Struggling. Really struggling with binging right now. Hoping to get some feedback here.
My weight is up about 5 pounds higher than last year. I have a more stressful job this year and work more. I know I lose weight when I'm happier. That's one thing right there. Happiness for me is huge in terms of my weight.
But I'm also binging a few days per week right now. It's stress eating. I eat well for a few days and then binge. By well - I don't mean restricting. I eat healthy and balanced and a few treats on my healthy, happy days. But when I binge, it's like a different animal comes out. A different person. I'm two different eating people. I'm myself Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Then I go off the rails Tuesday-Thursday. By off the rails, it's not something delicious, either. It's hunting in the cabinets, eating all the snacks in the house, etc. I think it's stress, exhaustion, all the feels of what I'm handling at work.
I need some help getting out of the bingey cycle. What should I do? I've been down this road since I was 13 so this is an old cycle and an old habit.
Love it! 💕
For me, any kind of tracking or restraint definitely raises the interest in bingey escape. Eating adequately and enjoying my food kills that interest. It's funny how that works.
Probably the biggest thing to report was that I didn't binge! I even had "bingey" foods in my house and I didn't do it. And I wasn't consciously trying not to binge. I wasn't interested or intrigued by it at all.
Update from this week - I didn't count a thing. I just planned my meals, treats, etc. And I actually lost a few pounds. The drama of food in my mind was completely reduced and I wasn't that interested at all. I was so busy with work.
What I learned this week - My counting anxiety can be calmed by 2 minutes of planning per day, which doesn't involve numbers but common sense and making sure I have food in my house. (like a normal person. ha ha!)
It's good to have good food around. And to eat it when I'm hungry.
Tracking anything makes me react crazily and do crazy things. Just throwing that out there in case it helps you to stop tracking!
I'm wondering if part of this binging cycle has been related to tracking my food. I have been tracking my food and it's not really helping me right now.
I am terrified but want to release the tracking this week. What I will do instead is plan out my meals/snacks loosely, eat healthy things, and connect to my body. I have lost this recently and I think it might be part of my problem.
I am scared to do this but the tracking thing is not working right now. The problem is, if I gain weight doing this, I immediately go back to tracking. I'm a pendulum.
The Middle Way would be to plan out healthy meals and snacks and eat when hungry. That will not make me gain weight.
I will check back in later this week. Wish me luck.
I’m sorry you’re feeling stressed. What if you gave yourself permission to eat and something delicious to relax with? In other words, making the eating intentional, and maybe not calling it a binge. Change your thoughts around this behavior and you will experience it differently. Also, importantly, have something fun that you look forward to planned for after you eat. That way it‘s less likely to turn into continuous meal.
I went through a bit of this myself a couple of years ago before my work schedule changed. I think I talked about my weird Thursdays in my journal. I was clearly stress-eating large quantities of food with the intention of escape, feeling safe, soothed, very full, and grounded. I felt a lot of compassion and curiosity about it. Like, “Wow, this is interesting. Are you sure this is what you want to do?” My lizard brain 🦎 🧠 was like, “Oh, yes. We need this!” So, I tried to parent that part of myself. Instead of feeling guilty and panicked and eating in an unpleasant way, I’d think, “Let’s bake a huge monster cookie, pop some popcorn, and then I’ll eat the rest of that ice cream.“ Or, “Ooh, I want a big plate of nachos and that bag of chocolate covered almonds.” I’d go ahead and let myself “comfort eat” I guess you’d call it, until I was VERY full and didn’t want anymore. No judgment.
I found that that the behavior became more pleasant, less frantic, and began to fall away on its own. Any thoughts like, ”I am NOT going to overeat tonight!” were kind of like throwing gasoline on a fire, where leaning into it and being curious and kind about it actually helped.
I did gain several pounds while that was happening, but I was totally ok with it. I felt like it was my M&Ms super suit. I needed it to face my stressful situation, long hours, and sleep deprivation. When I didn’t need it anymore, it went away.
If that perspective helps at all...