Binge eating + Cravings after cheat days?

Yes I have seriously considered this.. They leave me incredibly vulnerable to binging now that I have gotten to a pretty low weight it seems.. I try to control it, yet my brain can't trick my body. It probably sees the cheat days as an opportunity to bring its reserves back up. Seems to be both psychological + physiological to me..

Yet a lot of leptin-based carb-cycling approaches tend to say the lower your body fat , the lower your leptin gets. Tim says that for women, menstruation stops when leptin gets too low, so 'forced overfeeding' brings these leptin levels back up 40%, only to decline after 10 days or so.

Well, my understanding is that body fat produces leptin. So of course, if there is not much body fat, there will be a lot less circulating leptin. I've also understood that the reason for cheat days while attempting to lose fat is to reset the "communication" between the leptin and the brain. Overweight folks have plenty of leptin -- lots of it -- circulating, but the brain doesn't know it's there because the sensors have been dulled. Sounds like you're already more familiar with all that than I, but the bottom line in my mind for you is that I think it might be best to try not having any cheat days for a while because it simply sounds too frustrating.

I agree- It would help my anxiety a lot if I knew that I am staying stable and enjoying my diet/feeling healthy- not unhealthy/withdrawing from toxic sugar/wheat. Definitely keeping the cheat to a minimum from now on- maybe only once a month I will have a full 'cheat day' but otherwise I'm gonna try out just having one cheat meal every 10 days or so. I figure that less carb overload= less signals from my body for more of them, and perhaps a better metabolic effect now that I cannot afford/don't want to lose weight anymore.

I agree with Gretchen. Just ditch the cheat days. I think they are just setting you up psychologically for dysfunctional eating habits and you don't want that. Just eat as you normally do everyday and only really eat more if you say go to a social function or something, but then get back to eating the NORMAL SCD way with the healthy carbs you have in your diet now. THIS is your new way of eating. No more need to burn fat or get thinner. You are there, Sam! Enjoy eating and don't feel the need to be that strict anymore. Just concentrate on eating clean and healthy 100% of the time. No need to binge...just maintain!

I am probably gonna continue with SCD even after my goal if only because I do not think I will be at my 18% bodyfat goal by the time I lose the weight. You said you were already at 7%, so don't need to burn more fat. Just treat everyday like a SCD+healthy carbs. Listen to your body, don't listen to the cravings....remember most of them are mental...not physical. You are getting enough food, no need to binge/cheat anymore! YOu can do it! Wean yourself off the Cheat Day mentality....just eat healthy all the time!

You know, I just thought of something that could help you, Sam. But it will take several weeks or more to do. You know how if you go on a diet, your stomach capacity will shrink because you are just not eating as much? Well, how about, as Gretchen and I suggested, just don't eat anymore Cheat Day binge amounts, just eat like you normally would on SCD for several weeks. I bet that after so long your stomach will shrink enough that if you WERE to go on another binge, your stomach MAY not be able to take it physically anymore and you'd stop naturally instead of binging? Plus, just the weeks of eating SCD+a few white carbs for several weeks could snap you out of the whole cheat day mentality and into a "way of eating for life" type thing. Try it!

@Akane, thank you for your advice! I agree, I need to stick to my maintenance plan now that my weight has been stable for the last three days. It went down 0.2lbs on Tuesday, up 0.2 lbs Wednesday after adding back in an apple mid morning and a handful of berries midafternoon ( the ONLY sweet thing I allow myself- so having something healthy and sweet in small amount every day is really helpful, and I don't feel the urge to eat anymore since they are full of fibre and nutrients unlike junk) and it has stayed the same today. I'll see if it stays the same today!

Hopefully sticking to maintenance for the next few weeks will rid my body of the sugar addiction by letting it get used to maintenance- I'll keep you posted on how it goes over the next few weeks.

So hopefully it should be as simple as it currently is- that I am able to eat beans with every meal, a sweet potato or some other low-glycaemic starch with lunch and an apple/handful of berries a day. This is a plan that leaves me full of energy and never hungry! The calories yesterday were 2500, so if I stay in the 2200-2500 range (depending on the day- I did a lot of activity yesterday) it'll all balance itself out

Sounds good. I think it helps to remember that SCD (near Paleo) IS "normal eating" and had been for all of man's history until we "smart ones" came along and mucked it all up with all the processed foods and sugar. So, continue eating all those things (meats, eggs, veggies, legumes and maybe a fruit here and there) with only minimal, occasional "non-foods" (chocolates, ice cream, chips/crisps etc) and you should be fine in all respects -- physically and emotionally/psychologically -- in relation to food.

I agree- once the plan becomes a habit it just comes natural to me, that's why I am vulnerable when I do hit obstacles. In a few weeks I will be able to say that I am 100% comfortable and happy/content with myself, my eating and my variation of natural foods that I love. That was the ultimate goal

Yep- crazy calorie fest for my body now means more cravings the next few days, so getting less carbs will definitely be helpful. I will try this out , but I want to go a couple of weeks without any cheats now to get all the 'addictions' and 'cravings' out of my system

Even Tim says he only goes 'hog wild' maybe once a month, so perhaps 1-2 cheat meals a month and 1 cheat day a month would be better. 'Experimental hacking' is a great way to describe this process- thanks!

you'll figure it out it just sucks to feel so crappy after all that sugary deliciousness! I have the same problem. I eat total crap and then feel like garbage but it's all i dream about all week. I'm not seeing great results doing that so i need to "experimentally hack" myself this cheat day. Let us know how it goes!

I will do! I totally agree- time to get my body off the sugar addictions once and for all! I managed to beat it for some time last year, I went 6months without any sugar and never felt better, so this time I know that I can go longer periods without 'cheats'

Thank you for your advice- I will try out the prospect of just having a cheat meal or dessert once or twice a week once my weight has been stable enough over the next few weeks- not until my sugar addictions are under control though

Tim's problem is that he didn't tell anyone how they are supposed to keep it off, he expects us to figure it out for ourselves. Ultimately this is the case, but not anywhere in the book is a section on maintaining SCD.. he also only shows what is best for fat loss, so it does underestimate people's food values too.

It'll take some time, but eventually we'll know how to maintain our body composition the way we like it

I agree that sugar addiction is like any narcotic drug addiction- you start needing more and more of it to get the same 'hit'. The higher your blood sugar goes the lower the low you hit a few hours later- which makes resisting the urge to eat more sugar extremely difficult until you get the sugar addiction in control.

The constant extreme highs and lows can lead to insulin resistance- which is not good That's why it' time to get rid of the sugar addictions once and for all- it's been 6 days, the worst is over and I'm starting to feel a lot better not eating sugar and would rather not refuel the addiction again I won't have any cheats until I can control myself with sugar

I can totally relate to yo yoing too- I got to 124lbs in July then ended up 162lbs by 15/10/11, and currently am 130lbs- where I have been holding steady in maintenance for the last few days. Overall I have lost 100lbs , but it has been through one long yo yo saga in the last 2 years.

I hate YO YO-ing!! Stop the Yo Yo NOW! For me, I call it the Rollercoaster.....STOP THE ROLLERCOASTER I WANNA GET OFF! And aboard the SKINNY EXPRESS! CHOO CHOO!

Akane, yo-yoing? From the looks of it, you're weight has been going nowhere but down. I can't believe how much you've lost. Congrats!

Yarn, I was mostly speaking of my weight loss past(before the 2011-2012 attempt) Basically from when I left college until April 2011(when I started SCD) LOTS of Yo-Yoing and rollercoaster riding going down 40, up 50 down and up......thus, I am on the Skinny Express now and it isn't stopping!

WOOO! Don't stop- you'll be at the Skinnyville station before you know it !

Indian buffets are awesome because one can get away with it on a non SCD day (just avoid the naan and rice and potatoes and pile up on their green salad). I try to steer social occasions to Indian buffets so I can eat without seeming picky about the whole low carb thing. (I've brought a giant container of mixed greens to an Indian buffet before. I asked the owner if that was alright and of course he was fine with it since I'd be eating less of his food but looked at me really funny)

Thank you for your kind response! I realize that sugar/carb addiction is exactly the same as a drug addiction- except that sugar/carbs are completely legal and the temptation is always everywhere.

The main thing is that we DON'T want to eat them- but we can't help it unless we get the addiction under control. We WILL get the addiction under control -it just takes patience, motivation and willpower to get there. But beating the addiction it is so worth it!