Eating my feelings

Raebug123

So I started off with this program strong. Everything was going great I was dropping weight and all excited. Excited is the key word there. I realized yesterday (my second bad day in a row) that I am allowing how I feel to determine how I eat. When I feel good I have no problem following my plan and don't really feel hunger even though I have drastically cut my calories on this plan. However the last couple of days I have started to feel a little sick and kind of down, and the first day this started I did okay. Then the second day was a little worse and for the last two days I just said whatever and haven't followed my plan at all. Checked my weight and I haven't sabotaged my self yet but I feel its coming. I guess the good thing is I realize my current problem and am determined not to allow this to happen. So today is a new day and even though my feelings are still down and my body is racked with pain, I WILL follow my plan and not allow myself to eat my feelings any longer. I can't lie and say it will never happen again but I will be realistic and know everyone has bad days now and then and I will not allow that to cause me to fail.

Cinlan

Atta girl! That's a realistic, grounded attitude you've got going for you. I do the same sabotage to myself. I never thought of it as "eating my feelings", which has a certain poetic ring to it, but that's exactly what happens. Thanks for posting your discovery. You've helped us both today. :happy:

missy01072

Hey there. I'm right with you on eating my feelings away. I catch myself doing all the time. But now what I'm trying to do is when I'm feeling down and out and if I grab junk as soon as I realize what I'm doing I get up and put it away. Or I'll go to the kitchen and pick it up and put it back down. I know it sounds dumb but eating when your down and out is sometimes just a habit. A habit "we" need to break. Good Luck to you and I surely hope you feel better soon. :flowerforyou: We Can Do This !!!!

Disciplined74

I have the exact same problem with emotional eating.

I have a couple of suggestions - (1) Don't let it derail you completely. EVERYONE has bad days. Me - I have bad weeks and even bad months. But I have learned that it is the long journey that matters and not the day to day battles.

(This is a severe side note but it was a wake up call for me to use a weight calculator and have it tell me that it would be Mar 2014 before I would hit my goal weight. I realized I was in denial. 2014, are you kidding me. I realized I thought this was something I could do for a few weeks, months, and maybe it would stretch to a year and and presto chango I would be where I wanted to be. 2014 is NO presto chango. And if I have a bad day/week then I just try to ride it through and then when I feel motivated again then I catch the wave and ride it. Sometimes I swim upstream and it's a little harder but I'm getting there.)

One thing that has helped is having MFP as my default homepage. It's a reminder as soon as I turn the computer on.

(2) When I'm craving something that I shouldn't eat then I have a 100 calories of it. If I want a piece of chocolate then I have a 100 calories of it and I can only have 100 calories of it every hour. So at least if I'm cheating I'm not completely falling of the wagon. (and it's a lot easier to walk off 100 calories then a whole chocolate bar. lol). Honestly, there are some days when I eat the whole day this way. Sometimes I sick of the same food and if I want it then I have it. Like Chinese is my downfall. Seseme Chicken and fried rice, specifically. But when I get it I divide it into 100 calorie bowls and only eat one at a time and only one an hour. It's all about portion control.

Hang in there. I know you are going to be successful because you are really exploring the reasons behind the way you feel. You are realizing that there is a connection between how you feel and eating. Just hang in there. This is a learning and relearning process, allow yourself the time to learn.

you are doing great.

Eva

BigBoneSista

Congrats on your ah-ha moment. Emotional eating is a hard habit to break but it can be done. You have accomplished step 1..admitting to it. Now try to set up a plan to deter it from happening again. Remove unhealthy snacks from the home or if you can't get rid of them place sticky notes with your thoughts on the doors where those foods are that will help motivate you through that issue.

You are on the right track. Keeping moving forward!

Raebug123

Thanks all for the encouraging words. It was definitely need!