I can admit to being someone who has a hard time putting down the ice cream. I end up feeling bad about myself after, but by then it is done. But I have also learned a lot on this journey, and I want to share with you the tips and tricks 5 steps I use to stop binging.
One very important proclamation to note is that you could eat a cookie every day and not gain weight. So using a cookie for a reward will work! If you want to learn more about the reward system, check out one of my previous blogs on motivation here. The problems come when you eat five cookies, or the entire bag for a couple of days on end. I am going to teach you how to stop yourself from going down that hole.
1. Get to know yourself
Everyone has different eating habits. Your binging habits might not be the same as your parents or your neighbors. You need to get to know your own binging habits. Specifically, you need to know what time of day you binge the most, what food you binge, and how accessible that food is to you. A great way to track these is a fitness journal. Check out my post on how to use one of those here.
2. Make clean food easily accessible
The second step is to make sure that healthy clean food is the first thing you see when you open the fridge. When you are looking for a snack, chances are you don’t want to spend twenty minutes trying to find your Oreos. You would rather just grab the first item of food you see in the fridge, even if its an apple. Put all unhealthy food in the far back of your cabinets, so you will only have the persistence to find them when you know it is the time you allow yourself a dessert.
3. Only grab what you will eat
This step happens during dessert time. Picture this. You just had a great healthy dinner full of vegetables and protein. You deserve some dessert. You pull out the Oreos and grab two. But instead of putting the Oreos back, you leave them out on the counter. And after you finish two, you go get another, and another. You get the idea? Only grab the amount you will eat. This is where knowing your limits comes in handy. If you know that there is no way you will be satisfied after two, then grab three. Right after grabbing them, put the Oreos away, back in the cupboard, out of sight and out of mind.
4. Meal planning
Planning your meals when you are full and are in a healthy mindset is a great way to be strict on yourself while staying within your limits. Take some time on a Sunday and plan all of the meals you control during the week. This will take a lot of strain and tension out of your week. If your grocery situation is shaky at best, and you don’t know what you will have in the house on any given day, then make your meal plans daily. Get up ten minutes earlier to plan all your meals out for that day.
5. Hydrate!
The final step is to hydrate. Sometimes when you think you are hungry, you are really just thirsty. So the next time you are hungry at a weird point during the day, think about the last time you had a glass of water. Even if it was just an hour ago, get another glass. You should get into the habit of drinking water before you eat. If you drink water before you eat you will eat less during your meal. If you want to learn more ways water will change your life, you can find them here.
Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy these steps! You can email me at sadellehealthylifestyle@gmail.com if you have any questions or suggestions. Check me out on Pinterest at Sadelle! Thank you.