Advise on how to break a vicious cycle?

Angi_M

Hello, how do you fight the inner conversation in your mind? Right now my life is very hectic. I work full-time, take 2 night classes, have 2 kids with 3 day a week soccer schedules, dinners, lunches, normal mother wife running a house responsibilities.

I am almost done school, I will have a degree in April.There is a light at the end of the tunnel - can't wait to have time again!

In the last 2 years of trying to manage this schedule I have convinced myself if chips and candy help me get through it and get a good mark then do it and I will sort it out when I am done. I end up bingeing to cope with the stress I feel and because of this and not enough activity I have gained 25 lbs. I am 5"2 and currently weigh 162 lbs, according to the BMI calculation borderline obese .

Any advise on how to overcome this cycle. When I feel stressed there are times that I feel so much anxiety and I convince myself that it is okay to eat a huge bag of chips or whatever else I can get my hands on because it will help me do what I need to do. I know I cannot keep doing this but in the midterm I need to finish school and get good grades. I feel that if I focus on eating healthy and exercising and make this a priority it is adding more things to my to do list, and I since I already have so much to do it is creating more stress and this is the cycle I have been in for the last seems like forever.

How do I take control and make this a priority? Or should I just do what works for now and finish? What if I finish school and there is something else that is stressful and I convince myself it is ok to eat if it helps me cope?

Any advice?

MickeyBoo

Binge eating for me is caused by certain triggers. Doesn't matter what life throws at me, things like stress, boredom, loneliness will always trigger binge eating for me. The only I've way I've been able to overcome them, or at the very least minimise them to once every few months instead of weekly, is to use the Recognise, Challenge, Distract or Replace method.

- Recognise the urge to binge, and the trigger that is at the root of it.
- Challenge myself as in asking myself " Do you REALLY want or need this?" and challenge myself to stop and fight it.
- Distract or Replace as in - if I'm able, distract myself with another task to take my mind off the food I want, remove myself from the area where I can see it and get absorbed in something else. If that doesn't work then replace it with a similar healthier food and a smaller portion. Or if all else fails allow a single serve and drink a large glass of water and then go back to distraction.

Sounds a bit over the top, but it really does work. It also works better the more your try it, and there wills be times that you give in, but just pick yourself up and try again. I haven't found a miracle cure for binge eating, I think I've been doing it so long it's very deeply ingrained now.