why do I sabatoge myself

Gr8mum77

I realized (especially after a visit from my mother this summer) taht in our family growing up, we would abuse food to make ourselves feel better after a bad day, to celebrate a good day, to have social time with friends or family, etc.

Gr8mum77

I can absolutely relate to this. In my family food was love so I learned to eat for the wrong reasons. Now I just go to the gym or go for a walk. Never think of it as denying yourself, but as what you will gain by being more stubborn than your craving. Afew extra years with my son and my future grandchildren is plenty of motivation for me!

befitandfearless

Such a good idea thought!! =P

ssbarfarkle

I can't offer any advice. All I can do is say you are not alone, I can totally relate.

direwolfprincess

I know I'll binge soon when I catch myself not counting calories. I'll pop 2 m&m's because they wont count, this chip won't count either, just a sip of his juice, etc. I allow myself to eliminated reporting and then it escalates to a handful of nuts. a slice of cheese, etc. If I just allow myself to have it and log it, it reduces me trying to attack all the delicious goodness in a mad frenzy.

janehadji

I do this, too, and have often tried to figure out why! I think that it's self-sabotage because I'm unhappy and want to punish myself in some way. I don't want to let myself succeed. Now, if I could only figure out what I'm unhappy about! There are answers out there somewhere. Hang in there!

ruurik

When I'm tired to the point of exhaustion, I have to be careful because I want to binge. I try to go to bed early and just lie there if I can't sleep. Keeps me from passing the fridge!

My doc says I'm borderline diabetic so initially when I start a diet, I get problems with my blood sugar. Then after a while, my body gets used to the new regime and I'm fine. But in the early couple of weeks of a diet, I will be tempted to binge when my blood sugar's low.

The biggest factor in my binging is my core beliefs. I had to study my core beliefs a couple of years ago. *big sigh* lol. One of my core beliefs is that I'm a fat person. If I'm fat or gaining weight, I feel like I'm being myself. So binging is a good thing in my eyes but I'm fighting against it and I am having success. But it will take years for my core beliefs to change and they may not. At least I'm now aware why I behaved like that in the past.

It doesn't help that the wife of one of my closest friends is furious everytime I lose weight. I dread socialising with them. She looks like she could go to war. Apart from insults and looking bitter, she won't acknowledge I'm there and even grits her teeth in anger! It feeds into the belief that I'm doing the wrong thing by getting in shape and that it's bad, I'm bad and all the guilt from making someone react angrily. But if I binge, put on weight and meet them, she's really nice to me.

I am someone who wants to celebrate anyone's success and I'm never jealous, just ecstatic for people, so it can feel like a bit of a lonely road!

yoovie

You may be scared of succeeding. Once we conquer something that at one point we never thought we'd be able to do - or get really close to conquering - we panic and stop ourselves from reaching it.

Think about it - if you are able to reach this goal and own it, handle it, incorporate it in your life legitimately... then youre going to have to take the next step too, reach higher, push harder, move toward a more difficult goal.

You'll be back at square one reaching to do something even tougher than this was.

its scary. And you're worried that you might disappoint everyone in that next level. Prove them right when they said you werent going to stick with it.

And why would you do that?

Do you think you might have the potential to be outrageously awesome and that possibility might scare you a little? Knowing that everyone will have higher expectations on your that you may not be able to continue to meet?

Well dont be scared of being awesome.

Everytime you level up and reach a goal, you are automatically stronger and strong enough to reach the next.

Its ok to be fit AND beautiful AND smart AND healthy AND creative AND loving AND happy.

It really is.

Thats not pride or hubris - its knowing you are valuable and being the living proof of it.

polarities

I'm so happy that I found this thread. I'm not sure what triggered it, but I just finished eating everything in sight after a good week of staying on track.
I seem to fall off the wagon hard once every 10-14 days, and I hate it. I refuse to give up, though.
There are some great suggestions here for coping with the urge to overeat. It's comforting to know I'm not alone.

Kimmy136

Are you bored? A tip I learned is to take a piece of paper, write things that you want or need to do (i.e. clean the closet, walk the dog, paint etc.). Cut the paper up into little slips so there is one item per slip. Fold them all up and place inthe jar. Put the jar in the fridge or pantry. Everytime you go into grab food, take a slip out of the jar and do the activity. This will help keep you active and your mind off eating.

I love this idea!! I'm going to use it myself. There are so many To Dos on my to do list that thinking of things to do won't be hard. Thanks for sharing!

vinnieti

I struggle also. I had a healthy dinner last night but for some reason felt compelled to have ice cream after haha. Oh well, I guess I'll just keep plugging away at it. Some of the tips here were helpful though

Culley34

I agree with the brush your teeth comment. My issue was never really binging on food -- it was just eating late at night while watching TV or a movie -- and naturally -- you can't sleep off calories. I brush my teeth a few minutes after dinner and use a basic fluoride mouthwash, which you're not supposed to eat after it's applied.

Second, and this is the most important: Do not buy JUNK food. Out of sight and out of mind is the best approach. Make a grocery list with no junk and only buy what is on the list. It's better if you don't go when you're hungry.

Besides, It's not a huge deal if you binge on celery, is it? :-)

Restybaby2012

I havent come up against this yet and it scares the bejeebers outta me that it will. I try to keep every single thing that is easy to eat, easy to munch on / binge on out of the house--literally. My kids are all grown and gone so it's just me and the fiance'. He knows if he wants "junk" he has to JUNK-OUT when Im at work and make damn sure its gone before I get home. I am so not forgiving about this. I feel the same with cig smoking in my home or car.

I love the idea of putting a jar on the fridge with things to do listed.

My worst isnt snacking. I can see it clearly being just plain over eating something I love...like potatoes with brown gravy, or frozen cake or frozen cream pies. OMG. I cant even think about that. However....in my house it's my fiance' that does the cooking AND all the shopping. He also serves me portions that he weighs and measures out for me. He knows Im dead serious on this new lifestyle change and he also knows I have to do this. (long story but it follows a hospitalization in July)

GAK Im babbling...sorry

med2017

i know this might be stupid but think about it this way.
if your feel like your gonna binge. pick something thats healthy. eat an apple, it fills you up quickly. then drink water till you feel satisfied. there you go. craving over



think about it this way. every time you are hungry your actually thirsty

ullgetthere

I totally understand! I was happy to see all of the comments because I am currently on vacation and not that I have been binging but I think I went a little of course (didn't record for 4 days ) but I am still not giving up!! And as for your cravings, it happens. We are human!! You just have to identify why it happens; is it boredom ? stress? or anuthing else and find something else to do when it happens or perhaps have ''special binging foods'' which tastegood but don't go overboard in calories.The best thing for me is support. So before it turns into a 3 day binge come talk about it first!