Trying to let go of the comfort food......

swishy1977

Morning all, so the shortened version of my story is that I have just gone through a separation and the pain of breaking up a family home. I've come out the other side relatively unscathed..... we are amicable, children are ok, family understand. But..... over the last 2 years, food has been my comfort and companion and I now have 4 stone to lose. This is the heaviest I have ever been in my life and I feel awful. I really struggling to let go of the comfort eating and get my head focused. I know what I need to do but just not managing to get in the right headspace. Is there anyone out there who wants to start this journey with me? I will be 40 in December, so I do have time to really sort myself out by then if I want to. Ridiculous how much strength I had when I had to change my whole life, yet I can't let go of the comfort that I now associate with food!

Any tips, wise words or friends would be so appreciated right now xx

Macy9336

Hello there. Sorry you've just been through a separation from your partner. On the comfort food eating...if it's homemade you can adjust the recipes and portion sizes using the MFP recipe builder so that you can still eat your favourite foods in moderation. If you have trouble stopping eating, keep a diary/journal of the food you eat and your emotions. A friend of mine had binge eating disorder which can manifest itself with not being able to control your eating...it doesn't have to be eating nonstop for an hour...binging can be constantly going back to the kitchen for more food and grazing constantly. Because she wasn't showing the typical patterns for BED, her Dr refused to get her therapy until she did the food diary. She showed me some pages..in it she wrote not just what she ate but how she kept going back for more food and she was writing STOP EATING! And No More Food TODAY! Stop you fat pig. Argh I just ate more Jaffa cakes, why can I not stop?!..just all the thoughts she was having even the ugly ones and how she'd be eating yet again...despite knowing she'd gone over her calories for the day etc. So anyway, she did show this diary to her Dr and got treatment and therapy for binge eating disorder which helped her massively.

Bex953172

When you eat the food that brings you comfort, does it bring you comfort in that moment or long term?
Would you find more comfort in being 4 stone lighter?

I normally log before I eat so I can be a bit stricter.
Don't buy trigger foods, spend the next week finding healthy (but tasty) and low calorie snacks! Then do your food shop and buy all your new ingredients!

Obviously its not as simple as that.
I still eat chocolatet and pizza but I keep it within my calories, and I've found if I ate these kind of foods is use up my calories quicker and I'd be hungrier later on, so I was always over my limit!
It took me a couple of weeks but I soon realised if I didn't want to be hungry I'd have to eat lower calorie snacks!

Remember its okay to be hungry! At least that way your 100 percent sure that its hunger and not desire/cravings!