how do I motivate myself and stop binge eating rubbish?

[diamondsandtiaras]

I've just worked out using a BMI calculator, that I need to lose 5 stone to get my weight into the normal range. 5 stone!!!!! I knew I was overweight (size 18/20) but didn't quite realise I had to lose that much to be normal......size 16 has always been normal for me for most of my adult life (the extra is down to DDs 1 and 2!)

I make no excuses for my weight.......it's because I eat way too much junk, drink more than my recommended units and don't do any exercise. I binge eat at every oportunity (i.e go to a shop and blow a tenner on junk food which I consume in one sitting)and have got no idea how to stop doing it....the thought of not being able to do it actually makes me anxious.......that's not normal, is it?

I know all the theory of how to lose weight.......consume fewer calories and exercise so that I burn more than I eat. Fine. Easy peasy. Or not.

I guess I'm looking for tips really.......I just don't want to stop eating lovely food (and am also worried that I literally can't) and become overly attached to my trainers. How do I find the strength to stop bingeing and motivate myself to lose my extra stones?

i know exactly how you feel because i have a very similar problem

i have 2 voices in my head, one says, "you are full, you dont need to eat, you want to be thin" and the other say "eat, go on eat"

I can't explain it in any other way

I find it very hard to get motivated and have very low self esteem - which i think is the source of it all

Howeve, I have started going to the gym and I do enjoy it. I have to force myself to go sometimes and I set myself little tragets, like 30 mins cardio then 5-10 mins wieghts, because that seems easy but should have an effect - I do find i enjoy going now and occasionally even get the urge to go so maybe good habits just take time to sink in

I would really love to know how to get rid of the bad habits though

yes,i'm the same. its emotional eating with me,i think!

have dieted all day...eaten sensibly. dd in trouble at school again,spoke to head of year. now i feel crap....so consumed 6 custard creams!!!

i do wonder if i should try proper hypnosis

i don't buy any junk food that i like when i go shopping so its not in the house to eat it, when i go to work i never take my credit/cash cards and only take a small amount of loose change and make my own lunches that way i can't buy junk food.

i switched from full fat milk to skimmed milk, full fat cheese to low fat cheese, had a smaller portion of food but filled my plate up with veg or salad. or if i made things like pasta bolognaise i made sure i drained the meat, had less meat and added veg such onion, mushroom and courgette.

i walk where ever i can.

i found that keeping a diary and making a weekly plan of meals a big help,

i managed to lose three stone in eighteen months.

by making just small adjustments i found was better than thinking i needed to diet and the weight has stayed off.

you are totally right countydurhamlass, it is the little things

my first little thing is to stop buying any junk whatsoever as I cannot stop at 1 or 2 biscuits/cakes/sweets/chocolates

and also to stop eating anything after dinner unless I am genuinely hungry.

I figure just doing those things may help. I am also listening to Paul mckenna at night and really trying to imagine myself slimmer. Find that very veyr hard.

also I would say that the BMI calculators aren't all they are cracked up to be..according to them I should be around 9 1/2 stone - I weight two stone more than that & fit into size 10-12 clothes. So I would just suggest setting yourself little targets & when you find a weight/shape /size you're happy with then thats fine - do not be ruled by scales or BMI.

I read Rosemary Connelly mag (tho don't do the diet) & she reckons that the easiest way is to change ONE thing a day.

on the exercise front you could try a DVD called Jillian Micheals 30 DAY SHRED - it only takes 20-25 mins a day (we have a thread on here) & it is amazing - I jsut wich I had shares in it or somehting coz I've recommended it to so many people!

oh yeah according to the bmi calculator I should be 3 stone less than I am now. Well I know that when i weighed 1.5 stone less and had a bmi of 27 (so still classed as ovewieght!) I was a size 10-12 and very happy with myself.

I think they can be used as a rough guide but not necessarily the holy grail

Can I recommend Paul McKenna's book I can make you thin. It's not a diet, it analysis the reasons why you overeat and helps you address them. It also teaches you to think about food more as fuel and how to listen to your body's signals.

I think it's much better than any fad diet as it addresses the route problem of most peoples weight issues.

i have been listening all week sweetheart and this morning .... 1lb off

i havent been hungry all week, have managed to lose wieght this way before and i know if i just concentrate I can do it again. And if I do it for long enough then it will become my new habit.

I had chocolate biscuits and a mint aero this week, becasue I fancied them wehn I was hungry. But did eat a lot of salad and lean meat and veg too, again because I fancied them. We have a barbeque to go to this afternoon and using this approach I can have a little of everything until I am full, without having to fret about only having zero point soup for dinner because I ate some coleslaw and french bread!

When I think about how many times I have put off going on a diet just ebcause I had a few events coming up it seems so silly!

oh and I am ateacher, so hoping to walz back into school in september looking lovely and slim, cue everyone making nice comments cos they havent seen me for 5-6 weeks.

Gingernut, I have that dream as well, 6 weeks at 2lb a week, sorted (hopefully). I have lost 7lbs over the last 3 weeks on the Anna Richardson BodyBlitz diet and am very positive at the moment. I am determined to shimmy into the staff room come September .

another paul mckenna fan here, the new book is a big improvement on the old i think, i found it in my local bargain book store type place for £4.99. good luck, i lost 6lb in my first fortnight at about the same weight as you

6lb in a fortnight???? ON paul mckenna??? That's fab, well done. And has guven me the ooomph to carry on.

I am going to carry on listening and carry on listenign to my body - have had a bad weekend as it was my brithday and have had 3 meals out/takeaways in a row but i just stopped eating when i was full so fingers crossed i havent done too much damage.

I was given 8 very lovely boxes of chocolates too from children at school - I am determined they dont make it out the cellophane unless I have guests - chocolate is one of those things i lose control over but I dont want to stop eating it altogether so dont dare try the aversion technique in pauls book LOL.

DH and I did the Idiot Proof Diet which is a low carb diet.

It broke my cravings and made me realise that I was eating when I wasn't hungry and that actually overeating made me feel rubbish, really rubbish.

DH is still low-carbing, I'm not but I am still losing weight because I'm listening to my body.

Yesterday we had family here for a birthday party for DS, we had a bbq at lunch, birthday cake mid-afternoon and cheese and biscuits for dinner.

I had half a pitta with lunch alongside my meat and salad, I had half the slice of cake I would have had 2-3 months ago, and I didn't even finish my first helping of cheese, never mind going back for seconds and thirds which is what I would have done before.

It's like a switch has flicked and I honestly know I can eat like this forever now. Tonight we are having fish and chips, because I know I can eat what I want and leave the rest, and that I no longer view a meal like that as 'falling off the wagon' or any other daft phrase that WW or SW or any of those use. It is just a meal, and tomorrow and the next day I will not eat fish and chips and therefore I will still lose weight this week.

seriously gingernut the listening to your body works, so simple i felt stupid for never getting it before! thing is i have stopped listening again, having a few issues right now that i just dont want to focus through but in a week or so i will be doing the sabotage bit in the new book and getting right back in there, minimum 4 stone to lose, more like 6 and i want it gone, this time next year would be good, dh in RAF and will be going somewhere hot and sandy for 4 months this time next year, id like him to come back to me at target

Maybe try reading the back of packets and see just how much crap and chemicals there is in some stuff. Also how much of your daily recommended allowance is in something. I don't have the same emotional attachment to food that you do but this always really puts me off!

Gingernutlover - give your boxes of chocolates away. Kids at my school gave me chocolates too and I was determind not to open them....then immediately sat down and ate a whole box. I gave the rest to DH to take into his work but in the past I've been known to actually bin them (which I know is shockingly wasteful) if I couldn't find someone to off-load them onto.

thanks guys, i am happy enough just listening to my body - i dont wish to obsess about calorie counting and grams of carbs etc etc. I can see this works for some people but pauls approach just seems much more natural and a way to eat for life, and I am someone who becomes obsessed with anything involving points, counting or limits on amounts of types of food groups.

the chocolates will be given away gradually as brithdays etc come along. They are safe all the time the cellophane is on. The only box that did get opened was used to make malteser cakes for my convalescing mum - I ate 4 and the rest went on the cakes or to dd and dh, I just wasnt that bothered.

Good news is I actually lost a pound over the week despite the weekend so proof that it works, just stop when you are full.

I am finding it increasingly hard to eat when i am full, and have noticed that one indicator is that if i cant decide what i want to eat then I am probably not hungry!

What a fantastic thread. I am trying to lose 3 stone after having my third baby and turning 40! He is a year old now and although I'm still breastfeeding I need to get my body back. The trouble is all the time I'm feeding I'm starving!! I'm going to start listening to my body again and make changes one by one - you are all right, that is the way to go.... I will also give up feeding him after our holiday this summer so hopefully that will help. BTW I am also a teacher, so a new term is a good goal to aim for for me too. 12 lbs by September Here we go. Good luck everyone!!

welcome to the thread janajos. Yes 12 pounds by september would be very noticeable I think and quite acheivable.

What I like best about this method is that I dont have to have "a day off" or a "naughty weekend".

I need to lose 5st too apparently. although I'll be going by size/how I feel in the long term I think.

pre-children I got my act together and lost 3 dress sizes - but lost absolutely no weight! WTF?

and again recently I made a few small changes and lost 6 inches off my waist... still no weight loss though!

Maths, how did you lose the inches?

pre-children, I had that thing called, um, time and went to the gym! and had less snacks I think.

this time round I joined change4life and got sent a chart about making small changes long term - the ones I did included:

drink more water
add pulses to food (and cut down meat)
having a proper lunch at home
no snacking after dinner
walking more (got a pedometer)
adding salad to meals

that sort of thing really. I just added a couple of new 'habits' a week and the habits have actually stuck, I think because I wasn't trying to do it all at once.

however I've recently been snacking more since I got really sick a few weeks ago... haven't got back into it yet... need to find some motivation!

Ah, so a bit like small steps at a time then. As for motivation, how about taping a six inch ruler to your fridge/cupboard with snacks door so everytime you head that way you can see the positive side of not snacking?

that is an awesome idea! thanks