I just started my 4th month on SCS and have been working with a personal coach for about a year. I was most excited about SCS for the Overcoming Overeating as I have struggled with my weight since I was 8 years old. I find that, while I have discovered a lot about myself, I’ve had difficulty with consistency with my protocol and cyclically slip into bad habits. I also cracked up on the call on Friday when you said that those of us who buffer the most will have the hardest time, as I have definitely found that to be the case. I’ve done several models on this and have really struggled creating a compelling reason strong enough to stick more than a week. After an event that occurred today, however, I realized that part of the reason behind this is that I am addicted to food. Not in a jokey-way, but in a crack or alcoholic kind of way. The good news is that I’ve finally discovered my compelling reason–and I’m really grateful for this rock-bottom event and the steps that brought me to this realization.

My question right now revolves around first steps. Fortunately, I do have a call scheduled with my coach tomorrow, but I also wanted to get your advice. My coach has been working with me to curb my temptation to delve into the extremes of eating: labeling foods as good or bad and eliminating types of food so as not to trigger a binge or swing the pendulum in the opposite direction. While I don’t want to be so extreme to trigger anything, I think that allowing myself to eat my trigger foods or junk food is like trying to wean a coke addict by allowing them to take a bump once a week. Do I completely eliminate the joy eat then? Or do I make it something like a bite of honey instead of a bite of ice cream? I know this is a little all over the place as far as a question goes, but I literally just came to this realization so haven’t had much time to compose my thoughts around the subject. I’m going to delve into my Overcoming Overeating packet (finally printed everything out) and I might look into an Overeaters Anonymous meeting tomorrow. I would love your thoughts on anything else I should do or perhaps what I should work on with my coach.