Stop Binge Eating – Stop Overeating

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Resource #1: Online Support Forums – Make use of online support forums, there are several out there and I hear and read the same story from those who start using forums: After regularly logging on to the forum for 2-4 weeks they notice that their eating habits start improving automatically, they find it easier to stick to their healthy eating plans and notice that they get less and less junk food cravings.

Resource #2: Family Support – I’m guessing your mind is already coming up with several reasons why this is a bad idea, but bear with me here and let me explain how you can effectively use your family to support you in your efforts to stop binge eating.

Resource #3: Support Group Meetings – Binge eating support groups have existed for years yet many people I meet who have overeating issues have either never tried them or have tried them and have very strong opinions on why they’ll never go back…yet I often find that those people did NOT like the support groups simply because they went into them with the WRONG expectations.

Resource #4: Committing To Friends – This is the best way I’ve found to get myself to implement new habits. How is this relevant? Trying to stop binge eating involves making small changes that add up over time to new habits, so this resource will really help you stick to those changes and those new habits.

Resource #5: Reading Books – Whenever you try and accomplish a goal in life or achieve anything really it’s a lot easier to do when you’re constantly reading about it and learning about it. From a young age this technique is used with school children yet what happens is that after we become adults we stop reading and therefore we stop learning.

Resources 6 & 7: Music & Walking – Both of these resources have to do with you taking care of your mental and emotional state. While these two resources are extremely valuable, I decided to bundle them together because there very simple and quick to explain.

This post is Part 4 of  the 7 part series 7 Resources to Help You Stop Binge Eating…to get more tips on how to quickly stop overeating and start losing weight please subscribe to my free email newsletter here.

The fourth resource is the best way I’ve found to get myself to implement new habits. How is this relevant? Trying to stop binge eating involves making small changes that add up over time to new habits, so this resource will really help you stick to those changes and those new habits…

Resource #4 is making commitments to your friends…

Lets say you’re trying to implement the habit of regularly going to the gym to workout. Starting out you feel that going to the gym twice a week for 30 minutes would be a reasonable goal since you do NOT exercise at all right now. And you want to do this for the next 4 weeks.

Here is how resource #4 would work…

You simply get a hold of one of your friends, either over the phone or in person and you tell them “I’m trying to create a new habit of going to the gym regularly and I need your help, during the next 4 weeks I want to go to the gym twice a week for 30 minutes each time”….

You go on to explain to your friend that you’ll email email them every time you get back from the gym so he/she can keep track of how you’re doing and you tell them that if you fall off track for any reason you will commit to an agreed upon punishment…

Then you and your friend agree upon what that hypothetical punishment would be…lets say right now money is kind of tight for you and you’re really trying to save…

So you give your friend $100 in cash and tell him to hold on to it for the next month, and return it to you only if you stick to your commitment for the next month, if you fall off track tell him he’s allowed to donate that money to a charity that you really despise or completely disagree with, and let him know what the charity is right then and there and where he would need to go to donate it…

In addition to wanting to go to the gym to exercise for health benefits you now have an even strong reason to go…it’s the fear of losing the money you gave your friend…

Some Tips to Get the Most out of Making Commitments to Friends

Tip #1: Your goal must be very specific, measurable and last for a specific time span

In other words, telling you friend “I just want to go to the gym more” is the WRONG way of putting it…this is why in the example above I used:

For next 4 weeks going to the gym twice a week and spending 30 minutes in the gym each time…

This goal is very specific and measurable. This goal also has a specific time span which is 30 minutes for each gym session and it’s a total commitment of 4 weeks.

This is something a friend can easily keep you accountable to doing…

Tip #2: The agreed upon punishment must be something scary and/or intimidating

In other words it must be a real punishment….it must be scary or intimidating enough that you’d rather go through the hassle of doing the work rather than have to face the punishment…

Money seems to be perfect for this because everyone values money…its just a matter of deciding how much? That depends on your own personal finances however the monetary figure must be a scary sum, the scarier the easier it will be for you to stick to your goal and implement the new habit…

You may use punishments other than loss of money but they must be just as scary…

Tip #3: Make your friend promise to hold you to the punishment no matter what

This is very important. Since you’re doing this with a friend, your friend might feel sympathetic and decide to forget about the punishment in case you did fall off track, this ruins the whole method.

You must make your friend promise you before hand that no matter what he will implement the punishment. Also you must provide him with everything he needs in advance. In other words if it’s a monetary figure, you must give him the money before you start and any other relevant information he would need to give it away.

This technique is by far the best way I’ve found to motivate myself to stick to new habits. It can be used to help you stop binge eating, exercise regularly, eat more nutritious meals etc.