I’m 16 years old and a junior in high school. And, let’s put it bluntly: I love eating. Weekends are a killer for me, especially during the winter. Today it was snowy and I stayed home. I watched TV from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. I did have a few breaks, however. Every hour or so, I would feel the need to eat something. I had a can of Spaghetti-Os, two grilled cheeses, half a gallon of milk, and about six servings of Goldfish. And the night is still young.
OK, so I eat a lot. But there are some explanations – or are they excuses?
I play three sports at my high school. My sports help me burn the calories I consume and keep me in shape. I’m also a teenage boy, so I need food to get me through the day and through practice. Unfortunately, on the weekends I have the same mindset about fueling myself for athletic activities. I load up on food but instead of heading to practice, I loaf on the couch for hours with no motivation to get out and do anything. I know that when I grow up, I’ll need to change my habits because I’ll probably be even more sedentary.
For me, hunger is an uncomfortable feeling. In contrast, eating is an enjoyable experience. When I feel full I think, “This feels good, now I want to feel even better.” It becomes a vicious cycle: I eat more, getting more and more full. The feeling gets better and better, but then without warning it goes downhill. It almost reaches the point of wanting to puke just to get rid of the feeling. It’s something I know all too well. It even spoiled my birthday last year, even before I got to eat dinner.
Being a male I also feel the need to show off how much I can stomach. A couple weeks ago, my friends and I were hanging out. We ordered some pizza for dinner, eating chips and drinking sodas while we waited. Finally the pizza came. About two of the kids didn’t finish their fair share of slices and they offered them to the rest of the group. I was thinking, “I can’t be the one to deny free slices. I’m a man.” I accepted the slices. But by the end of the night I had eaten six slices, a big bag of barbecue potato chips, three regular sodas and a root beer. I patted myself on the back. “Wow, I am the man.” Let me tell you this, there is nothing manly about throwing up pizza in your room while your mom cleans it up for you.
But recently I’ve been thinking about the reasons I overeat and what I can do to stop my overeating. I have a new plan, man:
I can eat more snacks during the day so I don’t become ravenous, and wait too long to eat, and then fill myself beyond my limit. And by snacks I don’t mean chips, candy or any of that junk, but healthy snacks like crackers or yogurt.
It will probably help if I stop and think for a second before I eat. I need to ask myself questions like, “Do I really want this sitting in my stomach?” and, “Is this bite really gonna make me happier?”
Identify an alternative behavior to replace bingeing. If you binge when you’re under stress, for example, try stress reduction techniques such as relaxation, yoga or meditation.
Finally, I need to know when enough is enough. If there’s no cash prize, then speed or capacity feeding is no fantastic achievement.
Today I had a snack before practice and I was a lot less hungry at dinner. And I ate a lot less. Maybe I’m on to something. But, ohhhh, that ice cream is calling me…
