Stop the guilt of over eating first

tmoneyag99

If you have no experience with emotional eating, please do not respond with anything less than support. I'll flag it.


So this week I am doing something a little different. I'm eating whatever I want/crave and just tracking it. I'm not judging it. I'm not freaking out about it. I'm just tracking it and noticing my emotions about it.

Yesterday, was a particularly rough day for me emotionally. I'm guilty of emotional eating. BUT the problem is when I emotionally eat, then I feel guilt for doing it... and then I emotionally eat again. And the vicious cycle contineues.


Yesterday, I commited to logging everything I eat but eating whatever I wanted. Man did I feel guilty for eating what I wanted. Man did I feel like total sh!%. Until I read the numbers. 300kCal over my total burn. That's really not that bad in the gran scheme of things. Will it lead to more weight gain. Yup. If I do it everyday for a year will I'll gain 31lbs.

But here's the thing. I don't do it every day. I'm just coming off of a 4 day battle with food poisioning. I should probably cut myself some slack. Here's the other thing, If I get rid of my guilt when I perceive eating a "bad food" like candy, it's possible that Over eat moment might have actually ended in me not over eating at all. I am pretty sure guilt eating is responsible for at least 200 of those calories.


For those of you that struggle with this, and I know the struggle is real... we have to get a legitimate handle on emotional eating. We will be yo yo-ing the rest of our lives if we don't find a better outlet for our emotions. WE don't think straight when we are emotional and using food is just a few notches better than using drugs to numb stress and hurt.

Start with cutting yourself some slack for having a "bad moment." I'm almost positive if you (and everyone around you) stop beating yourself up for making bad choices while you are learning to do better, you may be able to cut the net effect of the less than ideal choices in half. THEN you can begin making better choices. But so long as you beat yourself up for making poor choices, you're likely going to cope with more poor choices.

Cut yourself some slack. People keep saying "Oh it's just about making habit changes" as if it's an easy thing to do. Changing habits isn't easy. If it were, there wouldn't be a whole flipping industry/profession dedicated to helping people change their behaviors (Psychology) If it were easy, engaging these people would be inexpensive... It's not. Furthermore, it's easier to make a new habit than it is to break an bad one. "Bad" habits are more rewarding than good ones. And the older you are, the more reinforcement you've had. And you've likely inconsistently reinforced them with yo-yo dieting. Inconsistently rewarded habits are the hardest to break.

Stopping emotional eating is not easy... but it's possible. It's even probable. The first step is to recognize and accept it's what you are doing.

kshama2001

In general, I'm doing much better at managing stress with exercise. Yoga, gardening, hiking, working out, etc., all help me maintain equanimity.

However, I did do some emotional eating this week - but was kind to myself about it. It was due to something that is now behind me, thank goodness.

serindipte

Had one of those days yesterday, myself. Logged it and left it without guilt. Today, I happened to check my weekly average and I'm still well under my TDEE as an average, so even that one day won't affect my weight loss beyond the sodium content in all those wings.

toxikon

I've been having a day like this today too. I've just been ravenous all day with cravings through the roof.

I had over 1k calories for breakfast and logged every part of it. Then, my plan was to skip lunch and have a light dinner. Well, 2pm rolled around and I was ravenous again. I succumbed and got a sub and chips. I was tempted to just say 'screw it' and not log for the rest of the day, but I fought through the urge and honestly logged it. Sometimes I repeat this mantra: Even if I don't log it, my body is logging the calories!

So now I'm sitting at 1900 calories for the day, which is just around my maintenance range. Not ideal obviously, and I'll most likely still want something to eat for dinner.

But one day isn't the end of the world. And as long as that bad day doesn't become bad weeks or bad months, it doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things.

gothchiq

There's this system called NECTAR (Natural Eating and Control Theory) that sounds similar to what you're doing. I took one class free then they wanted money to continue so I bought the book instead. Basically it was about making food choices based on your own needs and desires while cutting those choices free of guilt and negative judgments.

serindipte

toxikon wrote: »

I've been having a day like this today too. I've just been ravenous all day with cravings through the roof.

I had over 1k calories for breakfast and logged every part of it. Then, my plan was to skip lunch and have a light dinner. Well, 2pm rolled around and I was ravenous again. I succumbed and got a sub and chips. I was tempted to just say 'screw it' and not log for the rest of the day, but I fought through the urge and honestly logged it. Sometimes I repeat this mantra: Even if I don't log it, my body is logging the calories!

So now I'm sitting at 1900 calories for the day, which is just around my maintenance range. Not ideal obviously, and I'll most likely still want something to eat for dinner.

But one day isn't the end of the world. And as long as that bad day doesn't become bad weeks or bad months, it doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things.

I ate more than usual for both breakfast and lunch, then really really wanted those wings for supper. It was a damn *kitten* day at work. I reminded myself that ONE day of over eating did not make me fat. As long as it was the one, then I kept on track, I'd be fine.. and I am.