Getting over comfort eating

Auntiezozo81

i'm trying to get over my comfort eating of chocolate. it's something that I've been doing all my life and subsequently I have increased my weight. Now I'm on my fitness pal and having a look at my eating habits I'm trying to stop looking at comfort in food. it's a slow process and appreciate that it is going to take time and just to take it one day at a time. it is quite difficult but I need to do this and I'm going to do it for myself and not succumb to eating chocolate because ultimately it makes me feel guilty so I need to stop and I am going to stop but just remember that everything takes time and just to do it. One day at a time

RodaRose

You sound like you are making progress.

Auntiezozo81

Thanks

VanillaGorillaUK

I'm sure keeping a log on MFP will eventually help you overcome it.

Even if you eat too many calories still log it. After a while its going to convince you to start eating a little less.

Having overcome it myself, I would say it wasn't a conscious decision. I tried many times go cold turkey and it never worked.

What did change things for me was firstly understanding that losing weight is about calories (not running harder or diets). This means I can eat chocolate, cake, takeaway etc when I feel like it, providing i track estimated calories.

The second thing tbat triggered my change was the advice above, seeing the number of calories I was eating and knowing I could see the data in front of me.

csec6pak

If the eating is emotional, you need to find something that will give you the same emotional comfort without eating too much. Try some different activities until you find something that fills the void for you. Here are a few things that work for me when I'm having an emotional craving:

Go for a walk or other exercise

Talk to someone

Indulge in some internet message board time

Drink a warm cup of tea or coffee with ONE Hershey's kiss on the side

Tatarataa

I also have problems with emotional eating..so I might not be the right address, on the other hand side I would support KILLEmALL with the logging as well as with understanding that it is about calories. I just come from a pretty bad binge time but I still got confidence, maybe even more, that the calorie counting will help me.
Another additional option would be to look out for lower calorie, but stll satisfying options for your chocolate cravings. I know they do not work always but sometimes you could try them. Here are some ideas (many more could be found in MFP):
-Arctic Zero frozen dessert chocolate (ice cream like dessert)= 150 cal per pint
-jello sugar free snacks eg chocolate mousse or double chocolate pudding= 60 cal per pint\
-vitalicious vitatops (little cakes)= 100 cal per top (also a sugar free version available)
-swiss miss diet hot chocolate= 25 cal [per package (it is sugar free as well)
-dessert like chewings gums like extra chocolate mint
-hard candy like sugar free werther's chocolate caramel hard candies
-dessert recipes from either hungrygirl or weight watchers or on pinterest, there are many chocolate chip cookie or muffin or brownie recipes that are lower in cal and healthified using eg pumpkin puree or applesauce instead of oil or just less oil
-fage 0 % greek joghurt with 1 TBSP hershey's dark baking cocoa powder (there is no sugar added in baking cocoa) and sweetener; in general the baking cocoa powder does a long chocolatey way without adding many caories (it is 10 cal per portion), you could also mix it into oatmeal or other cereal
-low calories chocolate fudge ice pops, I would recommend enlightetend (=80 cal and sugar free) or the ww one (=110 cal for the giant one and =45 cal for the small one)
-general low cal/churned/ low sugar chocolate ice cream (around 90-130 cal per 1/2 cup)
-chocolate protein shake
-Quest bars chocolate fudge brownie or double chocolate chunk (160-170 cal per bar but oh so good)
-just less of your favorite chocolate...or balance more out with veggies or exercise ;O)....

Tatarataa

-there are also many low cal chocolate sauce/syrup versions that you could eg add to poached fruit or to some banana pieces, eg hershey's sugar free syrup
-a couple of sugar free lilly's chocolate chips go a long way

Auntiezozo81

Thank you all for your advice and Killem-all I appreciate your honesty!!

LovelyIvy466

Good advice here! I replaced my comfort food with exercise and a serious love of cooking. It makes me feel good as I'm doing it and when I'm done, I feel so proud of myself for making a good choice instead of falling back on my old habits. It a lot easier not to call for takeout and gorge on pasta or burgers.

ncfitbit

I'm a total chocoholic and one of the things I'm happiest about trying to lose weight this time is that I can eat chocolate every day if I want to. I just have to want it enough to make it fit in my calories and make good choices. Using MFP has really helped me learned to make those tradeoffs.

Auntiezozo81

Thank you

time4kim2014

I'm an emotional eater and prefer chocolate over everything. What I did notice was that I always ate it in the evening, so now I'm not eating after 7pm. Just giving myself that one rule is really changing how I look at food. I can eat chocolate anytime I want but because I don't eat after 7pm, I'm just not that interested in it other times of the day. It's really helping me with weight loss. Maybe if you have a certain time of day you tend to eat chocolate you could try not to eat it then and reevaluate if you want it later.

lemurcat12

Sounds like you are on the right path.

I found it really helpful to keep a log or journal to go along with my food log and write about times when I was tempted to fall back into my old emotional eating patterns. It's also helpful to plan in advance what other stress release tactics you might use or what you might do to distract yourself or deal with the feelings in moments of temptation.

rianoel

I used to do the one Hershey kiss thing. If I had more leftover calories at the end of the day, then maybe more. I put the kiss out separate from the bag though, so it was more "work" to get more. It worked really well for me.

Unless it's extreme stress, I've finally gotten to a point where I can say to myself "I am going to deal with Xyz by NOT overeating". Which is damn hard, but great for your self esteem when you manage it.

I also religiously log everything, all cheats, as they are. I weigh everyday too, and looking at the long term correlation between the overeating and the weight has really helped me stick to not comfort eating. Check out trendweight.com for how to do this.

Also, walk, pet the dog, scrub the hell out of the kitchen, exercise instead, take a hot bath, read a book---find ANYTHING else to do!

kikichewie

My advice is to become a chocolate snob. Experiment with more gourmet chocolates and dark chocolates, and avoid the stuff from Hershey's and Mars. Then you can enjoy the luxury of just having an ounce or so each evening of something wonderful, vs chowing down on sugary, waxy crap. Eventually it will be much easier to say no to the low quality stuff and easier to portion control the better stuff.

Once I bought a box of Godiva truffles after Valentines Day on sale and put the whole box in the freezer in a freezer bag. Every evening I'd take on out to thaw during dinner and enjoy it as dessert. Now I buy a bar of 70% Lindt chocolate and break off two squares per evening, which I nibble on with a (measured) 5 oz glass of wine. Because I've changed my tastes and now Enjoy more luxurious chocolate, I am not interested in eating handfuls of M&Ms. And my splurges fit into my calories for the day. Every day.

Maybe pampering yourself and being more mindful about it will help replace emotional eating. After all. What's better for your emotions than taking care of yourself and taking the time to enjoy something wonderful?

reenie2013

I lost 7kg through MFP. Since my dad died I can't seem to stop eating. On the night of the funeral ate everything in sight. Since then seem to have no self-control and eat so relentlessly that some nights (like now) I eat until my stomach hurts. I know that it's emotional eating but don't know what to do about it. I've put back 3.5kg and all around my stomach and thighs. I exercise every day but it doesn't balance out the eating. Help!!

PeachyCarol

Congratulations OP, you've taken the first and biggest step and that's knowing that you have a problem with it and being determined to address it. You sound like you're on the right path.

I have overcome my emotional eating and am here, finally, after years of it, to get the weight off. Learning calorie counting was sort of the last bit of untying the the tangled mess of a knot that made up my whole problem.

I'd have to say, though, that for me, the biggest step was NOT replacing eating with something else. It was growing as a person inside and realizing my own strength. It was coming to accept that it was OKAY to feel utterly awful about things happening that were horrible and that they wouldn't break me. That the awful times would pass, and good times would follow.

I realized that I was eating out of FEAR. Once I let go of that fear... and I could, because I'd lived enough of life and had had enough experience to know that I didn't need to let fear of something breaking me ruin me any more... it was a revelation. I was eating to stuff down emotions that I didn't need to be afraid of facing.

That was liberating.