When I'm about to absolutely lose it...

Eating healthy is hard. Like, really hard.

 

 

 

I established a long time ago that my struggle with weight loss is in the kitchen--and only the kitchen. I love working out. I love running. But I cannot outrun or out-train poor eating. Well, maybe I could, but it would probably mean multiple hours of exercise each day. I can't run away from all the sugar, sodium, and bad carbohydrates with which I poisoned my body for so long. I knew that I had to put some limits in place.

 

 

So, I found healthy things I loved. I discovered new ways to season vegetables without all the salt, I fell in love with yogurt and sweet potatoes--two things I used to hate. I stocked my fridge with fresh produce and wholesome foods, lowfat milk, and bottles of water.

 

But that doesn't mean it's always easy. Not at all.

 

There are days when I nearly lose my mind because I just want to eat and eat and eat. Am I really that hungry? No, not really. I just want to raid my pantry and eat everything I can get my hands on because that's what I used to do. I feel like binge eating is the eating disorder we forget about the most, but I definitely had it, and I definitely still struggle with it from time to time. Just the other day, I finished an afternoon snack of nuts and coffee and walked over to my pantry. I opened it and looked it up and down. Then I did the same in my fridge. I recalled a time when there's no way I would have been able to walk away without binging on cookies, crackers, cereal, something. But that day (and other days), I did. I walked away.

 

Here are my tips for walking away when you are absolutely about to lose it. I'm talking to you, fellow bingers.

 

1. Do the hunger assessment.

Are you really hungry? Or just bored? When is the last time you ate? What did you eat? Is your tummy growling? Does it feel empty? Figure out where the hunger is coming from. A lot of times I realize that I'm just bored, so I...

2. Go for a walk. Vaught and I go on a walk almost every day. Sometimes we'll just stroll for fifteen or twenty minutes, and other times we'll do a two and a half miler. Usually by the time we return, I'm either not hungry anymore, OR I've exalted enough energy to actually need a little snack.

 

3. Drink water. I drink lots of water these days, 150+ ounces each day. When I feel like I'm about to lose it, I drink more water. Remember to sip slowly and add a few slices of lemon, lime, or cucumber if you're feeling really fancy; citrus is amazing in water and is a great detox for your body.

 

4. Channel that emotion into something good. I'm working on so many different projects right now with this blog, my home, and let's not forget my super shambly sorority t-shirt blanket. When I get the urge to eat without reason, I take the energy from that scary, sometimes out of control feeling and put it to something good. It's like exercise for the mind. And I usually get a lot accomplished!

 

5. Fix a small snack--a serving of mixed nuts, half a cup of strawberries halves, an apple and a tablespoon of peanut butter-- then do one of the four listed above. Sometimes I know my mind is playing tricks on me, that I just want to eat to be eating. But other times, I know that I'm hungry and I should eat something. Healthy is the goal; I'm doing it wrong if I'm hungry all the time.

 

6. If all else fails, adjust your goals. It may be new to some of you that I used to binge eat on the regular, but I did and it's just a scary, lonely chapter in my journey. (There is more to my story to be shared at a later time). To get that crazy hungry feeling now and then is one thing, but if you're constantly famished at the end of the day, adjust your caloric intake. Eat more fiber and protein. When weight loss is your goal, as long as you're losing at a slow, gradual rate by eating healthy and exercising, you're doing it right.