how do you feel your emotions???

koylefam

I m an emotional eater.. doesn't matter what the emotion.. I eat... Whether it be excited, mad, frustrated, sad... I have forgotten how to feel my emotions and ride them out... So when you feel one of these what do you do... I asked my Dh he said " I don't know how to explain it, I just feel it and let it be..." Any advice for us emotional eaters????

knelson422

I don't know how to explain letting myself feel something. I k now when I am stressed, or upset, chocolate is what I reach for (like a whole bag of it, not just a handful. I could down a bag of chocolate chips in a matter of an hour). I am starting to write down what it is that is stressing me, or just validating what it is that is bothering me and why. Then I say, in the grand scheme of things, is this really that important? Sometimes the answer is yes, much of the time it is no. If it is no, I try to find a way to deal with it. If is it yes, then it takes some more thought. But I am realizing that food won't make the stress go away, it is still there afterward, and I feel even worse. I find that verifying my issues, finding out what it is that is really bothering me, is helping me feel more in control of myself and what I eat.

runnercheryl

My instinct used to be to reach for food, but now I write. The written word has always been my passion, and I've always found it difficult to communicate verbally, so using words to record and deal with my emotions has helped me a lot.

I still struggle a little when I'm somewhere I can't write my feelings down, but I am improving because I'm learning about myself the more I write. I think it's best to find an alternative to food that works for you personally - I know a lot of people like exercising to get over any emotion they're dealing with.

golope

I struggle with this every day and have for my entire life. I eat when I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I'm mad, when I'm celebrating, when I'm frustrated, when I'm excited, when I've had a really long day, when my day flew by and I couldn't eat a lot I binge that night, when I'm depressed (which, by the way, only makes me more depressed), when I'm tired, etc etc etc. Sometimes I go to bed at night thinking I can't wait to wake because it means that I have a fresh day to start eating. Its the first thing I want to do in the morning.

I'm trying to overcome this. Some days are better than others. When I'm sad or have a similar emotion that is making me want to eat, I just let myself cry. I never used to cry. Now, if it means I have to sit in my room with the door shut and just have a good cry thats what I do. Usually just releasing the emotion like that will help to keep me from eating to cover it up.

When I'm happy or celebrating something, instead of saying lets go out for dinner, I say lets go out for drinks. I can eat a healthy dinner first that way. I know drinks have calories too, but far less when compared to a 4500 calorie binge! I'm not a big drinker either so just a couple and I'm good.

Sometimes its distraction that I need. I go for a drive, go to the mall (shopping for clothes always motivates me to lose weight), or I play with my animals, or sometimes I go for a walk.

I hope that these suggestions will help you as they've helped me. Take it one day at a time. I'm not good at this either, but I'm getting better and you can too!

Leesseebee

I too am an emotional eater-but mostly when I am sad or frustrated or lonely or stressed...It has been my way of avoiding feeling these things, so I go to therapy, and I am trying to feel these feelings and be respectful of the time it takes for me to get over them.
I had a fairly traumatizing two months and put on all the weight I lost over the summer (and it was substantial) and I now, instead of eating, try and talk to myself as a means of feeling what I am feeling-whereas before I would say (inside) "I'm sad...STOP IT", I now say "I am feeling sad" and sometimes "I am sad, and that's ok". Just identifying it helps. I also let myself stay in the moment until it passes naturally.
I also need to constantly remind myself of my food goals, how sick I would make myself when I overate and how terrible I would feel after. I am trying to change my relationship with food into a functional one by eating for my health, being ok with slip ups but never oking binging.
For me, it is one step at a time, but feeling without eating is one of my biggest challenges and overcoming it is one of my biggest life's goals.
All the best on your journey!