Let me just start by saying that I hate that phrase. I don't like to practice. I'm the person that "Spanish as a Second Language — Learn in your car in less than a month with no effort whatsoever!" is geared toward. I wish I was born knowing everything including computer programming, genetic engineering and the reproductive patterns of the Tsetse fly.

Alas, that's not how it works.

When I danced as a child and young adult, and had to learn a new dance step combination, it often took me a while to learn it. I would have to practice each step separately. Once I had each component down, I had to then practice them together. Sometimes it took me a while to get the hang of it, I would make mistakes but I would keep practicing until it became second nature and I didn't even have to think about it, my feet would just do it on their own.

That's what I had to do with this process. Whenever I would "slip up" by eating too much of something or throwing up I would simply take a deep breath and think about the fact that I was actually trying, I was practicing and learning, practicing and healing, healing and learning and practicing. If I was making mistakes it meant that I was actually trying and if I was trying then I would eventually get the swing of it, it was just a matter of time.

When I first started listening to my body's natural hunger triggers and full triggers, it wasn't easy. In the beginning I would be eating like a lunatic and for a very brief moment the thought would flash in front of my brain… "Should I be eating like this?" "Am I hungry?" At first I would ignore it and keep eating. The next few times the thought flashed slower and slower until one day I started practicing stopping eating when I had the thought. "Put down the brick of cheese…back away from the fridge…it's okay…you're not even hungry, are you?"

One of the most helpful things I read (in several books) was that if I was going to eat, then I should eat…Eat smart! Put the food on a plate (I eventually bought all new colorful pretty plates at the dollar store and packed away my matching set, the colorful images made eating more enjoyable), sit down and eat like a person who deserves a real meal (we all do) and not an emotionally crazed bulimic or compulsive overeater. Allow yourself the food, the satisfaction and the enjoyment. You may decide you aren't even hungry after all, so put it away, come back to it later. You've legalized, your allowed to eat…without guilt.

The first time I was able to do this I felt like the Queen of Sheeba. I stopped shoveling food into my mouth, quickly grabbed a plate, filled it with food and sat down. It wasn't the best attempt but it was a beginning.

The plate had too much food on it and I had already eaten a ton, but it was a start. Each time I tried it got easier and easier, the momentum lessened every time. One day I noticed the momentum and binges weren't even an issue anymore.

Another wonderful tip I learned from the book, "Lose Weight Naturally" was that my body is not a garbage disposal. It sounds very logical but I was honestly operating under the assumption that it was. If there was extra food on my plate and I was full, I'd eat it anyway instead of letting it go to waste. I figured I paid for it, I might as well eat it. Better if I ate it than put it in the trash.

Is it better? Where is it better? In the trash or on my bum? In the trash or on my hips? Is it better to let something I paid for go to waste or something I paid for go to my hips? If I do that, aren't I paying twice…once for the food and once for the extra pounds? Is it better to eat it so it doesn't go into the garbage disposal or is it better to put it in the garbage disposal so it doesn't go in my mouth?

Practice makes perfect…