Emotional eating

zsaoosh

How have some of you gotten over emotional eating? I didn’t even realize that my issues with eating were emotionally based until I read an article this morning and a light went off. I eat really good (90% of the time) and work out but I have been under some stress with planning a wedding and my fiancé working a different shift then me. The other day my car was in the shop (more money being taken away from the wedding) so I went across the street and ate a huge burger and fries until my stomach hurt, so what did I do after??? Yes I bought an ice cream! I hurt for about 4 hours! Last night I wasn’t feeling good so I sat there and ate a whole thing of cookies in bed watching a movie. I don’t allow junk food into the house for this reason but we just so happened to get free cookie from my work and I told myself they were for the kids. Poor kids didn’t even get a chance LOL. It’s like once my mind sets on something, the thought torments me until I cave in. What can I do!?!?!?

sarah5423

I can't believe you just posted this as I'm stood in the kitchen looking for more food after I have gorged this evening! Like you 90% of the time I do great, still allowing myself a little treat each day, but now and again the urge to eat crap hits me. I woke up feeling pretty ill, time of the month is about to start and I've got loads on in work, don't know if these are excuses or real reasons but we just had a huge Sunday dinner which is fine well within my calories as I planned for it but our friends brought a caramel mud cake, which is something I would never normally go for but ate almost a piece and wanted more, even craving yoghurt and chocolate now when it's late at night and I have no calories left and im not even hungry! I do miss not having to care what I ate and just dealt with the weight gain, although of course I love losing weight and feeling healthier but every so often this urge hits me, I'm worried it will continue and increase which will result in blowing all my hard work. Sorry I'm no help but I feel your pain, food is obviously comfort for us!

BlackPup

Putting it on mfp before putting it In my mouth helps me.
I know that eating the food doesn't fix what's wrong either.

belle_7

I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE GOING THROUGH! I am an emotional eater myself, heck I think Im the queen of emotional eating lol and its hard especially when i get stressed! What i do is when I feel like I want some french fries or something I go into my bag and take out the bag of grapes or that orange... I try to turn to healthier foods when I want to over indulge in something... I keep a serving size of crackers or grapes or something in my purse... That's for when im out on the road as far as when im home that's when its the hardest... I know its hard but you have to try really hard to have self control....

zsaoosh

Thank you ladies. I just have to work out a little harder to cave in once in a while (or once a day LOL)

Caniacgirl59

I can't believe you just posted this as I'm stood in the kitchen looking for more food after I have gorged this evening! Like you 90% of the time I do great, still allowing myself a little treat each day, but now and again the urge to eat crap hits me. I woke up feeling pretty ill, time of the month is about to start and I've got loads on in work, don't know if these are excuses or real reasons but we just had a huge Sunday dinner which is fine well within my calories as I planned for it but our friends brought a caramel mud cake, which is something I would never normally go for but ate almost a piece and wanted more, even craving yoghurt and chocolate now when it's late at night and I have no calories left and im not even hungry! I do miss not having to care what I ate and just dealt with the weight gain, although of course I love losing weight and feeling healthier but every so often this urge hits me, I'm worried it will continue and increase which will result in blowing all my hard work. Sorry I'm no help but I feel your pain, food is obviously comfort for us!

Just had a revelation reading your post! Yes, I also at times miss not having to care about what I ate! I'm also an emotional eater, and while it is a struggle for me to constantly log my food, I never even gave thought to how much easier it is not to keep track. It takes discipline and responsibility to keep up with that. Maybe I should start giving myself a little more kudos for keeping up with it Thanks for the insight.

vypeters

To me the number one thing in reducing emotional eating is to put something else in its place. You can't just stop emotional eating and leave a hole, that's a recipe for failure. You'll need to brainstorm: what will you do to help yourself process strong emotions? What are some healthy (for mind and body) substitutes?

At work:

Can you get up and move around a little? Take a walk on your lunch hour?
Can you play some soft music at your desk?
Will a stress ball or something like help you? How about an aromatherapy plug in?
Even a few seconds of deep breathing exercises might work.

At home:

A walk
A soak in the tub
Burning a candle
Reading a book
And again, deep breathing exercise

You may have other ideas - a friend of mine cleans, another likes to go for a drive when schedule allows.

sloanie1

You aren't alone! its ingrained into us from a young age, if we cry we get a sweet or milk or a cookie.....and its not just stressful emotions that can trigger us off, there is excitment, boredom, sadness......I know exactly how you feel as I've suffered binge eating for a few years now, I mostly have a hold on it these days, I'm a diagnosed food addict so I think about food ALL the time.....I do have a few tools I put in place when I feel like I'm getting out of control but if I really want to indulge nothing can stop me! thats good that you don't have the bad food in the house, I can't hve PB in my house or I would eat the whole jar LOL

You can learn to control it but it does take time and consistency, here are a few things I do:

1. Drink water or green tea
2. Stop and think about why I want to eat
3. Pick up a book or magazine
4. Have some healthy snacks on hand like carrot or cucumber cut up and ready to munch on or a handful of almonds
5. Write down my goals and why I started this journey
6. I think about how long it will take for me to work off what I have eaten and how awful I will feel afterwards

Hope this helps a little...:o)

sarah5423

Sorry I have only just seen your post, thank you! luckily my huge sweet cravings have left me this week but I'm glad I'm not the only one out there that feels this way. I religiously enter every food into my diary and take responsibility for each meal but yes sometimes I feel like not caring anymore. But hey it's so worth it in the end and you should definitely be proud of how far you've come and you will continue to go on your journey! Good on all of us :-)

sarah5423

Oops post was a reply to caniacgirl59 :-)