Control Binge Eating and Lose Weight

Control Binge Eating and Lose Weight

There was a time in my life, a few years back, when I was so out of control with food, I didn't know what in the world to do.

I remember, after an evening's binge, hoisting myself off the couch (it's not easy to lift your body up with 215 pounds on it), and stumbling into the bathroom, looking at my beefy face in the mirror, and sobbing, "Why? Why can't I stop? WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? I AM OUT OF CONTROL! HELP ME!"

Then crawling to bed, sick and fuzzy and in a thick, overstuffed stupor (I call it a food coma), falling asleep on a pillow soggy with tears, and waking the next morning, afraid, afraid to look at my repulsive body in the bathtub, afraid my clothes won't fit when I get dressed, afraid my pantyhose will roll right off me in public (it almost happened), afraid I'll run into someone I know on my way to work, someone who knew me when I was smaller, afraid this could go on for the rest of my life.

I wanted to run far away from them, from being in public. There I was displaying my gluttony, right there for everyone to see! It was as if I had a flashing sign around my neck, "Miss Piggy. Binges Every Night. Can't Control Herself. Bad Person. Worthless."

I HATED the way I looked. I was so embarrassed to go out. I remember, every time I went to the grocery store, furtively looking around to make sure that nobody I knew was around. If I did see someone who had known me "before," I was even prepared to leave my shopping cart and run out the door and drive home, that is how ashamed of myself I was.

And Mom, who is very, very small, was secretly disapproving of my new big size. I think for her it meant I was a failure and a slovenly pig. She would send me magazine articles on diets and exercise, until I told her that it just hurt me too much to receive that advice, and to please stop. I know she meant well, and did it out of love for me.

She couldn't help herself, though, because every once in a while she would send me a little snippet on how one woman mastered her tendency to gain weight by lifting weights three times a week and getting on the StairMaster five times a week.

"That's great for her," I'd think to myself, "but I bet she doesn't come home and have an unstoppable compulsion to scarf down every piece of junk food she can lay her hands on either."

And that was the problem: I couldn't stop eating. I simply didn't know what to do to get a handle on it. I was out of control with food.

It didn't help me either to read little tips in the magazines like "Leave something on your plate at every meal," or "Walk 20 minutes four times a week and lose five pounds a month"

That sure wasn't going to work if I didn't even have down the basic, No. 1, gotta-handle-this-monster - how do I stop taking that first bite of a binge when I don't have any self-control?

I've talked to a lot of overweight people, and I have learned that what matters most in being successful with not giving in to overeating is:

Number one, having a way to deaden or lessen the intensity of food cravings (that is why people on amphetamines, though they are probably suffering from being on a yechy mind-altering drug, can lose weight); and

Number two, a predictable mental response to cravings set up ahead of time, so they can be dealt with successfully as they come up.

Because cravings are going to come up. You MUST have predictable ways to deal with them, each and every time they do.

And - and this is so important - if handled correctly in the first few crucial days, you will be THRILLED to know that those out-of-control cravings will soon leave you for good, if you do not give in to them at all.

If you're always thinking about and craving food, it becomes so easy just to put an end to the agony of temptation, and give in again, no matter how good your intentions are when you start.

But people can lose weight easily if they have that - or can call forth at any time - "Oh, no, thanks, I'm just not hungry" feeling.

Now to the meat of this article: How to GET that "just not hungry" feeling.

I'll have to be brief, but some things I discovered that really, really helped quell the binge monster:

1) Aromatherapy

2) A CD I played all night long that made me feel an astonishing detachment from food the next day

3) A mental "talk to myself" script that let me walk past tempting foods

I'm going to briefly cover each one here.

1. Aromatherapy. It's simple. Use peppermint or orange or banana essential oil fragrances at regular intervals throughout the day to prevent overeating. The exciting thing is: whenever I use it, IT WORKS. I ALWAYS turn away from food, or eat less than I would have.

2. To develop a "take it or leave it" attitude towards food, play a subliminal message audio CD (the only sound you hear is, say, sounds of nature or the ocean, but there are hidden messages underneath that "white noise") all night long (set your player on "Repeat."). Yields amazing benefits.

3. A mental "talk-to-yourself" type script that allows you to face each temptation as it comes up. And that is all dieting is about, is getting past one temptation at a time (gets easier each time, I promise). Your "script" can be a simple one, "Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels," or something more complex and emotion-evoking: "I know if I eat this, I'll feel awful about myself, my self-confidence will be destroyed, I'll go to bed tonight feeling fat and wondering what's wrong with me. So I choose not to eat this so I can feel really good about myself and get into those size 9 pants."

So those are the simple tricks I used to get a handle on binge eating. So far I've lost 45 pounds and still losing. I don't miss binging. And I love having clothes that swim around my waist!