This post is dedicated specifically to binge eating.
I used to smoke. I quit a couple of months ago. I'm not sure of the exact date, but I haven't had a cigarette in a while. How did I quit? Whenever I felt/feel a craving for a cigarette, I substituted something else for the cigarette. Unfortunately for me, I substituted food for cigarettes. But hey... I'm not smoking anymore. Now if I can work on the food...
Anyway, that is what Step Three is all about. When you feel the urge to binge, do something else.
How to Substitute Other Activities for Binge Eating
Create a list of activities that you like doing. These activities have to be incompatible with eating. So reading a book is out, if you like to read and eat. An example is exercise (which is a good way to kill two birds with one stone), or talking to friends on the phone. Maybe you like playing video games. I'm studying for the LSATs, so maybe instead of bingeing, I can break out my prep books and study.
Make sure that these activities are active and not passive. The purpose is to do something other than binge and choosing to watch TV instead of bingeing isn't going to help.
Make sure your list includes activities that you can do during the day and during the night. For example, I think I would put on my list, taking a walk around the neighborhood. I don't feel comfortable doing that at night. So I think I might add playing a video game to my list because when I play video games I'm not thinking about food. I like playing MMORPG and there are no pause buttons, so I can't take a break and stuff my face.
Write Down Your List on an Index Card
This list should be available to you any time you feel like you're going to binge. Got bad news while you were on your way home and feel like bingeing, take out your list, pick something on the list that you could do at that moment or within the next five to ten minutes.
Write This Down in Your Daily Diary/Log
At this point you should be a monitoring king. Write down that you felt a binge coming and what activity you did instead. Did it work? Did it not work? Write it down and how you felt while doing the activity.
Why? You need to monitor everything. This way you'll know what activity works and which ones don't. Also, when you see that you successfully avoided a binge by using this technique, you'll feel better and more in control!
Don't Get Discouraged.
You've probably had to repeat steps because you didn't have enough successful days. It's okay. Just keep trying. This Step may be hard for people because we have to stop before we act. For me this is really hard, but everything is so automatic that I don't stop and think about it. So if you forget to pull out that list, don't fret. The next binge, just try to remind yourself to pull out that list and pick an activity.
Why does this Work?
Like smoking, urges to binge will fade with time. So distracting yourself with an activity makes it easier to resist a binge. If you do something that you find enjoyable, then when the activity is done, you still won't feel the need to binge. Also by replacing a binge with another activity, you make it physically impossible to binge.
An Idea
This whole process has been difficult for me. I'm not an open person. It takes me a lot of time to figure out exactly what I'm feeling. I don't think about how I feel, I've buried all of my feelings down deep. If you're in this boat, it's okay. You will get better at recognizing how you feel.
I started off, writing really long posts about my day, from there I was able to see what I was feeling.
I used to smoke. I quit a couple of months ago. I'm not sure of the exact date, but I haven't had a cigarette in a while. How did I quit? Whenever I felt/feel a craving for a cigarette, I substituted something else for the cigarette. Unfortunately for me, I substituted food for cigarettes. But hey... I'm not smoking anymore. Now if I can work on the food...
Anyway, that is what Step Three is all about. When you feel the urge to binge, do something else.
How to Substitute Other Activities for Binge Eating
Create a list of activities that you like doing. These activities have to be incompatible with eating. So reading a book is out, if you like to read and eat. An example is exercise (which is a good way to kill two birds with one stone), or talking to friends on the phone. Maybe you like playing video games. I'm studying for the LSATs, so maybe instead of bingeing, I can break out my prep books and study.
Make sure that these activities are active and not passive. The purpose is to do something other than binge and choosing to watch TV instead of bingeing isn't going to help.
Make sure your list includes activities that you can do during the day and during the night. For example, I think I would put on my list, taking a walk around the neighborhood. I don't feel comfortable doing that at night. So I think I might add playing a video game to my list because when I play video games I'm not thinking about food. I like playing MMORPG and there are no pause buttons, so I can't take a break and stuff my face.
Write Down Your List on an Index Card
This list should be available to you any time you feel like you're going to binge. Got bad news while you were on your way home and feel like bingeing, take out your list, pick something on the list that you could do at that moment or within the next five to ten minutes.
Write This Down in Your Daily Diary/Log
At this point you should be a monitoring king. Write down that you felt a binge coming and what activity you did instead. Did it work? Did it not work? Write it down and how you felt while doing the activity.
Why? You need to monitor everything. This way you'll know what activity works and which ones don't. Also, when you see that you successfully avoided a binge by using this technique, you'll feel better and more in control!
Don't Get Discouraged.
You've probably had to repeat steps because you didn't have enough successful days. It's okay. Just keep trying. This Step may be hard for people because we have to stop before we act. For me this is really hard, but everything is so automatic that I don't stop and think about it. So if you forget to pull out that list, don't fret. The next binge, just try to remind yourself to pull out that list and pick an activity.
Why does this Work?
Like smoking, urges to binge will fade with time. So distracting yourself with an activity makes it easier to resist a binge. If you do something that you find enjoyable, then when the activity is done, you still won't feel the need to binge. Also by replacing a binge with another activity, you make it physically impossible to binge.
An Idea
This whole process has been difficult for me. I'm not an open person. It takes me a lot of time to figure out exactly what I'm feeling. I don't think about how I feel, I've buried all of my feelings down deep. If you're in this boat, it's okay. You will get better at recognizing how you feel.
I started off, writing really long posts about my day, from there I was able to see what I was feeling.
No comments:
Post a Comment