How to Overcome Emotional Eating

crystalrx

I just may be the worst person to post, because I do this too, but there are some things that help me that might help you too. If you can put the baby somewhere safe and maybe just remove yourself from the room and take a breather that might help a bit. Scream/yell/cry/laugh to let out whatever you are feeling. I have a 2 month old at home and a 5 year old, and I have been finding that exercise has been helping me ALOT. I get some "me" time and when I'm done, I know I have done something good for myself on top of it. There's none of that guilt that comes with emotional eating and because I've done something so positive for myself, I feel better and then don't want/need to emotionally eat. I also try to be mindful of my eating. I ask myself if I am really hungry? How hungry? Do I just want to eat because I like tasting food (this is a real problem for me, so I tell myself I have to be genuinely hungry before I eat)? If eating isn't for the right reason, then I can usually talk myself out of it. Another problem is boredom. If I'm bored or want to relax, I eat. So for me, it's finding other things that can help me relax or something I can do that I enjoy. Surf the web, dance crazy to music, read, lay down and breathe, enjoy a hobby, I guess just find something you like to do . There are lots of other great suggestions people have posted, not expecting complete change overnight, just doing one small change you can live with at a time, journaling, talking to a friend, etc. Another thing for me is using myfitnesspal. If I know I have used my calories for the day, then that is it. I don't want to undo the progress I've made, so it does help you stop and really assess if you are hungry and take the emotion out of choosing to eat. I also make "deals" with myself, like, after 7pm, I will only eat fruit or veggies. If it's emotional eating, fruit or veggies usually doesn't help a whole lot with that craving, so that helps curb it too. Hope this helps, I know I enjoyed reading other's posts.

WannabeStressFree

I started to eat tons of healthy food, and I'm less hungry. When I'm less hungry I tend to binge less. But right now I could go for a lot of junky food, except I don't have it in my house and not willing to go to the store!