If you just binged and are feeling like you ruined your progress or down on yourself this is what I'd do over the next 48 hours
I'm writing this post from the perspective of someone who could string together at most a week of good eating days before letting cravings and stress get the best of me. My relationship with binging never really came from the feeling of hunger, but more so restriction and treating food as a way to relieve stress. When I finally got my feet back under me came a period of worse restriction leading to the pattern of a few awesome days followed by dietary chaos; a pattern I'm sure most who are reading this and relate know all too well.
Overtime, I realized the binge wasn't the root cause of the issue, the spiral afterward was. While keeping binges at bay still requires vigilance, I can proudly say that I have drastically reduced their frequency and I'd like to share how I got there.
For me, when I'd binge it was almost laborsome to break out of that rut. It could go days or even a week, with each night me going to bed with the intentions of that being the last day. As soon as I'd wake and make one poor choice, I'd succumb to an entire day, and repeat. Many times, I'd even have the mindset of "I'll just get back on the horse Monday". The most important thing I've found to break the cycle is to do 1 small, semi undesirable task after the binge. For me, this was a walk right after waking the morning after a binge (near all mine were at night). It's extremely powerful to set the day's tone and switch your mind from give up mode to mental resilience mode.
Next, do ANYTHING rewarding to you that doesn't involve poor eating. Remember these are small, seemingly insignificant tasks but they start rewiring how you think about food as a reward. For me, I really enjoy my morning protein cold brew while playing online chess.
Return to a normal diet immediately. Ideally this is satiating, healthy meals but whatever is usual for you, do that. The main purpose of this step is to avoid restricting yourself beyond binge foods and amounts. It's paramount we stop punishing ourselves in anyway.
Now at this point you should feel back on track. There are some givens here like ensure you drink plenty of water, try to be more intentional to get steps in, and avoid weighing yourself, but most know this.
Going forward from there, I'll say this: think about using this blueprint to end future binges swiftly and make each binge smaller than the last. Eliminating them entirely in one swoop is unrealistic and puts too much pressure on yourself, plus it makes failure that much more painful. I have a conglomerate of ways that I have taken my binges from day long monstrosities to a singular, calculated "cheat", but it's a bit much to type here and less relatable to the mass of those struggling with binging.
If anyone’s stuck in this cycle and wants help getting back on track, feel free to message me. I know how crippling this can be. I feel a tangible sense of freedom since “beating” it and I'd like to pass that elevation in quality of life to others.