Binge eating is really common among men who are trying to lose weight. It’s likely there’s been a time where you’ve thought, why did I eat all that?! We’ve all been there, and while it can feel disheartening, there are ways to bounce back.
Stop the yo-yo
We overeat, or binge, then say, ‘diet starts Monday’ while feeling guilty or disappointed. Then we radically cut back to try and make up for it.
That can only go so far, and you’re bound to find that you can’t keep the restriction up for long. And when you can’t maintain the restriction, you reach for food for comfort – all the food! And then you’re back at square one.
Break this yo-yo cycle though by accepting when you’ve maybe eaten too much and try your best to simply move on, without placing unsustainable, unrealistic restrictions on yourself.
Get back to normal as soon as possible
It’s true that a new week is a fresh start that’s full of opportunity, and it can be liberating to say ‘the diet starts on Monday’, but instead of waiting, seize the day and don’t let a bad day spiral into several.
Each meal is a new opportunity to flex your healthy eating habits. If you had one flat tire you wouldn’t slash the other three. In the same way, don’t give up on your goal because of one setback.
Drink more water
Most of us are guilty of depriving our bodies of the water it needs to function. Does that ring true? Do you get your eight glasses of fluids in a day? Drinking more water will stop you from getting dehydrated, especially after a high salt binge, and it’ll help with your digestion too.
Get moving
When you’re feeling lethargic and full after binge eating, you’re probably going to want to just lie on the sofa doing nothing except possibly clutching your belly and wailing.
Although it’ll feel like the last thing you want, the best thing you can do is to get active.
Go for a walk and blow off the cobwebs. It doesn’t need to be an especially long walk but getting yourself out of the house will take your mind off that uncomfortable full feeling and will help your body start to process all that excess food.
Cut yourself some slack
We’ve saved the most important for last. Don’t beat yourself up about the odd binge slip up. Changing your unhealthy eating habits is a monumental task and it’s not always going to be smooth sailing. Try to see it as an experience to learn from. Breaking a habit like bingeing takes time and effort to overcome.
See if you can work out if there are any triggers to your binge eating and that should put you in a good place to spot the next potential binge and try and stop it in its tracks.
