Emotional Eating

nicolepburgess91

Does anyone else have this problem? I'm doing good to refrain from giving in to the urge to eat more than I need to. But I'm wondering if there's any advice from people who feel emotionally empty and attempt to fill that emptiness with food.

Teallaquin

I do the exact same thing; I just really love to eat! Every now and again I'll get a hankering for something, or I'll go through some emotional event, and I'll eat my feelings. Hell, just this past week I went through a break-up and while I can honestly say I didn't go out of my way to eat my emotions... I did happen to have a pint of Ben&Jerry's in the freezer (which I was going to pace myself by eating a serving at a time...).

It's hard to control yourself, but what I like to do is one of two things: Guzzle water instead, or pick something that's not calorically dense, like carrot sticks with a couple tablespoons of hummus or something. It's not as satisfying, if we're being honest, but it helps put something in your stomach so that there's less room for garbage.

veganbaum

Haven't you previously posted about finding it difficult to meet your (already low) calorie goal? But now you're saying you are "refrain[ing] from giving in to the urge to eat more than I need to." You need to eat to your goal.

Perhaps if you eat to your goal, with satiating foods, this will help somewhat. I am not dismissing the emotional drive to eat, I can understand that. However, sometimes, for some people, eating a nutritious diet without an enormous deficit can help alleviate at least some of the emotional drive. For instance, when I'm really tired physically, emotionally, and mentally (which is often, I commute two hours a day and have a demanding job, intellectually and emotionally) I can feel the urge to buy a big piece of chocolate cake (probably between 400 and 500 calories) from Whole Foods on my way home. However, even if I'm tired in all those ways, if I have eaten well that day, I can overcome that urge. I have discovered this through much trial and error. Fueling myself adequately leaves me more fulfilled, and with more willpower in that moment to deny the emotional urge.

nicolepburgess91

veganbaum wrote: »

Haven't you previously posted about finding it difficult to meet your (already low) calorie goal? But now you're saying you are "refrain[ing] from giving in to the urge to eat more than I need to." You need to eat to your goal.

Just because I don't post every single change in my diet doesn't mean I haven't made changes to it. I have, since then, added smoothies to help meet my calorie goal daily. I found that drinking calories was easier for me.
And emotional days aren't exactly an every day occurence. This is just a particularly rough day and I want to eat pizza...with a side of fried chicken and loaded mashed potatoes with a gallon of moon pie ice cream for dessert.