How to stop eating for comfort and get started losing weight!

daniellespi

Hi! I'm Dani and I eat for comfort. I don't really love myself and I need help. So I took to MFP and I asked "I eat for comfort, how do I stop this cycle" in my friend network. The advice and feedback I got was really good and I want to share it with you. If you're reading this, maybe it's because you also feel stuck, you're not alone. I believe in you! YOU CAN DO THIS.

1. Pick better comfort food. When you feel like eating, have healthier options in the fridge and pantry.

2. Give yourself a cheat day or ideally just a cheat meal. Starving yourself, feeling deprived will never work long term. Have the slice of birthday cake, the margarita, the couple pieces of pizza on a friday. But then acknowledge it, accept it, move the f on!

3. GO WORK OUT! Put your work out clothes out where you can see them/in your bag/ sleep in them if you need to (for a morning work out)! Prioritize working out and don't miss a date with yourself at the gym!

4. Food journal. Utilize my fitness pal and the awesome, bad *kitten* support system. Extra motivation? open your food journal and make yourself more accountable.

5. Walks. Have a dog? a kid? a partner? Doesn't matter. Go for a walk. De-stress, Enjoy, Relax and check out your neighbourhood or somewhere new.

6. SLEEP. Oh my god, sleep is so big. Put the screen down before bed! Get real legit REM sleep for 8 hours if you can. Your body cannot function to its full potential without sleep!

7. Listen to inspirational pod casts or speeches. Search "inspirational" in Youtube, bam, you have yourself hours and hours of listening. Not a you tube person? Spotify, Apple etc.

8. Acceptance. You are not where you want to be? But life is short and the journey is one day at a time. Accept that it's not going to be instant. But also take a moment to realize. You are f*ing worth it.

9. Get a planner, a calendar, a sheet of paper. Plan your week and include your workouts.

10. Say no to *kitten*. If you know you're going to go wild at the bottomless mimosa brunch that random acquaintance invited you to through some impersonal facebook event, hit that decline button. Why do we say yes to things and people we only kind of like at a detriment to ourselves? NO, NO, NO. Put yourself first. If you really want to do the thing. DO IT!! If you're dreading it, thinking you might bail, just say no to begin with.

Happy Friday. Good luck! Feel free to add your own thoughts and additions in the comments.

showjefb

daniellespi wrote: »

Hi! I'm Dani and I eat for comfort. I don't really love myself and I need help. So I took to MFP and I asked "I eat for comfort, how do I stop this cycle" in my friend network. The advice and feedback I got was really good and I want to share it with you. If you're reading this, maybe it's because you also feel stuck, you're not alone. I believe in you! YOU CAN DO THIS.

1. Pick better comfort food. When you feel like eating, have healthier options in the fridge and pantry.

2. Give yourself a cheat day or ideally just a cheat meal. Starving yourself, feeling deprived will never work long term. Have the slice of birthday cake, the margarita, the couple pieces of pizza on a friday. But then acknowledge it, accept it, move the f on!

3. GO WORK OUT! Put your work out clothes out where you can see them/in your bag/ sleep in them if you need to (for a morning work out)! Prioritize working out and don't miss a date with yourself at the gym!

4. Food journal. Utilize my fitness pal and the awesome, bad *kitten* support system. Extra motivation? open your food journal and make yourself more accountable.

5. Walks. Have a dog? a kid? a partner? Doesn't matter. Go for a walk. De-stress, Enjoy, Relax and check out your neighbourhood or somewhere new.

6. SLEEP. Oh my god, sleep is so big. Put the screen down before bed! Get real legit REM sleep for 8 hours if you can. Your body cannot function to its full potential without sleep!

7. Listen to inspirational pod casts or speeches. Search "inspirational" in Youtube, bam, you have yourself hours and hours of listening. Not a you tube person? Spotify, Apple etc.

8. Acceptance. You are not where you want to be? But life is short and the journey is one day at a time. Accept that it's not going to be instant. But also take a moment to realize. You are f*ing worth it.

9. Get a planner, a calendar, a sheet of paper. Plan your week and include your workouts.

10. Say no to *kitten*. If you know you're going to go wild at the bottomless mimosa brunch that random acquaintance invited you to through some impersonal facebook event, hit that decline button. Why do we say yes to things and people we only kind of like at a detriment to ourselves? NO, NO, NO. Put yourself first. If you really want to do the thing. DO IT!! If you're dreading it, thinking you might bail, just say no to begin with.

Happy Friday. Good luck! Feel free to add your own thoughts and additions in the comments.

I appreciate this. I have (and still) battle against emotional eating. Many of these suggestions have helped me over the years.

I have one more to suggest that I have used as recently as today. PAUSE. Before diving face first into the cookies or chips just step back for a moment. Pause, breathe, reflect. I ask myself if I am really hungry. I ask myself how this will make me feel (physically and mentally). This does not always work for me, but it often does the trick... just pause and be present rather than zoning out and binging.

Thanks again!

yirara

The question is: why comfort eating? Is it because you hate yourself? Then your advice is very solid. What's missing though: eating because of boredom. It might sound easy, but it's rather difficult to find something you enjoy doing that keeps you busy. Many people don't like sports, and doing sports just for the sake of being busy doesn't sound like a good idea either and is setting you up for failure. One way might be to look through Meetup groups (or similar) in your area and just join a few. Or learn something: needleworks, a language, instrument, programming, doesn't matter. Volunteer somewhere. Be active in improving your neighbourhood. Go hiking. Set ourself a daily writing or photographing task (just phone camera, there are even book about this), etc... basically, just do something, keep yourself busy.

emeraldwoods4214

thanks for these guys... definitely a big issue for me, but tracking my food on here in those moments does help to keep my accountable

_Paparazzi_

My problem is I can't control the strong urges when it hits me and I end up binge eating .
I do the log in food but that all goes out the window once the urge comes knocking at my door every day .

jilliow

Meal planning makes a big difference for me. I try to only buy exactly what I need for each meal and planned snacks for the week. I choose meals loaded with vegetables and high in fiber so that they are filling and I don’t have room to eat anything else. I eat at the same times each day so that my body knows when it’s hungry.