I was wondering how many of you would consider yourself to have trouble with compulsive eating, binge eating or just plan emotional eating. If so what are some of the tips you have learned to deal with these issues? Can you recommend any good books on the topic that you have found helpful?
I know for myself there is a large emotional component in my weight problem. I really tend to binge when I am under stress. I have notice recently that much of this stress is internally generated. I tend to get into a mind set that my weight loss efforts are never good enough. For example if I work out for 30 minutes a day I think it should have been an hour. If I eat 1500 calories a day I hate myself for not eating 1200. I will do this to myself until I feel in total despair and will then binge.
I caught myself up again like this the other day. I realized how destructive that whole pattern is and how I really tend to disregard all my best efforts as if they were nothing. I decided to spend each day paying attention to all the things I do that help myself instead of deciding that no matter what it is it's not good enough. I have actively worked at recalling all the other very tough situations I have overcome in my life. For example I quit drinking 14 years ago and also quit smoking. I recalled during those times when it was the hardest I just kept working at the problem until there no longer was a problem. There was actually a time in my life when I could not believe I would ever be able to get through a day without a drink. I could not even picture what life would be like as a sober person. If anyone would have told me I would have 14 years of sobriety someday I would never have believed them. I recalled what an incredible amount of tenacity I have and all the areas of my life where this have served me well.
It seems to easy to get discouraged when you have a large amount of weight to lose. I think we all wish it could just fall off all at once or at least come off more easily. It is easy to look at how far there is to go instead of how far we have come and how strong we have been in our efforts.