[IsobelRose22]

Hi Ladies,

I have been going through a pretty stressful time recently. What with family illness, and serious upheaval at work. As a result I have been stuffing my face with chocolate, crisps, sweets and all the bad stuff. I need help. What do you guys use as inspiration? what do you do when you are struggling to snap yourself out of a spiral of bad eating???

[Melonlefey]

Honestly? I throw it all away. All the chips, cookies, chocolate etc and then I don't buy any more (I'll leave my debit card at home if I have to!) because I am WEAK and when I get started there's no end in sight.

The first few days of forced healthy eating always sucks, but after I get into the groove of things its not so bad.

I've also printed out pictures of people making disapproving faces (I used comics characters, but you could use who ever makes you feel guilty haha) and taped them to the cupboards and the fridge to remind myself not to eat junk. That was one of the weirder methods, but hey, it worked

[Pattience]

Its going to be different in different situations. For me, i get disgusted with myself when i get to be too fat.

but if i'm in a binging groove and with no stress that might not work. Self disgust seems to be the only thing i've managed to use to switch gear. And it usually still takes a few days to prepare.

The last time - about two months ago, i was in a regular non stressful binge period. IT was new year and i was coming back from one town and planning to head to the supermarket to buy some lollies because i was hungry. I hadn't even eaten breakfast yet. Then i thought NO, no more. This year i am going to be good all year, lose this weight and not eat anymore rubbish. i went to visit my friend instead where i had a cup of coffee and a piece of christmas cake for breakfast. That took care of the immediate hunger and i went straight home and haven't looked back since.

I don't eat sugary foods at all. I am no good with moderation.

[mars735]

Originally Posted by IsobelRose22

Hi Ladies,

I have been going through a pretty stressful time recently. What with family illness, and serious upheaval at work. As a result I have been stuffing my face with chocolate, crisps, sweets and all the bad stuff. I need help. What do you guys use as inspiration? what do you do when you are struggling to snap yourself out of a spiral of bad eating???

I feed myself, but with "real" food instead of the candy, pastry, crisps, full-of-sugar-fat-salt food. If you need to turn to food for comfort--and who doesn't sometimes?--eating a roasted chicken, even an entire one, will fill you up and not leave you hung over on a sugar-insulin roller coaster craving even more. It's also easier to move toward eventually eating less, than going cold turkey after indulging in sugar-laced foods.

[EnglishMcTeach]

-Throw out bad food that's opened or give away to a food pantry if it's still sealed in a package.
-For me, meditation (From Sharon Salzberg's book) really helped. I realized after I started meditating that practicing "being in the moment" helped to stop my eating too fast, binge eating, or otherwise not having good eating habits. (The book isn't even designed for this problem). The thing that helped the most from meditation was that you focus on what's going on right now as opposed to "oh this bite was pretty good I can't wait for the next one" that led me on a path to eat too much.
-Try to think about things differently, if needed try talk therapy. Especially with stressful problems, it's hard not to internalize and start with negative thoughts or unhealthy actions. Observe your emotions, but don't judge yourself for having them.

[Dottington]

Whenever I get off track several things help:

1. For ME its difficult if I've been out of the swing of things to go completely back to eating and exercising perfectly so I try to make weekly goals to get me back on track. Starting with something small and doable(like planing meals for the week, exercising 15 min a day act) builds up my confidence and makes me feel like getting back on track is possible. Others might have success with tossing everything away and getting 100% back on plan in one go, but idk doesn't seem to work for me. Too much pressure and then when I ultimately fail because its too much to deal with I will go back into a spiral of poor eating choices.

2. Logging in here everyday. Whenever I'm doing poorly this really helps.

3. Logging all calories even if I'm off plan. For me, its easy to ignore the damage if I don't log the calories. I force myself to log the calories no matter what and that makes it more real and forces me to be aware.

4. Daily weighing. This is a tricky one and for some people it really messes with their heads which is why its important to really pick and choose which works best for YOU. For me, daily weighing is really useful and I have a chart to log my fluctuations and have one official weigh in day. When I stop weighing, the damage seems less real. I am always at least a little better with my choices when weighing daily.

5. Joining a challenge. Challenges are very helpful to me on here. I don't have anyone in real life who's interested in being healthy or supporting me so I find support and motivation from people on this site

Best of luck

[IsobelRose22]

Thank you so much everyone I really appreciate it and will take on board all of your wonderful tips and idea's x