STRESS EATERS...Can you remember you 1st time?

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JillAnne0320
JillAnne0320 Posts: 21 Member
in Motivation and Support
I can remember the exact moment in time that I stress ate for the first time. My parents had. Just split up I was 19 and my little sister was 12. My mom asked my dad to move out and my mom kept taking off with her new boyfriend. It was like they both forgot about my little sister. So I took my sister out to dinner one night...McDonalds because she loved nuggets we were sitting at the table eating and our convo went like this

Sis- Jill what's going on. Why isn't dad here?
Me- what has mom told you?
S- nobody has told me anything. Are mom and dad getting a divorce?

Of course being 7 years older I knew that whatever I said next would effectively take her childhood away and because my dad went into a depression, my mom took off with her boyfriend and our older brother went straight to the drugs. all the actual responsiblity of telling her what was going on was left to me.

At this point I can remember thinking to myself... Ok if I can chew this food long enough to get my emotions under control and by that time when I swallow this food it will push the lump in my throat down and I will be able to talk to her about this without losing it.

And I've been stress eater ever since although that is the main thing I am trying to change.

Replies

  • CougNurse2011
    CougNurse2011 Posts: 29
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    This was so powerful... I can imagine a vast majority of the people reading this will be able to relate to this on some level, large or small. Myself included. I can not remember the first time I ate in response to a stressful situation... I am sure I was too young to have memory of it. Crazy how our childhoods seep into our adutlhoods so easily!
  • griffith5150
    griffith5150 Posts: 123
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    First time for myself, I was around 8 years old and my half sister came home from visiting her mom during the weekend (my dad had full custody which was unheard of back in 1970s/1980s) one of the things I remember about her was she had this long black silky hair straight down her back. Well that day she came home with the Prince hair cut (remember Purple Rain) and I was behind her and I was like what happened to your hair! Well my parents didn't know what my sister do to her hair and next thing you know she pushed me and said shut the f* up and my folks heard and there was a big argument over what she did to me and her hair. It was the start of many fights with her, but I remember going to the kitchen crying and my Aunt (she lived with us at the time) gave me some ice cream and went to try to calm things down her words (she wasn't she was an instigator) and I remember eating the ice cream and not stopping. I felt terrible I felt it was all my fault.... so food was my comfort and security blanket.
  • snazzyjazzy21
    snazzyjazzy21 Posts: 1,298 Member
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    I began stress eating in high school, mainly due to my severe depression. There was a supermarket on the way to school, so I would buy lunch there. I would eat a 600cal bag of chips, 350cal bar of nougat, 4 bread rolls, and a bottle of energy drink for morning tea alone. Every day. I would then head home and watch movies all night and eat chocolate. Needless to say, I won't ever let myself go back to habit like that.
  • sambernardo
    sambernardo Posts: 43 Member
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    The first time I can remember is 3 years ago after I dropped my husband off to leave for his first deployment on the way home I went to mcdonalds and got a huge milkshake. After that I started doing it all the time when I was sad but it would be late at night eating tons of cereal. : ( then it slowly got worse over time.
  • MsWallwoman
    MsWallwoman Posts: 161
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    I can remember the exact moment in time that I stress ate for the first time. My parents had. Just split up I was 19 and my little sister was 12. My mom asked my dad to move out and my mom kept taking off with her new boyfriend. It was like they both forgot about my little sister. So I took my sister out to dinner one night...McDonalds because she loved nuggets we were sitting at the table eating and our convo went like this

    Sis- Jill what's going on. Why isn't dad here?
    Me- what has mom told you?
    S- nobody has told me anything. Are mom and dad getting a divorce?

    Of course being 7 years older I knew that whatever I said next would effectively take her childhood away and because my dad went into a depression, my mom took off with her boyfriend and our older brother went straight to the drugs. all the actual responsiblity of telling her what was going on was left to me.

    At this point I can remember thinking to myself... Ok if I can chew this food long enough to get my emotions under control and by that time when I swallow this food it will push the lump in my throat down and I will be able to talk to her about this without losing it.

    And I've been stress eater ever since although that is the main thing I am trying to change.


    You are a good person. Your sister is lucky to have you! :flowerforyou:

    I can't remember when I started emotional eating... I have only recently recognized it and started to adapt. I think I have been an emotional eater for a long time, and it has only gotten worse as I have aged. Bla. But, I am up for the challenge. I am going to kick emotional eating in the *kitten*! We can all do this! We are stronger than we think we are! :wink:
  • EmilyEmpowered
    EmilyEmpowered Posts: 650 Member
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    Wow, all of your stories are so powerful and emotional, thank you for sharing :flowerforyou:

    I cannot remember my own first time stress eating, although I know since I was a child, food was always the answer to things. My father wasnt around, and my mothers life consisted of work, eat, sleep, leaving my sister and I pretty much stuck in the house with no real supervision a majority of the time. Therefore, food was a comfort thing (even though we ate crap food and no homemade food) because my mom provided plenty of it and was AWAKE if she was eating. Also, I always felt that it was important for me to finish food, like if there was 1 left in a box of little debbie's (something we had often) I HAD to eat it before someone else could, even if I wasnt hungry. I think food was a destressor for me early on. Also, the place I lived was truly Unlivable to say the very least, so turning to food was somthing to focus on other than my surroundings.
  • sparkle814
    sparkle814 Posts: 78 Member
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    I don't remember when the first time was for me. I've always been an eater, and I'm sure I've been a stress eater since I was little. But I do remember the first time I really became aware of it. A few years ago my boss was away from my job for about a year, which you would think would be heavenly, but it just made me really stressed out. I would read emails from her and then go across the campus to the store and get candy...hey wait a minute...am I stress eating??? The more I thought about it the more I realized I did this in college when I was writing papers, in high school when I had so much to do between school, sports, and my part time job, when I have fought with significant others, etc. At least once I finally made the connection I could do something about it!
  • moosiau
    moosiau Posts: 53 Member
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    My childhood wasn't really a good one. My father split up with my mother when I was around 7 years old due to him committing bigamy and their relationship being full of physical abuse. My mother was a very abusive woman and tbh, even though she seems to have gotten a lot better with age, I still believe that she has a sort of mental disorder. Anyway, my mother was physically and emotionally abusive to myself and my sister. I remember that before she came home from work, my sister and I would be so scared because we had no idea whatsoever about what sort of mood she would be in when she came home.

    Anyway, this one time, I couldn't finish all of my dinner because I was feeling ill, so my mum made me stand at the dinner until I had finished it all (it took me about 2 hours because I felt as if I was going to throw up). While I was standing there, my mum would occasionally come into the dining room and call me all sorts of names and in the end she beat me because I took so long to eat the food. I cried during that night and ended up wandering downstairs to eat an entire tub of betty crockers fudge icing :ohwell:
  • EmilyEmpowered
    EmilyEmpowered Posts: 650 Member
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    My childhood wasn't really a good one. My father split up with my mother when I was around 7 years old due to him committing bigamy and their relationship being full of physical abuse. My mother was a very abusive woman and tbh, even though she seems to have gotten a lot better with age, I still believe that she has a sort of mental disorder. Anyway, my mother was physically and emotionally abusive to myself and my sister. I remember that before she came home from work, my sister and I would be so scared because we had no idea whatsoever about what sort of mood she would be in when she came home.

    Anyway, this one time, I couldn't finish all of my dinner because I was feeling ill, so my mum made me stand at the dinner until I had finished it all (it took me about 2 hours because I felt as if I was going to throw up). While I was standing there, my mum would occasionally come into the dining room and call me all sorts of names and in the end she beat me because I took so long to eat the food. I cried during that night and ended up wandering downstairs to eat an entire tub of betty crockers fudge icing :ohwell:

    I can relate to this so much **hug** :heart:
  • southernmama2cj
    southernmama2cj Posts: 2
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    my first time was when I was 20 and I was recovering from a c-section gone wrong- my daughter was stillborn and I had to have a blood transfusion. I was depressed and wouldn't eat. The nurses, my husband and family tried everything to get me to eat. I don't really remember much, but I remember finally giving in to a chocolate milkshake. From that moment on after every bad day or miscarriage or low point, I turned to food. Growing up I never had an issue with my body or food. My mom always made dessert, every night, some nights I would have it and some nights I wouldn't. If that was today, I would have a dessert every single night. It's insane to me that a life trauma can change your eating behavior and here I am 15 years later still struggling with it. I was a powerlifter and in the Marine Corps and I just couldn't get my body back, when I started doing well and sticking to a plan, I always found a "reason" to turn to food. I now have a beautiful 2 year old son(adopted) and I want my health back. I want to be able to run with him and play with and I want him to be proud of his "mama". I'm sticking with it this time and that's what I tell myself every time I want chocolate and every time I don't want to workout. I'm thankful for this site.

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