Had the most stressful week at work and stopped calorie counting. I ate whatever I wanted, which, at the moment, was blissful. Now I'm facing reality with the fact that I've gained back 4 lbs.

I'm back to it today, I'm going to try and flush my system with lots of water and as many fresh, whole foods as I can and lose that weight (and more!)

I'm thinking I need to stock up on super low cal snacks so that I can binge on those and not kill my diet.

How do you deal with stress and the urge to binge?

Find other mechanisms to cope; take a walk, a bath, paint your nails.....somthing that gets your mind off of food.

While I do think that stocking up on good snacks is a great idea, I dont think that allowing yourself to binge on them is.

I am a binge eater also, and its the whole act of bingeing, regardless of what the food is, that should be addressed.

Good luck to you!

Another binge/stress eater here! First of all, congratulations for catching yourself at 4lbs. You can get that off in no time. I think you are in a good mindset to get back on track. You are self aware and can see a pattern here, and that is amazing! I agree with finding other distractions like exercise, listening to music/movies, getting dolled up, trying on clothes in your closet that are a bit snug as motivation...

Good luck!

I agree with the others: Try not to binge at all (although I definitely can relate!). Sometimes, when the urge to binge strikes, I sit down, take a few deep breaths & let them out slowly. I imagine positive emotions coming into those deep breaths (I pick specific ones that I need---contentment, hope, etc.) and negative emotions going out (e.g., bitterness, sadness, etc.). I know that sounds really new-agey and hokey, but it actually helps to relieve my stress, slow me down, and make it less likely for me to turn to food for comfort.

I've been going through this a lot lately, and have had some epic fail days. I'm on maintenance now.

But, when I was in weight-loss mode, I was amazingly good for months at a time. When it was working, I think part of it was due to the fact that I allowed myself to have large or unlimited quantities of certain things...

Nonstarchy vegetables. There are some that I absolutely love, like zucchini & mushrooms cooked on a George Foreman grill with a little Mrs. Dash. When I eat this, I eat a huge plateful. When I eat a spinach salad, I have a very large bowl of it! (What would be considered a small serving bowl, not a dinner-size bowl.) I count it as one serving, even though I know it is more than that. It's vegetables, and I'm not going to get fat getting full on vegetables.

If I absolutely must have the experience of eating ice cream out of the carton, I buy myself a pint of Arctic Zero. It's not as delicious as ice cream, but I want the quantity, not the quality at moments like this. It's about 150 calories, which is the amount I usually eat for a nighttime dessert anyway. So it feels like binging, but no harm done.

I allow myself as many cinnamon Altoids as I want, but I try not to bite or chew them -- I let them dissolve in my mouth. They are so strong, it prevents me from eating so many that the calories add up. They basically wear out my taste buds so I don't want to eat any more!

The rest of the time, I eat moderately, but when I get the urge to "binge," I realize that it's quantity I want, so these tricks help.

Everyone's different, and I know this would not work for some people.

I'm gonna do the zucchini mushroom thing tonight, I'm pretty sure.