Everyday Systems

I've been reading the book and lastnight I got to the part where it talks about binging actually being a form of self punishment. Absolute GENIOUS!

It's absolutely the truth and I can't believe I never thought of it before. Argument with my husband? Binge! Disagreement with my daughter? Binge! Disppointed with my weight? Binge!

It's amazing to me b/c all this time I always thought that I was "rewarding" myself. "Hey, I've had a lousy day. I deserve it. I'm gonna eat this entire cake!"

I wonder if anyone else can relate?

Totally -- I posted on a thread about it before I had even bought the book. Binges for me are not about rewards but the inner rage.

I agree. I think binging for me was a way to numb my feelings when there were problems or issues in my life. It was my escape from the crazy world.

If I could just fully wrap my head around this truth, I would never binge again. I need to somehow picture binging as destroying.

Thanks,
Resting

Bingeing is a misdirected expression of power and rebellion. It says, "I can TOO destroy myself! I can TOO do what society frowns upon! You can't make me stop! Nyaah!"

Two year old meets adolescent in an eternal nasty yowl.

I ought to add here that I was neither psychologically a two year old nor an adolescent; my sisters were 15 and 17 years older than me respectively and felt myself 80 years old during childhood, which is why I am at my absolute peak in my 50s, definitely, like the Zimmerman dude said, younger than that now.

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Exactly!! Embarassing, but I know I've actually thought to myself during a binge, "I can eat it if I want to...I can eat it ALL!!" Definately a feeling like, "I can do whatever I want and you can't stop me..."

Absolutely! Binging can definitely be a self-punishing behavior for me, especially the "I ate a little too much...now I must eat until I feel like throwing up" and the "I weigh too much...now I must eat until I feel as terrible about myself as humanly possible" binges. (But also the "I didn't do well at XYZ...now I must eat until my physical discomfort is even greater than my disappointment in myself" binges) I actually learned that about myself a long time before No S, but No S was the first "diet" book I've read that acknowledged that side to binging/emotional eating. It's good to see, both in the book and in this thread, that this is actually true for a lot of people, not just something I made up in my head.

I agree that bingeing equals self punishment. For me, there is also a great deal of distraction involved too. I can feel better about not dealing with whatever is REALLY bothering me .... if I can pile enough food on top of it.
This is what I love about No S.....no feelings that I need to binge on sugar, which was always my binge food of choice. Did you notice that I said WAS? Amazing!

Have a great " on habit day" everyone.
Foxylady

Hey Resting!


Think of binging as putting too much gas into your car and watching it over flow onto the road. At the price of gas these days it should make you stop!

Buffalo Gal

LOVE THAT IMAGERY !

Foxylady

i agree that binging is HUGELY self-punishing ... it is the best way that i know to make my feel awful about myself as soon as possible

it has really worked well in the past when i was happy or had some success i could be certain a nice big self-punishing binge would push me down a notch or two ... added to that i would feel physically ill for a period of time depending on how bad the binge was ...

also as i became more conscious during my binges it became readily apparent that I was not actually ENJOYING anything that I was binging on ...
so yeah binges ... great way to punish ourselves .... for being mad ... for being happy ... for being sad ... for being imperfect ... for being successful ... for being a failure ... basically for being alive.

Blueskighs