replacing my emotional eating

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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?"

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!