I am re-reading a book called Overcoming Overeating by Jane R. Hirschmann and Carol H. Munter. The author states of giving up"dieting" and losing weight natural to cure compulsive eating. To eat mindful and listen to your stomach cue on choosing food choices. The author states in time, to cure compulsive behavior when you give up dieting, scale and making peace with food.
hi
Like any addiction, you have to be mindful to your surroundings and pay close attention to your triggers. I have this awful thing where if I eat and I'm not hungry, I feel as if I 'blew' it. Then I binge. Sounds like a great book..
It does sound like a good book, Liliann.
I'm no longer using the word "diet" for myself. The changes I'm making are for a lifetime, and I don't have to completely deprive myself of things I love in my efforts to lose weight.
As you (and the book) said, it's all about mindfulness.
Good luck, and let us know how it goes!
Lilian - I have read both Overcoming Overeating and When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies (also by Jane R. Hirschmann) and they were instrumental in me learning to live with food. Before working with intuitive eating I had no idea why I ate and would binge all the time. It has taken me many years to stop the hate and negativity, but I have worked through it.
That said, ultimately it didn't work for me as a means to lose weight. However, doing that mental work has now made it possible to make good choices for the right reasons and not want to binge the minute I think about restricting calories in order to know that I am eating less. I can eat anything I want - I just try to account for it in my total calories. I am also very forgiving of myself for going over. Getting rid of all of the negative self talk and feelings of anger and shame have been very healing.
If you are looking for some more reading material, I also highly recommend Geneen Roth. I really got a lot out of her books as well.
Nancy- I have one of Geneen Roth book on compulsive overeating and do like her book. Need to get more books from her. I am an advid reader for weight loss/self help.
Hi--I just joined 3FC about 5 miinutes ago and I wanted to mention that the strategy you (Nancy) have employed is the exact same as the one that worked for me. It was a number of years ago that I started re-thinking the causes of my eating problem and, with the help of the Geneen Roth books, I performed the minor miracle of eliminating about 95% of my compulsive eating problem and 99% of the feelings I had about myself because of it. I am on 3FC now because I have recently gained 7 pounds, my clothes are starting to get pretty tight, and a distantly familiar and altogether unwelcome feeling is started to settle into my head about appetite and eating. Bacially I want to eat all the time right now and I don't know why! I need to arrest it, lose that quickly gained weight and feel good again, so I came here for some support. Sorry to burden you with that--I really just wanted to say that I understand where you're coming from with the "mental work." Freedom from compulsive eating really does have to start on the inside, and it works its way out from there!
There is a very good group of ladies who are doing the Overcoming Overeating program at Yahoo. Just search Yahoo groups under "Overcoming Overeating" and it should pop right up. The group members are very supportive, informative and non-judgmental. Although I don't really do their method I still get the daily digest because it has a lot of insight.
Overcoming Overeating
