So as some of you are aware, I've been having some binging issues these last few weeks. I'm pretty certain it's almost a delayed reaction to a very stressful end of 2010 and some problems with being bored...also maybe a little anxiety about this new phase of the journey.
Anyway, my binging is usually a big issue Friday and Saturday evenings. Well this Friday I dug in and didn't binge at all, and with my new strategy of eating cleaner foods and more food during the week it wasn't too difficult. The urge to binge was there, but managable with a little distraction.
Saturday I did really good all the way through my evening snack and then I'm not sure what happened, but a minor binge did occur. However, my choices about what I binged on were far superior and cleaner than normal. Mainly because I rid the house of most of my trigger foods. So progress there. My strategy with Friday's has been to "label" them as an "on plan" day and I'm thinking that it may be time to do the same with Saturday's, leaving Sunday's as my only free day. It sucks that I need so many rules, but I have serious control issues and if that's the way it has to be so be it. I'm not a naturally thin person, but I'm still going to be a thin person
So this week I'm planning to continue on the new path and see how things go. Unfortunately, there's a little family drama going on with my dad, but I'm just trying to let it go - this too shall pass and there is no reason to turn to food over anxiety too
I've been doing the same with Fridays and Sundays, "labeling" them as "stay 80% on plan" days. I can't handle that much freedom either.
Sorry to hear about the family drama and stress, but I'm happy to hear the binging is getting better. I have gone about a week without binging and it's the longest it's been in recent memory.
I've been having some binging issues these last few weeks.
Personally, bingeing has always been an issue in my life,
and losing weight didn't fix that.
I am proof that even a person with that difficulty can maintain weight-loss
...it just might take more effort for those with bingeing tendencies than it does for others.
Oh yes brightangle, I've had binging issues all my life, being thin or heavy hasn't made a difference and I know I can maintain and deal with it. However, I want to control it, I don't want it to control me. I don't want to restrict myself all week long because I know I'm going to struggle over the weekend. I don't want to over exercise so I have the deficit to spare, both of these things I've been doing lately. I just want to find that comfort zone and I think I'm getting closer.
I started binging after I lost the weight. I'm over that, now it's more of an over eating thing or going over my calorie limit, it's been 8 days since I overate cause I have my husband take all my trigger foods with him to work. He leaves at 3pm. so I'm fine the rest of the night. It saved me tonight, I wanted junk food badly & nothing was here.
I too, have an issue with binging and it seems to have reared its ugly head as I near being at my maintenance weight for two years. I don't want to hijack the original thread, but what tactics/strategies do you have for controlling or limiting binges?
Taking a nap
Hot strong flavored tea
Leaving the house if possible
3FC
Not letting myself get too hungry
Planned off plan meals
Rules like I must be on plan M-F if I'm going to be allowed to go off plan Sunday
But I have to say when the urge to binge really strikes there's not much I can do...But I fight as long as I can.
Height: 5 foot 2 and a half (Don't forget the half lol!)
I started binging in Dec. I was scared to gain before then and then binge took away the fear of the scale...Now I sort of wish I was still afraid. I binged for 4 days straight last week and used my birthday and January's plateau as excuses. Today I was tempted to binge again, but I managed to go only 100 calories over my weight loss range. I need to regain control or I'll never meet my goal weight...
What works for me:
-Working so hard that I don't have time to think of food
-Working so hard that time passes quickly, and I get to eat again
-Exercising so I don't want to binge back the calories I worked so hard to burn
-Counting calories. Once I stop counting, I go crazy. Seeing the numbers go up in my head reels me in or makes sure I don't go over the top
Everyone has described distraction quite well. Sometimes it works. For me, sometimes it does not.
Then I have to do confrontation, which is harder & more painful.
This is the sequence that I go through, more or less:
On the way toward the thing that I want to binge on, stopping. Literally. I mean, freezing in my tracks like a kid playing at being a statue.
Focusing on my intention & making myself look at it: "I want to eat that thing, lots of it, till it's completely gone, fast & mindlessly."
Recognizing that I am not in my right mind. Like, at this point, someone should appoint a legal guardian for me. Someone more rational. Someone who's rather parental.
Focusing on what exactly is going on inside. Usually, it's this: "I am really, really, really anxious about __________, and I want to dive into oblivion."
Becoming that parental figure or legal guardian. "Get the f&%^$ out of the kitchen. You do NOT really want to eat. You are not hungry. You are not in your right mind. You will feel miserable afterward. You will want to beat yourself up. Now get a glass of water & go sit down."
And I sit down with my glass of water, which often, I just take one sip of and that's it.
And I face whatever I'm anxious about.
I squirm, I sweat, I sob mentally. ("It's not fair. It's not fair. My life is awful. I am doomed. I am the only unhappy person in the world.")
I tell myself to be brave. To just do something to sort of "run toward" the fear or the painful thing, confront it, rather than evade it.
By then, the food is quite beside the point.
I'm not claiming it will work for everyone, but it works for me. I have not binged for quite some time, and the ugliest, most desperate acts of bingeing are more than five years in the past.
I really loved saef's post. That's absolutely what I need to do. Because most of the time when I give in to binges I don't even really WANT to binge. (my binges are day long events...eating free-for-alls. I get that idea in my head that this is my one and only chance to eat whatever the heck I want, so I live it up. I eat stuff just to eat it, not necessarily because I want it). I know that I'll feel like crap afterwards and that I'll have that wretched guilty feeling and have to face the damage on the scale in the morning. But I always make some stupid illogical excuse on why this HAS to be a binge day. "We're going out to dinner later and there's no way I'll be able to stay on plan...guess I'll just have a free day" or "I have to make <whatever> for <whatever event> and I know I'll be sampling which will blow my whole day...binge day!" But that's stupid, lol. Just because I go out to dinner and maybe eat a couple hundred over my on-plan calories doesn't mean I need to eat several thousand calories above maintenance.
So going back to saef's advice, I like having a mental smackdown on the bingemonster in my brain. When those silly thoughts start creeping in my head, I need to confront them directly. Tell the bingemonster that he's stupid. Because like you, ncuneo, I have things that I can do that will sorta distract me for awhile, but if my brain is in binge mode, it's going to stay in binge mode whether I'm taking a hot bath and sipping tea or not.
But I'm so glad that it's getting better for you I wish I had a magic answer for fixing it...Lord knows I need it too. But little bits of progress are important and worth getting happy over!
Thanks, that's really helpful. I have found that I binge when I do want to go into oblivion. I put notes on my fridge and they help sometimes. But I have found that when I do binge, I binge BIG time.
To avoid "binging", I highly recommend you DO NOT EAT when either highly STRESSED out or ANNOYED! Ever notice that these 2 emotions seems to make us head for the frig? I know it does for me (i.e., my pre-teen going through her hormonal phase, or my ex-hubby being my ex hubby)...when "trying" times like this occur, I have to admit, my first inclination is to head for the frig...but I always stop and say to myself, "SELF...your not even hungry...why are you walking towards the frig? Will food make your daughter stop talking back? Will it remove her "know it all" attitude? Will it make your ex suddenly dissappear into thin air? (smiles with that thought)"...then I answer..."NO!!!"...and go downstairs on my treadmill for a quick run which actually works best to relieve my stress.
Even if you don't follow my anctidote...just wait it out...your hunger will subside...when all else fails, this is a guaranteed winner!
Saef, I'm because I just read your post after I wrote mine! Seems we both do alot of "talking to ourselves"...haha! I'm a native NYC'r...could this have something to do with it?
Last edited by joyfulloser; 02-25-2011 at 07:58 AM.
Still binged, but progress...
because I just read your post after I wrote mine! Seems we both do alot of "talking to ourselves"...haha! I'm a native NYC'r...could this have something to do with it? 
