Emotional Housecleaning
 

I have been off on a huge binge the past coupe weeks :(

I want to get back on the horse and try again though. I'm trying to get my mind set to get myself going. When I say ok I'm starting tomrrow, I start craving something and saying, ok this is the last time...the next day.

I'm going to have to just cut myself off and make it happen! What do you guys do to give yourselves a push to get back on track?

I feel your pain. :)

What I try to do is think of little ways that will help me lose weight. Like, maybe for the week for beverage choices you could stick to drinking water or milk. My brother swears that if you give up diet soda and regular soda, you'll lose 20 lbs in a year.

Once you feel comfortable doing that for awhile, try increasing your fiber. Find some new recipes that are healthy, high in protein or fiber. When I focus on all the things I should be eating (vegetables, protein, lean meat, fruit, fiber,etc) I don't feel deprived.

Oh yeah and try to stop eating at 7:30 p.m. for the day. Oh and you could eat a healthy cereal every day like Total— just stay within the serving size.

All the small changes will add up.

This may sound hokey, but I come up with a mental mantra too. Right now mine is "Try Harder." I saw someone else's around here that I really liked too: Dieting is hard. Maintenance is hard. Being fat is hard. Pick your hard.

I've definitely had my share of "false starts" losing weight, but this time I want to be thin and healthy so badly! I even keep a picture of Sarah Jessica Parker from a GAP ad on my bulletin board to remind me of how much fun clothes shopping will be when I lose the weight.

I hope you're encouraged and able to start your weight loss journey. The toughest thing about losing weight, in my opinion, is that it comes in baby steps. I've lost six pounds in the last month but it still feels soooo slooooow. You just have to stick in there.

Good luck and there's tons of great people around the boards full of knowledge.

I feel your pain too. I really hate having this problem with the binges. Here's what helps me the most: I start keeping track of calories, writing down every single thing I put into my mouth before I put it in and I workout very hard and do as much walking as possible, aside from the workout. I also stay away from the scale until I have a good solid week of staying on track. I also chew lots of gum and eat frozen grapes that I portion control by one cup at a time. Hang in there...you can do this!!!! There are lots of people who have the same issue, but together, we can reach our goals and learn to manage this problem. <<<Hugs>>> :)

I've struggled with the same thing as well. I constantly have to get back in the best state of mind to stay in control. Mental Mantra's definitely help. I actually found some great guided meditations on thiniwithin.com (or thinwithinU.com now i think) and then started creating my own. It has really helped me get into the "right" frame of mind to control my binges and stay on track. Good Luck!!

I'm so sorry you're struggling right now, as others have said, I totally feel your pain. I do awesome for a couple weeks, and then I start feeling stress & anxiety in life and I fall apart and binge. Luckily, my binges aren't as major as they used to be -- but I still feel like kicking myself!!

All I can say is what helps me -- first, I can sometimes stave off a binge by applying logic with myself (sometimes! lol). I know that eating the food isn't going to make the anxiety/depression/anger/boredom go away. All it will do is make me feel bloated and unhappy AND anxiety/depression/anger/boredom when I'm done binging. Sometimes that truth can really help me.

When I do still slip up (and I, sadly, still do) - I'm learning to just forgive myself. I know now that a day, or two days, or even a week of binging, isn't going to ruin all the progress I've made. I have had gains on my Sat. morning weigh-in, but never near as much as I've lost. So that keeps me going. A couple of weeks, I've even maintained, and it's really opened my eyes because now I know that even when I hit my goal, I can still "mess up" and not ruin everything.

And then there's just physically busying myself. I go workout. I take the dogs for a walk. I take the trash out. I go to the mall and visit all the stores where I want to shop when I get to goal. Sometimes that stops a binge in its tracks, sometimes it just pushes it back an hour - but everytime I can stop a binge, it's a HUGE victory for me!

HANG IN THERE! And know that you can "re-start" your plan every second of every minute of every hour of the day - even after a binge. :hug:

Oh jeez.........I am a binger too (just came off a small one....trying not to get REALLY mad at myself since I've been so good lately). I totally know where you're coming from and how hard it is. Lunula is right....you can restart ANY TIME. And ANY TIME is a good time to restart :)

But ya know what I thought this thread was about??? People who clean their houses when they get emotional. I couldn't figure out why it was under "Chicks in Control" but I was thinking, "YES I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO CLEANS WHEN SHE GETS MAD/FRUSTRATED!!!!" Alas, it looks I may still be the only one....lol!

I can totally relate. If I go on a bad binge or binge on and off for a week, it can totally escalate so much as ruining my diet for MONTHS. My suggestion is - stop worrying about it. Do a little soul searching and find out why you're feeling the need to binge and then you have everything in your power to control it.

I also think that by feeling negative and peed off at yourself for binges makes matters worse! Yes theyre not helpful in losing weight, but you know... by feeling guilty you're associating food with something negative and thats not good. So..chin up, forgive yourself for the binge and dont say 'I'll do better tomorrow' but 'it starts NOW' :) :hug: you can do it! If you find yourself wanting to binge, i want you to log into 3fc and pm me explaining why its okay for you to binge!

Artsnsmarts,
I totally thought the same thing! I was like- whoa, I wonder if that works. I can clean to work out my frustrations? Cool!

Artsnsmarts -
I do that too! And yes, I thought this thread was about that as well.
And for anyone else who's interested...housecleaning can be really great exercise! Put on some upbeat music and go on a dancing and cleaning frenzy. Not only will you feel much better about whatever you're stressing about in life (ie: my problems at work that normally would be soothed by a supreme chocolate intake), but it's helping to burn calories too. Maybe not as much as a jog around the block, but every little bit helps! =)

Thank you so much for the support guys! I've been doing better the past two days...hoping to build up momentum. You gave some great tips though and I will be sure to try some of them.

About the title sorry for the confusion :lol: Though I do totally emotionally house clean. I find that when I get off track I let everything go, so my house becomes a big mess and all cluttered up. So to start preparing to get myself out of my binge, I started cleaning my house. When my surroundings are in order I feel I am able to put my life back in order.

So technically what you thought the title meant was right, because that's exactally what I did! hehe