Binge Triggers
As I write this, I have 2 complete days of food sanity behind me and am going for my 3rd. Yaaaaay! Unfortunately, I also have about 3 hours of Sudoku insanity behind me, but that’s another story. Except for the matter of my reckless use of time which could have more productively been spent in other pursuits such as walking.
Kim made an excellent comment regarding my last post:
Prevention is better than cure. If you know what triggers the binge
then it's easier to avoid the trigger than it is to stop the binge once
it's underway.
Obviously "easier" is a relative term. Really it should be "there's at least
a possibility of being able to avoid the trigger, whereas there's
virtually no possibility of stopping once it's underway."
I'm only a passive victim once I've had the trigger. Up to that point
I can learn the techniques for resistance/ avoidance/ distraction.
I agree with Kim to a large extent. When I find myself binging in the controlled environment of my usual routine, I can usually identify a trigger that I could have avoided or with which I could have dealt more effectively. The biggest challenges that I’ll be facing in the days/weeks/months ahead are with triggers that will be operative outside my usual routine. In one case, I’ll be spending a couple of nights at my son’s house. Ben and his wife are very health conscious and the meals that we share will reflect this. The difficulty for me will be the break in my routine coupled with the 2 hour drive to and then from their house. I’ll prepare myself by bringing with me foods that will help me stay on course, but . . . Ahhh the challenge of it all! The temptations! The ease with which I yield to them! Some of our meals together may be restaurant meals. Again, the temptations! I so much like being able to fit the foods I eat into my Weight Watcher daily points’ allocations. I think of Twice the Man’s “cheat days.” I think also of my decision to allocate a certain number of points for meals out without actually counting the points involved. Can I sustain such a sensible way of dealing with eating over the course of several days?
I have to remember that I AM IN CONTROL. Whether I choose to use that control for food sanity or give it up for the ease of the moment is up to me. On Monday my weight had reached 173.5. This morning the scale’s number was 170.5. This does NOT indicate a 3 pound loss in 2 days. The higher number reflects the effect of a 28 hour binge. Even so, I’ll be visualizing these 2 numbers as I confront the challenges before me. My lapses of self control have real consequences. 173 and higher can become my “new normal.” Prior to departing for Spain, I’d reached 164. It’s my goal to get back there and lower in the next couple of months. IT IS UP TO ME (even though it’s way more difficult than I’d like it to be).
Kim made an excellent comment regarding my last post:
Prevention is better than cure. If you know what triggers the binge
then it's easier to avoid the trigger than it is to stop the binge once
it's underway.
Obviously "easier" is a relative term. Really it should be "there's at least
a possibility of being able to avoid the trigger, whereas there's
virtually no possibility of stopping once it's underway."
I'm only a passive victim once I've had the trigger. Up to that point
I can learn the techniques for resistance/ avoidance/ distraction.
I agree with Kim to a large extent. When I find myself binging in the controlled environment of my usual routine, I can usually identify a trigger that I could have avoided or with which I could have dealt more effectively. The biggest challenges that I’ll be facing in the days/weeks/months ahead are with triggers that will be operative outside my usual routine. In one case, I’ll be spending a couple of nights at my son’s house. Ben and his wife are very health conscious and the meals that we share will reflect this. The difficulty for me will be the break in my routine coupled with the 2 hour drive to and then from their house. I’ll prepare myself by bringing with me foods that will help me stay on course, but . . . Ahhh the challenge of it all! The temptations! The ease with which I yield to them! Some of our meals together may be restaurant meals. Again, the temptations! I so much like being able to fit the foods I eat into my Weight Watcher daily points’ allocations. I think of Twice the Man’s “cheat days.” I think also of my decision to allocate a certain number of points for meals out without actually counting the points involved. Can I sustain such a sensible way of dealing with eating over the course of several days?
I have to remember that I AM IN CONTROL. Whether I choose to use that control for food sanity or give it up for the ease of the moment is up to me. On Monday my weight had reached 173.5. This morning the scale’s number was 170.5. This does NOT indicate a 3 pound loss in 2 days. The higher number reflects the effect of a 28 hour binge. Even so, I’ll be visualizing these 2 numbers as I confront the challenges before me. My lapses of self control have real consequences. 173 and higher can become my “new normal.” Prior to departing for Spain, I’d reached 164. It’s my goal to get back there and lower in the next couple of months. IT IS UP TO ME (even though it’s way more difficult than I’d like it to be).
posted by ArleneWKW at 1:19 PM
5 Comments:
It easy to drive a car on a clear day, but a pain to drive it on a ice cover road. Enviroment makes control easier or harder. Being aware of how you react in a given enviroment is important. It is good that you are already thinking about your trip. Your lucky that your going to see health conscious people, most Americans are barely conscious to what they eat. Depending on what type of resturant you go to, you may be able to pre-plan what to eat. Here in middle American eating out at a "nice" local place means somehting like Applebee's (which does have a great Weight Watcher's endorsed menu section). But you hit me as classier, and while you may not go out to a place with a WW selection - I bet it possible to have something nice and healthy with pre-planning.
Me, you know what I would do, I would call the meal out a cheat day and order a steak and baked potato. But you got to do what works best for you.
What would life be if you were perfect?
I also binge like yourself. I still struggle with it, but I am taking steps towards learning to identify the triggers.
I've noticed that the bloggers that tend to post on a regular basis (good or bad) tend to hang in there better.
I'm guilty of defeatism sometimes and I become absent from my blog.
Your making progress....hang in there and I have no doubt that you will meet your goals.
Trigger foods got me on Friday with my son's birthday, which had a knock on effect over the weekend.
I now feel extra guilty after you quoted me in your post as a positive example :(
A brilliant metaphor TTM. I've thought about it a lot and used it in my next post.
Spider, if I was "perfect" with regard to both eating and exercize, I'd look like the photo of me at 127 lb. (only a few years older). I'd like that.
Sir Squishy, I think you're right about regular blogging. I about boring and digusting others with the tedium of my failures. My sometimes tenous confidence that I'll eventually succeed at this very hard thing keeps me going.
Kim, guilt is a drag down. Your comment last time was an excellent nudge to me. This is a lifetime thing with a mix or success and failure. We help each other get more of the first and less of the second.
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