[pghchick]

I had an urge to binge this evening as I was in a high-risk binge situation. I was sooooo close to yielding to the urge but then thought about what it would feel like to not give in. And I recognized that the urge is just a response from a pre-wired habit. I decided to sit with the binge feeling and I would not die by not acting on it. And I knew that it might return again but that is ok. Because I don't have to act. AND I DIDN'T.
This is just a small victory but most of my success with not binging has to do with not having urges rather than learning to ignore the urges. I have been on a search to find ways to reduce frequency of binge urges but learning to ignore the urge IMO, is key to long-term success.

Here are the strategies I've used to decrease urges to binge..some have actually been helpful, some neutral, and some destructive.
-Eat one McDonalds ice cream cone everyday
-Went on a strict clean eating diet free of all simple sugars
-Eat breakfast
-Eat several meals per day
-Keep all foods that are not on "the list" out of the house (this helps but when the binge monster makes an appearance I am out the door, car keys in hand)
-Therapy
-Drink pots of coffee
-very strict eating schedules
-Eating most calories at night
-Medication
-Throwing food in the trash (learned that it needs to be flushed down the toilet or thrown in the garbage disposal)
-Pack my schedule with activities including a rigorous exercise schedule
-At my lowest I thought if I bought scrubs that were fitted it would keep me accountable to never gain weight-this one backfired big time
-Boosting my self-esteem by getting a nice tan or a haircut-works for like one day
-Using weight loss as motivation (it works in the short term but the flip side is that weight gain is a de-motivator)
-Buying smaller clothing to motivate me to stick to the plan
-I was a bridesmaid in a wedding and purposely bought the dress a size too small so I would be forced to put the brakes on the binging

I am not making fun of all of these because some are actually good however, I have done some nutty things to avoid binging. Feel free to list some of the crazy things you've done to keep you from binging/derailing. This is not meant to be mean, just learning to laugh a little.

[mars735]

You are inspiring!

[Locke]

This sounds like a technique from Brain Over Binge. I love that book!

[Palestrina]

It's great that you were able to sit with that urge, sometimes we call that surfing the urge. Doing IE I've learned more and more to follow my cues rather than ignore them because in my case they do come back with a vengeance. A binge can be hard to control, I know! And sometimes the best I can do is to just eat what I want uncontrollably. Sometimes when I'm being kinder to myself I allow myself to eat what I want on the condition that I eat it mindfully. My binges have gone way way down honestly since employing IE techniques and overall I feel like I'm making progress. It's the anxiety that gets to me ultimately so I'm addressing that too.

In reading your post I read some very destructive thoughts and recognized them as I've had them myself. I'm not sure which you think are good and which you're having a chuckle at but I think the following list of phrases is not something we should be saying to our enemies let alone ourselves. The bulk of my mental focus is spent on trying to counter these types of thoughts:

"a strict clean eating diet"
"very strict eating schedules"
'a rigorous exercise schedule"
"keep me accountable"
"motivate me to stick to the plan"
"so I would be forced to"

When you pick and choose these out it sounds like you're talking about rehabilitating a criminal, doesn't it?

[pghchick]

Wannabeskinny- No I totally recognize those thoughts to be destructive. I don't exercise for weight loss (more like when I need it mentally), I haven't weighed myself in 4 months, and I do not count calories. The only ones that I consider helpful is like keeping binge foods out of the house, therapy, and going to get an ice cream cone if I really want something sweet. And it does sound like rehab for criminals. haha.