If you struggle with bulimia, you just how stuck it can feel when you are in the cycle of bingeing and purging. It’s like a never-ending rollercoaster of self-destructive behavior. When you’re in the middle of a binge-purge cycle in bulimia recovery, it can feel impossible to get yourself out.

You’re probably already aware that bulimia nervosa is a serious mental health disorder with the characteristic cycle of bingeing followed by compensatory behaviors such as self-induced vomiting, laxatives, or excessive exercise. Beyond the mental anguish, this cycle can be detrimental to the digestive system and also lead to dangerous electrolyte imbalances.

Yet even though you know how damaging it is, and even though you vow each time it happens that it will be the last, you feel helpless.

Usually, the frequency of these cycles can increase over time, and the pattern becomes routine and almost second nature. It might even feel like an out of body experience – like someone else has taken over and is steering the ship.

However, no matter if you are bingeing and purging every day or every week, whether it has been going on for weeks or months, it’s possible to take the steps to stop. Keep reading for some skills you can implement to start breaking the binge-purge cycle in bulimia recovery today.

5 Ways to Get a Handle on the Binge-Purge Cycle in Bulimia Recovery

It’s scary and overwhelming to feel like you are stuck in a cycle that you know is damaging and self-defeating, yet you have no idea how to get out of it. Even though it seems compulsive and impossible to intervene, there are absolutely some things you can try to create a different outcome than the one that has become so familiar.

#1 ‘Normalize’ Meals; Dare Not to Restrict

The binge-purge cycle looks like this: restriction (dieting behaviors), binge, then purge.  One of the keys to getting a handle on this cycle is to fight the urge to restrict your food intake.  You might not be aware of it, but one of the surest triggers to a binge is restriction itself. The binge is actually your body’s normal biological response to being withheld the food it needs to survive.

In order to tackle this part of bulimia recovery, you’ll need to get a better handle on what a normal, non-restrictive daily diet actually looks like. This can be challenging when, over time, you’ve become completely disconnected from your body’s signals.

It might seem basic to have the knowledge of when you are hungry and when you are full, but when you’ve been struggling with bulimia, this is no easy task.

Often times, it takes working with a dietitian to get a handle on your true nutritional needs, but you can start out by making an effort to eat three meals a day, plus snacks.  Depending on your restrictive patterns, start small by adding just one meal or increase the size of one of your meals and see how it goes.  Understand that this is a process that is going to take time, as you are unlearning what are probably years of ingrained behavior in bulimia recovery.

#2 Let Mindfulness Be Your Go-To Guide

You’ve heard a lot about mindfulness, but what exactly is it, and how can it help you in your bulimia recovery?  The thing is that the act of bingeing and purging is actually a method you’ve developed to avoid feeling uncomfortable feelings, even though you might not be aware of this.  A mindfulness practice takes you into the ‘here and now’ and helps you to manage what is going on internally.

Rather than aiming to change your emotions, mindfulness helps you to both accept and to move through them.  We call this practice ‘urge surfing’.  Basically, this means that you are riding out your emotion as you would a wave, with the understanding that it will eventually pass.  No emotion is permanent, even though it sometimes can feel that way.

In urge surfing, the key is to notice what the urge feels like in your body: does it feel like tightness in your chest? or tingling in your stomach? If you can stay with the urge and notice how the sensations in your body shift, the uncomfortable feeling will hopefully become easier to manage and get less intense over time.

#3 Make a Coping Skills Plan for When the Binge Urge Hits

You are likely well-versed in what happens when you go through with the binge-purge, but what you don’t know is what will happen when you try to do something differently.  That’s part of what makes following the pattern so alluring and familiar.  Begin to interrupt this pattern by making a pact that you will delay the binge for a certain number of minutes, starting with just five.

Tell yourself that the binge is always a possibility, but, first, you are going to try something else.

Make a list of several coping skills that you can draw upon, and agree to try three of them in the moment.  Some of these favorite coping skills might include: going for a walk around the block, phoning a friend, turning on a favorite TV show, or painting your nails.

These are going to look different for everyone, so if the first coping skills you try don’t feel helpful, there are always many more you can try.  The goal here is to eventually extend the time of delaying the binge from five minutes to ten minutes, etcetera so that the binge eventually goes away altogether.

#4 Journal to Get to Know Your Emotions and Triggers

When you have the opportunity in the moment and you’ve managed to stave off the binge, one it can be illuminating to get a sense of what emotions are brewing internally. Start this but pulling out your journal and writing down exactly what you feel in that moment when you want to reach for the food in bulimia recovery.

I often sit down in session with clients and take a look at this fascinating record of the internal dialog that takes place when you are triggered to engage in disordered behaviors. By doing so, you can get a better sense of common triggers and come up with more rational, healthy voice responses. Over time, you can retrain your thoughts to develop these healthy responses on your own, in the moment.

Another use for journaling can include writing a letter to yourself about what it feels like after you’ve purged. Take this time to write down how uncomfortable it feels in the aftermath. It can often be difficult to remember this as motivation not to follow through in the moment. You can then pull out your journal when you are triggered and remind yourself what the aftermath feels like.

#5 Practice Compassionate Self-Care

One of the best ways you can improve your overall mental health and wellbeing is to pay close attention to your basic daily self-care. Often we ignore the importance of getting enough rest and enough sleep. When you look out for basics needs like sleep, stress relief, and social connection, you will feel far more able to manage the difficult changes that need to take place in bulimia recovery.

Along the lines of social support, no one can recovery alone and having a friend you can reach out to in difficult, triggering moments can prove extremely helpful as a coping skill. Sometimes just being able to connect or to say out loud in the open that you are feeling triggered to binge can be a huge help in times of struggle.

Lastly, professional support is often the key.  As an eating disorder and body image therapist for nearly a decade, I work with clients at my office in Agoura Hills, CA and provide online therapy in California and New York. I’ve helped many women make lasting peace with food and their bodies and fully recover from bulimia.  If you want to learn how I can help you, give me a call now or click on the button below to get in touch to schedule your free 15-minute phone consultation.