Emotional Eating

speedmuffin

I'm an athlete. I've been running cross country and track in high school, and recently gained some unwanted weight (not muscle, sadly) that I am currently trying to lose. So far, using MFP has worked and I have lost a little weight, but not as fast as I thought I would. Additionally, I have recently been undergoing a lot of stress with emotional problems back home and stress over my academics and athletics. When this happens, I tend to eat out of emotion, and I usually eat those comfort foods that tend to be high in fat (for example: chocolate, peanut butter, etc.). Even with the high amount of exercise I'm getting, I feel like I can't combat the extra weight and emotional eating isn't helping either.

Help?

annahiven

This was the very reason I didn't lose weight for years. I relied on food as comfort.

I don't think it's just as easy as telling yourself not to eat bad things. I think what's more important is to identify what is causing your stress and eliminating it from your life. Otherwise you're never gonna find a healthy, happy way of losing weight--you'll just feel bad for failing.

Obviously you can't give up school or your athletics, but try and identify what it is that is causing you so much stress over it. Particular subjects in school? Failing classes?

Tackle it head on and remove the stress from your life. It might seem hard but it's much better to deal with the root cause of your troubles than trying to treat the symptoms.

mfanyafujo

This was the very reason I didn't lose weight for years. I relied on food as comfort.

I don't think it's just as easy as telling yourself not to eat bad things. I think what's more important is to identify what is causing your stress and eliminating it from your life. Otherwise you're never gonna find a healthy, happy way of losing weight--you'll just feel bad for failing.

Obviously you can't give up school or your athletics, but try and identify what it is that is causing you so much stress over it. Particular subjects in school? Failing classes?

Tackle it head on and remove the stress from your life. It might seem hard but it's much better to deal with the root cause of your troubles than trying to treat the symptoms.

Exactly. If you want to control emotional eating, you've got to figure out these emotions. Sure, you're stressed, but about what precisely? If you're depressed, why? If you're angry, why? Journal it out, talk to a friend, talk to a counselor. Figure out why you are feeling stress, then figure out how you can solve the problem - deal with the stress without eating food.

Emotional eating is a problem for a lot of people. We turn to food because it's the easiest way to numb our feelings for a short while, but then, of course, we feel angry about eating junk food. Stop the cycle - deal with those emotions and their causes.