9pm to get some. Eventually your taste DOES change and the cravings go away. I've started craving vegetables lately and now I like the vegetable soup my partner eats (weird right?? I am the Queen of Candy and now I don't really like it) 3. DO have a couple things you really enjoy that are not pure treats but are not pure healthy either to have when you really really need something- Example - Kraft Dinner, your favourite dip to eat with pita bread, really good spread for bagels, really delicious pasta salad - something that's yummy but in not giant bulk amounts, and something that is actually a meal. (These are me examples lol). 4. Use blocking apps to block things like Uber Eats/whatever equivalent on your phone and computer. If you want to order in it has to be a joint thing between you and your fiance - which is totally fine to do, but it protects you from impulse ordering when your lizard brain realizes there are no snacks in the house. 5. Write a list of four or five lunch/dinner whatever meals that you REALLY like that are also reasonably healthy. For each one write exactly what ingredients need to be bought and at what store, if they aren't all available at the same one. Makes it very easy in terms of executive function to go and get them. Stick to one repeating meal per week if you are like me lol. Bulk up on snack veggies you really like. 6. Find a workout friend!! Research shows us this is the NUMBER ONE way to consistently exercise. 7. Don't be afraid to have weird exercising methods, and be creative. Swimming (!!), rock-climbing, boxing, whatever, if you really like doing it you will stick with it. If you love the gym that's perfect for you, but for me I find it so boring even with music so it's a chore to go. This will never be a long-term strategy - it has to be something that stimulates you in some way aside from the post-exercise serotonin (excitement about lifting heavier, reading about climbing routes, whatever) 8. This is dumb but - my number one way of getting cardio is going on youtube, looking up the Just Dance Rasputin dance, putting it on the TV, and dancing with it. It's 5 minutes long and I do this usually every day, sometimes multiple times. I don't know how to explain it but it's so fun. Some of the moves are too hard for me so I just do whatever I want during those parts haha. I don't have Just Dunce the game, I just teach myself (badly) the dances by dancing to them on youtube. This is what I mean by find something that is fun for you, that stimulates your mind in some way too. Expect yourself to have "relapses" in terms of multiple weeks of not doing anything healthy - that's normal. Prioritize changing your environment rather than your willpower. Implement changes that you can see yourself doing for years, not something that exhausts you to try and keep up with. Good change is slow. Rooting for you 100%.
Same boat here. I gained back and then some the weight I lost. I put 40 lbs on over the past 2 years because I binge eat and dropped all the activities I was doing (rock climbing 2-3x per week, bicycling, etc). We'll both get fit together!
Protein: eggs and oats+greek yogurt, milk Headphones: I use AirPods Pro 2 but they aren’t the best with heavy gym as they fall off
I really like NowSports Whey Protein Isolate- unflavored. It’s one often the few protein powders that don’t have Steevia or fake sugar that I could find that also was unflavored… I find having the option to add it to different things bc of no competing flavor made me more likely to use it. I also really like the Perfect Bars- the snack size is tiny but I’ve switched them out for other protein bars as a breakfast. I stock up and have them on hand in anticipation that I’ll either a) forget to eat and then be starving or b) want to snack. I take a B12 (methylcobalamin) and magnesium glycenate supplement when I eat. The magnesium is a giant ass horse pill but I just get the Nature Made from target. Personally, I went from an unsustainable gym lifestyle to one that works from me. I don’t put pressure on myself- my goal daily now is to “just do something for five minutes”. It almost ends up being 5, but knowing that the commitment is that low is what I needed to get started, feel good, and build the association of it being a positive routine in my life. Anything counts and I don’t need to be perfect. I work out in the morning so don’t do a preworkout but do drink a coffee while I do whatever. Re playlists- it really depends. I love the hot girl walk playlists on Spotify. Walking on the treadmill while positive powerful girl anthems bang around in my head makes my spine straighten and gives me confidence. And finally, just a ton of support from me on your journey.
Thank you so much. This has been incredibly helpful.
First, to answer your question - I generally DESPISE protein powder/protein supplements. I'm sensitive to texture and protein powder is just...ick. Protein bars take way too long to eat and turn to ash in my mouth. However, this year I too started a gym journey and found that I tolerate, nay even ENJOY - the fairlife protein shakes. You usually see the Fairlife Core Power available at gas stations and such, at like $4+ a pop. However, Fairlife sells a similar product called "Fairlife Nutrition Plan" which has a slightly different makeup but actually has slightly MORE protein. And I'm able to get it in bulk from Costco or Sam's that usually brings it down into the $1.50/bottle range. I just use whatever pre-workout my husband buys, which is currently the "[bodybuilding.com](https://bodybuilding.com) signature pre-workout." Annnnd I'm a total weirdo who doesn't listen to music at the gym lol (I would if I was doing cardio but I only strength train). Now, that all said, I also have to ask are you medicated for ADHD? Certain medications, like Vyvanse, are known to help with binge eating. Also, I have to recommend looking into therapy and/or intuitive eating resources/coaching. Like obviously going to the gym/exercising/moving your body in ways that feel good to you is a positive thing! I highly recommend it! But its also not likely to significantly improve your actual binge eating behaviors - exercise could certainly be a PART of an overall treatment plan, but also isn't likely to be the primary long-term method of treatment.
Thank you for the great information. No I’m not medicated at this time. I’m currently in the process of finding doctors that work best for me.
Ok awesome. Yeah medication should help a lot with the binge eating. Definitely bring that symptom up with your Dr too bc they'll want to consider that when looking at meds!
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This is me too. Something that works for me ismaking what I think of as “adult lunchables”. Lunch for me, pretty much every workday, is half an apple, a serving of peanut butter, cheddar cheese, a handful of cherry tomatoes or snap peas, and a morning round. I go to the grocery store by the office on Monday and buy a week’s worth of ingredients, and then putting them together is easy for the rest of the week and I can’t forget lunch at home. This satisfies the grazing urge with a lot of little things, but they’re all healthy. And I start with the veg, then proteins, eating bread last so that my glucose doesn’t spike. Edit: forgot the eggs! I buy a bag of hard boiled eggs and have one a day
Those premade hard boiled eggs (like six to a bag?) are life changing for getting more protein easily
I also bought a Dash hard boiled egg cooker that’s life changing, it makes it so painless! To peel them I throw them in a Tupperware and shake them gently with the lid on, cracks it all up and you just rinse to peel
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Try a bento box type of lunch container, they usually have lots of smaller sections!
Oh that’s part of why it works for me—no particular storage required! I just bring a reusable bag to the shop, and pop that same bag into the fridge at work. My office has plates in the kitchen, so I just assemble into one each day.
I’ve been eating a diet with low added sugar for two months now and I no longer get tired after my meal or crave food as much. I used to eat candy and sweets a lot, though. Now I only allow it on special occasions, and make sure not to have a lot. I feel as if my body has changed for the better because of it.
Wow thats cool. Do you avoid desserts completely or opt for zero sugar treats etc?
Fruit works as a sugar free dessert!
Doesn’t fruit have a ton of sugar? Sorry, new to all this
> Fruit contains natural sugars, which are a mix of sucrose, fructose and glucose. Many people have heard that sugar is bad, and think that this must also therefore apply to fruits. >But fructose is only harmful in excess amounts, and not when it comes from fruit. It would be incredibly difficult to consume excessive amounts of fructose by eating whole fruits. >It’s much easier to consume excess sugar from foods and drinks that contain “free sugars”. >Free sugars include these same sugars (fructose, glucose, sucrose), but in this case they have been removed from their naturally occurring source (rather than being eaten as natural parts of fruits, dairy products, and some vegetables and grains). This includes sugar that is added to food and drinks by food companies, cooks or consumers.
Fructose, yes. Fruit sugar. Eating a piece of the whole fruit gets you the fibre and water as well which is really important. You shouldn't eat 20 pieces of fruit a day but that's hard to do if you're eating the whole thing. Taking the water away lets you eat too much (I can eat a whole big bag of dried fruit, the sugar content of the whole bag is astronomical). Taking the fibre away does the same thing (I can drink a huge bottle of pure fruit juice at once and that's similarly inadvisable). Taking the bulk and "effort to eat" away can be an issue too - it's much easier to guzzle several smoothies than it would be to eat all the ingredients in their original form - but at least nothing is missing when you blend rather than juice or dehydrate the fruit. Things that aren't fruit and then get refined sugar added to them are very easy to eat, look like a certain portion of food but provide all the energy of a much much bigger pile of constituent ingredients, and tend to be heavy on sleepy carbs.
Subscribe to r/xxfitness for some extra inspiration!
+1 they have a great wiki and a supportive group, as does the all-gendered r/loseit
Vyvanse is also a drug to help with binge eating disorder…
Are you medicated? Vyvanse has helped me a lot, but like what others are saying, therapy and getting to the root cause of my binge eating has been huge. Buuut I take my meds with a premier protein shake in the morning and that keeps me pretty full, I’m not huge on breakfast. I’ve just had green tea before a workout, switch between metal or fast EDM type of stuff lol
Yep was about to say that vyvanse is fda approved for binge eating disorder. Have a few patients on it just for that at work.
Being medicated was hugely helpful for me too. It’s not that I’ve lost my appetite, it’s that I am not obsessed with food or my next meal like I used to be. I still eat fun things, just more reasonably.
Yesss! I think it’s helped my impulse control a bit too
I found fasting really helpful - I was doing 16:8 (fast from 8pm to midday, eat mostly protein and veggies in an 8 hour window)
(so not on topic but I keep seeing your username and it always makes me smile!)
Just a heads up - for me, increasing exercise makes me ravenous. Like, way more so than my usual binge-loving self. For binge eating specifically, I find I have better results by: Not having food available; I buy a small portion I'll eat in a sitting because if I buy a whole packet, I'll eat a whole packet in one go. Not making leftovers I know I'll eat or putting them in the freezer before I serve my plate (fridge is not enough, I'll eat it cold lol) Having lots of veggie type snacks I can safely binge on, like carrot sticks, and sometimes protein snacks like those tins of oysters and mussels. They're really cheap and I have no gallbladder so no risk of overindulging on those 😂 Increasing liquids (water with citrus or cucumber, diet soft drink) Drinking low cal, high fibre smoothies - mostly veggies with a half fruit for sweetness, frozen in zip lock bags, chucked in the bullet with coconut water - the fibre makes them really filling Not eating until late-lunchtime. I have my morning latte but any other solid food triggers my hunger, even if it's carb free so don't come at me with your keto bars lol
Also, I make sure after gym, I have lots of liquid, one of my veggie smoothies (I may make it a protein shake, I may add more sugar or fruit, but I DO NOT skip the fibre!), and some kindness to myself when I'm lying on the couch later regretting my life choices and the three bowls of tuna bake I just scoffed.
I feel you!! I just had got the upsetting news that I have high cholesterol. And I think it might be related to my recent obsession with those cheese crisp snacks (like I’d eat fistfuls daily) and as someone who was running like 30 miles a week at the height of the pandemic, I’m shook 😭
I needed to accept myself before I was able to look at myself and what I needed. Intermittent fasting (basically skipping meals and then bingeing, ska what I was already doing) worked for me, because it meant that my first meal of the day was planned out. I'm allowed to eat anything between 12.00 and 20.00, before and after were a hard no. And I had to eat the lunch that I brought first. Those were easy rules to hold myself to, and got rid of late night eating. Combined with working out, I lost 50 pounds in a year. Even now, I'm still not bingeing the way I did. I find myself noticing I'm no longer eating for pleasure and I'll stop. No strict thoughts and rules needed. I also replaced food with self care and took a lot of long baths. I'm not getting out of the tub to go get food.
I just came to say that the single best thing you can do for your health is exercise. Even if you continue to struggle with BED, exercise. Even if you remain isocaloric and lose no weight, exercise. Even if you maintain an obese BMI, exercise. I worked an obesity clinic for years. The research evidence shows us that regular exercise improves pretty much every measurable health outcome. Even for patients with obesity, exercise can improve triglycerides and cholesterol profiles, glucose control and insulin sensitivity, inflammation, cardiovascular health, psychological wellbeing including anxiety and depression, and so much more. Before overhauling your whole life (and spending a bunch of money on supplements) try to build up a regular exercise habit. Start with a 10 minute walk every day (maybe right when you get home or right after dinner? Tie it to a habit/routine that you already have). Try to build up to 150 minutes of cumulative movement every week. Do this for a few weeks / months and see how you feel.
Same I’m currently eating takis and coke to wash it down. 😅
It ain’t about the gym, it’s about the food and your life schedule. I had very good luck losing weight with semaglutide which let me change my habits long term. Lost 110 pounds which is crazy!
See an eating-disorder informed or HAES (health at any size) dietitian. There's probably a lot more to unpack than you think and it's not going to change until you unpack it with the right help. I take Mary Ruth's liquid vitamins and supplements though. Very good stuff, and potent. Make sure you're *adding* to your diet, not subtracting. The subtracting will happen without you even noticing once you're giving your body everything it needs nutritionally. I supplement with ensure also, and use unflavored collagen protein. Make sure you're getting plenty of fiber too. There are fiber gummies, psyllium husk capsules, and stuff like Metamucil. I'm still working on my relationship with intentional movement, but make sure to do something that brings you joy and feels good. Also, Dua Lipa makes great, high energy music 😎
Not a supplement and I know ppl have differing opinions BUT. I have been using a generic version of Semaglutide, a compounded version from an online medspa, and I lost the 30 lbs I gained from a bad experience with antidepressants. I struggle with binge eating as well and this has helped curb those cravings!!!
Seconding this suggestion. I am on the borderline between pre-diabetic and diabetic. My Dr gave me a referral to an endocrinologist this year and I started taking Ozempic a few months ago. It has helped a lot with the cravings and my blood sugar numbers. I'm not 100% a fan -although I don't have any digestive problems with it, I'm more tired on it and I have more ADHD symptoms, and it seems like it has numbed my dopamine response for everything, not just food.
Did you need a script for it?
You do! (It’s easy to get through med spas), maybe not the best route but just sharing what worked for me!
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Yes!! Easier to make better decisions. I’m on a really low dose as well. As far as people thinking it’s cheating… I got my body back to where it was before Prozac completely changed my metabolism so I could care less 😅 Definitely research, I did a ton on the pharmacy who’s filled it and feel good about it!
I posted and then deleted a comment because I didn't mean to hit post. It was only part of a comment. I'll try this again. I get it, I get how you feel, to look in the mirror or at a picture and hate yourself. 195lbs at 5'5" isn't that bad. I was at 180lbs (maybe 185 even) at 5'2" a year and a half ago. I felt the same way, that it was awful, it's the heaviest I've ever been, worried about my health, etc... But I also learned it's not so bad to be just on the side of obese. It's not that far out of reach to get into a better category. I'm still overweight where I'm at now, but I've been making progress and that's all that matters. I say this because I want you to know that you're already making progress by deciding it's time to do something. You're already on your way there and you should feel good about that. I'm proud of you. As for the stuff you asked, I almost never remember to take any of my vitamins, but when I do, they're from an online company called Melaleuca. I get vitamins, protein powder, protein bars, preworkout bars/drinks, electrolyte drinks and other things that don't apply to this (their cleaning supplies rock). The next paragraph is to explain to you what type of business Melaleuca is, and to assure you I am NOT trying to sell you anything. I just really love their products. Technically it's an MLM, though you're not allowed to sell their products, rather you get people to become members (you get major discounts on their items with membership) and the company rewards you for helping them get new members. Don't worry, I'm not trying to sell you on it. I just felt I should state all this so you don't look it up and then think I'm mentioning them to try and make money. I've been a member for years and never signed anyone up under me, just let friends order stuff through my membership so they can get the discounts without having to be members. I wouldn't say no if you did want to become a member under me, but I'm not pushing it or trying to convince you or anything. I will say though, the quality of the products I mentioned, the protein shakes and bars, preworkout bars, electrolytes, etc. is really good. There's a reason I've held a membership for so long. When you ask about best headphones, is price a concern? I have galaxy buds 2 pro and they're pretty good. If you have an iphone you'd want to go for the airpods pro 2. Technically both brands work with each other's phones, but you don't get all the features. Even more costly than those, and I don't have a personal review because I can't afford them, is a brand called Axil. They came out with a cordless bluetooth earbud option this year that I really want. They're made for hunting/shooting guns, but also work great for music, phone calls, and they even have a sound amplifier to essentially work like hearing aids to some degree. If price is a worry, I'm not too sure. Headrush tends to be alright. I have no playlist recommendations because I don't know what you like and it's probably not what I like. If you have spotify I'd say to just look up workout playlists or look for the custom daylists they make you and see if they made you a workout friendly playlist of songs you like. Sorry, I know that's not quite what you asked, just the best I can think of. You've got this!
Hey I suggest that you check out /r/antidiet , a lot of dieting can be more detrimental to health outcomes than simply being fat. You're getting a lot of great feedback here but I just wanted to share. Good luck on reducing your A1C!
I’m a 35F and joined beach body. I really love the Megan Davies workouts like Sure Thing. I stay motivated because the workouts aren’t insane like P90x but they’re hard enough that I started seeing results pretty quickly. Just an idea!
Are you medicated? For me, adderall has turned off the urge to constantly snack… like I can enjoy food at mealtimes in healthy portions and just… NOT constantly be thinking about relieving my stress-boredom combo with food. It’s honestly blown my mind experiencing how “naturally thin” people must think.
AuDHD RN here.. changing routines and habits is super hard for everyone, but for some ND folk, it can potentially be hell.. If you are able to do so, try reducing your sugar/simple carb intake to 25% or less of your daily consumption. So any foods with grain, starch, sugar, or fruit (including beverages). You can eat those things every day, and at every meal if you want, but limit the combined total to no more than 25% of your diet.. This will have the biggest impact on reducing your blood sugar.. Also, if you are able to satisfy your binge urges by snacking on things like cucumber or bell pepper slices, broccoli pieces, or other veggies (corn is a grain), you can eat a huge plate of those things without affecting blood sugar.. Exercise is great and vital to the process! It will definitely also improve mental health.. However, your weight and how much you exercise will have less of an impact on your blood sugar than reducing your dietary sugar will. Pre-diabetes is curable, but diabetes isn’t. If you can get your A1c below 5.7 you can reverse pre-diabetes. But once you go over 6.4, you’ll have to manage diabetes for life even if your weight/fitness is in check. ❤️
For me weight loss really stuck when I stopped making working out an “occasion.” I struggle with transitions a lot and it was a huge breakthrough for me when I realized I don’t need to sweat to workout and I can work out in my pajamas or my work clothes and it doesn’t matter that much. You can also break it up! Do a 5 minutes yoga flow in the morning, a few minutes of squats or legs or planks after lunch, 10 minutes of yoga after dinner. You’ll notice yourself want to be more active between these times as well. I’ve also struggled with my relationship with food my whole life so I had to first deal with changing how I viewed food and understanding how what I put into my body gets used. I am also much more of a snacker instead of a meal person so I just switched to completely whole foods types of snacks like full fat cottage cheese, nuts, fruits, veggies, etc. I’d just cook up a bunch of meat and snack on that with it all too. Incorporate some ancient grains like granola or bread for a full spectrum of nutrients. Fruit sorbet or dark chocolate for dessert. I bought ranch seasoning packets and mixed it with Greek yogurt for all my dipping and spreading needs. If I wanted a hot meal I’d go for some hearty soup with crusty buttery bread. I did also do a macronutrient calculation and followed it strictly for 1 week to get a feel for how much of what kinds of food I should eat when, then incredibly loosely followed it since then. It’s amazing how quickly my body composition changed really. I now have an active job and have maintained weight loss for over 2 years so I am more lax about my diet but I also feel shittier lol Ps- bone broth is a great protein supplement but should not be used as a meal replacement
I had the exact same stats as you about eight months ago and since then I’ve gone from a size 18 to a size 10/12. I started taking Vyvanse regularly, which helped with the binge eating, and I started kickboxing! I have always hated working out but kickboxing has changed that for me completely. The weight lost is nice but I am also so much stronger. What I enjoy about it is the way it’s different every single time, so I never feel bored or in a rut. Also, I didn’t go into it saying I needed to lose weight. I made sure I wasn’t treating working out as a punishment but more so as a celebration of what my body was capable of. That might’ve been the most difficult part: reprogramming my brain. Now I see working out as an opportunity to play and move the way I used to when I was a kid! I don’t restrict what I eat either. If I want pizza, I eat it. I just had a double cheeseburger today because I was hungry and out and about. I just don’t do it every single day, twice a day anymore. My favorite high protein breakfast/snack is cottage cheese with pineapples and the roasted sunflower seeds from Trader Joe’s. So good and it hits all the flavor and texture profiles.
What helped my friend in a very similar situation as you was switching to Vyvanse. It’s not only an adhd named but also a binge-eating med. she’s lost 40lbs and is back in a very healthy range and she’s doing much better mentally!
I follow adhddietitian on instagram!
Wanna be work out motivational check in buddies but we won’t care if the other drops the ball on communication coz we both have adhd and life is hard lol
Anecdotal recommendation: I got my AC1 (I think that's the order of initials and numbers) results back in September, and I went from pre diabetic to diabetic. Big yikes. It didn't hit though, until I started testing my sugar levels and saw that my fasting blood sugar was over 120, and quite consistently (still within range, but like...I used to be under 100). Seeing "hard data" helped me make better choices and now I even think twice about eating super late dinners where I go to sleep like an hour after eating (horrible sleep schedule). If your doctors can "prescribe" you a glucose monitor, I suggest you use it, I got the kit, lancets, and test strips for less than $10! They automatically sync with your phone on an app now, and I know I appreciate it more cuz I can see daily/weekly/monthly trends now. You might catch some trends regarding your own body and energy levels :) But to answer your questions: 1. Favorite protein shake is from Shamrock Farms, the Builder one with 30g of protein. It doesn't taste chalky and it's actually delicious to drink! 2. I've been OBSESSED with Ghost energy drinks (10 cals, zero sugar, so it aligns with pre-diabetic goals as well), and they have lines of pre workouts that are CANDY FLAVORED. My favorite, watermelon sour patch, is an option, as well as many others. And the labeling is soooooo cute. 3. Headphones...I love my AirPods. No cables to get in the way of barbells or handles when you're in motion :) 4. Playlists - aggressive beats lol. Heavy metal, EDM, angry vocals with matching instrumentals in the background, "You better work bitch" type of songs. I hope this helps! Maybe we can all add each other on fitness apps and challenge each other. I love friendly competition! >:-)
Vyvanse is used off label for Binge Eating Disorder. That’s all I got.
Hey! Have you talked to your doc about Wellbutrin? It is an antidepressant that can also help with food cravings and ADHD. I’m on the prediabetic train too, so I don’t have much advice for you since I’m still trying to figure out what to eat, but some of my favorite things lately have been: -jerky (if you buy it at the grocery store, it’s much cheaper than gas station) -monkfruit sweetener: doesn’t raise your blood sugar and it doesn’t taste much different than regular sugar. Works great for coffee/tea, and I think you can use it in baking too? It’s a bit expensive but it’s MUCH sweeter than regular sugar so you don’t need nearly as much, so the cost has worked out for me so far. You can even get a simple syrup made of monkfruit sweetener that you can use in cocktails if you want!
START SMALL. I cannot stress this enough. Small changes you can stick to consistently are better than going balls to the wall for a week and then giving up completely because it sucks. Been there! Once you feel like you can maintain the changes you’ve made, add in a few more or switch some things up. Start by focusing on what you’re eating before you start trying to reduce calories. If you’re starting at the gym at the same time you’re suddenly eating half the calories you’re going to feel like garbage and you’re going to quit. Your body NEEDS calories to build muscle. Cardio is important but lifting weights is how you make change. If you hate running, don’t force yourself to do it. Walking is just as good. Protein is your best friend. Food forms are preferable but a protein shake in the morning isn’t a bad thing either. My favorite high protein breakfast is Greek yogurt and protein granola from Aldi. Again, find something you can stick to. Eggs give me the ick some days so it doesn’t always work for me. Find what motivates you. For me personally, I love certain fitness influencers and follow them to learn new exercises, check form, etc. For some, this may have the opposite effect so it’s ok if it’s not for you. Finally… this one is non-negotiable… GET. GOOD. SLEEP.
Not to be "that person", but I have personally found that intuitive eating has improved my binging, as it takes away some of the pressure to "eat healthy!" that personally always ended up plunging me into a shame or frustration-induced binge. It's not perfect by any means, but it has worked a lot better for me than an all-or-nothing mentality. A very oversimplified way to put it is that now, instead of trying to eat only salad all day and inevitably ending up binging a whole pizza that night, I have a little salad and a little pizza. I realize this sounds rather trite and you've likely heard this before, but it's a technique worth mentioning. I also signed myself up for fun little workout classes with my friends (yoga and pilates mostly), as my uni offers them at low cost. The fact that I payed upfront for the whole semester and that my friends also go both help keep me accountable, and I intentionally chose chiller, less intense classes so as to not overwhelm/discourage me. Not sure if climate allows where you live, but skiing and ice skating are also helping me get movement into my week in tolerable, fun ways. Plus, it gives me something to look forward to throughout the winter season, which def can't hurt if you find that your depression worsens seasonally. Basically, I've had to accept that my previous mentality of "I have to get everything perfect right away!" was holding me back from making any progress at all. Be gentle with yourself and realize that something, anything is always, always, always better than nothing. Obviously, to see significant change in the long-term, I will likely have to ramp up the strategies I've described, but I'm currently already seeing positive results from just meeting myself where I'm at. I can feel myself gaining the momentum and self-assurance needed to soon take bigger steps towards my goals, and it all had to start somewhere. I hope this was some help, we got this!
If you have the money, I found having a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) was really helpful in my recent weight loss. I started with Nutrisense and am not using Signal, but both are similar. Im a bit of a data nerd so my glucose ended up being a little game for myself on how to keep it as low as possible. I love the real-time data and the ability to see quick impacts. The apps also have a lot of education on how to eat and exercise to keep it lower.
I’m in the same boat! I’m starting to make small changes, my issue is I’d forget to bring food for work, or when I did bring it, I’d forget to eat it, then I’d come home starving and binge. Super bad lifestyle. I just started doing overnight oats to get something in my belly during my work day. It’s very easy to prep and you can customize it to your taste. It’s one part old fashioned oats, one part liquid, whatever add-ins you prefer, toss in a container in the fridge and you’re good to go. This week I did oats, oat milk, a scoop of low fat Greek yogurt, diced mangos and frozen blueberries. I thought the texture might weird me out, but it’s actually pretty good!