Living life and getting over diets. And binging.

I have completely overcome my binging after about 5 months. I realized that it all stemmed from not eating enough in the first place.

I do not believe in emotional eaters. When people binge, it's because they have not been feeding their body enough, and they haven't been eating properly, and stress just pushes them off the edge and their body craves junk food to stabilize it's system..

When you don't eat enough, your body thinks you're starving, so it starts to crave extremly fattening foods, because those foods are the ones that protect you from a famine.
And you're in control for a little while, and can curb the cravings, but once you're upset over something, it causes your body even more stress, which throws everything overboard that you plan. The body's goal for living is survival. And you cannot fight it, you can only work with it.
So the way I conquered the binges, (my body's way of fighting famines) Was to to normally. That meant no more diets. I would eat healthy, but eat as much as I wanted until I was full, or until my body made me stop.
See, dieters try to control their eating with their minds, but that's what messes them up. Eating is the body's domain, not the mind's.
So when I gave my eating controls over to my body, like a little kid, I overate occassionally. Not because I was being a "glutton" or anything, but my body was basically starving and feeling deprived of all the calories I hadn't let it have before. So I gained weight. Not a lot, but I did. I don't know how much. I do not weigh myself anymore, because I used to do it complusively.

I'm about 5" 5' And I'm guessing about 130 lbs. I feel great now! No more binges and guilt, no more starving myself, no more over exercising! It's amazing. I have so much more energy, and I can focus on other areas of my life besides trying to drop more pounds. Dieting made my focus on food all the time because I was always subconciously hungry. I thought I was just being a greedy disgusting person, but really my body was desperately trying to get more calories that it needed!
And it all came from not eating enough of the right thing.
I wish I had known alll of this a few years ago. It would have saved so much of my time and life.
So eat healthy, let your body take control of it, exercise, and live! Just ditch dieting. Really. It's so worth it. (:

P.s. I got this revelation of living from a book called, "Breaking 0ut of Food Jail".  Read it!

I agree that many binge eating problems begin with restrictive dieting/over exercising.. (And I'm jealous of you, aio, for realizing this while still in your teens!)   

However true emotional eating probably originates as a young child.  Being rewarded with sweets and having to "clean your plate" conditions the mind to soothe feelings with treats and comsume more than your body needs. 

Emotional eating most definitely exists, and it is horrible.

Emotional eating defintly exists... :/

I cannot describe any other reason for curling up with a tub of ice cream and eating it because I want to fully indulge because I can think of nothing else worth doing in my life. Or the times last year when I came home from several parties balling my eyes out and decided it was okay to just eat chocolate because it tasted nice and I wanted something nice after my **** night.

THATS emotional eating;

I know the difference between that and binge eating as a psychological response to starvation. I've been in that cycle too... 

While I believe emotional eatting exists, and I think your talking about binge eatting instead....so I'm just going to waste a sentence on that....

next.... CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great job on overcoming your obstacles and reaching your goals! It's wonderful to feel healthy and energetic! Your very strong to have realized your problems with food and fix them. Great job on making a lifestyle change! Thanks for the inspiration! Stay strong and wonderful!

:)

VERY VERY GOOD!!!

I've reduced binging in a completely different way.  If I want chocolate, I go for it.  But for things such as chocolate, I go for the Hershey bars.  You can eat 3 pieces and then hide the rest, and feel good that you had chocolate and didn't overindulge.  THIS IS THE BEST IDEA EVER FOR PMS!!!

 Everything you said is right and its cool that your happy again.

  

Original Post by mezzo:

While I believe emotional eatting exists, and I think your talking about binge eatting instead....so I'm just going to waste a sentence on that....

next.... CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great job on overcoming your obstacles and reaching your goals! It's wonderful to feel healthy and energetic! Your very strong to have realized your problems with food and fix them. Great job on making a lifestyle change! Thanks for the inspiration! Stay strong and wonderful!

:)

Binge eating and emotional eating are, more often than not, the same exact thing. Ask any health professional or eating disorder patient. You may go on binges if you've starved and deprived yourself, but there are so many people who binge without ever restricting. Emotional eating is an attempt to fill an internal void that has little to do with food and a lot to do with soothing unpleasant feelings. Unfortunately, any binging can lead to unpleasant feelings, and so even if you start binging due to over-deprivation, it isn't unusual to continue a cycle of binging because of how bad it feels to "lose control".

 

In any case, I'm glad to see that you've had luck with the intuitive eating approach. It doesn't always work for everyone, but it is certainly a wonderful way to achieve freedom from food obsession. 

:D

I'm so happy I read this post!  Its so wonderfully inspiring!

That's so awesome! How do you keep control of not looking at the scale? Do you still log in calories for your food? I'm a year younger and have been trying to change my life style for about 2 years... You're right with the whole deprivation thing but in my case I binge even when I have eaten =( I don't understand it completely but it's subsiding a bit now.

I remember when we were kids and we didn't have to care about this stuff. Life was just about enjoying yourself you know? What happened to that?

Hope you stay healthy and your story is very inspiring.  

I want to bump this thread because you mentioned the book "Breaking out of Food Jail." I just started reading it and it's changing my life everyday.