Resisting urge to binge and skip the gym

You know, maintaining healthy behaviors is always really difficult when you are struggling emotionally. If you have been having a hard time with your relationship or with life in general it could contribute to a whole mess of wellness issues:
Stress (particularly social stress) impacts the hormonal balance of our bodies, and it can make it easier to put on weight and harder to take it off.
The Gluten in our brains is important for decision making, and it it is stretched by poor diet or tones of decisions/fights/conflict it can make it easier for us to talk ourselves into bad decisions.
Depression and sadness can do all sorts of things to our cognition, and people tend to struggle with weight issues at depressing times and in grief.
The flight or fight response actually slows digestion and metabolism, and that is the response most often sparked in conflict and detachment, like in an unhappy relationship.

When I was in my most recent relationship I put on a lot of weight. I could not figure out why - my habits had not changed at all. After we broke up, without really changing much, I found I just started loosing weight. All the healthy things I was already doing finally started kicking in.

I have some advice: take care of yourself emotionally first and foremost. Ask yourself why you want to binge - what would a binge do for you right now? Are you trying to smother feelings? What would be a healthier way of exploring those feelings, and what would be another way to relieve stress? Seek social contact and social support that will soothe your grieving process, take deep breaths, and find something that you enjoy doing that won't disassociate you from your feelings (I.E. binging or watching T.V.)

This is going to be a sad process, and it is naturally one that takes some time. Let yourself feel those feelings. They are awful, and we want them to stop, but breath through them - remember that this too shall pass - and remind yourself that these are natural feelings considering what you are going through. Get creative, get social, get some fun! Sink into some self pampering, write or find some way to let those feelings manifest in a real way.

Set realistic goals - you do not HAVE to go to the gym if you are sad, this is not a requirement for you to be a worthy, happy, or even healthy person. If that will help, then go, but you could also just give yourself a break - and go for a walk instead, or try a new fun kind of exercise.

Also, never underestimate the power of self awareness and naming. Name those feelings, out loud, one by one as they come to you, and name what that feeling is doing for you. All our feelings, even the painful ones, serve an important function - they are telling you what is going on in your life, and how you are reacting. Is there a pattern with these feelings, and your relationship to food?

This might be a great time to look for patterns in your life, between relationships, food, feelings, reactions, and exploring where they all started. That work, ironically, may be the best work you can do when it comes to developing a healthy realtionship with food, your body, and even weight.

Me too. I worked out but now I'm tired and I want to eat . Need a distraction!

That sucks, I hope it works out

I'm sorry about your relationship...that is a tough one. BUT, invest in yourself and keep yourself busy. Can you take a long walk to clear your head instead of binging? Or, stop at one container of Ben and Jerrys...Only allow yourself one AND--go to the gym the rest of the week!! Set even a goal for binging.

Work out your sadness and aggression and if you're gonna have tears, they may as well be from lifting heavy and running til you're out of breath.

bump

So far the food bit is ok, but I am having a hard time motivating myself to hit the gym. I think my bf and i are through

As Michelle Bridges would say - JFDI (Just Freakin Do it)

Don't overthink it, don't over analyse it just do it. I am the queen at convincing myself I'm too tired, to busy blah blah blah to go but ultimately its just me making excuses.

I'm sorry to hear about your relationship...but not going will make you feel worse

Get those endorphins going and you'll feel so much better and it will make you want to keep going!