***Relapse Prevention Strategies For Dieters, Bulimics, And Overeaters

Moving beyond perpetual dieting, emotional or stress eating, bulimia, or any other form of using food to cope with life involves so more than just ending overeating. Long-term success requires learning new ways of thinking, acting, and behaving. Among the list of essential new skills are learning how to interrupt compulsive behaviors, offering yourself compassion, taking care of yourself in new ways, learning to manage thoughts and emotions, changing self-defeating beliefs about yourself, and daring to express yourself I new ways. Wow! There is a lot of personal growth going on behind the scenes. Your jou ey is less about counting calories or finding the perfect diet, and more about finding new ways to deal with irrational thoughts, unmanageable feelings, and self-defeating behaviors. Ending overeating is really about gaining a new sense of worth, confidence, empowerment, and balance. So it makes sense that as you begin to learn and implement these new choices, you may also encounter "relapses" or "set-backs" into your old eating patterns. I would like to propose that those "relapses" or "set-backs" are not a step back in time, but important opportunities necessary to challenge core self-defeating beliefs that you hold about the world, others, and yourself. Only by facing those "setbacks" can you uncover new strengths and develop new self-supporting beliefs. A "Relapse" Does Not Occur Spontaneously You won't suddenly find yourself overwhelmed by the need for food for no reason at all. Before a full blown "relapse" occurs, there are warning signs along the way. Your desire to turn to food occurs as a result of certain thoughts and attitudes, emotions, and expressed behaviors and actions. Relapse warning signs often build up slowly until they become overpowering. Once they reach a level of critical overload, you may experience an automatic return to your core food coping survival mechanism. Recognize Your Warning Signs One foundation building step in self-empowerment and your long-term success is learning to recognize your personal warning signs. When you become consciously aware of your warning signs, you won't automatically be able to avert a binge or overeating episode. What you will gain is the knowledge of what combination of factors, attitudes, and actions lead up to a loss of control. With this information you can move beyond wishful thinking that your problems could magically disappear. You can move beyond feeling hopeless. Instead, you can take your life into your own hands, develop new skills, and develop a new plan of action for the next time. Small, Bite-Sized PiecesnBy learning to identify your warning signs, you can break down your goal of ending overeating into small, manageable pieces. Instead of seeing your problem as one big, overwhelming issue, you recognize that there are many smaller issues involved. As you identify these warning signs, you can take each one and learn a new way of 1) avoiding situations that trigger the issue, 2) develop new ways of dealing with the issue, irrational thoughts, or emotions, or 3) develop new core beliefs about yourself and your abilities to deal with life. Print out the list below and higlight or circle your personal warning signs: AppetitenIncrease in obsessive thinking about food and weight Sudden increase or decrease in appetite Weight gain or loss Skipping meals Eating only 'diet' foods Eating more and more 'junk' food or fast food Food 'rules' become more pronouncedn Social ContactnIsolating Becoming more quiet or withdrawn Feeling more and more lonely Not reaching out to other people for support Change in sleep patterns Difficulty sleeping or sleeping too much Loss of daily structure or routine Constant boredom n Using Life Numbing Medicatio Use of alcohol Use of mood altering chemicals Increase in smoking, cigarettes, caffeine Numbing out with excessive shopping, sex, busyness, inte et, etc. Excessive exercisen Becoming HostilenVerbal or physical threats Desire to hurt self or others Angry outbursts Destruction of propertyn Change in Your AppearancenDecreased personal hygiene or self-care Increased use of make-up Bizarre dreams Daily weighing Excessive exercisingn Relapse AttitudesnLoss of constructive planning Perfectionistic attitudes Setting unrealistic goals Believing you will be happy and successful if only you were thin Feeling of being "too fat" even though people say otherwise Obsessive thinking Dwelling on past hurts, resentments, anger, or failures Being too hard on yourself Feeling like your problems can't be solved Feeling hopeless Why bother? I can't do it. Poor me. Feeling powerless or helpless Trouble concentrating or thinking clearly Difficulty remembering things Confused or distracted Wanting to escape from stressful situations instead of dealing with themn Mood ChangesnBecoming more and more depressed Feeling exhausted Increased tearfulness Becoming more irritable, frustrated, or easily angered Unusual or unprovoked anxiety Feeling hopeless about work, relationships, or life Gaining an increasing sense of complacency Consciously lying, dishonesty, or omitting the truth Decrease in self-confidence Feeling increased tension or stress Increased sense of disappointment Shame or guilt Feeling overwhelmed, confused, useless, or stressed outn SuicidenThoughts of suicide Preoccupation with death Devising a suicide or self-harm pla Self-destructive behavior CuttingnFeeling that nothing can be solved Wishing something would magically happen to rescue you n A relapse rarely happens suddenly. You can teach yourself to notice the progressive warning signs that lead to a relapse in your behavior. Most people have never been taught to identify and manage the warning signs, so they don't notice them until the pain becomes to severe to ignore. If you can learn to identify your warning signs, you may be able to intervene early and keep symptoms from escalating. If you can't intervene, by identifying things that put you at risk for relapse you can learn new skills, tools and coping behaviors, develop a practical plan of action, and try something new the next time you feel the urge to overeat. If or when a relapse does occur, do not judge or blame, for you are not a bad person. Seek progress, understanding and compassion, not perfection.nn