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Hi all! I just wanted to make a post about what to do AFTER a bad binge because all I seem to ever find is articles to PREVENT binging. But you know what? It happens to EACH and EVERY one of us at one point or another. We lose control, our stomachs take over our minds, and we binge. The guilt is HORRENDOUS, we feel full and sick, sometimes we hysterically cry, even self harm, because we feel that all is lost and we might as well give up. Well I’m here to say, CHANGE THAT WAY OF THINKING! Success isn’t about instant perfection…it’s about trial and error, it’s about brushing set backs off of our shoulders and trying again. Even if you stop mid-binge, you won, because you snatched back control and said, “I don’t want to do this,” and so you stopped. Something that will end up hurting us is telling ourselves, “Well, I already messed up, might as well just eat whatever I want and start again tomorrow.” NO. Start again RIGHT NOW. Look at the clock…let’s say you binged at 4pm on a Tuesday. Well guess what? By 4pm on Wednesday, that’s 24 hours (a day) without eating, so stop the binge, look at the clock, and take it 24 hours at a time.
Falling victim to a binge is natural. Your body is telling you, “I need more nutrients, I need to eat desperately,” and so it forces your mind and body to eat. It sucks, it’s disheartening, it’s discouraging, it can turn a great mood into the worst day you’ve had in weeks. But don’t give up…it’s not the end of the world. Remember that it happens to the best of us and it does not mean your diet is over. Now, what to do after you binge:
1. Breathe, relax, reboot. Calm down, stop getting upset: it happened, what’s done is done. Come up with a game plan for next time. Figure out what exactly triggered you. Did you have a bad day at work or at school? Did someone say something mean to you or hurtful? Did you get too excited about the low number on the scale and figured, “I can have one day to binge since I lost so much weight.” Finding out what triggers you helps you to start recognizing the red flags that pop up when you binge.
2. Don’t count the day as lost and just keep eating. Like I said before, start your diet again right that moment. If you’re full, don’t eat until you’re uncomfortably full just to eat. Wait an hour, and work out. Trust me, it’ll take that bloated feeling out of your tummy and make you feel less guity.
3. Do better tomorrow. I find that after a binge, I like to starve for 2 or 3 days to a.) Rid myself of guilt and b.) Drop the weight I gain from binging. Even deciding that you’re GOING to starve the next few days will help take some of the edge off the guilt.
4. Hide the scale for the next few days. There’s no need to get depressed after seeing that number go out. Take a break from weighing yourself to get back on track.
5. Throw away (if you can) any tempting foods. Sometimes after I binge I think to myself, “Well DUH I binged. There was a half gallon of ice cream in my freezer, a pizza, chips on the counter, doughnuts and cookies in the cupboard…it was an accident waiting to happen.” Luckily, I live alone, so I rarely actually HAVE these things in my house, but, on occasion I’ll stash my kitchen for my boyfriend or if my family comes to visit, so as soon as they go I now know to RID my house of these things or else I’ll just binge my face off and that sucks.
6. Keep busy after a binge. Don’t dwell on what you can’t change. Don’t google thinspo: It may make you more depressed. Take a few hours away from thinking about weight, food, calories and do something relaxing for yourself. Watch a funny movie, read a good book, reorganize your closet, anything to keep your mind from guilt tripping you. You are in control of yourself and your thoughts: Don’t put yourself down for something that we all do on occasion.
7. Make an Emergency Binge Prevention Kit to dive into before you binge. Stock it with your favorite gum, diet drink, lolli pops, teas, coffees, etc. Whatever will help you not binge.
I hope this helped anyone feeling down about binge eating. It really happens to all of us. It may be a minor bump in the road to acheiving our perfect selves, but it’s not the end all, be all. Don’t beat yourself up over it. You have made it this far: You have decided to go on this weight loss journey and that’s already more than most people do. YOU CAN DO IT, YOU CAN ACHIEVE THE BODY YOU WANT AND YOU WILL. Don’t give up because of one stupid binge. Keep fighting for what you know you want.
