Emotional Eating

rsamuelsgold

I am an emotional eater and logging my food and practising self awareness has opened my eyes even more to the comfort I seek from food. I've had an emotional few months but my old habits are messing with my progress. How do I break the pattern?

Francl27

Well I don't know about you, but seeing the red numbers on my food diary make me feel worse... so it kinda defeats the purpose of eating my feelings away.

rsamuelsgold

Francl27 wrote: »

Well I don't know about you, but seeing the red numbers on my food diary make me feel worse... so it kinda defeats the purpose of eating my feelings away.

I know... I usually don't log my food for that day when I eat my feelings. Or I exclude the cheats. Maybe it'll help if I log despite all that

Moby_Dick

I know what you mean. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the amount of calories I had eaten the day I signed up here. How to break the pattern? I don't know. I guess we CAN if we WANT to.

I got a new winter jacket, it arrived the day I signed up here. A size 3 X. I had ordered it a size bigger to have room for heavy clothes underneath. It fit fine, not much room left. I looked like the Moby Dick. I hated it. I think I hate how I look like more than I love food. I am tired of being fat, this is wearing me out.

It's up to us. Nobody can fix it but us. I am an emotional eater as well, I eat when I am happy; eat when I am not. It doesn't fix a thing. Many of us -if not all- we have emotional baggage and we carry it around. I guess eating is easier than dealing with our emotions.

Short answer: "You break the pattern," and hopefuly so will I.

MsAmandaNJ

rsamuelsgold wrote: »

Francl27 wrote: »

Well I don't know about you, but seeing the red numbers on my food diary make me feel worse... so it kinda defeats the purpose of eating my feelings away.

I know... I usually don't log my food for that day when I eat my feelings. Or I exclude the cheats. Maybe it'll help if I log despite all that

It may help you see what eating like that looks like, number-wise. Being honest with yourself is the only way to make a sincere change. Be true to you and you'll be amazed at how you do!

WickedPineapple

You need to find other coping mechanisms to replace the eating. It has to be something you enjoy though, otherwise the trade won't feel worth it and you may backslide. It also helped me to not have foods I tend to overindulge in when stressed in the house.

tinamarie6624

I have been an emotional eater all my life. At the start of this process, when I started feeling stressed at work my nephew would get me food because he felt "I needed" the food to combat the stress. I went along with that for a little while until instead of eating away the stress I worked it off. I went into exercise mode and it worked so much better to ease the stress than eating. I figured that way, instead of doing something bad for my body (or at least worse), I would do something good for my body. It was then that I realized that eating to combat emotional upheaval was punishing myself when I would get stressed and emotional. It had no affect on anyone but me. I am more than thankful for that realization because about 6 months ago, my employer said a horrible thing to me that made me get up and walk out of the office, I was in tears and so upset I couldn't stand it. I had to go to the store to get a couple of items and in the old days this would have led to a binge of massive proportions. I never even considered getting potato chips and candy or any of the other horrible things I had been know to eat when I was emotional. It was at that moment that I realized how massively I had changed my life. Now, when I get stressed and/or emotional my first instinct is to work off the aggression not eat it.

I have been doing this for almost a year now and I started at 378 Lbs and am now at 237 Lbs and I have lost 151 Lbs to date and have never been happier. I am also thankful that I do not eat my emotions away any more.

I also agree with everyone who have advised to log your food with your binges. That does something to you when you see it live in person.

I wish you the very best in your journey and I hope this can help in some small way.

Tina Marie

rsamuelsgold

Moby_Dick wrote: »

I know what you mean. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the amount of calories I had eaten the day I signed up here. How to break the pattern? I don't know. I guess we CAN if we WANT to.

I got a new winter jacket, it arrived the day I signed up here. A size 3 X. I had ordered it a size bigger to have room for heavy clothes underneath. It fit fine, not much room left. I looked like the Moby Dick. I hated it. I think I hate how I look like more than I love food. I am tired of being fat, this is wearing me out.

It's up to us. Nobody can fix it but us. I am an emotional eater as well, I eat when I am happy; eat when I am not. It doesn't fix a thing. Many of us -if not all- we have emotional baggage and we carry it around. I guess eating is easier than dealing with our emotions.

Short answer: "You break the pattern," and hopefuly so will I.

Thank you so much for the response @Moby_Dick. I'm right there with you I'm tired of being fat. And only I can change that. Would you mind if I friended you?

rsamuelsgold

MsAmandaNJ wrote: »

rsamuelsgold wrote: »

Francl27 wrote: »

Well I don't know about you, but seeing the red numbers on my food diary make me feel worse... so it kinda defeats the purpose of eating my feelings away.

I know... I usually don't log my food for that day when I eat my feelings. Or I exclude the cheats. Maybe it'll help if I log despite all that

It may help you see what eating like that looks like, number-wise. Being honest with yourself is the only way to make a sincere change. Be true to you and you'll be amazed at how you do!

I think the idea that we as humans lie to ourselves is kinda weird. And silly. I'll definitely add that to my go to quotes.

JustMissTracy

I'm an emotional eater too, and I fall back into binge eating if I let myself. I've found that with MFP and keeping track of the numbers, logging and really paying attention to what is setting me off, has helped greatly in minimizing these events. So instead of eating the whole container of ice cream, I'll have half a cup...usually!

fitRTs

I do the same thing... it's helping me a bit to plan out my meals and snacks more. When I want to eat something else that I haven't planned for I examine why I want to eat it. If something has just happened that is stressful or that has made me angry or sad I'm probably heading into an emotional eating binge. Then, I need to try to take a walk or eat something like an apple. This doesn't always help but I think it's a good habit to try to start.

peaceout_aly

rsamuelsgold wrote: »

I am an emotional eater and logging my food and practising self awareness has opened my eyes even more to the comfort I seek from food. I've had an emotional few months but my old habits are messing with my progress. How do I break the pattern?

Try going to the gym when stressed or feeling overly emotional. That seems to help me. Better outlet than eating in so many ways! Maybe try logging everything and when you hit a certain point switch over to drinking water, tea, something to keep your mouth busy but no excess calories are being consumed. Even coffee!

bingo_jenn

rsamuelsgold wrote: »

Francl27 wrote: »

Well I don't know about you, but seeing the red numbers on my food diary make me feel worse... so it kinda defeats the purpose of eating my feelings away.

I know... I usually don't log my food for that day when I eat my feelings. Or I exclude the cheats. Maybe it'll help if I log despite all that

I know for me it stops me from going SOOO far in the hole if I track. I still go in the red, but it's not as deep as if I wouldn't have acknowledged it.

katey82

I agree, logging my food has allowed me to see what I am doing to myself by eating for comfort. It is amazing how quickly the numbers add up. For me, as some others have mentioned, seeing the red on my diary really puts my thinking on track. I am trying to find better ways to comfort myself and cope with emotions. Losing weight really is a lifestyle change in every way! Feel free to add me, I can always use motivating friends!

klaredhead

Moby_Dick wrote: »

I know what you mean. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the amount of calories I had eaten the day I signed up here. How to break the pattern? I don't know. I guess we CAN if we WANT to.

I got a new winter jacket, it arrived the day I signed up here. A size 3 X. I had ordered it a size bigger to have room for heavy clothes underneath. It fit fine, not much room left. I looked like the Moby Dick. I hated it. I think I hate how I look like more than I love food. I am tired of being fat, this is wearing me out.

It's up to us. Nobody can fix it but us. I am an emotional eater as well, I eat when I am happy; eat when I am not. It doesn't fix a thing. Many of us -if not all- we have emotional baggage and we carry it around. I guess eating is easier than dealing with our emotions.

Short answer: "You break the pattern," and hopefuly so will I.

I have lost weight and gained it back. I start to see progress then start to slack. I always wind up hating myself when I do this I am In a 1x-2x and want to be a sm-med once again but I look at my old pics and wind up depressed and eat my sorrows away

Arizona_C

It has taken me years to find ways to break the pattern. I still have moments where I eat for the wrong reasons, the more suger I eat the more I feel like. Its a vicious circle. What works best for me to break it is making a physical short circuit.

It is not necessary to like this. I generally dread it, think I have no energy to what so ever. Still I go ahead; it works, and I feel way better afterwards. This is what I do:

1/ rince the mouth in something strong and refreshing, like Colgate peppermint

2/ put on some high beat music. Hip hop is great!

3/ do a short, intense work out session to get the heart beat up. Only if it is just 10 minutes. Jumping rope, running the stairs, take a sprint in the street.

4/ an ice cold shower. The choking cold is so intense it put the mind back to starting point.

5/ dress in something cool and confortable. I like black, it makes me feel more serene.

I wait thinking about what brought up the emotional eating until I'm better. Seeing an analyst to work on the underlying issues has helped me a lot.

I wish you all the best to find what works for you. Once you have found things that help breaking the pattern, you will be more confident in applying it and with time, knowing from experience it makes you feel better, and you have created a new pattern.