Ending the Diet Binge Cycle:: How I Finally Stopped Dieting Myself Fat 1st edition

This book was written for those who have become discouraged after years of trying unsuccessfully to stop bingeing away their life. It is the story of how one woman finally stopped dieting herself fat and found peace of mind after spending 15 years stuck in a seemingly never ending cycle of dieting and bingeing. The goal of this book is to generate hope by sharing the struggles, journey to recovery and a happy ending that included both weight loss and a permanent end to compulsive dieting and exercise. Although the book does include some of the specific methods used when recovering from the unhappy triad of compulsive dieting, binge eating and obligatory exercise, the main message is not in the details of one individual's recovery. Rather it is the message that it is possible to find a solution to disordered eating even after years of failed attempts. As evidence of the extent of the recovery achieved, the book provides a glimpse into life before and after embracing a no-more-dieting philosophy. How much different daily life, holidays and relationships became after letting go of dieting and embracing the body's own nutritional and exercise related wisdom. While trapped in a binge eating disorder, there was no room for anything in life other than a desperate (and unsuccesful) campaign to get back to a natural weight. Recovery has made room for a career, a husband, children and time spent enjoying the moment rather than spent planning the next diet (or binge). This feels like the way life is meant to be lived rather than the years of dieting and bingeing which felt like anything but. As wonderful as it would be to offer a truly effective fast fix for those wishing to lose weight, this book takes a much longer view. Losing weight and returning to a peaceful relationship with food was a process that took months to gain momentum and years to complete and consolidate. However, unlike the on again, off again "success" experienced while dieting for years, the recovery shared in this book has been permanent. No longer is there a need for "fat" clothes in the aftermath of a two week binge and no longer is a day judged as "good" or "bad" depending on the number of calories in today's lunch. Instead what has emerged is a peaceful relationship with food, weight and exercise that doesn't vary from day to day or week to week. This book does not include meal plans, recipes, or workout regimes. It also doesn't claim to offer a cure for eating disorders or medical advice. Instead the focus of the book is on how one woman rediscovered her body's intrinsic abilities to normalize appetite, weight and activity level when they were given the chance to emerge. Importantly, this book does not argue against dieting in general. That is a personal and medical decision that each individual has to consider carefully. This book simply shares an experience that the author herself would never have imagined when she first started "cutting back": the experience of dieting herself fat and then non-dieting herself thin. The unhappiness that accompanied the experience of chronic dieting followed by weight gain was so intense that the decision was made to write a book that might help someone, somewhere find their way out of a food and weight nightmare. The author's own nightmare ended when she fully embraced the steps she needed in take in order to recovery. It was a very, very difficult leap of faith for someone who had come to believe that the "right" diet plus willpower was the answer to her weight problems. Happily, that leap of faith paid off even better than hoped. And now the hope is that the same success will be experienced by everyone struggling desperately with food, weight and shape. Life can be about so much more than burning off the calories from last night's binge. Hopefully this book will encourage others to take their first steps towards discovering that for themselves.