The situation when a person overeats (binge-eating), then feels guilty and wants to expel the newly eaten food by purging is a serious condition. Conditions such as bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa can cause this vomiting behavior. Even if you haven't eaten much before or overeat, it's unhealthy to vomit. However, once the issue has been resolved, you can begin to restore. If you continue to feel the urge to vomit after eating, try asking a professional for help, designing a healthy diet, adopting strategies to help yourself, and using coping techniques.
Step
Method 1 of 4: Designing a Healthy Diet
Step 1. Focus on having a healthy body and weight
Understand that you will not be able to lose weight healthily through vomiting. This is an important thing to understand. This action actually dehydrates you, which causes the stomach to become "empty". Dehydration makes you hungry and overeat. This means that you won't lose weight by throwing up the food you just ate.
- Vomiting can cause serious dental problems because the bile that comes out when you vomit makes teeth porous. Vomiting can also make the salivary glands swell, cause bleeding or damage to the esophagus, and even cancer.
- Contrary to what you might think, vomiting won't help you lose weight because it won't get rid of all the calories you've consumed. Vomiting can even lead to weight gain because you will overeat and believe that you have an "out" when you eat large amounts.
- If you exercise excessively while vomiting food, understand that you need a lot of calories to replace the calories burned during exercise. Because of this, you will have a strong urge to eat larger amounts than usual.
Step 2. Design a meal schedule
A plan that lists the types and amounts of food to eat at each meal can help keep you on a regular eating schedule that can minimize the feeling of vomiting. It can also reduce cravings for large meals and vomiting because you'll be sticking to the plan instead of thinking about what to do at that moment. Post the schedule on the refrigerator or around the dinner table to remind yourself that you should only eat foods that have been written down, not a lot of them.
- Understand that you can lose weight healthily through exercise and reducing your total calorie intake. However, that doesn't mean you have to starve yourself. Weight should be reduced gradually and should not be done quickly because this is not healthy for the body.
- If you feel comfortable, ask your family or householder to help you stay on track by reminding you of your meal schedule and helping you stick to it.
Step 3. Eat three meals a day, with three snacks
This is useful if you have set meal times and set a time for 3 meals and 3 snacks as well. While this may seem scary because you seem to be eating a lot more in a day leading to weight gain, this is simply not true. Eating small meals 6 times a day will actually increase your metabolism and can make you lose weight.
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An example of a meal schedule with an intake of 2,000 calories is:
- 4.30: Wake up.
- 6.30: Breakfast (approximately 500 calories)
- 9.30: Mid-morning snack (approximately 150 calories)
- 12.00: Lunch (approximately 500 calories)
- 3pm: Afternoon snack (approximately 200 calories)
- 18.00: Dinner (approximately 500 calories)
- 20.00: Snack in the evening (approximately 150 calories)
- 21:00: Sleep.
- Choose low-calorie foods that taste great the first time you're trying to break the habit of binge eating and throwing up.
- Take plenty of time to eat and chew food slowly. This is useful for recognizing when your stomach feels full so you will stop eating.
Step 4. Create a healthy eating environment
Your environment (before, during, and after eating) is integral to your success in reducing the urge to vomit. For example, having people you care about after eating can prevent you from going to the restroom and throwing up food there.
- If possible, don't be around people who eat big and throw up or suffer from eating disorders when you eat. This can trigger your cravings and make you think that throwing up food isn't a bad thing.
- Do something with your loved one, such as going for a walk after eating, watching a movie, or just sitting around chatting. Let them distract you from the urge to throw up.
- Some other things you can do after eating include: walking your pet, calling a friend until the urge to throw up goes away, or playing a game with friends or family.
Step 5. Make a food agreement
Make an appointment with a family member or mental health professional to help you deal with this binge eating and vomiting problem. Family agreement and support will help suppress your compulsions and guilt.
- Work together to determine the reward you will get if you follow a predetermined eating schedule. Also determine what penalties you will get if you don't follow the schedule or throw up food.
- For example, if you stick to your schedule for one week, you will receive money to buy the shoes you have been coveting for a long time. If you don't follow a schedule or throw up food, ask your family to confiscate your phone for a day. Only do this if it works well for you and doesn't make you keep something secret (such as secretly vomiting food to avoid punishment).
Method 2 of 4: Helping Yourself to Reduce Vomiting
Step 1. Practice self-love every day
Remind yourself often how great you are, if this helps. Nobody is perfect. So instead of trying so hard to be the perfect person, be happy with who you are. Some things to do every day:
- Love yourself as you are.
- Appreciate yourself for everything you have accomplished in life so far.
- Remind yourself of your goals and what you can achieve in the future. Make a list of goals that you must achieve in the next 1 month, 6 months, and 1 year. Read this goal every day and work hard to achieve it.
Step 2. Focus on your strengths
Consider your strengths, achievements, talents, contributions, and accomplishments. These are the things you should highlight, not body type and shape. Think about the things in life that you are grateful for. This could be a close friend, a great job, or a great family that supports you.
- Make a list of all your accomplishments and strengths, then post it somewhere where you can view it at all times.
- Make a list of things to be grateful for. This is useful to remind that your life is very beautiful.
- Take part in activities related to your strengths. For example, if you love to write, cultivate this strength by continuing to write articles, stories, and even journals.
Step 3. Keep a journal
Writing down your emotions and thoughts can be very useful, especially if you are struggling with the urge to vomit. Write down everything that makes you want to throw up, and all the reasons that make you want to stop. In addition, you must also write down:
- All of your thoughts about anxiety or guilt make you want to throw up food.
- The moments when you beat the urge to throw up. You can reread these moments of success for strength when the urge to throw up comes back.
- Your destination. When you lose focus on the goals you have set, reread your journal and remind yourself of what you are striving for.
Step 4. Create a support system
Trying hard alone to deal with this problem can leave you frustrated and lonely. For this reason, it is important that you create a support system for yourself. Lack of social support is also a significant risk factor for the emergence of this problem (vomiting food). Therefore, make sure you have a strong feeling that you have social support.
The best way to do this is to talk to a friend or family member about the problem you are having and ask them for help. They can help you stick to your eating schedule and help distract you after eating
Step 5. Join a community support group
In addition to friends and family members, you can join support groups. There you can meet and chat with people who have the same problem. A support group can: give you the opportunity to hear stories about what people like you are going through, motivate you through the success of others, and give you direction, guidance, insight, and advice from people who are going through the same thing and not. will judge you.
- Ask a therapist to recommend a support group in your area, or do an internet search for a support group near you.
- Try a 12-step program for dealing with eating disorders and see if you like it. You can also visit the Eating Disorders Anonymous (EDA) website and group.
Step 6. Read other people's success stories to keep you motivated
Reading other people's success stories when it comes to overcoming the urge to throw up can motivate you to break this bad habit. Learn how they stop vomiting food and try the techniques they use. Understand that everyone is not the same so you must choose the technique that works best for you. However, you can benefit by trying a few things that other people find useful.
- Buy books with success stories of other people who have overcome binge eating and vomiting.
- Do an internet search for interviews with people who have overcome bulimia.
Method 3 of 4: Using Coping Strategies to Cope With Vomiting
Step 1. Keep yourself busy doing things you enjoy
When you focus on the things you enjoy, you won't have much time to think about the urge to throw up. It is very important to keep your mind off to something else after eating. Some things you can do to distract yourself include:
- Read a book or watch a movie.
- Do a favorite hobby. If you don't have a hobby, find a hobby that matches your passion.
- Doing mental games, such as doing crossword puzzles, sudoku, and playing puzzles.
- Learn new things, both in the form of skills and subjects such as chemistry.
Step 2. Volunteer
Volunteering is a great way to focus on something constructive instead of wanting to throw up. You also get the opportunity to look at other people's lives and put them in your own perspective. Everything you've learned as a volunteer may help you to analyze what's causing your vomiting, and help you deal with it. Some of the places you can go to volunteer include:
- Homeless shelter.
- Food service establishments (eg soup kitchens) that cater to the homeless and the poor. Seeing people who are grateful for being able to eat can be used as therapy.
- Orphanage.
- Abandoned animal shelter.
Step 3. Do lots of exercise
When you exercise, chemicals like serotonin are released in the brain, which puts you in a good mood and makes you feel great. If done in moderation (not excessive), exercise is a very good thing because it can help stop the urge to vomit (if this is aimed at losing weight). Regular exercise can keep the body fresh, full of energy, and active. In the end, these things can make you more confident and happy.
- Try to exercise for at least 30 minutes, 4-5 days a week. This can be walking, swimming, running, cycling, hiking, or rock climbing.
- Do not exercise excessively. You've been exercising excessively if you: do vigorous exercise every day or several times a day, or exercise more than 15 hours a week.
Step 4. Do yoga and meditation.
Behaviors such as throwing up food are often caused by a pile of feelings, emotions, and mental energy looking for a way out. Yoga and meditation can provide an avenue for releasing these feelings, emotions, and mental energy in such a way that you can fight the negativity in your life and provide a constructive way out. Yoga and meditation can help restore peace of mind and defeat the urge to think negative thoughts and throw up food. This exercise can help you to discover the beauty within yourself.
When doing yoga, focus on your breathing and body movements. There are poses (called asanas) that can be adapted for people with eating disorders. This pose helps you to gain inner strength and explore your potential. One example is the Goddess Pose, which is a pose that is done with the legs bent, knees stretched outwards, and arms up
Step 5. Try having a pet
This act of vomiting food is caused by psychological factors, not because the body really needs to do it. Some psychological factors that can be a cause include anxiety, stress, guilt, and depression. If you raise an animal that needs care and affection, your energy will be focused on loving and caring for it. Pets can change a person's emotions and behavior. The unconditional love that comes from pets is a powerful thing. These animals can also distract you from negative thoughts that make you want to throw up.
If you can't have a pet, try volunteering at an animal shelter. There you can play with animals that also need love and affection
Method 4 of 4: Getting Professional Help
Step 1. Explore the available options
Understand that you may not be able to overcome the urge to throw up food just by doing it yourself. Professional help combined with the other methods described in this article is the best method of dealing with this. A professional can help create a design that fits your specific needs.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an effective therapeutic modality to reduce vomiting behavior. CBT will change thoughts which in turn will change feelings (anxiety, worry, guilt, or depression) and behavior (vomiting food)
Step 2. Consult a therapist
The therapist will help you understand that vomiting is not a solution for weight loss, and is not a good way to deal with some problems, such as anxiety, frustration, depression, hopelessness, anger, and low self-esteem. The therapist is usually a non-judgmental individual and it is safe to express feelings about your vomiting behavior.
You can find a therapist online who specializes in eating disorders. You can also ask a trusted family member or doctor to help you find the therapist best suited for you
Step 3. Seek help from more than one professional
You don't have to undergo treatment with just one therapist. Many people with eating disorders work closely with several professionals to help design eating schedules and action plans that can lead to success. Some of the professionals to contact include:
Doctors, psychiatrists, counselors, psychologists/therapists, and nutritionists (nutritionists)
Step 4. Try getting treatment
There are several medications (including antidepressants) that have been shown to reduce the symptoms of binge eating and vomiting. However, medications are often not effective enough to treat vomiting behavior. It is best to combine medication with therapy.
- Consult a doctor for a referral to a psychiatrist. You can also contact your insurance company, or do an internet search to find a low-cost mental health clinic in your area.
- Medical doctors (general practitioners) can usually prescribe medications to treat mental health problems, while psychiatrists are specially trained to treat mental health disorders and specialize in this type of medication.
Tips
- Tell someone what you're going through. Trying to cope with the vomiting behavior on your own will be much more difficult than if you have the support of loved ones.
- Look for people who have successfully overcome this bad behavior. Find someone who has NEVER had a problem with vomiting, and ask them how they can handle it.
