Eating · Behavior Chain
Urge Surfing for Binges & Purges
Ride the 30-minute wave without obeying the urge
Urges to binge, purge, restrict, or compulsively exercise behave like waves — they rise, crest, and fall, usually inside 20–40 minutes if you don't act on them. The job is not to fight the urge but to ride it without obeying it.
The urge
Binge, purge, restrict, exercise, weigh, check.
What set it off
Hunger, emotion, body comment, mirror, scale, conflict, time of day.
Vulnerability factors
Skipped meal, undereating, poor sleep, isolation, alcohol.
Ride the wave — track the curve
Time
Urge 0–10
What I'm doing / noticing in the body
Start
+5 min
+10 min
+15 min
+20 min
+30 min
+45 min
Delay tactics I'll try first
15-minute timer, leave the kitchen, call one person, cold water on face/hands, paced breathing, walk outside.
Alternative actions aligned with recovery
If I obeyed the urge, what would have happened? If I rode it, what did I learn?