I cant get past emotional eating

Missy225

I need help! No matter how well I work out, diet, or lose weight, I CANT GET PAST EMOTIONAL EATING!!! Whenever Im lonely, stressed, upset, celebrating, or just bored I tend to eat. I will find any reason I can to justify this snack or that because of the 'fullness' i need when Im emotional. Can anyone help!?!

interceptor311

My problem too :-(

bm99

Recognizing it is the first step to stopping. Just take a minute and think about WHY you are going to eat, and if you still decide to do it think about what you will do for exercise to make up for it (and actually do it).

Brookhaven64

Missy, I am Judy and go by Brookhaven 64. I have dealt with emotional eating my entire life and this program has helped me so much. I am a retired teacher and would be around to listen to you when you feel like you just have to have the snack. I am not saying I don't snack, but I have come across a few snacks that seem to get me through the rough times. Both of my parents passed away in November and the last year I really packed on the pounds because we traveled every weekend to help them. I was introduced to MFP in March and have lose 23 pounds. Just let me know if you need me.

bluetzu

Drink a full glass of ice cold water, thats what a friend of mine does that way if you do have to eat the water helps to make you feel full and possibly eat less, and remember that it has taken years to learn to be an emotional eater so it will take some time to unlearn it

erikapereira

I am like that too. I have been controlling it for the past weeks but today was my break point. Tomorrow I have an interview and I am super anxious. What I started doing is getting rid of all the junk food and get low cal snacks or healthier. For example I love ice cream and I bought a light ice cream that taste delicious and It fits in my diet.

rolyathslaw

I have this same problem! Here are some things that help:
(there was a great flow chart I saw, but I can't find it!)

-Ask yourself why you want food. Does your body need fuel? Are you hungry? Or are you just bored or emotional?
-Have a glass of water and count to 100. Re-evaluate whether or not your body really needs food at that moment.
-Occupy yourself. Paint your nails, read a chapter of a book, get your mind off of food somehow.
-After this, once again ask yourself if you are *truly* hungry. If so, grab a healthy snack! It's okay to indulge once in a while, but don't do it impulsively. Figure out how to work that food into your diet for tomorrow! Every food is okay in moderation.

yarwell

Eating Less by Gillian Riley is a book precisely about this sort of thing. If looks at your eating as the problem, and weight as the consequence. Fix the eating and the weight solves itself, as it were. Worth a look.

http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Less-ebook/dp/B005H0CALU

deejayy89

I have the same problem! I'm so mad/ upset right now and it's taking everything I have to not shove the left over pizza from dinner down my throat!!!

aryastark8

One trick is to postpone the snack. It's easier to say "I'll eat it a bit later", than saying "I won't eat it". In the meanwhile chances are you'll get distracted and forget all about it. And even if you don't, you'll end up eating less because you start later :-)

DesignGuy

I need help! No matter how well I work out, diet, or lose weight, I CANT GET PAST EMOTIONAL EATING!!! Whenever Im lonely, stressed, upset, celebrating, or just bored I tend to eat. I will find any reason I can to justify this snack or that because of the 'fullness' i need when Im emotional. Can anyone help!?!

It's going to take work. I was an emotional / bored eater too. And I've worked from home for ages, so I have nonstop access to food.

Ate because my marriage was horrible for years and I was trapped, emotional getting hammered, etc.
Ate because I was single again (happy).
Ate because of [insert bad event here].
Ate because I'm gaming (MMORPGs) all night long.
Ate because I couldn't watch a movie without eating.
And so on.

I began to break the cycle by identifying patterns and stopping them. I used to darn near always snack hardcore late at night while watching something on Netflix. Now, I drink water and watch. Now and then I'll have some almonds or something healthy.

Start replacing bad things with better things. If that's really too tough, start with portion cutting. Oh look, I'm about to eat a whole cake tonight. If you can't stop yourself, eat 75% or less. It's bad, but not as bad.

Everything is an evolution of patterns. Most people have trouble because they try to go from one extreme to the other overnight.

And drink lots of water. Yes, it's that important. I'm drinking about 1 gallon a day and have been for about 3 weeks. I feel the difference. Not saying you need to jump into a gallon a day, but get at least 8 glasses and work around that.

celebrity328

I was a real emotional eater.. usually when I was alone etc.

I took out all my tigger foods in the house and replaced them with items like fruit., veggies, and stuff like that.. Then when I felt i needed something I ask myself are you hungry? Sad? why do you want to eat? I then would make myself wait 30mins and then ask myself again why. I started to realize as I did this that most of the time I wanted to eat because I was bored or lonely.

michellelong73

I find myself wanting to eat when I am bored and have nothing to do. I have been like this all my life and I try to fight. I stocked my frig with veggies and fruit. That if i have to eat something it isn't to bad.

Presley0381

I have the same problem : ( I've learned to control it a little bit but I do have one or two bad days a month now...And my TOM, forget it!! It's worse!! Drinking a lot of water has helped a lot!! I wish I had more advice though, I could use the help too. Good luck to you *Hugs*

newmein2013

Go to the library and get Dr. Phil's Ultimate Weight Solution - The 7 Keys To Weight Loss Freedom. It changed my life. I haven't read this article but I hope you find it helpful. Good luck!
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/dr-phil-ultimate-weight-solution-what-it-is

cherrybomb_77

I'm an emotional eater, too. When I get depressed or stressed out, I just want to EAT. Honestly, it's just a matter or willpower for me. I try to pep talk myself "Don't eat it, you'll regret, you're out of calories, it's just stress talking" etc. If I really can't stop myself, I try to eat raw veggies and drink a bunch of water.

jackiecroberts

I too am an emotional eater. I hit my own rock bottom this year with my weight and decided to FINALLY do something about it!! That being said, I knew I needed help with my emotional eating. I read a book, "Eat and Grow Thin.". The author himself was very obese as a choice and teenage so he KNOWS what it was like to be heavy. He really addresses many reason why we overeat and I found the book to be very empowering. I still have a snack at bedtime (my worst time for munches) but I now have a mango, or some type of fruit. It satisfies my sweet tooth and allows me to have something. Plus, who is gonna overeat on fruit!?!? Check it out if you want an inspirational book, plus his menu plan is AWESOME!!

Peter3465

I was a very serious emotional eater, in fact because of that I grew to the +500lbs at one time , I have fought and struggled for years to lose to 450lbs now I had to learn the every time I wanted to eat or felt the need to eat , I would either drink cold water wait ten minutes then if I still wanted to eat I had a Atkins shake , or one of those shakes in a can , then I would wait another ten minutes if I still felt I needed something it was a fruit , or a honey nut granola bar. The key is to wait the full ten minutes , after awhile it becomes easier and at the same time you can stay within you calorie intake for the day. This helped me , everyone is different but I hope this helps.

Koshkaxo

I am as well, and the only way to stop it personally is to not have snacks around me. You cant eat whats not there, I only bring certain foods with me to work and try not to buy anything unhealthy while groccery shopping. Its not foolproof (sherbert was on salelast week so I reasoned it was meant to be..) but Im working on my groccery store willpower. Good luck and best wishes

ctprofessional

Did you know that your body tells you its thirsty that same way it tells you its hungry? I start with water. If I still have the munchies, then I promise myself I'll snack after I'm active for 15 minutes(usually walking the dog). By then It's usually time to eat again anyway!
I have three meals and two snacks a day, so I'm basically eating often and that helps me. I am under TONS of stress lately so I make sure my kitchen is full of healthey choices and if its not healthy, it is wrapped in a single serving size. My favorites right now are sugar free pudding cups or 100 calorie packs of EVERYTHING(nuts, cookies, crackers). One pack of bad stuff with a big glass of water BEFORE I eat is perfect.
I find that if I drink alot after I eat, I dont feel aas full as long....

Sabine321

I eat too when I am bored or upset. Have you tried cut up veggies and low fat/no fat dip? Or fruits? Or apple chips? I is hard, but you can do it! Good luck.

Jomalone2

Look into some 12-step programs such as Overeaters Anonymous or Food Addicts Anonymous. They help people deal with the emotional and physical addictions to the food. I'm not sure about your faith but several years ago I went through the Weigh Down program at church and it helped me with this area. One of the biggest things it taught me was that the food doesn't love me back. It is a temporary fix for a much deeper emotional problem. Good luck, know that you aren't alone.

Jul158

A replacement behavior has worked well for me...but it takes a long time to really break the habit. You have to really be aware of when you're eating for emotional reasons and automatically replace eating with something else. For me, I put my Ipod on and listen to a upbeat song (that makes me feel energetic and good about myself!) and go for a walk. I can't eat if I'm not around food. I also have found that reading a really good book or going out for 'errands' (wandering Target) helps distract me.
I've realized that I can do soe many more things when I'm not sulking around the kitchen trying to find something to eat. It takes time..but give it a few weeks to see if your new behavior works! If not, try something else. The first step is recognizing the issue, then creating a plan to fix it! Good for you for realizing it now : )

sjv1966

When I first started doing this I spent a lot of time reading books (on my kindle) written by people telling their weight loss stories. Reading these stories helped me to work through some of my issues with emotional eating. And I think it makes a difference to read something book-length and not just blogs or posts. In a book the author really has time to explore the issues that they dealt with and it gives you time to think about the ways that what they went through applies to you. It also helps keeps your head in the game in general.

kikilieb

BUMP to read later.

cmriverside

posted by DesignGuy
Everything is an evolution of patterns. Most people have trouble because they try to go from one extreme to the other overnight

This is so true. Just keep chipping away at patterns.

Something that helped me a lot when I was eating mindlessly was to write in a Journal. Mine is on my computer, and I've written in it for five years, developing strategies for dealing with emotional eating.

I log everything I eat. I realized that I don't need more than 2000 calories a day to maintain. So anything above that is out of control, and I don't like that at all.

You have the power within you to heal your emotions. If you write them down, you will be really surprised what comes out when you are healing yourself.

If hunger isn't the problem, food isn't the solution.

MonkeyMoo08

Something that has really helped me: crushed ice - or the kind you can buy at Sonic. I too am an emotional eater. I eat when I am bored, upset, tired, etc. etc. I had fallen into a routine of having ice cream every night after dinner while my hubby and I watched TV. Now, I grab a cup of ice and munch on it. It is cold and gives the same eating actions, but without all the calories.

nathanas85

Here is a tip that helped me with emotional eating. Flip your emotion, use your emotion, anger, depression, pain or whatever it is, use it for a workout! Go for a walk, run, aerobics, weight resistance. Use your emotion to inspire you to workout instead of eating.

Sunscreenandsweat

Drink water, look at clothes online, call a friend, take a shower, brush your teeth, go for a walk or a drive, go to the gym, talk to someone online, make a list of reasons you want to lose weight, ask yourself if you're actually hungry, take a nap, draw a picture, read a book and best of all plan out your food for the day the night before, if it's not on the menu then don't put it in your mouth.

sweetpotatofry

I had a tough last two weeks at work and was also overeating due to stress (and TOM). I wish there were an easy way to get over emotional eating, but here are a few things I've gathered over the years:

- Exercise helps, but sometimes it might only help to a point. It'll distract you from whatever you're feeling for an hour or so but once you stop, it might come back again. Nevertheless, it's good to sweat it out, even if the adrenaline rush is temporary.

- Be easier on yourself. If you know that eating will make you feel better (before the guilt settles in), maybe you should eat something. The last week I was constantly hungry and eating and still hungry, but if I'd deprived myself I think I would've felt even worse because with everything to worry about, being hungry was really the last thing I needed on my mind. I've noticed that giving my body what it wants, in moderation, sometimes works better than ignoring it altogether.

- If possible, tackle the root problem. What are you avoiding thinking about, when you reach for food instead? Sometimes we can't solve the problems that are really bothering us, the sources of stress, but being honest with yourself and letting yourself be in that moment could help in the long run. I often eat to not think at all - and that's horrible! By not thinking I'm letting these problems fester and they'll only cause bigger problems later.