Katy - sorry you had a blip! i know what you mean about managing the binges though CD - I've done that loads even before CD by having just soup and salad. It's what we are supposed to do, i.e. self regulating, but it's all about degrees. Most people, if they've eaten too much eat slightly less the next day. The problem is we go to extremes and end up in a binge / starve cycle and that's where the danger is.
Looking back on my dieting years I found that I was most stable when I followed WW / calorie counting and CD. CD was easy in a way because food was out of the question but as soon as I started moving up the plan that struggle came back. On WW / calorie counting I could eat enough to not feel such a need to go over the top. Yes, I'd eat too much (like last night) but not so much that it could be counted as a binge.
I think emotional eating is the most common reason why women are overweight. Some of us simply like food too much but generally there's emotional eating in there somewhere as well.
You know I'm not sure it can be fixed. Controlled, yes, but not entirely fixed. Not without an awful lot of professional councelling and therapy - simply reading books won't "cure" us from emotional eating - it will just help us by giving us strategies to remain in control most of the time.
Maybe we are just perfectionists, expecting to find the answer that's simply not there. Maybe we are asking too much of ourselves and we should just aim to change our habits where we can but not expect to become normal eaters ever again. I'm just not sure it's possible for us to turn around completely and not worry about food. That's why I like Beck - it doesn't really talk so much about the why's - it's more around what strategies to use to manage through the tough times. So maybe it is supposed to be two steps forward and one step back for us and that's good enough - it might not feel like it and it might feel unfair, but if it is the reality then maybe we should accept it and get on with it (I still stamp my feet about the unfairness of it all on a daily basis!
)
Sorry I'm probably not making sense and I know I'm being completely depressing and probably not what you need at all at the moment :sigh:! We are a very grumpy household today (lack of sleep) and if I could I'd go back to bed and sleep the day away!
Anyway - I hope you have a good day today and don't despair (despite my doom and gloom message
). You will get to your goal even if it takes longer than you had hoped for! We're nothing if not persistent!
