Gentle Hugs

There's nothing wrong with starting over. Don't let your one setback overshadow all your positive accomplishments. You're stronger than you think and your choice to start over instead of give up shows that. Be kind and gentle with yourself. Praying for you! <3

Hey, going 6-8 months that's amazing and you should be so proud of yourself. I know that you are upset right now. But please don't be so hard on yourself. I know starting over makes you upset, please try to write in a journal or put on a funny tv show or movie to help pick you up. I know how strong you are. Lots and lots of Hugs.

Thanks so much everyone...I appreciate the support. :)

Sonny, I wonder if you can look at this binge and see if it’s different from any binge you had last year? For example(s): Did it last a shorter time; Did you overeat instead of binge; were you conscious of your feelings while binging; Did you get back on track the next day? These are, in my opinion, very important questions to ask yourself so you can see your progress because I am willing to bet that there has been improvement in all those areas. To me, the most important one is “were you conscious of your feelings while binging” – and I don’t mean feelings that go along with the binge itself but rather the feelings that made you start the binge? If so, then you have made tremendous progress. And if not, please try not to be too discouraged – you didn’t fail – you slipped in the mud (those wretched feelings) and now I am sure you will rinse yourself off and get back on track.

I have to say that I am always amazed at the number of people, you included, who come on this board and say they stop their ED cold turkey. I could never do that. I had to approach my ED a little at a time. First I worked on healing the starve part of my ED and once I knew that part was healed I moved on to the binge part. For me, the first step was being able to recognize the feelings I was eating while I was eating them. I didn’t even try to express those feelings – I only had to notice them. The next step was to express the feelings and then binge. With both of these steps I practiced not beating myself up for ‘failing’ – which is also my usual ‘go to’ response. Instead, I looked at them as steps to get me to my goal and nothing else. The goal being that I express my emotions and feel such relief that binging isn’t necessary. With this approach I was able to accept a setback because I wasn’t putting the pressure on myself to never binge. After a while the binge became overeating and now the overeating has turned into a few bites of something sweet or salty and this usually only accompanies strong feelings of hurt or anger. I should add that this was my own way of approaching healing my ED. My therapist does not specialize in ED’s – only in trauma healing. But it was healing my trauma that gave me clarity on how I needed to heal the ED for myself. The way I did it will work for some and not others so please don’t see this as me trying to convince you to do it ‘my way’. You need to do what works for you. I only share my story as support for what you are going through and if any part of my story gives you an idea of how to approach your own healing then that is great. If it doesn’t, that’s OK too.

I hope you are feeling better about everything today. You are doing great Sonny and have made tremendous progress with the ED. Please try to be gentle with yourself because healing is hard to do. ((Hugs))

Thanks Lucky...I definitely knew the feelings I was trying to soothe while I was eating last night, and I probably did overeat more than binge. I was completely aware the whole time, and I knew I was getting comfort from the food too. It was totally different than a year ago when I would eat without knowing why.

I appreciate your response and sharing how healing has worked for you....Thank you :)

Sonny, I see that as great progress. You deserve a hardy pat on the back for all your hard work that got you to this point. At the risk of sounding condescending....I'm proud of you!

Not condescending at all....thanks so much. That makes me feel much better :)