Ate first thought later

ddmoes

Hello everyone,
I started My fitness pal a couple of months ago and have lost 5.8 lbs
I arrived home from work announcing to my hubby that I was going to treat myself. I ate 300 calories over my daily goal. For some that may not be huge but I realized later I was eating out of emotions. I was feeling stressed, a bit angry, frustrated from work
I woke this morning without a lot of sleep. Tossing and turning, thinking about work.
So today I have to sort this thinking out I don't want a repeat of yesterday.
When you have that moment of emotion & desire to throw caution to the wind. That precise moment when emotions have overwhelmed the thinking, how do you walk away? What do you do to stop this pattern of overeating ?
I look forward to your responses
Thank you
Debora

djhnd

At the risk of not hearing what you're saying, going three hundred calories over once in a while won't set back your weight loss much, and might even be healthy if you can enjoy it.

In theory, 3500 calories = 1 pound, so if you did that about 12 times you'd lose one less pound. So if you did it once every week, you'd lose 8 lbs instead of nine, for instance, over three months if you're averaging 3 lbs weight loss/month. But it might be more sustainable for you if you know you have that one "cheat" in your program.

As to what to do to avoid it, I think the best thing is to call someone who supports your efforts and is willing to listen to you "process" and talk - for instance, about stress and anger and frustration from work. (Not your husband, he's probably too close to the situation. Better if it's someone who's agreed to work with you on weight loss.)

Another thing that sometimes works is to get involved with something, keep yourself busy, and the feelings will simply pass.

ravenzwart

I went over double that amount, twice this week. I am trying to get to the source, is it totm or some emotion I am not letting out yet? I don't know.

But to get back to your question, if I know which emotion it is I just let it go.so if I am mad I get some heavy rock music on and start to scream along, sad is also music or a totally lame movie that I know will get my to cry. Usually it helps. Stress, I try to talk it away with a friend or I force myself to read a silt novel.

But if this strategies would always work for me I wouldn't be on mfp or this group ;-)

djhnd

It's hard. If it weren't hard there wouldn't be so many people dealing with similar problems

mommafinnie

Sometimes you have to say not my problem or deal with whatever the problem at work is it will be hard but once it's out in the open its a weight lifted,off and then you can focus on you, I take on a lot of issues at work till I am going nuts and lose,sleep then I just started calmly talking,to ones causing issues telling them what's going on asked for suggestions on how they think it should be dealt with. As for going,over your human it happens you just pull up your big girl panties and move on to the next day and learn from the day before once in awhile is okay. Your doing great you got this!!!!!!!

omelet2000

If you fall off the wagon, don't consider it too long, just climb right back on! You will not fail!

beetrootbabe

Step 1: Do NOT beat yourself up for this! Forgive yourself for being human and imperfect. Begin a pattern of feeling kinder towards yourself. I promise this will ultimately decrease your likelihood of emotional eating in the future.

Step 2: Begin a journal. Take a moment to write down your feelings immediately after emotional eating. Chances are you don't feel any better than you did before you ate, maybe even worse. Remember this and come to it next time you feel like reaching for food out of stress, sadness, tiredness. Remind yourself that it won't make you feel better. Begin to break that habit.

We all slip up every now and then. It's ok! Good luck!

ScrAgnX

I've found that exercise helps; even if it's just cleaning, working in the garden, etc. Exhausting myself physically can help calm me mentally.

If you can't find a way to work in exercise, try sitting with your eyes closed and listen to yourself breathe. When a thought tries to enter your mind, ignore it or make it go away; your only thoughts should be breathe in and breathe out. It's hard to do, but it's very calming.

The other thing that helps me is getting on the forums and reading about other's journeys (success forum helps to see myself in the future state), or items I'd like to know more about (the learning distracts me from what was bothering me).

It sounds to me that you are looking to learn better techniques and not worrying too much about your misstep. Like other's have said it's water under the bridge, and don't angst over it. It's very easy to start a cycle of feeling guilty about eating too much, then eating more to make yourself feel better.

firststepformefal

Maybe try adding the food to MFP first, before you eat it. Then take a good look at the calories and your selections. It may help you reconsider eating the food. Also, try going for a walk, to get away from the food. When you come home brush your teeth. Reconsider the food and calories, then finally eat or not eat. This is something I struggle with, especially in the evenings. I have a Nurses Health line. I am thinking I might call them first and talk to a dietician before giving into the cravings. I think, just the act of calling will give me some control and re-considering before I eat whatever I am tempted by.

jdarcy6870

It is important to be gentle with yourself during this journey! Try and feel the emotions instead of stuffing them inside with food. I have done this for so long and I am working hard to just feel the emotions. They will dissipate and then you can move on. I have had to stop and cry hard at different time over the past fe months as I have been working on just feeling. Try to sit with your emotions even if what you want is to eat. This is a daily struggle, but it will get easier as you recognize what triggers you emotions.

djhnd

I wonder if others find thinking first prevents eating later. For me, thinking sometimes got me into a funk I relieved by eating. Though I can relate to the regrets that come after a binge.

uglyfry

1) Exercising gives a temporary high/euphoric feeling and it can be a helpful way of channeling any feelings of frustration - spending the negative energy, and it doesn't have to be anything fancy like a gym set-up, just simple jumping jacks, jogging, running up and down the stairs, jump rope etc is helpful. And the harder you push yourself you'll be more reluctant to set yourself back with extra calories because of the effort it took to lose the weight.

2) logging in food and ingredients before cooking or preparing your food (or at the beginning of the day) helps you plan ahead of time and not overeat. For me if I see that the foods that I'm craving are calorie heavy, I can plan meals around that so I can eat whatever I'm craving and make up for it by cutting portions or decreasing calories in other meals.

3) Take time preparing each meal and enjoy the process of making it as well as the product, a positive relationship with food is always good and the extra time and focus taken can help calm you down.

4) Baby carrots and pickles. 5-15calories each, these snacks are easy to grab when you feel the impulse to just eat something.