Any emotional fasters out there?

bathsheba_c
bathsheba_c Posts: 1,873 Member
in Motivation and Support
A lot of people on here write about being emotional eaters - eating because they are upset rather than because they are hungry. I find that I'm a bit of the opposite. If I'm upset about something, I need to force myself to eat. Sometimes I even wait until I feel exhausted from low blood sugar.

Does anyone else do this?

Replies

  • MBNagel74
    MBNagel74 Posts: 444 Member
    This is actually why I needed to track what and WHEN I was eating - and part of what brought me to MFP. I tend to not eat - or eat only once a day - when I'm particularly stressed or upset. For example, when I went through my divorce in 2009, I couldn't eat. Anything I did eat, I didn't keep for long. My body just rejected everything. Of course, being with my new husband, I am very happy (and he is a phenomenal cook), so I need to watch more of what I eat!

    Even now, my husband will ask what I've eaten - or IF I have eaten - when he knows that I'm particularly stressed out.

    I don't think this is too uncommon actually. It's just that the emotional eating when stressed/depressed seems to be more prevalent.
  • black_cats
    black_cats Posts: 29 Member
    I do this.
    If I'm particularly depressed I can't eat and have 0 appetite. Much like today I've had to force myself
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
    I'm the same.

    When I'm upset, I don't eat.. and literally need to force myself to.
  • dlegros
    dlegros Posts: 162 Member
    I have found I have gone from one to the other - I used to be an emotional eater (and drinker) but have now gone the opposite way and although I still sometimes think "miserable -- eat" I tend to avoid eating instead.

    Still working on finding a happy balance

    Hope you're OK
  • chocl8girl
    chocl8girl Posts: 1,968 Member
    In the past, when I have had a depressive episode, I have TOTALLY been the eater/sleeper type. I have noticed that during this current bout of depression I seem to have settled into, I have become a NOT sleeper/NOT eater. It's actually a little disorienting, since I have never experienced it before. I will sometimes forget to eat until I literally get so dizzy when I stand up that I almost pass out. I have just been trying to pre-log food and make sure I always have something with me. There have been days when i have gone so far as to set a timer and force myself to eat something when it goes off.
  • n2thenight24
    n2thenight24 Posts: 1,651 Member
    For sure me, that's why my diary is hidden. Especially now during a very stressful time in my life. I can look up and realize that I haven't eaten a thing in 48 hours, and like you said I don't figure it out until my blood sugar plummets and I don't feel well. I will never know how I got overweight this way, as it's something I've always done.
  • Annieapple12
    Annieapple12 Posts: 122 Member
    If I am upset I will eat. If I am devastated I won’t.

    For example, work stress makes me want to binge but when my auntie and grandpa both died unexpectedly within 3 weeks of each other I couldn't eat a single thing.
  • chico101
    chico101 Posts: 2
    I've always found that hunger helps as a distraction if I'm particularly upset or stressed. I've never fasted in a harmful way, but have deliberately cut my food intake and lost quite a bit of weight at these times. As I'm generally easy-going about my weight, it tends to creep back up eventually.
  • HappyWife04
    HappyWife04 Posts: 13 Member
    Definitely an emotional / stress faster here.

    I can go a whole day without food. I'm just so busy with work and recent health issues has put my mood in blah mode. I'm doing good now that I found MFP but it's a battle.
  • EmilyJackCO
    EmilyJackCO Posts: 621 Member
    I am certainly that way. If I am stressed or upset, I can't eat. And the last few months were horrible, so I found myself eating whatever was present when I would crash. As I work through everything and try to bring things back to stasis - MFP is helping me make sure I eat ENOUGH at this point, without the crashing, helping to keep the huge binges to a minimum. In the past, I've gone 3 - 4 days without eating and ... yeah, no. I don't want to go back to that.

    I've also found different kinds of stress have different responses. High intensity, critical response = no eating is even possible. But the grinding day in and day out stresses, I'll get sick if I eat. I'm still trying to figure all this out - but for now, just making sure I eat my targets every day helps TREMENDOUSLY. And it helps with the coping of all the stress and the grief. Taking care of myself is my only priority right now and everything else can wait....
  • spraylady
    spraylady Posts: 3
    Pretty common with me and has been for years. Don't know how to not do that. Let me know what you figure out.
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
    I am the same way... If life is particularly stressful or something relatively bad has happened, I will barely eat for days... and what I do eat is usually forced.
  • bathsheba_c
    bathsheba_c Posts: 1,873 Member
    Huh. A banana seems to have cured it. It's light on the stomach and the carbohydrates help break the "I feel bad so I don't eat and my blood sugar drops so I feel bad so I don't eat" cycle. Live and learn . . .
  • Scalvak
    Scalvak Posts: 46 Member
    If I am upset I will eat. If I am devastated I won’t.

    This. Exactly.

    I've also stopped eating to prevent overeating before, too.

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