Any advice for an emotional eater?
crimsonkurls
Posts: 17 Member
I have recently come back to this community after a LONG hiatus 
I felt like I was ready to get down to business and get this weight off for good! However, I still find myself really struggling with bad food cravings when I am stressed , tired,or bored.I also find myself falling into the rewarding myself mentality when I feel like I have been doing good,then I go screw it up by eating crap and then feeling bad about it afterwards! Is this just a hurdle I have to work through in the beginning? Any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.
I felt like I was ready to get down to business and get this weight off for good! However, I still find myself really struggling with bad food cravings when I am stressed , tired,or bored.I also find myself falling into the rewarding myself mentality when I feel like I have been doing good,then I go screw it up by eating crap and then feeling bad about it afterwards! Is this just a hurdle I have to work through in the beginning? Any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated. 0
Replies
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Log everything religiously. Before you eat anything, put it in MFP. Log, log, log. And log some more.
That's the only way I've been able to maintain control. Log. And log some more.0 -
I'm sadly with you right now. Winter is difficult for me because my usual method of keeping away from snacking is walking where there IS no food and right now I'm stuck indoors and climbing up the walls because of it!
Hm. I'll get back to you. XD0 -
can you work out....either at home or at a gym...does the weather allow you to get out and walk??
I'd recommend developing a work out program that you can do in your house...perhaps buying a DVD to follow...but like the guy below said...document everything and it might become tougher to fall off the wagon....
good luck!0 -
It's hard but I would think the only way to stop this forever is for you to address the emotions that cause you to eat head on.0
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I love food... and I always battle the food cravings monster.
I'll share my own experiences and hopefully you can something useful that works for you.
First, I always snack at night. That's just the way I am.
My solution is to leave room for it.
I could probably find something healthier, but I find those 100Cal snack packs handy.
Bigger packages may be cheaper, but my willpower seems to fade quickly.
..and it's hard for me to get up and open 3 packs of something (a trick that works for me)
(like setting my bedroom clock 5 minutes early)
Second, I like to have a spike night.
There are lots of good reasons to do this.. but I like to focus on the mental side.
It's way easier to be strong today, when I know I'm allowed to cheat tomorrow.
Monotony is not my friend..
Even if this slows me down, It makes the path to success easier to swallow.
Third, be wary of carbs overload.
For me, these are the gateway drug.
If I go wild (say on thanksgiving).. it takes a week for the gnawing unbearable hunger pangs to cease.
Seriously, it feels like withdrawal. I had heard that carbs crave carbs.. and I believe it now.
Lastly, I buy into what works for me.
I don't like it when people tell me to avoid eating at night
I don't want to eat lots of little meals all day
My plate is never sorted by colour or food type or whatever.
I stick to my numbers (generally), so my weekly and monthly counts look good.
My belief is that our bodies work on more of a macro nutrition level.
One day doesn't help you lose or gain weight.. Just let it balance out every month and you'll get there..
Ed..0 -
Watch your carbs. Keep your protein and fats high.
Reward yourself with exercise....or at least reward yourself with something other than food. (like, watch your favorite TV show, or get a manicure, or a massage, or call a friend. Finish a project. Come on MFP and kill time. Not food!)
Food is not a reward, it's fuel.0 -
#1 - face your emotions directly. Standing in the kitchen munching away is a really good distraction against what's eating you, but nothing gets solved. You gain weight, creating more stress, and whatever drove you into the kitchen is still there, so double whammy. You have to put that interrupt there; don't go mindless and find yourself elbow-deep in a bag of chips with no idea how you got there. "Why am I in the kitchen? What can I do instead?" Part of the process was to set a meal schedule for myself. If I'm in there searching the cupboards and it's not meal time, I do my best to drag myself out of there.
#2 - have a project to work on. When my hands and mind are engaged, I completely forget about eating.0 -
Thanks! You have all offered some great advice that I will start enforcing
I do find that the more carbs I eat the more I tend to crave them.I also find that when I am in the house I have food on my mind.So I will get out with my daughter more.So much to take in and process! This is fantastic.Thanks again. 0 -
Per my therapist, the times when someone like me (an emotional eater) is most likely to experience cravings for my drug (sugar) is when I am too hungry, angry, lonely, or tired....HALT. When you feel the urge to eat, stop and figure out what you are feeling, take the time to feel that emotion, then deal with it by venting to someone or journalist your feelings. It's not easy, but it does help me. It also helps me to take the time and remember that if I give in to the craving, I will feel crappy about myself afterwards....it's just not worth the temporary release/pleasure of eating a cookie to me.
Best of luck to you!0 -
Per my therapist, the times when someone like me (an emotional eater) is most likely to experience cravings for my drug (sugar) is when I am too hungry, angry, lonely, or tired....HALT. When you feel the urge to eat, stop and figure out what you are feeling, take the time to feel that emotion, then deal with it by venting to someone or journalist your feelings. It's not easy, but it does help me. It also helps me to take the time and remember that if I give in to the craving, I will feel crappy about myself afterwards....it's just not worth the temporary release/pleasure of eating a cookie to me.
Best of luck to you!
This exactly^^. Great post.0 -
The best thing I've done for my emotional binging is to remove myself from the area with food and work on something unrelated like working out. I know people say this and you're thinking "that's the opposite of what I want." You kind of have to cut it off before it starts.
Take the advice of the others until you can really identify your triggers before the urge to eat hits. Then when you're in that mood, convince yourself you'll feel better once you sweat it out, shower it off, and have some nice, healthy fuel.0 -
One thing that has helped me is logging. I try to plan the majority of my day out so I know what I can/can't splurge on as far as food. if I know I am going to dinner with friends, I do what I can to be very strict the rest of the week so I can have that time to enjoy (but I am still mindful of what I am eating.) I have had breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner planned since yesterday for today. I am already planning for my day tomorrow. The planning part of it really helps tremendously when it comes to me. I think my 'emotional over eating' is because it is the one thing I can control. So, if I put my control to it the opposite way, by planning out my food for the next day, my over eating/indulging, does not control me.
Also, if I know I am going to eat 'excess' I know I have to work out - in my mind justifying 'is it worth having to _________". Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Exercising has a way of helping the emotions get in check naturally as well for me.
If it is late night eating, go to bed. You truly typically do not 'have' to eat before bed time.
If you are bored, find something else to do. Exercise, read a book, crochet, scrapbook, etc. instead.
This is something that drives my daughter nuts, but get rid of unhealthy food choices in your home or work place so you are not tempted as easily. I have a vending machine here at work and try to not bring change in so I am not tempted to buy. I have 'healthy' snacks - banana's, oranges right now, as well as popcorn (not exactly healthy, but not as bad as I know I can be), mini rice cakes (the crunch helps me a lot i think). Other things that might be good are trail mix type foods, nuts, dried fruits, etc.0 -
#2 - have a project to work on. When my hands and mind are engaged, I completely forget about eating.
^^ This! Most of all!
Having something to do leaves me focused on anything but food. I'm well acquainted with emotional eating (hooray depression), and it is a huge jerk. Logging is helping a lot, too. It's become second nature to me now. I log my whole day first thing in the morning to see how much room I have for additional snacks, etc., and I keep those snacks healthy (I go through Clementines like crazy). Fruit is good, because you can get the sweet that comes from sugary foods without it being too terrible.0 -
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Log everything religiously. Before you eat anything, put it in MFP. Log, log, log. And log some more.
That's the only way I've been able to maintain control. Log. And log some more.
I do this... it helps me. Except for days when I'm like "If I don't eat that I might hurt someone..." which barely happens. I also allow myself to eat whatever I want as long as it's no more then 2,000 calories a day (yes over my limit, but once in a blue moon won't sabotage my hard work). I workout a lot so if my body says "eat dammit!" I eat
If you log the crappy stuff and then try to log something else that can replace it, for example, I want a cup cake (I actually do right now and i gave up sweets for lent!) I will go and have a bowl of greek yogurt with berries OR, I might go home and make banana/oatmeal cookies because they're technically a cookie but have 2 ingredients so they're "healthy".
When I'm bored, I read stuff online and I start to read the Message Boards on here, I find a funny one and just keep my eyes guled to the monitor until I have something to do or am going to the gym on my lunch. If I can't kick it, I go to the kitchen and grab my fruit and start devowering a pint of strawberries :happy:
Good luck!0 -
Set non-food goals for yourself..........for example, when I lost 20 lbs I bought myself a diamond necklace. I can wear that MUCH longer than I would have that congrats dessert. Also..........much easier not to eat it if you do not have it around. When you are feeling blah, try to go for a walk around the block. The endorphins will kick in and you will lose the craving. Another thing to try is flavored water.
Do not beat yourself up over a "cheat day" and just be sure to hold yourself accountable. I just spent a weekend in Vegas and didn't stick to my meal plans the way I should have but instead of saying screw it, I just know that I have to add extra exercise into my game plan for this week.0 -
when i first joined mfp, i read this somewhere: "do not reward yourself with food. you are not a dog." for some reason, this worked for me, and repeating it in my head at tempting times has helped keep me on track.0
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I am very much an emotional eater.... in past years I ate when I was upset, bored, frustrated.. you name it.. I had a snack for it..... Going thru my divorce was very hard and stressful.... and I started smoking again.... the bonus is instead of eating my emotions I would lite up a cigarette.... so that kind of helped.... but then it took a while to get over that..... Its all your frame of mind... if you can do some meditation.... write in your journal.... figure out whats triggering the emotions and take realistic steps to fix the situation.... or if it cant be fixed... distance yourself from it enough to allow yourself to not be sucked into it.
Its hard... somedays its easy but most it is hard... I have finally come to a place where if I make myself work out on the days Im not feeling it.... I dont eat my emotions and I dont lite up..... I am so focused on being active and surrounding myself with loved ones and with doing things that make me feel happy.... that I dont find myself relying on my crutches as much.... if at all... so keep it up!!0 -
I eat when I'm bored. My general rule is not to bring anything in the house that I wouldn't want to put in my mouth. If I need a food binge I have safe foods or drinks like sugar free, or crazy low calorie for the volume and I keep both sweet and salty just in case it's that time of the month.0
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Wonderful advice!I am very much an emotional eater.... in past years I ate when I was upset, bored, frustrated.. you name it.. I had a snack for it..... Going thru my divorce was very hard and stressful.... and I started smoking again.... the bonus is instead of eating my emotions I would lite up a cigarette.... so that kind of helped.... but then it took a while to get over that..... Its all your frame of mind... if you can do some meditation.... write in your journal.... figure out whats triggering the emotions and take realistic steps to fix the situation.... or if it cant be fixed... distance yourself from it enough to allow yourself to not be sucked into it.
Its hard... somedays its easy but most it is hard... I have finally come to a place where if I make myself work out on the days Im not feeling it.... I dont eat my emotions and I dont lite up..... I am so focused on being active and surrounding myself with loved ones and with doing things that make me feel happy.... that I dont find myself relying on my crutches as much.... if at all... so keep it up!!0 -
I've been helped by eating "mini-meals". If your goal is 1500 calories, eat 5 meals of 300 calories each. So you'd eat breakfast at 9, lunch at noon, afternoon snack at 3, dinner at 6, and evening snack at 8. Each mini-meal should have a protein (preferably lean) and a complex carb (whole grain). Add a vegetable to at least two meals. I didn't eat fruit but if you do, it counts as your carb. Stay away from simple carbs including processed sugar, white bread, pasta.
This accomplished two big things. First, it helps keep your blood sugar stable so you're not craving foods. Large meals or long delays between meals cause blood sugar changes. So does eating sugar or simple carbs. Also, when your blood sugar is stable your energy level will be more constant throughout the day. No more feeling like you need to nap after a big meal.
Second, you're always less than 3 hours away from your next meal. So rather than snacking, you just think "Heck, I'm due to eat again in an hour - I can wait that long!"
Give it a shot! I work at home so I'm often bored and tempted to eat, but this method has solved the problem for me.0 -
What has really helped me, is not buying the junk food that I'd normally turn to if I am upset, or feel like snacking.. Once I have finished grocery shopping for the week, I hand my debit card to my fiance and he keeps it unless I need gas or something really quick.. But it's been working and I can finally feel myself craving the better foods like fruits and veggies, because I no longer have an option to eat the bad stuff!0
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I'm a snacker. Any time of the day.... After breakfast, after lunch, before dinner, after dinner, before bed, etc....
I LOVE to snack.
I decided to start stocking up on "good" snack food. I'm never going to stop snacking. I can learn to cut back, but I will never stop.
So I have dried apricots, celery sticks, baby carrots, raw almonds, raisins, apples, etc... And my favorite that I use at night when I REALLY want a snacky treat, I have my 100 calorie bag of popcorn! :happy:
There is NO way I can pop a bag of popcorn and not eat the ENTIRE thing. So I got the ones that are limited to 100 calories. :bigsmile:
Also, if I'm actually feeling hungry, not just in the mood to snack, I think about how much water I have had. A lot of times, for me, my "hunger pains" are actually "dehydration pains". So I drink a bottle of water, wait 10 minutes and then see how I feel. It keeps me from going overboard, getting a stomach ache, and still not being satisfied because I probably only really needed some water... :blushing:0 -
Hello.
I know how you feel, especially with the stress thing, I'm seventeen so in the middle of applying for university and stuff so yeah ... I know how the stress thing feels. I think the important thing is to learn to forgive yourself, I have had so many bad days on here and I have gained back weight I have lost quite a few times, but as long as you stick at it and think of every day as a new start then I find things get a lot easier.
Also, if you're feeling bored, I know you might have heard this a million times but keep your hands busy and do anything to distract yourself. But if you have to have something in your mouth make sure it's healthy.
I hope that helps 0 -
I'm an emotional eater and there are some things that have worked for me (if they don't apply to you, cool, just suggestions.
1. If you THINK you are hungry, drink a glass of water. Sometimes you're not actually hungry, you're thirsty and this will alleviate ''hunger''.
2. If you are still hungry or find that you want to eat during times of stress, try finding something else you can focus your energy on. Whether it's taking a walk, painting, writing, scrapbooking, doing some meditation, whatever. Find something to replace the emotional eating.
3. Additionally, I agree with previous posters...TRACK. Even if you are embarassed, even if you feel guilty, even if you go over your daily calorie goal. Just put it down.
4. If you have a legit craving, give yourself a serving (measure out one serving) and give in to it. There has been work done that says 3 bites of a food will satisfy a legit craving. You'll have satisfied this craving and since you went with the actual serving you likely won't feel guilty. I find that things get out of control when you deny yourself the things you want or the things your body is telling you to eat. Then you end up eating even MORE calories than you would have in the first place if you had just let yourself have a little. This way you'll probably be able to stay on track and you'll not make yourself feel worse in the process.
5. Start seeing if you can find healthier versions of things you crave that you can make yourself, this has helped me tremendously! I have found that making sure I eat at home and making my own versions of the foods that I like and crave saves me a lot of calories.
Hope this helps!0 -
great suggestions!!0
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I noticed that there was a suggestion of watching carbs. Did you also notice on the food tracker that the alotted carbs seems high or is it me? Should we be allowed so many carbs? What is a good measure? This is week one for me again. And I've done well on a high protein, low carb. Such as Herbalife and clean eating. Suggestions?0
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If you are like me, the worst is at night....have a plan. Use smaller plates. Don'd drink any calories, ie drink water. An apple does wonders in solving the sugar cravings. Replace cookies with organic granola. And just go to bed.....the sleep does wonders.0
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To me it sounds like finding ways to alleviate the stress and emotional states would help. I know find a hobby sounds cliche, but something to occupy your time, relaxes you, or identifying the stressors and figuring out a way to alter those so they aren't as stressful should help with the problems and therefore the urge to eat.0
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Log everything religiously. Before you eat anything, put it in MFP. Log, log, log. And log some more.
That's the only way I've been able to maintain control. Log. And log some more.
This.
For the first time in my life, I'm in control, not the food. I just started a month ago, and it's like a weight has been lifted. I've also been doing some reading about emotional eating. Meditation and deep breathing are good alternatives to food, and the biggest one is finding other ways to self soothe (ie, a hobby, journaling, calling a friend, exercising, etc.)0
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