How to avoid emotional eating

cmoorofum

Aww so sorry, I am the complete opposite though when something is bothering me I can NOT eat and can go days without food. I dont know how to tell you to cope with emotional eating bc I have the exact opposite. I do find chewing gum helps alot though.

WWnot

Many years ago, I discovered that going to a movie by myself (a matinee worked best because it wasn't prime movie-going time) to see an engaging movie was pretty effective at helping me get my head in a better place. The movie has to be good enough to pull me right into it (the first time was Torch Song Trilogy), completely unrelated to what's going on in my life (ie. no "Kramer vs Kramer" for me during that ugly decade of my life), and with enough humor to have me laughing. In retrospect, I think it was the combination of the dark theatre so no off-screen distraction to prevent me from being pulled into the story, the strength of the engaging story, the humor and grace notes in the story, along with the sense of accomplishment that I had actually overcome my sense of being a loser for going to a movie by myself in the middle of a weekday afternoon, that contributed to the sense of calm and well-being that I had when I left the theatre. That 2 hour break was enough to make the difference in taking the edges off and allowing my brain to take the lead over my emotions.
I hope I'm making sense here...it's a little difficult to describe the experience both during and after, but I did find this an effective part of moving through some tough times.
Finally, I can't remember whether the smell of popcorn was a temptation but if you do decide to give this a try, you might want to sneak your own snacks in to the theatre!
And of course, everyone else has wonderful ideas too. And may be able to suggest suitably uplifting movies. :-)

slimandsmiling

I am probably a bit older than you and what I have realised is that everything in my life has actually worked out exactly as it was meant to. I tried to get my ex to stay in love with me but he just couldn't do it.. when we broke up I thought others would be there to help me but they weren't able to offer the full support I needed.. I started going to church and this is where I found a relationship in and with God.. it wasn't a straight path to salvation for me but now I have finally found peace. I think for me to forgive others I needed to find peace in me and now I feel everyday is a blessing. Today was a particularly rubbish day at work. We also get given loads of chocolates and biscuits given to us.. it would have been only to easy to get stressed and eat .. binging for me was my secretly way of saying 'you are cr*p, unlovable and now on top of that you are fat. for along time being overweight felt like a protection mechanism because I was scared I couldn't really cope with feeling hungry.. now I realise I wasn't really hungry .. I was emotionally empty and I was scared of facing my emotional void. What do I do differently..? I challenge myself.. I started running ( I couldnt run for more than 2 minutes when I started).. I took charge of me.. I fasted for a day and a half and I realised I didn't actually feel that hungrey..and I realised I deserved to be loved and treated gently and if someone doesn 't make you feel like that then it's got to be better to wait for that person to show up. I hope you are feeling better by the time you read this x

yourradimradletshug

slimandsmiling wrote: »

I am probably a bit older than you and what I have realised is that everything in my life has actually worked out exactly as it was meant to. I tried to get my ex to stay in love with me but he just couldn't do it.. when we broke up I thought others would be there to help me but they weren't able to offer the full support I needed.. I started going to church and this is where I found a relationship in and with God.. it wasn't a straight path to salvation for me but now I have finally found peace. I think for me to forgive others I needed to find peace in me and now I feel everyday is a blessing. Today was a particularly rubbish day at work. We also get given loads of chocolates and biscuits given to us.. it would have been only to easy to get stressed and eat .. binging for me was my secretly way of saying 'you are cr*p, unlovable and now on top of that you are fat. for along time being overweight felt like a protection mechanism because I was scared I couldn't really cope with feeling hungry.. now I realise I wasn't really hungry .. I was emotionally empty and I was scared of facing my emotional void. What do I do differently..? I challenge myself.. I started running ( I couldnt run for more than 2 minutes when I started).. I took charge of me.. I fasted for a day and a half and I realised I didn't actually feel that hungrey..and I realised I deserved to be loved and treated gently and if someone doesn 't make you feel like that then it's got to be better to wait for that person to show up. I hope you are feeling better by the time you read this x

This almost made me cry because it's like you hit the nail right on the head! I am so glad to hear you have gotten better! I am thankful for MFP and all of you on here. I am going to try a lot of these things all of you have suggested. You guys are so amazing. Thank you for all the support and suggestions!

Pootler74

There is some great advice here. I'm working on this myself, and I've made huge progress just in the last month, after years of struggling with comfort eating. I'm not done yet, so don't want to offer my own advice on strategies. But I thought you should know about Geneen Roth's books if you don't already. When You Eat At The Refrigerator, Pull Up A Chair is a great one to start with. Short and fun and easy to read. Her other two are more about emotional eating and I think they'd be very helpful in your situation. But this one is a good introduction to her ideas.

As for how to let go, look at some videos of Byron Katie on YouTube (Look for the ones that mention 'the work' or four questions) I swear, apart from these two authors, I don't subscribe to self help gurus, but Byron Katie honestly changed my life. She has a clever and gentle way of helping you let go of the thoughts and feelings you are stuck on. And her methods are also relevant to emotional eaters.