I can't lie and say I was doing great anyway, but I had made great strides in staying away from crap food, drinking a lot less wine, exercising every day. I have not lost any weight in the past few weeks, and have had some ups and downs, but yesterday I seemed to go into a freakish binge


I won't disgust everyone by going into too great detail, but think - wine, pepsi, spaghetti and potato chips...

Of course, I feel really awful today - physically and emotionally.

My question is - what are some of the things I can do to recover? To make my body and my soul feel better? Any advice or suggestions?

Put it behind you and start over.

Learn from it - what was the trigger? What can you walk away from this and learn so that next time (and there will be a next time) you have more power on your side to step away from the binge.

Was it stress? unhappiness? revenge? Lack of sleep? Over-restricting other days? LEARN from it and then you can feel better about it as you'll feel less powerless in the weak moments ahead of you.

And yes, move on. Don't beat yourself up about it - just make every food decision count and stop thinking of how much better you would be if you hadn't of binged - THAT won't help you.

Figure out why it happened. Did you feel too restricted with what you were eating before, did something happen in your life to make you feel bad? Are you usually resisting the urge to binge? etc. For me anyway this is the important part.

And then move on and make better decisions if you feel the urge again. Be kind to your body, eat nice healthy food, drink some water.

Figure out why you binged, take note of it, and then move on. Drink lots of water today and get your exercise in to help your body feel better.

One of the things that helps me the most is making sure I don't try to 'make up' for the binge by being too restrictive--that just makes me more likely to binge again in the near future. My goal is too just eat a healthy diet the next day. Oh, and whatever you do, don't get on the scale the next morning. Your weight will be temporarily elevated, and you won't get an accurate reading--plus it'll just make you feel worse.

Some good suggestions :-) Personally I find getting back on track right away the most helpful thing to do. I used to always resolve to start the next day and so on, so I'd eat rubbish for the rest of the day just because I wasn't being accountable. I felt much more in control when I resolved to recommit right away. I also didn't think of it as 'starting again' as that seems really demotivating to me!

^this^

i usually find with myself that there isn't really any "trigger", i just screw up sometimes. despairing over it doesn't help anything and neither does guilt. just move right on (after forgiving yourself).

Hi all - thanks SO much for your support. I was feeling pretty crummy all day (still am a bit, but am trying to just put it behind me as you suggest!).

One good thing DID come of it - I realized that there is something that is a trigger for the binging, but also for other things. Something that is so totally high-school and childish and happened like, five years ago.

Funny - I hadn't realized that this was hanging over my head, that one vicious verbal attack, knowing people could hate me so much, would affect me in so many ways.

OK - now that I see it, and I see it is such a little thing, perhaps I can then move forward.

Sorry to go all psycho-babble - I learned last night that some of my attackers are profiting and doing well in their lives and I guess I'm jealous . I'm so weird!

I'm sorry. I totally know what you mean, and how that can make you turn to food. Screw them. They're not worth it.

Forgive yourself and get right back on plan. That is what I have done every time I fell off the wagon. Got my calories back down and headed to the gym the very next day.

Not saying it's easy to get back on track, but you have to fight through it and ignore those negative thoughts circling in your head.

Heard this one at my Weight Watchers meeting.

There is NO failure only FEEDBACK!

Hang in there!