Emotional Shopping Rather Than Emotional Eating

Oh man- that's so funny- I have traded my emotional eating for window shopping as well- but had not really identified it till I read your post. I sometimes purchase, I sometimes don't. Even though I might spend a couple of bucks every month (have set myself a budget), I am not eating the dollars, and needed to buy some items to replace clothes that were too big any way.

SAVE ME FROM EMOTIONAL SHOPPING!!! be careful girls, it's a bank account killer if you cannot stick to a budget!

I am terrible when it comes to emotional eating. That's when I tend to eat the bad stuff--- it's like I can't help but rummage the cabinets.

Yesterday was a bad day and rather than go dive into some of the amazing stuff we had here at work, I started window shopping online. I hate shopping for clothes or shoes, but I really need a new pair of black heels for work. After about 15 minutes of browsing and reading reviews, my urge to eat had subsided. I also found a great pair of black wedges on sale... which I purchased this morning.

Anyone else have some great tactics for staving off emotional eating?

Exactly that. Yippee!!

I am new to this getting healthy thing and was told i had to revamp my whole diet (which i've wanted to do for a long time anyway) but my biggest hurdle is my emotional eating.....it seems i do that more than i eat out of hunger. I've noticed you all have substituted shopping but i hate shopping. It just reminds me of how much i hate my weight. any other ideas on how i can start to stop eating my feelings?

Yeah, cwolfman's reply is probably the best in general, especially for people like me who aren't satisfied with window shopping. To actually get the 'benefit' (if you can call it that) of emotional shopping and feel better, I have to actually buy. So, I've stopped using that as a way to deal with emotional stuff. Exercise is a better mood lifter.

I don't call it "emotional shopping", I call it Retail Therapy! :laugh:

My habit is making a beeline for the Nordstrom's handbag department and trying to keep my purchase under $500. I've also been known to do this with designer sunglasses at Solstice. It's a bad habit, which is why I tend to turn to food instead of my credit card... I've always figured that I can afford an extra 500 calories but not necessarily the stress of having to pay off $500 in debt and the emotional eating that comes with THAT stress. :laugh:

I also find that getting drunk stops me from feeling hungry, as does playing puzzle games like Bejeweled Blitz and Angry Birds on my iPod. None of that is terribly healthy but certainly not as bad as the alternative, which for me is binge eating.

I've struggled with overeating due to emotional problems too. What helped me conquer it is listening to music and reading. When I read I can escape. Same thing for music. A good song or a good book can distract you from your own feelings and make you feel like you're somewhere else. The songs that really helped me begin to conquer my emotional eating are from The Airborne Toxic Event and also christian worship music. Also, Nora Roberts and Sherryl Woods are both really good romance novelists.

I have noticed I want to shop when I am dieting. I think it is I want to get out of the house on the weekends. When I am at home on the weekends, I want to eat. If I have someplace to go or something to go get, I don't get hungry. Problem is, I am broke as a joke. So I can turn a grocery store trip into an uh oh.

ok thanx

If I feel like I'm going to go down the emotional/bored eating road, which normally only really happens at night, I go to bed. Some nights I go to bed REALLY early! I do get up at 5:30am every morning to workout though so that makes me feel better about it! :yawn:

Anyone else have some great tactics for staving off emotional eating?

Anything that provides a 20-30 minute distraction will work, even Facebook. What works for me is not keeping my favorite bingie foods in the house... and if I want the bingie, the rule is I have to go get it on foot. Usually, by the time I get there, the craving has passed and I'm feeling pretty self-righteous about my nice long calorie-burning walk or run, so the last thing I want to do is wreck it by eating junk.

That's also my general rule for Diet Coke, which is my trigger for all the salty, starchy, cheesy, and/or crunchy things. I go for a bottle pretty much every morning, but I'll also drink at least a quart of water along the way.