Binge Eating - How do you stop yourself?

The only thing that helped me with binge eating was therapy to help get to the root of the problem.

leaninsc wrote: »

Don't keep the foods you are most likely to binge on around the house. If you resist it in the grocery store, you only have to resist it once. If you bring it home, you have to use a whole lot of willpower up trying to resist.

This, exactly. I love ice cream with a great, big passion. Therefore, it never comes into my house. The same with Cheetos, Parmesan cheese, and Cheese-Its. Don't bring it in the house, and you cannot binge on it

As johunt615 said, FORGIVE YOURSELF. Eating healthy is hard and expensive. We slip up every now and again. That being said...

Again, keep typical binge foods out of the house. If it's a certain texture you're craving (i.e. Chips), try eating something with crunch like pumpkin seeds or celery. If it's a sweet tooth craving, find some dried/fresh fruit. If it's a really rich flavor you're craving, put some peanut butter with celery or an apple (just try not to overdo it with peanut butter).

When you feel the urge to eat during an atypical meal time, pause and try to ask yourself this: "Are you so hungry, you would wash and dry some lettuce, bake or grill some meat and/or vegetables, cut some tomatoes, and make a salad?" If that sounds like too much work or you realize that healthy food doesn't sound good, you might just be bored or trying to fill some void instead of actually eating.

For me, I tend to "eat my feelings." Bored? Eat. Lonely? Eat. Sad? Eat. Happy? Eat. Whenever I start reaching for the ice cream (that I'll mindlessly eat, past the point where I even taste it even more- I just can't stop), I have to be patient with myself and really evaluate if I'm actually eating because I'm hungry. The constant policing feels like a lot to start; but I've found that it's not a punishment to pause and ask myself if I'm just eating to eat. Now I can mostly eat in moderation, and actually enjoy my meals instead of obsessing over how much I'll have to work out to compensate for a certain meal, or worry about how awful I'll feel after eating so much.

Food is a beautiful thing. Meals are important for our social lives and wellbeing. It's comforting to share food with others and ENJOY what were putting into our bodies. Eating healthy is NOT a form of punishment, nor is working out. Rather, it's a way to honor your body. Good luck, you guys. ☺️

The following are the exact steps I used to end the cycle. I still use these to this day if I feel the urge to binge.

1. First, I needed to admit there was a problem.

For three going on four years, I blamed my drive and my dreams for my actions. Ignoring people in my life hinting at me that I may have a problem, including family, close friends, and my
girlfriend. I lied to myself, rationalizing it with the mask of a cheat meal.

As the punishment for binging increased, so did the amount of times I binged. At first it was once a week, then every couple days. Soon it was every other day, until it consumed my thoughts at all times. There were instances where I would drive to Walmart just to eat all the food I could before coming home. Chances are if you are reading this it is because you are looking for help. Good for you! You are already lightyears ahead of where I was!

2. I learned to love myself for me, and to be honest, I am still learning how to do this.

Today, the emulated physique is seen as happiness. It is published on social media, magazines,
and posters as the symbol of happiness. I believed it and I chased and chased it. I had it for some
time and I was still just as miserable. How you look will not make you happy! Now don’t twist those words as an excuse to just let yourself become overweight. We have to learn to accept our imperfections. We all have them and everyone tries to hide them. Here are my flaws (some I can fix, others are what they are):
Relationships: I am awful. I wrecked a 15 year friendship with a high school sweetheart. I was selfish and an *kitten*. I can also be abrasive and brutal with little to no compassion. However since I have shared this personal story, I have gotten better. Although I am by no means finished working on this.
Skin Damage: I never wore sunscreen as a kid. Now I have moles, freckles, and scars. Some I
wish weren’t there. Some girls won’t even talk to me because of them. I am not “sexy” enough. They aren’t “interested”.

Don’t let your imperfections stop you from loving yourself. You are the only you this world will ever see so embrace yourself.

Perhaps the worst thing about this cycle was I hated myself, I hated my life and I didn’t even want to look in the mirror. I thought I was a failure and that I would never make it. I even contemplated suicide. When I would binge, I would punish myself.

Avoid this. Remember life is meant to be enjoyed. Life is much too short to never treat yourself to what you love to eat despite whether it’s ‘good for you’. Look yourself in the mirror and say “I LOVE myself” at least 10 times a day, if not more. P.S. try not to smile when you say this (harder than you think).

3. Thirdly, there is no such thing as good food, bad food.

Placing labels on food, leads us to ban them from our intake. We say, “No, No, No, No, No…” We push for the perfect diet and once we eat this food that does not fall into this neat diet box, we throw our hands up saying we failed so now is the time to eat everything we can.

This leads to punishment, which then leads to more restrictions. This is the vicious cycle we as binge eaters face. I used to believe it myself - that there was clean food and bad food. It simply is this manifested idea. If you ask a vegan, he/she will say animal based foods are not clean. Someone who is a vegetarian will disagree and say it is just animal products that are not clean. Then a paleo guy runs in screaming about how meat is clean, but grains aren’t.

Adopt my grandmother’s wise old adage of “everything in moderation.” This brings me to my next point…

4. Always practice moderation.

You can eat whatever you want, just not all at once. I believe I heard Layne Norton say this – it’s like the 11th commandment. When I first began to escape cycle, I would eat one “treat” at every meal. Nothing crazy, but this allowed me to still get my “fix” so I wouldn’t binge.

Any action in the right direction gave me more motivation and encouragement to keep improving. The small wins kept snowballing into large victories later that slammed the door on binging. Disclaimer, it is wiser to eat this food item from a plate than from the container. Don’t test your will to fight binging if you do not have too. As the old saying goes, “work smarter, not harder.”

5. No more crazy spreadsheets and tracking of nutrients line item by line item like an accountant.

I did not worry about counting calories and the works. I would instead eat three meals - breakfast, lunch and supper, possibly a snack if I was hungry. I would eat slowly, and as I began to feel fuller I would stop eating. You may be like me and scared that you’ll get fat. Well what is your other choice? You can keep binge eating, which is not working because you wouldn’t be reading this right now if it was. Or you can reach out and try something new.

6. Remember that you do not need the scale to help you.

It’s about small wins, and trust me, they add up. Most people overestimate the damage of a binge. You need to eat in excess of 3500 calories over your normal intake to gain a pound of fat. It is not as bad as we create in our minds. Additionally, when we stand on the scale after a binge, our body is bloated, full of food, sodium, and other goodies. This only compounds the guilt feeling.

7. Learn to enjoy social eating.

What about eating at restaurants and parties? Parties were my kryptonite. The amount of food that I saw while feeling I needed to eat enough to feed three people – it was as stressful as it gets.

What helped me to win at parties was I made this a game in my head (who cares no one else knows..). I am very competitive; I hate losing even if it’s go fish with a girlfriend. Since eating slower and not getting seconds was a struggle at first, the game I created was to be the last one done eating and the last one to get seconds.

This helped me in many ways. First it helped me eat slower as I talked with people and this helped to repair the relationships I had damaged in the past. Next, I was not over eating any longer. Often I had waited so long, I now realized I was actually full. Earlier, I’d have eaten so quickly it wouldn’t register in my brain.


8. Workout for fun!

For so long in this process I trained for results, never for goals. I simply worked out to look good
- that’s it! It was the complete wrong direction. It made training no fun and I dreaded every gym session. It doesn’t matter if you are into bodybuilding, figure, physique, cross fit, powerlifting, strongman, marathons, etc. Just train for fun. Train to get better and challenge yourself. For me this was powerlifting.