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It drives me up the friggin’ wall. At Easter time, the old “I’m letting myself go completely this weekend and do whatever I like, I’ll be back at it Tuesday.”
Why?! Why do you need to think and behave in this way?! Why does life either have to be healthy and miserable and tee-total or completely overindulgent and exercise free?!
You see, this all too common sentiment implies a lot of things:
- Having more family time than usual and perhaps less gym time than usual is a bad thing, even though you value family time.
- Having more food than usual or enjoying different foods like chocolate and roast dinners, is a bad thing and should always be avoided even though you enjoy them.
- Your “normal” routine is a hard, unsustainable one and should also be used as a punishment or negative karma for the fun you enjoyed over the Easter weekend.
You’re setting yourself up for another binge-starve cycle…
All this language means you’re effectively telling yourself that what you’re doing is having a binge and what you need to do next is restrict. You are simply feeding back into that cycle you always have done before, that you’re desperately trying to break free from.
And this is the problem with those cycles:
- Negative Impact on Metabolism: Repeatedly cycling through periods of extreme calorie restriction followed by excessive eating can wreak havoc on your metabolism, leading to long-term weight gain and an increased risk of developing metabolic disorders. Yo-yo dieters typically, over the long term GAIN weight and have poorer health markers than those who muddle along being happy as they are.
- Impaired Cognitive Function: Binge-starve cycles can lead to fluctuations in blood sugar levels, which may result in diminished cognitive function, negatively impacting your decision-making, problem-solving, and overall performance.
- Reduced Energy Levels: Consistently depriving your body of the nutrients it needs can lead to low energy levels, making it more challenging to stay focused and productive throughout the day and leaving you irritable and cranky by the time you get home for family time.
- Increased Stress: Binge-starve cycles can contribute to emotional eating, creating a vicious cycle of stress, overeating, and guilt. This gets worse and worse the more you feed into it and the mentality can be hard to change if you don’t recognise the warning signs or you don’t engage with someone who can help pull you out of it.
- Long-term Health Risks: Prolonged engagement in these unhealthy patterns can increase the risk of developing chronic health conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer. You could even be developing eating disorders such as orthorexia and this can really impair the relationships with those around you, particularly your children who will pick up on your behaviours and typically struggle with them in their own lives thereafter.
But all is not lost.
You might have felt you’ve had a binge or you’ve lost the plot completely this weekend. Instead of feeding back into the binge starve cycle, here’s some practical steps to ease back into your normal routine and try and build some long term habits that last more than five minutes and will actually help you to see change:
- Prioritise Consistency: Instead of swinging between extremes, aim for consistency in your eating habits. Focus on consuming balanced meals with plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats. Don’t feel you have to punish yourself with food restriction or over-exercising in the next few days. It doesn’t work and it isn’t true!!
- Practice Mindful Eating: Eat slowly and without distractions, savoring each bite to help you recognize when you’re full and prevent overeating. It will help you to recognise your emotional connections with food and this is VITAL if you want to overcome the guilt and shame you might currently be feeling after those family holidays and periods of excess.
- Don’t Skip Meals: Skipping meals can lead to intense feelings of hunger and increase the likelihood of overeating later in the day. Aim to eat regular, well-balanced meals to keep your energy levels steady. Regular timing of meals where possible can also help you to get back in touch with hunger cues more easily.
- Stay Active: Incorporate physical activity into your daily routine, even during public holidays. Exercise can help regulate appetite, reduce stress, and improve overall well-being. If you haven’t managed to get much in over the past few days, recognise how that’s made you feel and look forward to getting back to a form of exercise you already enjoy, not starting something new and intense purely as a way to burn calories – you won’t maintain it and it’ll leave you missing out on the happy hormone hit post-workout if you’re constantly having to force yourself to do it!
- Develop Healthy Coping Mechanisms: Learn to manage stress and emotions through techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, or journaling, rather than turning to food for comfort. This can be really hard. Exercise can also be a good remedy for this. It’s about breaking a cycle. Accountability such as food counselling groups or friends you can turn to for support when things get rough, may really help with this one.
- Set Realistic Goals: Establish achievable, long-term health goals rather than focusing on quick fixes. Just like you’d build a business plan looking at each quarter working toward a five year plan, you need to do the same for your health. Only having a plan that looks as far as the end of your nose will NOT lead anywhere.
Want some more help?
Go check out the Super Human scorecard, which will give you immediate free advice to get started on your own journey today. If you’re feeling overwhelmed a lot of the time, if you know that focusing on your health can give you the results you need but you lack accountability and perhaps knowledge on how to get going, the scorecard can help. You can also book in for a FREE consultation with me here.