Success in Not Emotionally Eating?!?!?

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CADreaming09
CADreaming09 Posts: 311 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hey there!

I am having serious issues with emotionally eating. Every time something happens that is upsetting, I always go for junk food! Just got some crappy news and went straight for chocolate :sad:

I was hoping someone would have some advice on how they STOPPED emotionally eating! I am willing to try almost anything to stop doing this.

Thank you:flowerforyou:

Frankie
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Replies

  • Abells
    Abells Posts: 756 Member
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    if it's not in the house - how you gonna eat it ;)
  • MommaKit79
    MommaKit79 Posts: 852
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    I havent found the "CURE ALL" for this but, i have learned to control myself. I ask myself when something happens, "Do I REALLY want [said sugary item]...after all I have put forward in my progress!?!?" or "Is that REALLY going to help me feel better?" Or, if it is really bad and I need SOMETHING, I jsut ask myself if I have enough "room" in my diary for a little something.

    I do NOT keep anything in the house that I cant control myself with so that helps! And, to keep from jumping into a store to buy things, I have to ask myself if it is really worth it or...since $$ is tight, I ask myself what I could buy my daughter with that $2.00 instead of this.

    When all else fails, drop and give yourself 20 crunches or pushups or go for a walk...SOMETHING to get your mind off of it!

    GOOD LUCK!!!
  • Skinny_Issy
    Skinny_Issy Posts: 61
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    write down how you feel right now and leave it with the chocolate. next time you go to emotionally eat, it will make you think twice. get out the house and do something... anything! you more you do this, it'll become habit, and one day you won't need the reminder. worked for me, hope it helps you :)
  • RLDeShazo
    RLDeShazo Posts: 356 Member
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    I have always been an emotional eater. But lately I just....haven't. I have a friend I can vent to whenever I need to, and his advice is always to "run it out". So, I hit the gym instead of the donut shop.
  • nikilis
    nikilis Posts: 2,305 Member
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    snort salt instead.
  • Mebobbell
    Mebobbell Posts: 10
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    Yesterday was the first day in my entire life that I had a stressful day and didn't turn to food to comfort me. I didn't have to think about not turning to food I just didn't and it was such an amazing feeling!! I think what helped me get to that point was planning out my meals and snacks consistently using MFP for the past couple of weeks. I have worked hard to be realistic about eating enough to satisfy me and not feel guilty about my choices. Taking the power away from food by planning my entire day of eating the night before is what I think made the biggest impact on my tendency to emotionally eat to soothe myself.

    I wish you luck on figuring out what works for you!
  • CADreaming09
    CADreaming09 Posts: 311 Member
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    if it's not in the house - how you gonna eat it ;)

    We have snacks here at work:frown:
    I never eat the snacks here usually, but I sure do when I'm emotional.
  • CADreaming09
    CADreaming09 Posts: 311 Member
    Options
    I havent found the "CURE ALL" for this but, i have learned to control myself. I ask myself when something happens, "Do I REALLY want [said sugary item]...after all I have put forward in my progress!?!?" or "Is that REALLY going to help me feel better?" Or, if it is really bad and I need SOMETHING, I jsut ask myself if I have enough "room" in my diary for a little something.

    I do NOT keep anything in the house that I cant control myself with so that helps! And, to keep from jumping into a store to buy things, I have to ask myself if it is really worth it or...since $$ is tight, I ask myself what I could buy my daughter with that $2.00 instead of this.

    When all else fails, drop and give yourself 20 crunches or pushups or go for a walk...SOMETHING to get your mind off of it!

    GOOD LUCK!!!

    That is a great idea. I never thought to just do some little workout. Thank you.
  • CADreaming09
    CADreaming09 Posts: 311 Member
    Options
    write down how you feel right now and leave it with the chocolate. next time you go to emotionally eat, it will make you think twice. get out the house and do something... anything! you more you do this, it'll become habit, and one day you won't need the reminder. worked for me, hope it helps you :)

    Awesome idea! I will definitely try this.
  • CADreaming09
    CADreaming09 Posts: 311 Member
    Options
    I have always been an emotional eater. But lately I just....haven't. I have a friend I can vent to whenever I need to, and his advice is always to "run it out". So, I hit the gym instead of the donut shop.

    If I were home right now, I would definitely do this too!
  • RachaelStJ
    RachaelStJ Posts: 152 Member
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    I have a terrible time with emotional eating as well. I ate three pieces of pizza on Sunday because I was so upset and then didn't eat anything else all day. It was so bad!

    That was a huge slipup for me, but I have been doing much better with my emotional eating! I keep rice cakes on hand, the white cheddar cheese kind. They are so dry that it takes forever for me to chew and eat them and it helps me not want more food. Probably not the best thing for me to go for when I'm upset, but I'm still working on putting that energy towards my gym time!

    Keep up the amazing work!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,701 Member
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    Hey there!

    I am having serious issues with emotionally eating. Every time something happens that is upsetting, I always go for junk food! Just got some crappy news and went straight for chocolate :sad:

    I was hoping someone would have some advice on how they STOPPED emotionally eating! I am willing to try almost anything to stop doing this.

    Thank you:flowerforyou:

    Frankie
    Change the habit. Lean people deal with upsetting things too, but have a different habit of dealing with them. Myself, if I feel upset, I usually do physical activity of any type even including walking for a few minutes.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • pcastagner
    pcastagner Posts: 1,606 Member
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    I was a huge emotional eater. In the house or not, I would gorge on junk when upset, bored, angry, sad, lonely, whatever.


    Then I started leangains and an unexpected side benefit of learning that I can pull off monster workouts before breakfast and sticking to an 8 hour eating window was the complete cessation of emotional eating.
  • AnDiallo
    AnDiallo Posts: 131 Member
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    The times I have had success in avoiding emotional eating is when I am BUSY with something else. I am a medic, so there is no shortage of books to study or I just head down to the dissection lab and do some cutting, as morbid as that sounds. Either that or exercise. How about counting and breathing strategies, going for a walk, talking to a friend, sewing, or even video games instead of eating? Try to find a strategy for you :)

    However, I do believe there are some times where you're JUST GOING TO EAT. It's at these times that you have to learn to do damage control.
    Instead of the eat everything in sight vs trying to eat nothing, I set up a different dichotomy in my mind; one that says eat a whole load of crap VS choose something that will satisfy my urge to eat with minimal calories. It's about picking the lesser of two evils and trying to reduce the damage to your figure that you may incur!

    I know that we can't be perfect all the time, but it helps to have choices like air-popped popcorn, veggies and hummus, fruit, herbal teas, grilled chicken, rice cakes, kale chips etc. Popcorn is my favourite. Figure out what sensation you're craving (salty, sweet, crunchy, smooth) and try to pick a better option if you're desperate.

    Of course the preferable option in times of high emotion is to find another activity other than eating, but if you do succumb, try to make a good choice. And keep the really bad stuff out of your house, it'll just make it that much easier.

    P.S. I hear intermittent fasting also works for a lot of people, in that they have a set window to eat and can't eat at other times. I'm not an expert on this so I wouldn't be able to expand more, but you may like to research it.

    Best of luck!!

    AnDiallo
  • meredith1123
    meredith1123 Posts: 843 Member
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    Make yourself do five push ups instead.
    Then you wont want to eat for no reason...
  • CADreaming09
    CADreaming09 Posts: 311 Member
    Options
    I was a huge emotional eater. In the house or not, I would gorge on junk when upset, bored, angry, sad, lonely, whatever.


    Then I started leangains and an unexpected side benefit of learning that I can pull off monster workouts before breakfast and sticking to an 8 hour eating window was the complete cessation of emotional eating.

    I've been doing intermittent fasting and it has worked great for me. I haven't looked into Leangains (looking it up now). I'm hoping the more I do it, the better I'll become. I really haven't even been hungry until I know it's time to eat. Unfortunately, I haven't been doing it long enough for it to stop my emotional eating yet :frown: Here's hoping though! Thanks.
  • CADreaming09
    CADreaming09 Posts: 311 Member
    Options
    Make yourself do five push ups instead.
    Then you wont want to eat for no reason...

    Awesome idea! This I Can do at work! Totally doing this.
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
    Options
    Make yourself do five push ups instead.
    Then you wont want to eat for no reason...

    Awesome idea! This I Can do at work! Totally doing this.

    Yep. Or drink. Or run. I hear some drugs are low cal too.

    I like exercise.
  • Inshape13
    Inshape13 Posts: 680 Member
    Options
    This has been a problem for me for a very long time and it has gotten better with both intense exercise sessions and time. I also try to see how long it will take me to burn off a certain junk food before I eat it.....like "if I eat this donut which I will enjoy for about 90 seconds it will take me 40 minutes of circuit to burn it off. Is it worth it and will it get me to my goal?" It does not look as appealing after I see how much work I have to put in to make up for the junk.

    http://www.fitwatch.com/qkcalc/burncalc.html

    Hope this helps and it will get better with time.
  • CADreaming09
    CADreaming09 Posts: 311 Member
    Options
    The times I have had success in avoiding emotional eating is when I am BUSY with something else. I am a medic, so there is no shortage of books to study or I just head down to the dissection lab and do some cutting, as morbid as that sounds. Either that or exercise. How about counting and breathing strategies, going for a walk, talking to a friend, sewing, or even video games instead of eating? Try to find a strategy for you :)

    However, I do believe there are some times where you're JUST GOING TO EAT. It's at these times that you have to learn to do damage control.
    Instead of the eat everything in sight vs trying to eat nothing, I set up a different dichotomy in my mind; one that says eat a whole load of crap VS choose something that will satisfy my urge to eat with minimal calories. It's about picking the lesser of two evils and trying to reduce the damage to your figure that you may incur!

    I know that we can't be perfect all the time, but it helps to have choices like air-popped popcorn, veggies and hummus, fruit, herbal teas, grilled chicken, rice cakes, kale chips etc. Popcorn is my favourite. Figure out what sensation you're craving (salty, sweet, crunchy, smooth) and try to pick a better option if you're desperate.

    Of course the preferable option in times of high emotion is to find another activity other than eating, but if you do succumb, try to make a good choice. And keep the really bad stuff out of your house, it'll just make it that much easier.

    P.S. I hear intermittent fasting also works for a lot of people, in that they have a set window to eat and can't eat at other times. I'm not an expert on this so I wouldn't be able to expand more, but you may like to research it.

    Best of luck!!

    AnDiallo

    Thanks!

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