therecoveryrun:

It happened again. Even though you said last time was the last time. You surrounded yourself with food. You ate until you were full and your stomach was stretching. Then you ate more. Now you’re surrounded by the wrappers and reminders of your binge, physically and emotionally. The only thing comforting you is the thought, “This is the last time.”

You might be trying to think of ways to compensate for your binge. Please, don’t. That’s only going to hurt you in the long run. Whatever you do, DO NOT: weigh or measure yourself, purge (in any form, vomit, exercise, or otherwise) restrict your intake, self harm, go on a fast, go on a fad detox, or binge more.

Now that you know what not to do, what are you supposed to do?

1. Record your binge in a journal. “Today, I ate __________. Before I did this, I was feeling __________. After I did this, I felt _________. The next time I feel ___________, instead of bingeing, I will ________.”
2. Drink tons of water. You probably consumed a vast amount of sodium and it’s really important to drink water to flush that out in the next few days. Also your body needs fluids to digest the food.
3. Lay down with a cool wash cloth on your forehead or a blanket on top of you. (depending on if you are hot or cold after your binge)
4. Go for a walk when you’re feeling better.
5. The next day, eat healthily, as if the binge had never happened, and do your normal exercise.

It’s okay to slip up. One binge will NOT make you gain weight. However, bingeing can become an addictive habit, so please try to allow yourself to feel emotions instead of shoving them down with food.

I believe in you.

therecoveryrun:

You can work on beating your binge in four steps.

(emergency steps are featured at the end)

First: Become familiar with what’s going on. Is it REALLY a binge? I ask this because for many people, the use of the term ‘binge’ is often subjective. If you eat until you feel physically sick and your stomach is stretching, and then you eat more and push the boundaries until you feel as if you could rip at the seams, you are bingeing. If you eat 7 cookies instead of 1, you are overeating. 

Second: Identify your triggers. Is there a reason why you are bingeing/overeating? Focus on how you are feeling right before you binge. Write down that feeling. That is your trigger.

Common reasons are:

• Stress
• Restrictive eating patterns
• Under eating
• Dieting
• Rapid weightloss
• Food consuming thoughts
• Feeling like a failure
• Low self esteem
• Recovering from another Eating Disorder
• Tired
• Bored
• Angry
• Sad
• Hungry
• Lonely

Third: Avoid the binge. After you have identified your trigger, list out a few ways you can combat it and handle it in a healthy way instead of bingeing or self destruction. Now, let’s say your trigger is tiredness. Instead of eating your fridge, go to sleep. Now let’s do a harder one. Let’s say your trigger is feeling like a failure. Okay, well what’s something relatively easy that you could accomplish? Do some chores. Finish a book or magazine. Write some letters to your friends. Now you’ve accomplished many things and are therefore not a failure. Set mini-goals to accomplish the thing that brought about the feeling in the first place.

Fourth: Prevent future binges. Now, avoiding the binge in step three does not mean avoiding your favorite binge foods for all of eternity. It is simply to help fix the underlying problem and avoid bingeing. Of course you can eat your favorite foods in moderation. It just means not bingeing on them, silly. Because, no amount of tea or greek yogurt or bananas is going to turn into a chocolate silk sex pie on your taste buds.

Perhaps you simply adore raisins. You buy raisins in bulk boxes and scarf them down in a sitting. Don’t give up your favorite food! Simply be smart and savor them. Try these strategies:

• Divide your raisins into many little baggies.
• Eat one baggie at a time when you want raisins.
• Hide the rest of the baggies behind something else in your closet, so you won’t see it when you aren’t looking for it.

Let’s say you have trouble because once you start eating junk, you CAN NOT STOP. Instead of keeping a gallon of ice cream in the freezer, make it a date! Go out to Dairy Queen with a friend and pick up two cones and catch up. You will enjoy your frozen treat more with your friend, AND, YOU ARE WITH PEOPLE THEREFORE YOU CANNOT BINGE. BUT YOU GET YOUR YUMMY THING. It’s a win-win.

Emergency: I don’t know my triggers. I’m going to binge right now. Nothing can stop me. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry *rips off shirt to reveal incredible hulk* HULK HUNGRY. HULK SMASH.

• Paint your nails. (can’t binge with wet nails)
• Drink tons of water until you almost feel sick. (that’s the feeling you get when you binge anyway, right?)
• Have a piece of fruit if you’re hungry.
• If it’s not hunger, then yay. You avoided your binge.