Tag Archive | Exercise

Food Addiction and Exercise

Apr8

Today I joined a gym. I’m tired of being overweight so I signed up for a 16-week program at a gym that is only a couple of miles from my home. Then I went home and binged, but only slightly.

My life has been particularly stressful the last two years and the binge eating isn’t helping anymore. At first there is some feeling of relief, and that may last for some people, but it isn’t working for me anymore.

Being overweight makes part of you fade away. Even though you take up more space, you feel invisible. It’s a very emotional experience that gets more stressful as you gain more weight.

Some people can go on an emotional eating binge now and then, put on a few pounds and then take them off. But for a person with a food addiction, those emotional upsets always seem out of proportion as do the binges that follow.

I walked on my treadmill almost every day for the past three or four years. Recently I was injured and missed almost six months, then it was the flu for two weeks, and now the tread has started slipping.

There are diets, exercises, weight loss programs, and pills that promise a flat tummy or toned backside in some short period of time. Then you see the women in bikinis, sleeveless dresses, all  smiles.

If they can do it, why can’t you, you ask yourself. And so you give it a half-hearted try and lose a few pounds.

Then something unpleasant happens and the food addict will likely give in to a binge because that’s what we do when the stress of imagining oneself in good shape, happy, enjoying ourselves in a social situation is too intimidating, too overwhelming.

So let’s see how the gym experience goes. Perhaps the exercise will prove a good substitute for overeating in times of stress.

We shall see.

AC-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive

Nov5

That’s the title of a song by one of the greatest American songwriters of all time, Johnny Mercer. What does that have to do with food addiction, you may ask?

Simply stated, to someone with a food addiction, everything is relative. The second line to that song says “eliminate the negative”.

When you’re struggling with a food addiction, it’s pretty easy to get down on yourself, think of all the things you should be doing and aren’t.

But what about the good things you’re doing? Your simple wins for the day? How about that great deal you got on something you had planned to buy last week for more money?

How about the way you stood up for yourself at the car repair shop? That ticket you won when you called in to the radio show? The surprise and elation you felt when someone told you that you are awesome.

Maybe getting over the food addiction is less important then learning how the chemicals in your brain work when you crave food, or finding out what your triggers are.

Maybe it’s smarter to sign up for a walking group than to tell yourself you are stupid or worthless because you feel isolated and small. You can kill two birds with one stone with that one. Exercise and companionship—what a great combination!

And just maybe you could think about how truly awesome you really are, and how even more awesome you will be tomorrow. Remember to leave out the word “if”.

Don’t focus on the negative stuff. Dealing with stress and food addiction is negative enough. Focus on what you want to attract, not what you don’t.

In other words, accentuate the positive! And sing your best song–out loud!