Prozac Update: 1 Week

I didn’t expect such great results so soon!  I have not had the desire to binge at all.  I don’t seem to have any side effects either.  Mild nausea here and there, but, very mild.  I am able to discern a feeling of physical hunger and a sense of satisfied fullness, and I am able to stop eating at that point.

My mood has somewhat lifted as well, anxiety is down.

Who knows, this could just be a placebo effect, but, I don’t think so!

I haven’t been doing my 20 minutes 3x per week exercise, plus yoga. I don’t know why, it’s not lack of time.  I just haven’t felt motivated to do it...so, I have to get on track with that this week...for my health! Laying around isn’t great!

Other things I have been doing include reading about managing BED.  There’s a LOT out there and it can be a bit overwhelming.  I did find “The Binge Code” to be extremely helpful.  I have been using several of the techniques and the are simple and effective.  The two I like the best are “Zen10,” and “I Love Myself.”

 “Zen10” is something you say to yourself when you feel a binge trigger coming...you find that moment between the feelings and the binge and say (or shout) internally “ZEN10” as a reminder/trigger to give yourself 10 minutes of being super kind to yourself, super mindful of what you are feeling and ask yourself what you really need.  In that time your binge need may subside, but if it doesn’t, that’s okay, maybe you are just hungry or maybe you still binge, but...it’s okay, you aren’t bad.  You have given yourself some love though and often that’s enough!

“I Love Myself,” is almost like magic!  It is meant to reprogram all of your negative self talk.  I think more people should do this, not just those of us who suffer from BED!  Basically, anytime you catch the negative self talk replace it with “I love myself” like a mantra in your brain.  Let that phrase be your meditation. It reminds you to be compassionate with yourself.  It retrains you’re brain so that is the automatic tape that runs through your head instead of the negative stuff.  It triggers a different chemical reaction in the brain, to help bathe your brain with all the feel good neurotransmitters!  I think it is one of those, “fake it til you make it” kind of techniques that really works!

I have also set an eating schedule for myself.  I haven’t read the actual “Intuitive Eating” book yet, which is supposedly the gold standard for BED recovery, but I have come across some of the principles.  I wasn’t sure what to do exactly though! I was in crisis mode a few weeks ago!
So, on the day I started the Prozac I began this schedule.  Bkfst/lunch/dinner/ and 3 snacks, all 3 hours apart.  It does a few things...I think it is training my body to know that it will be fed, and to expect food at those times.  Psychologically it helps me know that I am go to be having something soon, always, so that somehow unties my emotions from my hunger.  I think I crave other things, emotional things, like connection, understanding, intimacy, and food is a way that I have been trying to meet those needs.  Sometimes I crave a way to deal with frustration, anger, being treated unjustly, and those things are also handled with binging.  But when you are eating a small meal or snack every 3 hours, it kind of unhooks the emotion from the urge to eat...at least so far.

I am logging my meals and trying to eat a variety of healthy things, but, I am not being restrictive.  I still eat cookies, pop tarts, pizza.  Not labeling anything as “bad.”  I calculated the calories my body needs and divided that by the 6 meals as a framework.  None of this is rigid and I am not trying to lose weight. (Although I think I have lost a bit based on how my clothes feel.). If I want more, I eat it until satisfied and if I don’t want anything, I skip it. (That hasn’t happened too often though.)

Overall, it’s a lot, and it’s new.  I am excited by all of it, but, I realize that this is an ongoing issue.

I do still need to contact an actual counselor to deal with those emotions that I named earlier that cause me to binge.  Knowing what emotions trigger me is not the same as excavating the garbage behind them. Sure, I’m currently not eating to deal with those things but, I still need to figure out HOW to deal with them.  I’ve been reluctant though.  Part of it is money, but I suspect there are other reasons lurking.  I have anxiety about asking for help. It’s a work in progress though!