emotional eating

Also an amotional eater!! I wish I had the answers to how to get to a manageable point again in my life.
Howver I do not have the answers, I do know for myself I try not to beat myself up for what I had did the day b4 or the hour b4.
Bc when I get on the emotional eating rollar coaster I am usually on there for a while. Its a bad ride!!
Key for me being dont stay there , When I get knocked down I need to get back up and remember this is why there is a new day :-)
I can do better today I say to myself :-) Blessings!!! Glad your here and I am new too.

Today we do not have to eat over emotions. :-)

I was an emotional eater, and worse a binge eater. I had/have cravings that I couldn't control. I've lost 60+ plus lbs 3 different times, on a yo-yo over the past decade.

This time I"m loggin all my food on MFP. I used to do this with a journal/paper, calculator, but was very inconsistent. I think it really helps, to log the good and bad. You can't really lie to yourself, so you can really keep yourself accountable. You feel an accomplishment when you've hit your goal for the day, and feel that little sting when you have to write down that binge. It helps keep me on track.

I've also found that by following [as close as I can] a lifestyle I've found from a Dr. Fuhrman is helping me quash those addictive cravings I was getting from cokes, processed foods, pastas, sweets, etc. His book is "Eat to Live". I really think it refocuses us on what we were designed to eat, instead of all the man made processed and synthetic foods we've been conditioned to eat.

I'm only a couple weeks in to it, and along with exercise am down 13lbs. I don't get the crazy sugar cravings I used to, either. It's not about rescricting calories, just about learing what real healthy eating means.

i am a "bored" eater. I don't eat when I feel angry or happy or sad, i eat when i'm bored. I figured out that if i have a busy day i will be able to control my appetite, but if i am at home all day studying or just being lazy i will eat junk.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ (good post)

I've found that in order not to eat I need to keep busy somehow. Either going for a walk, playing with our dogs, cleaning, etc really helps. You can also take up a consuming hobby with goals in mind to focus on. Like knitting a christmas sweater for your daughter? Or a quilt for someone?

I am a closet binger. I wait for the kids to go to school and wait for hubby and kids to go to sleep. I never counted my calories on a big binge. I was upset a few days ago when I ended up about 400 calories more than I wanted but I was able to stop. I worry about putting on a few pounds over the next 3 weeks my Mom is coming in for a visit for three weeks and we do like to go out for lunch together. I don't have a great cell phone just a prepay. So I will have to be careful and eat more vegetables and fruit. Her favorite is Chinese which is my favorite too. So I will eat in moderation but it will be so hard. I already know to pass on the rice but it will be hard to pass on the Egg Rolls and Crab Wonton. Have a good day. Of course add me as a friend. I am 53 female 5foot 7 160 pounds. Two years ago I stopped smoking and decided to take 2 years off to be home with the kids.

I'm in the same boat. I was a Chinese buffet binger deluxe. If you must go "chinese", ask around if there is a good Mongolian BBQ you can go to. I'm lucky to have one nearby. They have both a soup and grill bar, where you choose your ingredients. I can get a GIGANTIC plate of vegetables, all ones I love anyway, stir fryed without oil, with a little bit of chicken or maybe beef. The way my local shop makes it, it is like Mana from Heaven. I get Brocolli, carrots, sprouts, onions, pineapple, peppers, bamboo, bok choy, etc, etc. The soup side is just about as good, but have to watch the Sodium in the Broth. I am so grateful to have them around, for when I want an asian fix without all the noodles, rice, MSG, fried foods, etc.

I am an emotional eater like yourself, if something happens, or if I am bored or my daughter is ill, she has a cardiac condition I find I reach into the biscuit tin, or for something sweet.

I find I am fatter now than when I started out, and also that the weight is no longer moving, usually I loose a pound in the first day this time its just not happened, I dont have a lots of weight to loose, but would love to fit into my thin wardrobe again.

Claire

I have had years of experience dealing with emotional eating. Frankly, I'm still dealing with it. I don't know if any of this will be helpful, but as someone who has been there for a long time, maybe you can relate.

When I was in college, I used to use food as a way to control my anxiety (before I was diagnosed with GAD.) It was not uncommon for me to go out and buy a pack of Nestle cookie dough and eat most of it alone and by myself. It would always happen, the minute I started eating it I would start feeling calmer, and then I'd just keep going and going because while I was eating it felt good. Of course, later I'd be consumed with guilt, not to mention uncomfortably full.

After I started dealing with my anxiety problems, my therapist at the time recommended that I try something - when I felt the urge to eat to make myself feel better, I should just go with it and not beat myself up about it. Maybe my brain was telling me to do this for a reason. So I did - I gave in to whatever I wanted, however insane, however ridiculous, and refused to feel bad about it.

Then something funny happened. When I went on eating sprees, I didn't eat nearly as MUCH as I did before. I satisfied my desires after maybe a quarter of a role of cookie dough instead of the entire package. When I took the self-loathing out of the equation, the extremes went away.

I still have problems equating food with emotional comfort. I've tried lots of ways to deal with it. Recently, I've been posting it here when I have a desire for food I'm not hungry for. Sometimes knowing that other people will hold me accountable helps - sometimes knowing that there are other people on this site who struggle and who have felt my pain helps.

Other times, I've promised myself that I can have the food I want if I will walk to get it (I live in the city.) Sometimes I'll take a walk around the block and feel better, just for getting out and moving, and choose a snack with fewer calories (frozen yogurt mmmm.)

Sometimes I think about whether there's something else self-indulgent that will make me feel happy, like watching my favorite crappy movies or going out for coffee or a book.

And sometimes I just give in. But when I give in, I'm working on forgiving myself and getting right back on the horse.

This is a real and difficult problem and I wish you the best of luck. We're all still working it out. There is room for us to learn different behaviors and different patterns of thought.

Didn't mean for this to sound so Hallmark-y, but guess that's how it turned out.

Hey,

Most of what I've learned about weight loss I learned watching my partner struggle with alcoholism...... he would use the upsets in his life to justify having that drink at the end of the day, the same way I would eat twix bars to ease the hurt and lonliness in my life.... I might blame it on the girl at work, or my kids being rotten or my house being a mess, but it was really just looking for an excuse to eat.....

Take control of your life....no one is stopping you from having that chocolate bar..... it's yours if you want it, but it's not good for you..... and in the long run it's taking more away from you than the little bit of comfort it's giving you in the moment....the feelings of guilt and shame and helplessness that come with being overweight becomes a vicious circle when we turn to food for comfort..... the same as an alcoholic feels when he sobers up after a night of binge drinking.....we feel worthless and defeated and less capable than all the NORMAL people out there.....

When you feel yourself reaching for that "bottle" stop and ask yourself why you're REALLY feeling like this......instead do a quick 5 minute work out, drink a nice hot cup of tea or go brush your hair in front of the mirror and tell yourself that YOU are beautiful and that YOU are worth this......Give yourself a break and if the rest of the world around you sucks then at least you know that YOU are doing what YOU can to make YOUR life better....

good luck and you CAN do it...... I promise :flowerforyou:

Love this!