best advice for falling off the wagon? ugh!!

willywonka

Why do I do this to myself? i have always been an emotional binge eater, but most of the time I can keep it under control. For the last 3 days though, it has been insane. I've eaten so much junk food in quantities that I am really ashamed of. I had been doing great, and one bout of depression sends me into this cycle where I feel like I use food as my crutch again. And not the healthy stuff, all the foods that I don't ever keep in the house. I found myself running to the store over the weekend and stocking up on them (bad I know!!) But for whatever reason, in that moment they make me feel good and then the guilt and disgust sets in.

Ok, so I have gotten rid of all the junk in the house and sent the Easter candy with hubby to work. What do I do now? what are your best tips for getting back on the wagon/ getting rid of this water weight (and some fat I am sure) and most of all, getting rid of this guilt. My pants are so tight and I feel like a tick. I am working out today and in my warped mind have gotten out my baggiest tshirt and pants because I am so bloated and heavy feeling. It almost feels like I am wearing a sign that says, Hey look at my failure.
I'm sorry if this is too deep and I know it's messed up, but I don't think that I am alone. So, I will work out hard today, and continue to drink lots of water and fuel my body with the healthy things it has grown used to. But man, I wish I hadn't backtracked. Totally wasn't worth it, my freaking pants won't fit! :frown: Operation Ben and Jerry's starts today!!! (i have to laugh about it a little)

exlaxref

There is nothing you can do about yesterday.

All you can do is change today.

Let your past mistakes go. Dwelling on them only produces guilt, which leads to depression, which leads to overeating.

Get a good workout today. Concentrate on what a positive thing a good workout is. Eat healthy today. Enjoy some fruit, and savor it, thinking about how good it tastes, and how good it is for you.

In short, to quote an old song, "Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative."

sebbysmommy

I am a binge eater as well. Mainly late at night. I can put away some carbs and chocolate like no one else

My advice:

*It is a NEW day! You can not go back and stop the binge now but you can start fresh and stop beating yourself up. Start from THIS moment and make a new day!

* When I am in a binge mode (binging every night) I start a log where I can see it every day of how long it has been since I binged. So 12 days binge free or however long it has been. The higher the numbers get the stronger I become. I don't want to waste all those days and start back at 1 if that makes sense

*When I feel the uncontrollable urge to eat for no reason I go brush my teeth. Snaps me right out of it.

*I also have some foods in the house that are okay to binge on, like watermelon. I can eat 6 bowls of it and not do any damage

Stay strong!

StarryEyed500

I think you already know what to do, but please don't think of yourself as a failure. You had an 'off day' (or a few) but now you're ok and can start again.

Perhaps next time you feel like eating this much, you could try keeping yourself busy doing something else? It's something I'm working on - I ate about 500g chocolate on Monday! Go for a run, if you do that, or go visit a friend/relative (who won't try to feed you lol)

Remember - you lost 42lb! That's amazing

BrianSharpe

Even the most disciplined of people slip, it's simply human nature and when we do we are often our own harshest critics.

It's spilled milk, you can't undo it but you can move forward. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off (try positive self-talk rather than making yourself feel worse) - it may sound a bit like a 12 step program but, it's one day at a time.

ReverendJim

Realize that it's not just you, it happens to everyone. Look at the tremendous success stories here and realize that it happened to them, TOO! But the fact that you are reading of their success means that they didn't wallow in it or allow it to deter them - they got right back on it and persisted. As will you.

stephbo4

Get back on!

traveller888

I feel awful when I fall off the wagon, too! I have an enormous sweet tooth (and my husband doesn't...so it all gets to me in the house!) and I love to eat! If I do binge, I try to do it lo-cal and healthy (at least, healthier!) foods. Eat Special K chips instead of Doritos, eat Larabars or Fiber One Bars instead of Candy Bars, Drink a LOT of water at the beginning (and middle and end) of the day and eat a big salad with a tiny bit of dressing before a meal (meringuine cookies, PB2, and roasted chick peas have helped curb my need for sweet and crunchy foods). For me it was all about the tricks at first, which slowly just became part of my eating habits.

I hate the word diet because it has connotations of repressing, restricting, and going without! This is the food I eat and I'm trying to change that for the long haul.

I initially lost 30 lbs and then gained about 15 back because I wasn't watching what I was eating. But at least I only have 1/2 as much to contend with this time - probably because some of the changes I've slowly made!

You're doing well - keep it up!

micheleboone

(This is what I do...) Take a deep breath. Give yourself a hug and realize that today's a new day. Get in a good workout, sweat a little, and move forward.

jabdye

great post -- thanks for the honesty. We have all been there. I once read that the reason men succeed more often at weight loss than women is because of the guilt. Men have a bad day - chalk it up as a bad day and move on. Women have a bad day and beat themselves up about it for weeks. So for today -- BE A MAN!!! Let yesterday go -- you can't change it -- and live for today. Everyone has these kinds of days -- not sure how to stop them -- WISH I KNEW!!! But you can do the harder thing -- which is to pick yourself up and consider this a chance at a new day.

oh -- and go sweat -- if you feel the need to beat yourself up over this -- do it by kicking your own *kitten* at the gym!!!

GeneveSparkles

I agree with what everyone else has said, pick yourself up by the bootstraps and get back on the saddle (or something like that, lol)

Not to get too personal, but does your depression/binging happen about a week before your monthly friend pays a visit. For me, i'm an outta control binger the week before. If you know it happens around the same time each month then you can take steps to prepare for it and mitigate the potential downfall. Just something to think about.

Good luck!

wwww1199

We all have our days. Drink alot of water and do your workouts. Don't dwell on yesterday. Move forward from today. We're all here to support each other.

HLeAnn

I bet only a select few people who have achieved great weight loss success got to that point eating perfectly the entire time. I am a stress-eater, big time. The important thing is, because I have realized this about myself, I am better able to try to control my behavior once I find myself about to indulge. However, even when I do slip up, (and it happens a lot) this knowledge about myself makes it easier to dust myself off and make my next meal healthier than this one. That's another important point: you don't have to write off an entire day just because you mess up one meal or half the day. Just think of it as "I'll make my next meal better." I used to fall into the trap of "oh well, I'll just start over tomorrow." Well....for a long time, tomorrow never came LOL. Bottom line is, the fact that you are able to voice your concerns in an intelligent way like you have in this thread makes me think you're already on the right track. Congrats on your weight loss thus far! I know you'll be able to beat this :flowerforyou:

MrDude_1

When I fall off a wagon, I always try to tuck and roll.


Seriously though... Yesterdays History.

Focus on today, and just stay with it. When you feel like going off the wagon again, remember how bad it feels now, and how good you will feel tomorrow when the craving is over and you DID NOT give in. You will be mentally stronger if you keep at it and overcoming the urge to binge does get easier if you stick with it.

lacewitch

I do exactly this but slowly my binges are getting smaller
have you thought about why you binge?
try writing a diary/blog and keeping track of what emotional / physical/ environmental causes you have - mine are boredom and emotion,.
and then you can start trying to come up with coping mechanisms . such as going for a walk at 3pm rather than coffee and a biscuit ( which turns into the whole packet) and I try to have some plans for the evenings weekend so I am not just lazing around.

and I am trying not to buy this stuff
though like you i will run to the store when the binge hits
i am trying to manage that urge too - quality over quantity or bargaining with myself this OR than not AND
or i 'forget' my card and go with only a couple of quid so I can't buy everything.


the think i find helps is starting again is that next time i will be better and tomorrow will be better than yesterday!
so be kind to yourself, forgive yourself and move on and try again next time the urge hits and every time you will get a bit better but I have stopped expecting myself to be 100% all the time because that makes me guilty and I binge.
maybe different people deal differently with this issue but I am getting better slowly.

WendySue75

HOP RIGHT BACK ON THAT WAGON GIRL I actually think it's "okay" for us to binge every now and then, especially when we have lost weight... it shocks our body into saying... wait... what's this... GET RID OF IT... and gets that metabolism you have worked so hard, to work for you, a kick in the butt, that's what it's supposed to do! I actually hit work-outs harder after a binge, to also tell my body... get it gone!!! It'll be fine... and maybe the next time you wanna binge, you'll think about it.... I also think when I have lost more weight, I am finally gonna get rid of the "fat clothes" I have, so there's the added incentive to not put the weight back on, cause GOING TO WORK NAKED is NOT GONNA BE PRETTY :laugh: And.... I pretty much have a little piece of dark choc. or candy daily just to prevent binges... feels like I'm being so bad.... but I'm not so much!! Good Luck!!

mjterp

"Just because you slip up doesn't mean you give up."
This has become my mantra, because over the past year, due to work change (from active to sedentary) and stress (I'm a total stress eater, especially at night) I have GAINED 20 pounds and am only recently starting to finally LOSE some of it.
I have good days, I have bad days. If I focus on the bad days, things just get worse and I binge more.

My biggest success has been writing down absolutely EVERYTHING I bite. (my dad did weight watchers successfully -160 pounds!, and HE says "if you bite it, you must write it.") Yesterday someone offered me a starburst and I logged it. Seriously...ONE starburst! (it was watermellon...it was delicious...it was 19 calories!)

Another huge part of my recent success (I have logged in more than 20 days in a row, and am logging everything, except I took my birthday off.) has been having an accountability partner. We send congratulations comments and encouragement "sorry you had a bad day...tomorrow is a fresh start" kind of stuff DAILY. THIS has been HUGE for me. It is DAILY encouragement to write everything down. DAILY knowledge that someone else is facing a similar struggle and DAILY we lift eachother up. (we met at starbucks, of all places. and haven't met up in person again since. Just here)

Fresh start.. YOU can do it! (YOU have already proved that with your 42 pound loss! Keep it up!

PeggyWoodson

At one time I weighed 330. I had been on every diet known to man. I too am a binge eater when bored or upset for one reason or another. When I was dieting, if I had a slip, that was the end of the diet for me. I became a type 2 diabetic and had to have gastric bypass to keep from loosing both my feet to diabetes. That was 18 years ago. What I've learned in all this time is this: Falling off the wagon is just what it is. You just have to get back on and keep trying. Accept your slips for what they are and stop beating yourself up over it. Beating yourself up will keep you from helping yourself out. You can do this. You just need to remember that a slip is a slip. Put it behind you and move forward with your plans to loose weight. I would never encourage anyone to slip up but I have read where some diets plan for a slip one day a week. On that day you eat whatever you want. They say it jumpstarts your metabolism. I have no clue how true that is. Just remember that everyone slips at one time or another even if it is for several days at a time. Just keep telling yourself where you want to be eventually. How slim? What size dress? What weight? Go for it. You can do it.

SnazzyTraveller

I feel like we are the same person only I fell off that dumb wagon soon after Christmas and haven't got back on yet (( I totally wanna start going down again though! The time is now and I'm ready!!!!!

PeggyWoodson

I feel like we are the same person only I fell off that dumb wagon soon after Christmas and haven't got back on yet (( I totally wanna start going down again though! The time is now and I'm ready!!!!!

You're in the right place to do it.

SoDamnHungry

I think one of the things that works best for me is realizing that I don't have to wait until tomorrow to start being good again. You can put down the pint of ice cream this very second. You don't even have to take another bite. Accept that you just binge ate a ton of food, and move on. It doesn't need to get any worse.