Former binge eater looking to eat better

[Anonymous]

OP, just wanted to say that 12 lbs in two months is great. Seems to me that exercise would be a great thing for you-help you to focus that energy elsewhere than on food. Restricting doesn't really work for most people. I finally quit dieting years ago--and have been a completely stable weight (except for pregnancy) since then. For me, dieting was the trigger for all sorts of neurotic behavior--either binging or starving, but either way, deprivation (even if just mental, like "i can't have that') set me down a bad path. I also did some therapy to figure out why restriction was such a trigger for me. (I remembered/realized that sweets were totally restricted in my house--well, my brother could eat them, but i couldn't-- and were part of my mother's neuroses. she kept them away from me because I was not thin enough for her tastes, etc--so for years, i vacillated between binging (defiance of my mother) or starving (which was another F-you to her). Anyway, not sure if there's an emotional issue to address, but for me there was. Once I removed food from the weight of the past, it became about nurturing and taking care of myself--so its been about pleasure but also health.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've gone two months without bingeing, and am 12 pounds into a 100 pound weight loss goal. For the last two months I have let myself eat in moderation whatever I liked - just so long as I wasn't eating in place of feeling or dealing with an emotion. Two other emotionally eating friends are joining me in weight loss and I think I'm ready to eat even fewer sweets and refined carbs (several family members have done very well on various reduced carb lifestyles, and for several years).

The problem is that every other time in my history of being overweight/obese, when I've tried to cut back, I have gotten crazy and really overeaten sweets and crap. If you were an emotional eater, how did you make the transition to better foods without relapsing on bingeing?

Have you heard of overeaters anonymous? It's a 12 step program patterned after that of AA. The local website is oa-dcmetro.org and national it is oa.org.

OP again.

Thanks all for the suggestions so far. I've been adding a little HITT workout to help my blood sugar (which I am assuming is screwed up from years of bingeing), but exercise is so. effing. miserable at this weight; it's like a punishment, not self care. I have a close friend who is in OA. It doesn't seem like a good fit for me.

[Anonymous]

Learning to delay the binging worked for me (former bulimic). I had to tell myself that I would do it later. For a while I had 1 day a week that I would still do it if I needed to. Otherwise I would keep putting it off. You have to learn to live without the release.