Emotional eaters

PrittyPiton

I 'm emotional eater myself - every time when I'm really stressed or feel sad or depressed I really want to eat. Stress is the worse - then I can eat anything and completely forget about my goals, weight, diet ... Are there any emotional eater here in this community? How do you fight with these moments?

kkaci5

Well, I don't fight it (also an emotion). I seem to have "cured" that through my logging here. Because I log everything, I think about everything I put in my mouth. It also helps if you log in advance -- plan out your meals and snacks, especially if you know it might be a stressful day.

I also still have "that" kind of food, occasionally. I never knew 1/2 cup of ice cream could taste so delicious -- I've never eaten an actual serving size of ice cream in my life :-P.

But really, after about two months solid of logging daily, (and regular exercise) my former emotional eating seems to have disappeared ...

Edited to add: I couldn't have had ice cream early on ... just added it back in recently. The hold it had on me is gone.

poptastic

I used to be an emotional eater but now I use exercise instead. Honestly, I started running a few months back and now whenever I've had a hard day instead of reaching for a chocolate bar/glass of wine/takeaway, I get home, put on my running shoes and run as fast as I can, even just around the block for 15 minutes. Exercise gives you endorphins that last much longer than a sugar high!

mattschwartz01

I 'm emotional eater myself - every time when I'm really stressed or feel sad or depressed I really want to eat. Stress is the worse - then I can eat anything and completely forget about my goals, weight, diet ... Are there any emotional eater here in this community? How do you fight with these moments?

Yes, I am an emotional eater. How do I combat this? The power comes in reviewing my daily food/exercise log before I'm going to eat anything. I stop and think before I'm going to eat. I look up the calories and then suddenly it isn't so attractive anymore. I'll also take a nice light walk or chew gun or even have the emergency Frost mints for when all else fails. While I'm on my weight management program, I also discuss this with my therapist. I want to stop the emotional eating habit once and for all.

PrittyPiton

I used to be an emotional eater but now I use exercise instead. Honestly, I started running a few months back and now whenever I've had a hard day instead of reaching for a chocolate bar/glass of wine/takeaway, I get home, put on my running shoes and run as fast as I can, even just around the block for 15 minutes. Exercise gives you endorphins that last much longer than a sugar high!

Well It would be great to get endorphins from sports.

tashannaturnipseed

Walking really helps me deal with my stress...it just feels so freeing and relaxing!

IMD918

Part of my eating plan used to include cheat days about once every 8 days. In the last few weeks I cut that out and got past a plateau. I've been doing really well until my gf and I broke up a few days ago, and the next day I was more tempted to blow off my diet than ever! Took every ounce of will power, but I pushed past it. Its just so hard not to give in when you are emotional.

eep223

I was so proud of myself yesterday! I got some bad news at work, and my first thought was "I should stop for a bottle of wine on the way home today." But I looked at my journal and saw how right on target with my calories I was for the day, and instead I went home, spent some time chilling out in the kitchen cooking a healthy dinner, and then did a little yoga until my husband got home. Same effect, I managed to calm down and shut my brain off for the day, but I did it without sabotaging my fitness for the day. I hope this becomes my natural reaction instead of a conscious choice at some point.