Binging means you're doing it wrong. Here's how to actually lose weight.

We all know the feeling: you've been doing so good today, but then you come home from work and unleash the Cookie (eating) Monster.

I've been a serial dieter for the past six years. Here's what I've realised doesn't work... and what does work.

Willpower- based restriction

In the long term, this is highly likely the reason why you fail. The reason why something like 95% of all dieters fail. Why? Because you only have a limited amount of willpower each day, and things like work and school are already a big drain. Also, our brain is not really wired to indefinitely deny itself short term gratification everyday.

Now, all of this could be theoretically endurable, but here's the caveat: the more you restrict food, the more you want it. Seriously. There's been studies done showing willpower based restriction leads to preoccupation, even obsession with food and binging (ex. Keys' Minnesota Starvation study).

So just... don't do. it. If you catch yourself thinking: "I had x much today, I can't eat any more..." Stop. If you go into a meal thinking about how much you'll allow yourself to eat, stop.

Here's what to do instead.

Habit

I've consumed several books on forming habits (not literally though, I never restricted myself that much...) and here's how they work:

the cue-process-reward pathways

You see food. That's the cue. You start to eat it – that's the process. You feel good; that's the reward.

Something the cues can just be coming home from work. You don't even need to be hungry. What stated out as a stress-relieving snack morphed into an an everyday habit.

But how do you stop yourself without using willpower?

The answer is, you hijack these pathways. You can still get reward from eating food, but now the short-term gratification is also stemming from another source: you want to stop.

Now, okay, I sound insane. If I had pleasure from stopping eating, I would be skinny by now, you may be thinking.

But hear me out:

Weigh yourself everyday

This is probably the most controversial point, but it's true.

If you don't weight yourself, you get no short term gratification from your efforts, which transfers the full weight of responsibility onto your willpower.

How fun would it be to play candy crush without getting any feedback on your success level? If you knew you had to get to level fifty, but you could only see your progress once a week, it would transform it into a chore real quick.

Similarly, the desire to stop stems from the desire to get positive feedback the next day.

Now, scales are controversial. If you really think weighing yourself everyday will bring you more harm than good, don't do it!

Personally, minor (water) weight fluctuations don't bother me, but if you find they do, don't weigh yourself every day. A good alternative in that case could be intuitive eating, though I find it works better for weight maintenance.

Also, once you reach your goal weight, stop. Check your weight once a week and only if you've started gaining weight, you can switch back to daily weigh-ins and only until you reach your goal weight.

That's my two cents. Good luck.

submitted by /u/lelolise
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/iwaf9z/binging_means_youre_doing_it_wrong_heres_how_to/