replacing my emotional eating

tocara

so this whole MFP thing has definitely showed me that I am an emotional eater.

so, what can I do to not emotional eat?

how do i start to change my natural reactions when I am upset?

I think a game plan when I am rational and happy would help me (probably will have to do a few trial and errors)... it is easy to just say do not eat when you are upset... but in reality that is not strong enough.

have you been an emotional eater? what did you do to help?

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks so much, Cara

tocara

*bump...

surely I can not be alone in this....

dawlschic007

Instead of turning to eating while your emotional or upset, try going for a walk or working out. I find that exercising is one of the biggest stress reliefs and I always feel much more calm after a workout and level headed.

urloved33

Its brave to come right out and say it. I too am in this because of my emotional responses! I have no answers but hang in there.

amymroth

I agree, instead of eating take a walk or do some pushups or squats. Get your blood and endorphins moving. If you are at work take a break and walk around the building and at lunch take a walk.

tocara

right now I am in the phase of saying to myself "food will not make this better or go away...."
sometimes it works...

but the suggestions about exercising is a good one... just even a change of environment probably would do wonders

kimothy38

My emotional eating reduced drastically when I joined the gym. Increasing the endorphins (and self esteem) by doing something physical and listening to loud feel good music while doing it really puts me in a better frame of mind to deal with other crap. Of course I still eat emotionally but not nearly as much as I used to. The other tools that help me are journalling (1/2 a page morning and night), meditation or deep breathing exercises to help me chill out and set myself up for the day. Eating well to help my body and my mind. The combined benefit of all those things help me a lot.

gmallan

- Go for a walk/run
- Drink a big glass of water/have a cup of herbal tea
- Call a friend or family member
- Read a book to distract yourself
- Listen to music that puts you in a amazing mood, and even better dance along

moxette

I am pretty sure I recommend this book at least once a week. "A course on weightloss" by Marianne Williamson. Its a beautiful tool for knowing what to do when your old demons want to take hold. If you buy it do the word association exercises early on in the book. I thought it would be a waste of time but promised myself I would give it a chance and 4 years later I still go back to that journal work when I need to hear my own tough love.

skeck

You are definitely not alone! Unfortunately, my 2nd instinctual response is a glass of wine and trashy TV.

I really push myself to go for a walk in silence and allow myself to clear my head. That works pretty well for me!

Good luck!

angiechimpanzee

I feel like in order to get over emotional eating, you have to re-calibrate your thoughts about food.

The truth is, food is for LIFE and NUTRITION. Not for therapy, not for leisure, not for emotional relief. For NUTRITION. If you're not eating for nutrition, you're doing it wrong. Educate yourself on this topic so you can change your mindset about food.

Secondly, WHAT you eat on a regular basis plays a huge role. Notice that rarely anyone says they "emotionally ate" on apples or romaine lettuce? Because those things are dense in nutrients, and do not contain addictive substances like refined sugars & starches or large amounts of fat. When people overeat its on stuff like pizza, cookies, fried chicken - stuff that you shouldn't even be EATING in the first place! Those things are addictive, whether you tie them to your emotions or not.

When I started to make it a goal to avoid refined starches/sugars & anything fried, I noticed a HUGE difference in my relationship with food. My mindset changed from "what will satisfy my gluttonous tastebuds & give me a temporary high" to "what will fill me for the next several hours while meeting optimal nutritional values AND making me feel great about myself later on?" I started to find that the longer I avoided those foods, even when an emotionally stressful situation arose, the craving for them was no longer THERE. You can't crave what you don't know, so cut off all connections with those crap foods, get to NOT know them anymore. & emotional eating will be a thing of the past.

Spiritwarrior3000

Emotional eating is very common and affects people of all ages male or female. try to stop yourself from feeling bored when you get upset just read a book, go shopping, exercise,meditate, talk to friends, watch a movie. Anything that takes your mind off food

kchaney2003

I clean and walk whenever I get really stressed or upset.

Rhia55

I had to change the way I looked at food. I used to look at it as something to indulge in, and something to look forward to. "Oh, when I get home from work I can have this or that.." Now I see it as a way to stay alive, and MFP has helped a lot in that. Now I can say, "That's done, I have eaten enough food to stay alive, I don't need any more today." If I get depressed, which does happen, I go out for a walk, and I try to avoid the triggers that used to make me eat... watching movies (I chew gum instead) or reading a good book. Now I try to do active things more often that don't allow me to have one hand free to eat.

angiechimpanzee

I had to change the way I looked at food. I used to look at it as something to indulge in, and something to look forward to. "Oh, when I get home from work I can have this or that.." Now I see it as a way to stay alive, and MFP has helped a lot in that. Now I can say, "That's done, I have eaten enough food to stay alive, I don't need any more today." If I get depressed, which does happen, I go out for a walk, and I try to avoid the triggers that used to make me eat... watching movies (I chew gum instead) or reading a good book. Now I try to do active things more often that don't allow me to have one hand free to eat.

This exactly.

Capt_Apollo

change your habits

http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Habit-What-Business/dp/1400069289

MFPBrandy

Right there with you. I think I'm fine, then my toddler has a fit over bedtime and suddenly I'm starving. Getting out of the house at times like these (and evenings are the worst for me) isn't an option, because I'm a single parent.
While I'm still working on finding my own answers, just learning to recognize emotional eating for what it is is fairly new for me. Sometimes making a cup of tea helps; I keep a stash of super-spicy-smelling tea (tea always smells better than it tastes!) on hand, and sometimes it's enough to meet the need, or at least distract me for a bit. I've heard other people swear by frozen grapes. I tried it and thought them quite nasty, but many consider them a sweet treat.

jgsparks89

I am (was) (am?) a HUGE emotional eater! If I'm stressed/sad/feeling down...I immediately start thinking of comfort food (for me, pasta, cheeseburgers, fried chicken tenders, etc). However, I have found that in the past few months, I have been replacing my emotionally driven calorie splurges with my Zumba class or a trip to the gym (with out kids) and treat it like a little "spa" day. I go, get my workout in via 60 min of Zumba or a run followed by strength training and then decompress in the sauna and take my time getting a shower and what not. It's so relaxing and free from guilt. After wards, if I am still craving a treat, I can have it without going over on my calorie goal and I am much less likely to over eat. Good luck!

Disclaimer: Week of my period, all bets are off! Lol

sugarlips1980

A lot of people on here will relate to this! It's something I'm definitely trying to work on myself. Now I'm trying to focus on how much BETTER I feel about myself when I'm eating healthy and in moderation. How much more in control and at peace really.

I read a book once (possibly Paul McKenna?) that suggested you rate your hunger on a scale of one to ten. I think it said you should eat when you are between 6 and 8 or something like that. So that makes sure you're eating because you actually feel hungry, but don't let yourself get to the stage of feeling ravenous because then you can go overboard. Always try to assess if you're hungry or eating for emotional reasons. If it's emotional then try to do something else to make yourself feel better (a film, a walk, call a friend, put some good music on, hug your dog etc).

And I've found sometimes if I eat my planned dinner and feel like something else, I tell myself to wait 10 mins and if I'm still hungry I can have something else. Most of the time your brain then registers the fullness and you realise you wanted to eat for emotional reasons or simply because your brain hadn't yet fully registered the food.

zrmac804

so this whole MFP thing has definitely showed me that I am an emotional eater.

so, what can I do to not emotional eat?

how do i start to change my natural reactions when I am upset?

I think a game plan when I am rational and happy would help me (probably will have to do a few trial and errors)... it is easy to just say do not eat when you are upset... but in reality that is not strong enough.

have you been an emotional eater? what did you do to help?

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks so much, Cara

I find moving around helps. I like ice-skating or inline skating when I don't have to think and can just let my mind wander. If I'm really upset I'll go for a long aimless drive, and play loud music in the car.

anifani4

You are defininitly NOT alone. I think it's a natural thing to feel comforted by food. Afterall, as infants we cried and got fed and felt better. The problem is that now we have so many other needs that we try to fix with food. It may give some initial comfort (like while in the process of eating) but it doesn't last. Why I keep trying it over and over again is just nuts.

Another thought: convince yourself that all feelings are ok. I grew up thinking feelings were bad, certainly expressing them was a no-no in my house and I took that to mean they were bad in themselves. Just not true. But eating is a good way to swallow those feelings that are not allowed to be expressed. It's a long journey to undo this stuff but I'm getting there.

Being aware is the first step. I am a person who sews and makes quilts. It helps me a lot to simply go to my sewing room and work on a project....I soon forget my anxieties and problems for a while and then with a fresh look I have a new perspective on them. It also helps to go outdoors and walk or even sit in the sunshine, or on the grass and BE in the world. Let the feelings flow through you. They won't cause you harm. It fighting them that makes them stick and makes me want to eat them away.

Jongfaith

Yep I hear you! It hasn't been difficult to find other outlets but the first week of being accountable for every morsel that went into my mouth was sooo hard! I was crying because I felt like I was punishing myself for being overweight.... more than once. In fact my doctor offered me meds to help with the emotional connection I obviously had. I didn't take them and after awhile I got used to the more restricted diet and stoped obsessing about food... First couple weeks however I was even dreaming about food. Trying to eat a sandwich underwater was my favorite, It would melt into the water every time I tried to take a bite.lol

Its about being honest with yourself about what you want. If you are wanting a shoulder to cry on call your friend or mom, not ben and jerrys. Journaling, meditation, and keeping it real with yourself.

Good Luck!
feel free to friend me if you would like some more support!

GwennyH

You are definitely NOT alone!!! Two things have worked for me.

1. I just don't buy large quantities of the foods that I used to "emotionally eat" with. My pantry is still stocked well, but just not with my favorite snacks or foods that I associate with my "binging" days. I tell myself I don't need to keep them on hand, I can always stop by the store and buy one portion at a time later as needed.

2. I try to get moving when I feel myself ready to start emotionally eating. Either working out or just doing housework or anything physical. It usually adds just the distraction I need. Or sometimes I'll set a goal: Okay, you can have the snack you're craving, but only if you do x minutes of x activity first...

jesp1216

I knit when I feel I need to eat, and if I really can't deal with it and that doesn't help I try to only keep healthy snacks around so if I do emotionally eat at least I'm eating healthy things.

browncurlz3

TALK. Talking to someone, anyone, when you feel that urge to eat (overeat, binge eat, compulsively eat)...will help. I told my fiancee the other day that he was literally anchoring me down, and he felt so good that he could help me. Now he feels invested in my personal growth, and is more supportive than ever.
Talk. Talk. Talk. Or, get on here and support others with positivity.

peterdt

You can find a lot of help here:

http://www.shrinkyourself.com/?v=60&bhcp=1

browncurlz3

Right! This was huge for me. To stop seeing food as treats, as evil, as rewards, and supplements for my feelings. Instead, I now see food as fuel. "What will best get me through my AM workout?" or "I'm feeling a bit sluggish. What will best help me through this for a long period of time, unlike that chocolate which will only help for a few minutes?"

tocara

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tocara

wow, this is cool!

I think this can definitely help me with the "in the moment" scenarios and help me make better decisions

You can find a lot of help here:

http://www.shrinkyourself.com/?v=60&bhcp=1

MrsScheidt

I do the same thing. I eat out of emotion and also out of boredom. For me I think its about oral fixation. I chew gum and it helps A LOT!

ahart78

Instead of turning to eating while your emotional or upset, try going for a walk or working out. I find that exercising is one of the biggest stress reliefs and I always feel much more calm after a workout and level headed.

Just discovered the power of working out when stressed/sad this week. It definitely makes me feel better, much more than a bunch of junk food!