I need help with emotional eating, social anxiety...

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98777
98777 Posts: 108 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hello,

I'm very new here. I just want to say that I have severe social anxiety, depression, and mental illness in general. I struggle immensely with comfort eating, or emotional eating. This is especially true when I have to go to college and my social anxiety starts to take over.
The nights before Monday mornings, for example, I always have severe urges to overeat, even if the food is healthy.The bad feelings come and the coping mechanism that immediately comes to my mind is to go eat food in order to not think about it. With the intense stress load, my control and discipline caves and I can't just eat an apple or some cereal. I find myself going back, almost uncontrollably, to get an apple, cereal, peanut butter toast, yogurt, and lots more until I have blown a good day of eating and exercising.
I can do just fine in summer months, but when school starts and I'm forced into social interaction, I fall apart and my weight loss plans fail. I'm so ashamed and guilty but I don't know how to stop. Can anyone help?

Replies

  • RainHoward
    RainHoward Posts: 1,599 Member
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    find professional help. It helps.
  • mstoya02
    mstoya02 Posts: 24
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    I have the exact same issues, I eat our of stress and just because it feels good. My friends begged me to go to OA (over eaters anonymous). I'm taking appetite suppressants now. I eat like four grown men. Someone else words. Feel free to add me if you want.
  • abbydabell
    abbydabell Posts: 1 Member
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    There's a really good book called "Shrink Yourself" by Dr. Robert Gould that offers some great suggestions for dealing with emotional eating. There's also an email newsletter you can sign up for for free that gives some great tips.
  • kdeaux1959
    kdeaux1959 Posts: 2,675 Member
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    Hey, first of all, you are not alone... I will say that for the most part, I don't share in social anxiety but emotional eating is easy to do in times of discomfort. The exercise suggestion may be a really good one and it is a great recommendation.. of course, do it in a safe environment. It is in those quiet times before trying to go to sleep that you are most likely to face these feelings and at some point, you cannot exercise that away... In this case, I would think that the binge eating is secondary to the social anxiety, hence, that is really what needs to be addressed first... They go hand in hand and social anxiety CAN be a by product of the depression... or the depression may be triggered by the social anxiety... Take advantage of your campus resources and talk to a counselor.. Also, sometimes medication can help overcome some of these things... Don't be afraid of that, you take an ibuprofen for a headache and don't think too much about it... it is ok to use if you need it to help you process... You really are not likely to totally defeat this monster in your life though till you first destroy that anxiety issue; best wishes on a more fulfilling and rewarding life.

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