You binge ate – now what?

If you have ever struggled with binge eating, you can probably relate: Your alarm goes off and you are in a haze. What happened last night? You need a few seconds to realize that you still feel sick to your stomach. Your eyes and face feel puffy and you don’t even want to look in the mirror and see the damage.

Your guilt is weighing you down, before you even got out of bed.

All you want to do is shut the blinds and sleep forever.

You probably made a promise to yourself last night that you won’t eat today. Or, you will only eat vegetables. Or, you will only drink juice for the next week.

All you can think of is how disgusting you feel and how you can’t believe that you “gave in” to the urges again.

Okay, girlfriend. Enough. I get it. I was there for over ten years. I want you to know that it is not your fault that you binge ate. You probably restricted food in the past, so your body is naturally gravitating towards wanting to eat large quantities of food, just in case you are going to restrict again. Your body wants the best for you.

If you want to read more about this phenomenon and how to heal, check this article.

Today, I want to help you get over the hump of the day after, by giving you some tips on what not to do the next day, if you want this habit to stop.

1. Don’t sleep in because you feel depressed

If you are anything like I used to be, you dwell in self-pity and guilt and don’t feel like getting out of bed. You may think about calling in sick at work (I have done that before multiple times). Here are my thoughts on it out of my own experience: It only makes things worse. You end up staying home and isolating yourself, which only makes you feel more alone and obsessed with what happened last night.

Your goal is to treat this day like any other day. Put on some clothes that fit a little loser, so you feel comfortable. Go out there and be amongst other people. It is the only way you can get over your feeling of guilt and shame.

2. Don’t skip breakfast

Like I said earlier, you probably made a promise to yourself to never eat again. Or at least not eat for the next day. How is that working out for you so far? From my experience, I ended up starving around noon and it all ended up in another binge later in the day. I don’t want that to happen for you.

I want you to be kind and gentle with yourself today. Restricting food is not the answer. Today is about nourishment. You don’t have to have a big meal, but have something in your stomach to keep your metabolism running. Maybe 2 scrambled eggs, some yogurt or another light snack.

This way you will get right back onto your regular eating schedule and your body won’t feel like you are starving.

3. Don’t kill yourself in the gym to “make up for it”

I used to spend hours in the gym the day after I binged. Unless I was puking or drowning in sweat, I would not let myself stop. This led me into finishing my gym session absolutely famished and, guess what, I wanted to binge again. Your body is designed to balance itself out. If you binge ate last night and are holding onto water, your body will find a way to get back into balance. It will happen without your 5 hour gym session. This way, it will do it on its own time and you won’t have the urge to binge eat again.

4. Don’t beat yourself up, you are only human

Self-compassion is your best friend today. What would you say to a loved one, who told you that he/she binge-ate last night? You probably wouldn’t say mean things to them, right? You would give them a hug and tell them it is all going to be okay. I want you to do the same for yourself today. Be the kindest, most gentle version of yourself today. Give yourself a hug. Take a bubble bath after work or read a book. Eat foods you actually enjoy. Call someone and tell them you love them. Please, stop being mean to yourself. It only makes you feel worse and you want to feel better, don’t you?

The key here is to treat yourself like you would treat a child, a loved one or your best friend. Have compassion. Nobody is perfect and like I said at the start, it is not you fault that you binge-ate. We live in a society that constantly tells us to lose weight. When we restrict food, our body sends signals to our brain to eat as much food as possible, in order to prevent starvation. This is totally normal.

5. Don’t weigh yourself

Personally, I got rid of my scale about a year ago. I just find it way too triggering and I will not let a little machine make or break my day anymore. However, if you like to weigh yourself frequently, today is not the day. Your weight will be up, because of water retention and that it entirely normal. Eat your regular meals, treat this day like nothing ever happened and your weight will be back to normal in no time. Trust me on that. The last thing you need today is a mental breakdown because you think that you gained fat. Let me tell you right now that you didn’t and your body is already working on balancing itself out.

In order for your binge eating to stop, you have to give yourself permission to eat

Only when you allow all foods back into your life without judging your food choices will you experience freedom from binge eating. As long as you are still in a calorie deficit, your body will keep sending out signals to binge. It is just part of our evolution. After allowing all foods back into your life, your body will slowly build up trust towards you again. It will understand that binging is not necessary for its survival. There will always be new food coming in, so large quantities of food are not needed anymore. Wouldn’t that be so freeing?