Emotional binge eaters

kiela64

Triggers? Stress, anxiety, depression, feeling worthless. I see overeating/junk foods as both a comfort and a punishment, because I know what I’m doing to myself. It’s self sabotage, but it also helps me get control over my emotions. Exercise helps. Therapy helps. But old habits die hard, even after I lost 40lbs. And it’s still my go-to. Which is something I need to address so I don’t continue to re-gain it all.

ReenieHJ

I admit I have a sugar addiction; it's my go-to crutch whenever I feel depressed, anxious, stressed, bored, angry, you name it. There are some foods I've refused to eat anymore such as pasta and pizza because I know I have no self control. I haven't been buying ice cream or packages of cookies, etc., because I'll eat the whole thing. I'm having a hard time limiting my peanut butter consumption. It's my favorite food. I guess if you're a binge eater like I am, limiting any food can be difficult. I've been a yo-yo dieter all my life, from a chubby child to obese adult and even appearing sickly underweight at certain times. I'm now at 145 and am working on staying that way; would like to be 135-140 eventually and active. Having retired a few months ago has been an adjustment but am trying to make walking my friend. Plus I think keep the diary on this site will help keep me accountable. I do need to get a hobby. Or two.

IAmWomanHearMeRoar15

My triggers are tied to the abuse I survived. It'll be things like a taste or flavor in my mouth, having my body be in pain, not being heard or having my needs taken seriously, not having enough like not knowing where my next meal is coming from.

I use a weighted blanket to help me calm down.

cupcakesandproteinshakes

https://3dmusclejourney.com/binge-eating-causing-can-overcome/

kshama2001

IAmWomanHearMeRoar15 wrote: »

My triggers are tied to the abuse I survived. It'll be things like a taste or flavor in my mouth, having my body be in pain, not being heard or having my needs taken seriously, not having enough like not knowing where my next meal is coming from.

I use a weighted blanket to help me calm down.

I can relate to this. When I was in a bad relationship and constantly invalidated, I sought comfort from food and alcohol and other things.

I love my weighted blanked.

lillola96

I'm an emotional eater in recovery and it's going GREAT! I binged and emotional ate my whole life - ate when I was happy, sad, stressed, bored, you name it. No BS story about ”something just snapped one day and I got over it”, that has happened many many times. So what is different this time? I've made changes in ALL areas of my life. Stopped social media entirely. Start each day with thinking of 3 things I'm grateful for instead of browsing Facebook. I've armed myself with a stack of good books to read. I've promised the dog to walk her every day rain hail or shine and have been keeping that promise.

It's about finding something to replace emotional eating with - changing your mindset and what feels good. For me - it means cutting out the junk entirely for a time. I just can't trust myself to have only ”one” donut. I knew eating crap and binging wasn't making me feel good, so I forced myself to eat well and excercise and how good and strong I feel the next day after making these good choices. SLEEP also plays a huge part, if I dont sleep well I want to eat junk so I make good quality sleep and enough of it a priority.

Overcoming emotional eating is a challenge every day, but it DOES get easier to do. I've been at this now for only 6 weeks, but before in my life I've only been able to stay away from a binge for less than 7 days, so I'm very proud of myself and know it's working. Overall I feel so much better and seeing my healthier figure, steady weight loss in the mirror every morning is what motivates me to keep going.

You can do it! Believe in yourself and what you're capable of.

IAmWomanHearMeRoar15

kshama2001 wrote: »

IAmWomanHearMeRoar15 wrote: »

My triggers are tied to the abuse I survived. It'll be things like a taste or flavor in my mouth, having my body be in pain, not being heard or having my needs taken seriously, not having enough like not knowing where my next meal is coming from.

I use a weighted blanket to help me calm down.

I can relate to this. When I was in a bad relationship and constantly invalidated, I sought comfort from food and alcohol and other things.

I love my weighted blanked.

How have you been able to move past this? I feel like if I give up eating I will just find something new to abuse or worse, relapse into an eating disorder.

Shortgirlrunning

I took up running and knitting to help with my emotional eating. Running helps relieve stress and kitting gives me something to do with my hands other than snack while watching tv.

I’m not perfect, I still slip up and binge eat after a really stressful or upsetting day sometimes but it’s a lot less frequent than it used to be and I’m also better at forgiving myself for those slip ups.

IAmWomanHearMeRoar15

I'd like to run again one day. What I'd really like is to be able to run outside and be free.