Emotional Eating advice

Zborni4

Hello. This is my first post. I am getting married next summer and of course want to look good for that but I also just want to stop feeling and looking like crap. My problem is that I know I have a food addiction and that I am an emotional eater. Everytime I eat something that I know I shouldn't I know it is bad but I do it anyway with the thought that "oh tomorrow I will work out hard" which usually doesn't happen. Does anyone have any advice on what has worked for you to help you stop those times when you are eating just to eat. I have started giving myself a smiley face for good days and a frown for bad days (like you would do for little kids) and then writing down everything I eat that is bad but that is not really working.

Zborni4

Hello. This is my first post. I am getting married next summer and of course want to look good for that but I also just want to stop feeling and looking like crap. My problem is that I know I have a food addiction and that I am an emotional eater. Everytime I eat something that I know I shouldn't I know it is bad but I do it anyway with the thought that "oh tomorrow I will work out hard" which usually doesn't happen. Does anyone have any advice on what has worked for you to help you stop those times when you are eating just to eat. I have started giving myself a smiley face for good days and a frown for bad days (like you would do for little kids) and then writing down everything I eat that is bad but that is not really working.

fitladyfawkes

I do that same thing. I think for me it just came down to me stopping and thinking before i binge on my favorite foods. I try to stop and think about how i am going to be feeling right after i eat it. I think i finally realized how much it really hurts me physically and mentally to eat so bad. But to each his own. I hope in some way that helped you...but we sound similiar! (i bet alot of people think that same thing)

carajo

Hello!!! I keep a journal of what i eat and how i was feeling, then i go over it each week. On days i didn't eat a good breakfast, or days i went to long without eating are the days i totally binge eat!! And i mean seriously binge! I have consumed well over 4000 calories at one time!!! I can eat until i psyically feel sick, then eat more!! It is hard to overcome but the journal has helped and just being aware!!! Hope this helps!!

dashielldo

I too have emotional eating issues - and because I would feel bad about overeating I would tend to starve myself until I got so hungry I would binge again....a bad cycle. I recommend Tom Venuto's Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle - I have been doing this program for about a month and have lost pounds, inches and gained muscle - and I am NEVER HUNGRY and I don't have any cravings!!! This is like a miracle for me - I would always gets sugar/ice cream cravings - and now when I see those foods in the grocery store or something they not only don't appeal - they look sort of disgusting. Like I said, a miracle! Part of the key is eating at least 5 times a day - and a lot of exercise - but it is a great program - and for someone who likes to eat a lot - it's really great!

carajo

Is that a book? What are the workouts?

Zborni4

Thank you for all of your responses. It is really hard isn't it? Part of my problem is that a few year ago I was working as a camp counselor one summer and it was really hot so I was constantly moving around and sweating so I lost like 20 pounds without ever really realizing I was doing it. Now I am no longer 22 like I was then and I am going to have to actually work at it, which is hard. I think part of my problem too is that I really am worried about the weekends. I think I will be ok during the week but on the weekends when my boyfriend and I go out with friends I don't want to have to constantly think about how many calories are in one drink. That will be hard for me, the drinking aspect. I am not an alcoholic or binge drinker or anything but I like to have a good time and I don't know if I am quite ready to give that up. I am definately going to keep doing the journal and look into the program that was suggested in the last post. I guess I will just have to alternate between one alcoholic drink and a water like everyone suggests.....and remember how good it feels to try on clothes when you look good. That is a big motivater.

bleachcse

You are definitely not the only one who does this. I did it tonight and now I feel TERRIBLE! I get really emotional and weird on Thursdays because that is the day my husband goes back to work and we basically don't see each other for 4 days. Well he left this afternoon and what did I do?? I ate the sadness like usual. I had a steak dinner, which wasn't bad-I counted all those calories in my daily allowance. But then I made muffins and ate like 4 with butter, and 2 glasses of whole milk. So needless to say, I am WAAYYYY over for the day. Why is it that food is so comforting at the moment, but then afterwards I feel like I am a horrible person and I hate myself for doing it, not to mention the fact that I'm bloated and I want to puke!!! This is such a problem for me. I've yet to figure out how to stop it, it just slows down my weight loss which depresses me even further. Anyone ever seen Austin Powers with Fat *kitten*. It describes me perfectly. I believe he says something like "I eat because I'm unhappy and I'm unhappy because I eat." That's ME!!!

agjensen

I'm an emotional eater too...I'll eat something and if its one of my "no-no" foods or I feel my stomache pudge a bit after eating something big or even eating a bit more than i wanted to it would set a whirl of eating anything yummy in site. Then I would throw it up. I've been diagnosed with bulimia and every day is a battle but I'm fighting and this website helps a lot. I've been "sober" from my bulimia since Monday night (my last time i messed up) the thing about your addiction is that whenever you fall down you need to just get up and keep moving. If you get up, you've already become a success in your own mind. Getting up after a fall to your addiction is proof to yourself that you believe in yourself and you know that you are worth it. You are worth it. Remember that. You are worth being healthy and you owe it to yourself to feel good by eating healthy, exercising properly and not punishing yourself or stuffing your feelings. I hope it helps but sometimes knowing other ppl suffering from emotional eating is enough to keep my trucking thru the mud...Much love always

walnut

Ditto on the tracking your feelings, thoughts, and what happened in your day before you started to emotionally overeat. We eat because it distracts us from feeling our feelings we'd rather ignore. The trick to avoiding it is when you get the urge, slow down and think about what's bothering you (or making you happy) and really feel it. Cry if you have to. Write it down, draw a picture of it, call a friend about it. Do something to express whatever it is inside of you and you might have less of an urge to stuff it back in with food. I'm a big advocate of therapy, too, if you're really feeling stuck. I wish you the best, and yes, you are most certainly not alone!! :flowerforyou:

GrnEyz

Hello!!! I keep a journal of what i eat and how i was feeling, then i go over it each week. On days i didn't eat a good breakfast, or days i went to long without eating are the days i totally binge eat!! And i mean seriously binge! I have consumed well over 4000 calories at one time!!! I can eat until i psyically feel sick, then eat more!! It is hard to overcome but the journal has helped and just being aware!!! Hope this helps!!

Oh thank god I'm not the only one. I thought I was the only one out there who could eat like that. I will eat until it's seriously hard for me to breath because my stomach is so full....and 1/2 hour later I'm eating again!!! I like your idea of the journal. It's just taking the time to actually write in it. My problem is too, is I'll do good one day, and then on day two I crash....hard. Plus my mom wants to eat out EVERY day!!!! I can only handle so many salads while everyone else is eating ff, etc! I wonder if she's secretly sabotaging me! :ohwell: So not only do I have to fight with my own emotional eating, but I have to deal with my mothers too!!!:grumble:

chelsey787

Thank you for all of your responses. It is really hard isn't it? Part of my problem is that a few year ago I was working as a camp counselor one summer and it was really hot so I was constantly moving around and sweating so I lost like 20 pounds without ever really realizing I was doing it. Now I am no longer 22 like I was then and I am going to have to actually work at it, which is hard. I think part of my problem too is that I really am worried about the weekends. I think I will be ok during the week but on the weekends when my boyfriend and I go out with friends I don't want to have to constantly think about how many calories are in one drink. That will be hard for me, the drinking aspect. I am not an alcoholic or binge drinker or anything but I like to have a good time and I don't know if I am quite ready to give that up. I am definately going to keep doing the journal and look into the program that was suggested in the last post. I guess I will just have to alternate between one alcoholic drink and a water like everyone suggests.....and remember how good it feels to try on clothes when you look good. That is a big motivater.

believe me, you're not the only one who has a hard time with weekends! i'm right there with you. i just had one of those "going out, drinking, binge eating" nights last night and i feel so icky today. you don't have to give up going out, just make better choices (as i obviously did NOT do last night lol) i think maybe we shoud create a post every day to hold each other accountable on if we binge or not. i think the accountability would be really helpful.

Zborni4

Good idea abou the posting daily to keep ourselves in check. I actually went shopping today, which was not horrible...I had a smidge bit of hope. I unfortunately am of the pear shape family where my upper half does not look so bad, I can fit into mediums and what not.... My bottom however, GOOD LORD! So I just am avoiding the pants and shorts until I kick it into gear.

stschulz

I am not sure if I'd call that emotional (men are said not to be that emotional aren't they <---- !!!!) but I do that too. I used to see something in the store or really want something I like and tehn eat waaayyyy to much with the excuse tomorrow I'll be good again. I have been much better with that in the last weeks. But I still have to remind myself not to go shopping when I am hungry, plan ahead so that I do NOT have to go out and buy food at a time where I am hungry.

I DO see something very interesting reading these posts here too. Some of you admit to these bad habbits and seem to fall back every once in a while. yet there is more than one person just in these posts who lost more than 40 pounds!!!! I find that very encouraging, though I am aware that it was quite a struggle with many up's and down's to get there.

AngelicDevil80

Hello. This is my first post. I am getting married next summer and of course want to look good for that but I also just want to stop feeling and looking like crap. My problem is that I know I have a food addiction and that I am an emotional eater. Everytime I eat something that I know I shouldn't I know it is bad but I do it anyway with the thought that "oh tomorrow I will work out hard" which usually doesn't happen. Does anyone have any advice on what has worked for you to help you stop those times when you are eating just to eat. I have started giving myself a smiley face for good days and a frown for bad days (like you would do for little kids) and then writing down everything I eat that is bad but that is not really working.

I do this too. A lot of times I can stop myself by asking am I really hungry? Then Ill get some water and say try to redirect myself to anything else lol

gabi_ele

I think there are a lot of people here with that problem and it is a vicious cycle. Your upset ,so you eat, you feel bad because you ate too much, you get more upset, eat more.... Somewhere down the line you have to break the cycle. I think it helps to stop as soon as you feel bad, drink a big glas of water ( or tea or chrystal light) and think why you want to eat. I have learned from experience that it pays off to be prepared... have yogurt or pudding or diet pop cake handy, so when the craving comes you can eat and don't have to feel guilty. I feel ,after a while you get to the point where fast food looks and sounds nasty, if you eat healthy for a couple of weeks and then eat a very heavy meal it just don't feel good and now I don't even want to go and eat out:noway:
Being informed is a big part too... after I found out that a cup of mac and cheese has 400 calories...... it's just not worth it to me.
I used to eat when I felt lonely, but since I am on MFP I can come here and read posts, check up on news, make some comments and laugh at the incredible People on here that have a great sence of humor, are compassionate and kind and helpful:smooched: and I don't feel bad anymore.
I hope that helped a little:drinker: