Emotional Eaters Unite!

tinaisstillwell

I am a divorced (happily) mother of a 17 year old son. That should be enuf said! LOL

I find myself getting so aggravated with my son, and the fact that he thinks he knows everything that has ever been known. This is my greatest weakness when it comes to cheating/binging/emotional eating.

I'm wondering what others are triggered by, and maybe we can find support/motivation to stop the emotional eating roller coaster! Does anyone have suggestions as to how they manage this issue? What works for you?

I'm new to MFP, and am dedicated to making permanent life changes!

katefitz96

Personally, my binge eating started young. My parents were extremely overprotective and would limit what and how much I was allowed to eat. It worked while I was younger, but once I was old enough to make my own food decisions I went crazy. From there I started eating in response to stress from school, work, and family. Currently, my biggest emotional weakness is comparing myself to others. I always seem to put myself down when I see people my age working more than me or succeeding in ways I am not. The challenge for me is learning to accept myself and the pace at which I am progressing.

I've managed to curb my emotional eating with one simple rule: before I eat what I'm craving, I have to have an apple first. By the time I finish that I'm usually not hungry enough to eat what I set out for in the first place, and the sugar helps with my sweet tooth. If I'm super hungry, I add peanut butter to really fill me up. You can substitute the apple for a similar snack that's healthy but still something you enjoy.

Good luck with your journey!

jojom126

Emotional eating has always been a problem for me as well. When I was young it was kids at school, or my parents fighting, my brothers being mean, etc. Now I am a single mother of two boys, work full time and chose to go back to school. Food is my highlight at times, I have started finding things that I enjoy doing rather than eating. When I get into an argument with my son and feel like grabbing a bag of Oreos I put on my sneakers and walk off my frustrations, or go to my room and read, I've returned to arts and crafts. Scrapbooking, crocheting, etc. With that said it doesn't always work, if i come home and still feel a need to eat I do what Katie said I grab a healthy snack. Small changes! Good luck!! If you would like to be friends please add! Always looking for people on here to help with motivation!!!

Rdsgoal16

Great post,

Had a friend do a profile work up on my eating habits and history (was a 40 question worksheet). Basically I fell into three different emotional category eaters. When life was good in my home (Dad got a raise, refund, good things) our family celebrated. So association with large country style meals and good times manifested in my adult life and when I celebrated, I celebrated with food, and lots of it, usually fried, rich and cheesy. I also had a obese mother who made everything better with a cookie. She was a fabulous cook and baker and I was the test subject. And he also told me I am a bored eater. I believe all of this true and basically I hit the trifecta of bad eating habits.

After coming to terms with my eating style I used MFP to see what was going in and was shocked at calorie intake. I am working on analyzing why I am eating at that particular time (hunger, boredom, frustration, etc) I have slowed my eating WAY down and have a sip of water between bites trying to lay the fork down every bite or two. I believe I was dehydrated most my life and a glass of water before meals has made an impact. these changes have made a huge difference as I felt like I was cramming food in for 20-25 minutes until my brain realized my stomach was full. Good luck in your Journey!

Anyone feel free to add.
Rob

hope516

I, personally, have not learned to manage it but love the idea of starting a support group for it. I think emotional eating is an issue all on its own that needs to be addressed and is something difficult to overcome.

Personally, I eat for all the emotions. LOL. I can be nervous, excited, bored, sad, angry, or wanting to celebrate some occasion, and use any and all of these as a reason to stuff my face. As I said initially it is not something I have learned to control. If I only ate when I was hungry I would not be here! However, I think some sort of support group is important.

With all that being said I think what has shed some light on the issue is realizing you (I) have a problem. I think the fact that we know we are emotional eaters is very important. Sometimes it is hard to see our shortcomings and realize something is a problem. So as the old adage goes, "the first step to solve a problem is admit you have a problem."

I like the idea of refocusing the issue. I don't know if eating would be the answer, even if it is a healthy food item. I think no matter what we eat it sends pleasure senses to our brain. I think the important thing is to not allow a sad day be soothed by food, even if it is "healthy" food. I really like the idea of finding a hobby and doing that when we are wanting to pacify our feelings.

Once again this is not a problem I have overcome yet, but am interested to read of others experiences who have successfully redirected the act of putting something in your mouth to make the day better, too.

kommodevaran

I have all those emotions too, and I used to think I was an emotional eater... but I'm not sure anymore? I basically just want to eat because it tastes good, because it's available and noone there's to stop me... I'm not very good at stopping what I'm doing, and I maybe I eat much out of habit? But I do know I have less cravings now that I eat better and more structured.

katefitz96

kommodevaran wrote: »

I have all those emotions too, and I used to think I was an emotional eater... but I'm not sure anymore? I basically just want to eat because it tastes good, because it's available and noone there's to stop me... I'm not very good at stopping what I'm doing, and I maybe I eat much out of habit? But I do know I have less cravings now that I eat better and more structured.

Do you think you might be eating out of boredom? This is something that I do/have done a lot. When I have too much free time I just start eating and don't stop until I realize how stuffed I am. My solution has been engaging in other hobbies--reading, walking outside, calling a friend--until I no longer feel the need to snack incessantly. Basically, just fill up the time that you would have spent eating with something else.

lessismoreohio

tinaisstillwell wrote: »

I am a divorced (happily) mother of a 17 year old son. That should be enuf said! LOL

I find myself getting so aggravated with my son, and the fact that he thinks he knows everything that has ever been known. This is my greatest weakness when it comes to cheating/binging/emotional eating.

I'm wondering what others are triggered by, and maybe we can find support/motivation to stop the emotional eating roller coaster! Does anyone have suggestions as to how they manage this issue? What works for you?

I'm new to MFP, and am dedicated to making permanent life changes!

I have a 19 year old son who created a fair amount of stress for all involved when he was 17 and 18. To be honest, some days were very difficult with him. This triggered emotional eating as well. The good news --> we all grew through the experience and he is now growing up and making better choices (the USMC has helped in this regard). Personally, I learned how to make better choices myself and to manage the stress through exercise, etc. and not necessarily eating it.

kommodevaran

katefitz96 wrote: »

kommodevaran wrote: »

I have all those emotions too, and I used to think I was an emotional eater... but I'm not sure anymore? I basically just want to eat because it tastes good, because it's available and noone there's to stop me... I'm not very good at stopping what I'm doing, and I maybe I eat much out of habit? But I do know I have less cravings now that I eat better and more structured.

Do you think you might be eating out of boredom? This is something that I do/have done a lot. When I have too much free time I just start eating and don't stop until I realize how stuffed I am. My solution has been engaging in other hobbies--reading, walking outside, calling a friend--until I no longer feel the need to snack incessantly. Basically, just fill up the time that you would have spent eating with something else.

Boredom is an emotion/feeling I find that when I'm busy, I eat a lot less, and I crave and think about food a lot less. And when I'm happy, I eat better. I've almost always lost weight on vacation. But I can't run away for ever... so I try to do the second best, stick to four delicious meals every day, move my body, aim to have some fun often, try to get enough quality sleep and worry less. It's a lot of work to take care of me

tinaisstillwell

So many things you wrote about are spot on for me too.

Food became my way to celebrate, it became my companion, my anti-depressant, my thing to do because of boredom, and my comfort as well as so much more. I learned from an early age that food could comfort me and keep me company. I was an only child of a single mother. She worked a lot, so my best friend was food.

Now I have things that I enjoy doing so that when I'm bored, I don't reach for food as much. It's a battle that I still struggle with, but I am making progress with a low carb eating plan. I don't have the constant feeling of being hungry. That "hunger" isn't really always for food. It's an emotional hunger. I'm still working on not reaching for food when I have disagreements with my teenage son. Ugh! At least I am recognizing my triggers more, and that's the start of the process to make a change.

Good luck to us all! I'm always looking for friends to travel this journey with, so friend me if you want.

Rdsgoal16 wrote: »

Great post,

Had a friend do a profile work up on my eating habits and history (was a 40 question worksheet). Basically I fell into three different emotional category eaters. When life was good in my home (Dad got a raise, refund, good things) our family celebrated. So association with large country style meals and good times manifested in my adult life and when I celebrated, I celebrated with food, and lots of it, usually fried, rich and cheesy. I also had a obese mother who made everything better with a cookie. She was a fabulous cook and baker and I was the test subject. And he also told me I am a bored eater. I believe all of this true and basically I hit the trifecta of bad eating habits.

After coming to terms with my eating style I used MFP to see what was going in and was shocked at calorie intake. I am working on analyzing why I am eating at that particular time (hunger, boredom, frustration, etc) I have slowed my eating WAY down and have a sip of water between bites trying to lay the fork down every bite or two. I believe I was dehydrated most my life and a glass of water before meals has made an impact. these changes have made a huge difference as I felt like I was cramming food in for 20-25 minutes until my brain realized my stomach was full. Good luck in your Journey!

Anyone feel free to add.
Rob

knolan147

For me, emotions=lotsa sweets. You have to be aware when this happens. What helps me is eating right all day and leaving extra calories at the end of the day to cover just in case. Also, working hard to burn off my mishaps with exercise.

Wreathy

Change, stress, and even joy are triggers for me. (Something bad happened? Better eat chocolate. Something good happened? Yay! Let's celebrate with chocolate! Sigh).

I grew up using sweet food as a crutch - had a very dysfunctional childhood and the habits just carried into adulthood. It's at its most dangerous when I just don't care - I'd rather have the fix than be healthy. Just coming out of one of those periods.

Sadly, I don't have any answers as yet. It's a day to day choice, and for the last 6 months I chose badly! Support is always good isn't it. Welcome aboard.