Renee has struggled with emotional binge eating for nearly 20 years. Her and I made a contract that she  would write down what she ate in good times and bad.  Recently, she had been anxious about her upcoming birthday and the food, drinks and family involved. She was not only worried about the party itself, but also her tendency to binge eat when the party was over. Here is how it played out according to Renee:

On this 16th day of November 2008 I ate J0341653
1 granola bar
1pkg of Thai Noodles with spinach
1 cup of cantaloupe
1 cafe latte
5 truffle chocolates
10 crackers with pate and humus
1 cobs of corn
1 cup of potato salad with a dill dressing
1 serving of green salad with balsamic vinaigrette
9 barbecued pork ribs
3 glasses of wine
1 piece of lemon birthday cake
Estimated calories: 2705  Hey that is nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be!

Many think that writing down what you eat is about counting calories and confessing your sins, it’s not. It is about seeing things as they are, not how your fearful thoughts perceive them to be.

The more you think about it the more calories you think you have consumed. "I’ve blown it, what is wrong with me, I’ve just eaten 3 days worth of calories…" The self loathing, self deprecation and the need for self soothing behaviors such as further eating increases.

On a bad day, an emotional day or after a binge, write your foods down no matter how bad you think they are.

I guarantee, as Renee discovered, it is never as bad on paper as it is in your mind.

17 Nov, 2008  |  Written by Drew  |  under Activity and Exercise

Do you want to burn 500 calories with a 20 minute walk? (yes- there is a catch) Find out how by visiting Cranky Fitness and reading my guest post.  Cranky Fitness  takes a lighter, funnier and sometimes grumpier approach to the perils of health and fitness.

12 Nov, 2008  |  Written by Drew  |  under Why diet tired?

untitled

The exact level of physical activity to prevent illness and improve the quality of your life is not known and may differ slightly between individuals. Research suggests that accumulating 30 minutes to 1 hour of activity most days is likely sufficient for optimal health. There are 168 hours in a week and doing everything in your power to make sure that 4 or more of them are spent being active makes a whole lot of sense.

526566_scale_5

It is common practice to set food and exercise goals and dream about where your body weight might be  in six months time. But how often do you assess your progress? I’m not talking about the progress-o-meter that most dieters stand on each morning, stripped bare, fingers crossed, in order to see a number that tells them whether or not they should feel good about themselves on that particular day. I’m talking about progress that really matters such as your eating patterns, your activity level and how you feel about yourself.

If you are wondering why you don’t ever seem to be completely happy with your eating, activity patterns and the number on the scale, hopefully I can shed some light on this. Aiming for perfection day-in and day-out can be exhausting at the best of times.

Chances are that there are parts of your everyday life, such as work projects or paying the bills that require perfection or near perfection. Thankfully, exercise and eating are not one of them. So why are you beating yourself up for less than perfect eating patterns or activity levels?

In fact, being pretty good, most of the time is good enough for health, wellness and even weight loss. Further, taking this approach means that when you do have a ‘bad day’ (emphasis on when), making the day ‘less bad’ is a great accomplishment as well.

This approach allows your good days to get better, and the bad days to occur less often and be less severe when they do occur. Being perfect means never giving into temptation. Do you really think that thin individuals never have cravings for certain foods, never indulge at a meal and never skip their exercise plan?

Perfectionism is a common attribute among struggling ‘dieters’.

Of course, since you’ve been reading my column, you are not longer a dieter but you may still exhibit perfectionist or dieting type behaviors. Knowing that diets don’t work is not the same as eliminating years of emotional diet baggage.

In order to find out if you exhibit dieting perfection, ask yourself the following question: If you miss a workout or eat something unhealthy do you feel like you’ve ‘blown it’?

If so, you are exhibiting a perfectionist attitude towards eating and activity also known as an all or nothing attitude. At the Healthy Weights Clinic we call this ‘what the heck thinking’. For example, “I’ve missed my workout today, so what the heck- I may as well indulge in chips and cookies tonight too”.

The truth is that you shouldn’t expect to be perfect at any time with respect to eating and activity.

Why? Simple, there is no definition for perfect eating and exercise perfection. In other words, you are striving for something that does not exist! No wonder you, and many others are frustrated.

If eating less is better, does that mean that eating nothing is perfection? What is a perfect amount of activity? Is anything less than two hours at the gym not worth it? I would argue that the perfect amount of exercise is any amount that you feel good about.

Certain situations such as weekends and family gathering require you to lower your standards and expectations. For instance, when it comes to weekends, compare your Saturdays to previous Saturdays, not to Mondays.

Cut yourself a break sometimes and be happy with your accomplishments, especially under trying conditions. A pat on the back goes a long way for improving health and weight management and when it comes from within it silences your perfectionist inner critic.

3 Nov, 2008  |  Written by Drew  |  under Body Image

Individuals with a history of overweight or who were teased about their weight are more likely to misperceive their size and shape.

image

Using diagrams like the one above researchers have demonstrated this time and time again. The individual selects their body size and their selection is compared to that of a group of external observers.

Recognize that your body image is not real, it is how you feel at that particular instance in time. It can change, be changed and positive body image can be practiced. If you still are not convinced consider the following:

Many women believe they will be happier if they are thinner, however, research has shown that those who do meet the ‘body-beauty’ ideal are just as likely to be unhappy about their appearance as women who do not reach this ideal.

Consider where you fall on this diagram and consider where you would like to be. Research suggests that you are likely closer to your goal than you think.