You had a slip on your diet/eating program; you went on a binge; you ate something off your eating plan. What do you do? The course you choose can make a big difference in the progress of your weight loss journey.
Let’s look possible reactions:
Quit the diet. Yes, you could do this. Isn’t this the way you have reacted in the past? If you have, then consider this. Did you set yourself up to fail? Were you looking for an excuse to quit? What is going on in your life at the moment? Are you depressed, disappointed. lonely, angry? Are there a number of stressful situations in your life? Is one or more of your hunger craving triggers present? If so, you need to totally re-think why you started your weight loss journey and revisit your self-image.
Have your reasons for starting the diet been fulfilled? Have they changed? Are you now the healthiest you can be? Will more weight loss make you feel healthier, fitter, increase your self-confidence?
Now is the time to start over – not on the diet, but on the thought process. Analysis what is going on. Realize what your normal reactions are, then choose to respond. The definition of crazy is continuing to do the same thing expecting different results. If quitting hasn’t worked in the past, why would you expect it to now? Think about different ways to respond to the binge trigger. Remember you are responding to the trigger, not the binge. People can give you hints and advice on what to do, but only you know what will work best for you ; only you can do it.
Start again tomorrow or next week. On the surface this looks like a good idea. Pick yourself up and start again, making a starting point. I have just realized that this does not work for me. If I decided to start again the next day, I continue to binge the rest of that day – eating this and that which I will deprive myself of tomorrow. Do you see the two pitfalls here? I give myself an excuse to continue binging plus I use the word deprive which sets the scene for the next binge. I have to remember that I am not depriving myself, I am choosing not to eat certain types of foods to enable myself to progress towards the goal. I need to remember that my progress is a series of choices, not a list of deprivations.
Start again immediately. Now we are on track. What do you do if you trip on a crack in the sidewalk? Do you sit there until the next day? Do you pick yourself up and intentionally trip on every crack on the sidewalk until the next day? No – you pick yourself up and continue down the sidewalk, being a little more careful not to trip on the cracks.
Stepping up your activity/exercise to offset the slip/binge, at least for a few days. What a concept. Stepping up your activity/exercise to offset the slip/binge? Whoa. You mean I can actually do something positive other than picking myself up? Yes – this is the best recourse.
What should we do when we fall off the eating program wagon? Start the eating program again, immediately and then step up our activity/exercise to offset the binge. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Also, we need go through the questions in the quit the diet section to better understand why we slip/binge. The better we understand ourselves and our eating triggers, the easier it is to respond to the trigger rather than to react.
So, what do you do when you slip or binge?
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Tags: binge, diet, Diet Program, eating, eating program, Excuse, Hunger, Pitfalls, relationship with food, Self Confidence, self-image, Stressful Situations, Thought Process, Weight Loss, Weight Loss Journey, weight managment
Unfortunately I generally go with start again tomorrow or next week. In the meantime I keep on binging. I agree starting again immediately would be much better.
I don’t believe in diets but agree about picking up the pace with exercise and choosing healthier foods more often.
Personally, if I forbid myself from eating certain things, that’s setting myself up for failure. I’m going to have the odd slice of cheese cake etc. so might as well admit it.
I recently wrote a few blogs on the same topic. Its important for us to realize that one slip up is not going to break the fat loss bank. Its not an all or nothing game. We’ve just gotta just get back on that horse and keep riding. We live, we learn, and we must remember to give ourselves credit for the steps that we ARE taking toward a better life, not throw in the towel if we make a mistake along the way.
I think that the idea that helped me the most in my fat loss journey was realizing that health and wellness is a life long process. There will always be bumps along the way, but if you stay focused on the overall idea of living a better life in every way, then those little oppsies don’t feel so huge and game ending.
Sheila
What I do will depend on why I slipped and binged. If it is due to PMT then I tend to continue being ‘naughty’ for the whole day. If it is not my choice – there are no healthy options when I eat out for example, then I tend to be good for the rest of the day. I do tend to be extra good when I start again and sometimes exercise more to burn off a few extra calories.
@Losingweightandgettinghealthy
Congrats! Looks like you are doing great! Sounds like your health is a priority in your life. I am still trying to get to that point. I have gotten to the point of starting from that point, not later. I need to work more on the activity/exercise.
When I have a slip, I immediately start back on my diet plan. Depending on the nature of the slip, I may pick up my exercise activity for a couple of days to help offset any guilt I may feel.
If for some reason I feel the urge to eat poorly more than one day a week, I will review my personal goals and remind myself of my long-term goal and make note of the progress made. Having written goals can be helpful to those who continuously provide themselves excuses to resort to binge eating.
Loved this post. Tonight I gave into chocolate cravings. I liked what you said about tripping on the crack. Tomorrow morning I am exercising it off, and moving forward. Thanks for the tips.
Thanks, I enjoyed reading your post. It?s nice to see someone writing something worth reading. Take care.
- Jack