Strategies to avoid b/ping- let's make a master list!

[ladyg]

brilliant thread.
Ok, thinking back to the times I have managed to stop..

• Cups of tea or coffee- saaavoouurrr
• Eat celery or lettuce or some other low cal veg so that purging is pointless
• Clean your room/house
• Put the binge food out of sight/out of arms reach
• The biggest one that helped me (although pretty disturbing..) Imagine your family/friends at your funeral (I know.. sick) Really vividly picture their faces, how they'd feel if something happened to you.. For me, imagining my dad crying because I died was a massive factor in 'recovering' last time.

Just my two cents, stuff that has helped in the past.

Okay, imaging that last one almost made me cry. That might actually work for resisting! Even if it is really sad..

EDIT: Also, another thing: look at your bank statement and count up how much money you've spent and wasted on food intended for b/p. Just did that now and.. damn.. stopped me right in my tracks from even thinking about getting something else.

[fer]

I'm about to start a new b/p cycle. I want to stop before it's too late and I regret it (I surely will). Today I've already had chocolate ice cream and cookies. For some reason I couldn't get rid of it (well at least of the cookies). Worst purge EVER EVER EVER. I c/s some cheese and pizza. Mom has just bought a lot of binge food... I don't know what to do. I'm trying my best to control myself but it seems that I can't control my binges or restriction days. I just feel like doing that and that's all.

Sorry for the rant. I just needed to talk about it to someone. I'm gonna try to use the tips of this thread.

[dancingonmyhands]

Hi Fer, sorry you had a hard day. It's never too late to make the next day better...may try for a day that's not Restricting or b/P-ing, but just...normal.

That's my tip/strategy to avoid b/p, actually: This is a difficult and scary thing to do, but try to make yourself relax your restricting a little. It sounds like it will make you gain weight, but over the course of a week, the few hundred extra calories here and there add up to FAR less than a binge.

I tried this for the first time in about 7 years this week; I decided, instead of trying for 1200 calories a day, I would be okay with 15-1600. All week long I was absolutely terrified that I would weigh myself at the end of the week and be huge. After so many years with the number 1200 ground into my head, it was scary to relax this rule for myself. But I DID binge less, because it was easier to make through the day within my limits. And when I weighed myself, I was not heavier, maybe a bit lighter actually, just sort of back to what I consider my baseline.

So...not everyone might be ready for this tip, but if you can: try to cut yourself some slack and restrict a little more gently, and see if you can get through a few days like that. The first day or two might be really hard and you might feel out of control, but it really helped me not to purge as much this week.

[dancingonmyhands]

Here's a thought: what about tips for "getting back on track" after the b/p? Maybe this should be its own thread. I know that for a lot of us, redirecting back to positive behaviors after a slip-up is one of the most difficult parts.

[chika98]

I chew gum when I feel like I'm gonna binge. It makes me feel as if I am bingeing, even if I'm not

[faemine]

today i did something cool--i made play dough. it felt like cooking but when i was done, i had something to distract myself with.

it was 1 cup of baking soda, half a cup of corn starch, and 3/4 cup of water in a pot. you stir it constantly over medium heat until it comes together as a dough then take it off heat quickly, let it cool, then add food dye or glitter or kool aid powder if you want(:

[xsecretblogx]

Create a blog or getting involved in blogging sites that are nothing food related then you don't think about it. Join chat rooms about things unrelated to foods etc like talk about politics, crime, social issues.

[xsecretblogx]

watch a programme on obsesity and you would soon put away that binge food for life. Only take money you need for essentials and then you don't have money for binging

[Detrimental]

One of best threads.
Thanks, strangerlove for starting this. Thumbs up!

(like button) lol.

[brijeeet]

I have problems with saying to myself, "you can't ever do this again." Just saying that makes me want to do whatever it is that much more. So instead, I have a list of things I make myself do before I ever let myself binge.

1. Wait ten minutes (I can usually find something to occupy myself with while I wait, and I end up forgetting I wanted to binge).
2. Eat Truvia (like, literally with a spoon. It's way sweeter than sugar and a few spoonfuls usually either knocks out any kind of craving, or makes me feel a little sick so I don't want to binge anymore).
3. Drink exactly 64oz. of water (fills me up).
4. Masturbate (wink, wink).
5. Binge.

I've never ever made it through the whole list...I've only made it past #1 a handful of times. The fact that I tell myself I can binge after I finish makes it seem less daunting of a task than "you must never ever binge ever again!"