Stopped a Binge in Its Tracks

Just thought I'd share a little story. I know there are a lot of binge eaters around.

I suppose my lunch was too light yesterday. I took a PBJ sandwich to work, along with some carrots. Calorie-wise it was a little lower than my normal lunches and in terms of macros it was way carb heavy than usual. I usually have protein packed lunches because they provide me with the most satiety.

I got home and I was famished. Legitimately hungry, growling stomach, a bit grumpy, slight headache coming on. I looked around and there was nothing readily edible except cheese nips and ice cream. Both of those are things I would binge on, I hesitate to call them trigger foods, but if there is such a thing, then those are mine. I had purchased them weeks prior and they hadn't been opened yet, I suppose because I know I tend to over-do it when I eat them. They were my only option at the moment and I really needed to eat something before starting on dinner.

I tried to be good. I weighed a serving of cheese nips and poured a glass of water. That didn't do the trick so I had a half serving of ice cream. I finished my glass of water. I still wanted more. Part of me knew I didn't need anymore, but oh it was so delicious.

I started to eat the cheese nips out of the container. I caught myself, so I closed the box and put it away. But then I opened the freezer and started with the ice cream again. I was standing in my kitchen eating it and I just saw the future before me:

Clean out the pint of ice cream (1085 cals) then switch back to the cheese nips and finish the box (900 cals). Then pretend it never happened except for the feeling of hating myself, and feeling like giving up on my goals. Except for tomorrow when I step on the scale I am gonna weigh 1lb more. Cook dinner as plan, but make extra portions because I already ruined the day so whats the point of trying to have a normal sized dinner? Eat half of the chicken I was cooking for this weeks lunch while I cut it up. Go out and buy more cheese nips and ice cream to replace what I ate so that it doesn't look like I ate a whole pint of ice cream and box of cheese nips by myself. Then probably break into that later tonight.

Then I thought, "it doesn't have to be that way."

I put the ice cream down. I put it away. I logged what I ate. I had a hundred-ish left calories for dinner. Oh well. I went on to do what I had to do. When dinner time came I served myself only a slight bit less than what I had originally intended. When all was said and done, I was over my calorie goal by 524.

Only 524.

Yes only. That put me at just slightly over maintenance calories for the day.

If I had gone through with my normal routine, I'd have been 2500-3500 calories over.

It's so important for us to forgive ourselves. I think that's the key to stopping binges. I snapped out of my haze. Sure, I was upset with myself for going a little overboard with the cheese nips and ice cream but so what? That's no reason to turn a small slip into a caloric avalanche. In the past I would have been so angry with myself, that I felt it didn't matter and I wasn't worth trying for, so really I would keep eating almost as a punishment.

This time, I said no. This time I told myself, "Look, you can't undo what you've done but you can stop yourself from doing more. It's okay. This is such a small hiccup in the bigger picture. You have to think about the bigger picture, not just today, not just this moment. Forgive yourself and put it behind you."

And I did.
And it worked.


If you have any stories about how you've overcome a binge, please post yours!