emotional eating sucks !!

In the past two days I've eaten a block of Gouda, 2 entire cans of condensed milk, 2 bags chocolate chips, a tub of potato salad, and I've baked 3 pans of various kinda of brownies and bars and eaten it all by myself. I've had a rough few days, I feel like I've lost control of my life. I really need some help. How can I make this okay?

I'm having a tough time just now. My grandmother is expecting surgery next week.... I also have a lot of insecurity over my job (took redundancy, current temp job ends in 3 weeks), my relationship (he needs to move ten hours away, I don't know if I want to follow), and my mum (who is very stressed due to her mum being ill and taking it out on us). There's also some serious issues in my extended family involving the ongoing care of a profoundly autistic family member.

I've been keeping it under control mostly, but today's been a dead loss... and I didn't even eat the marzipan chocolate bar that I bought. I'm just sad, and angry.... I know food's not going to fix that, but it's so difficult to make sensible, reasoned decisions around meals when your brain feels like it's collapsing in on itself. :frown:

I spent a couple of hours in the gym this morning - a Body Balance class, nice and calming, and then some time with the machines and weights afterwards. I also had a great chat with somebody in the gym. I did feel better for it... it all went to hell later when I met up with a friend and cried on them for a bit and then cakes happened.... but I guess I'm not going to win every battle. It sounds pathetic, but food can be such a comforting thing. And I'm not talking chicken salad. :grumble:

I really feel for you all. Dealing with family going through that stuff really really sucks. I'm kind of with the "don't worry about it as long as it's limited" people... and more importantly, not beating yourself up about it. If you stress yourself out more by telling yourself you failed it will make it worse and you'll be more likely to do it again. I've been depressed for a long time so I've done my share of comfort eating and blaming, and eating some more. Not a great cycle to get into.

If you honestly think it's a problem and don't feel ok to do limited amounts, the best thing you can do in my opinion is find other coping mechanisms. That comfort eating is filling a VERY important function for you at that time and you can't get rid of it without replacing it with something else.

Excerise, as suggested, is a good one, but one of the hardest. It feels great once you get up and go but is sooo hard to get there. You could try replacing comfort foods with other comforting consumables like for me green tea does the trick - calms me down and I can drink bucketloads without adverse effects. It also always helps my stomach rather than making me feel sick so that's nice. Music does it for me sometimes, make a playlist of your feel-good songs (cause you can never think of them in the moment when you're really upset) and listen to that as soon as you can feel yourself getting upset (and it's socially appropriate...). Deep breathing/meditation always feel ridiculous in the moment but do really help (physically, mentally, and emotionally) so I'd recommend it but again it's hard to start when you're upset.

Whatever you find works, make a list of it somewhere or have it ready because when you're upset logic goes out the window. It's also helpful to divulge it to a confidante because sometimes they can give you the inspiration to get up and do what you need to do to cope when you don't feel like it.

Whatever you do, don't try to get rid of it without replacing it. De-stressing after experiences like that is so important, and unless you're seriously jeopardizing your health (e.g. you have diabetes or a heart condition), comfort eating is probably far better than doing nothing (as long as you don't blame yourself afterwards, and it's not all the time).

I'm not a therapist, so these suggestions come from a compilation of my own experience, my fairly substantial psychology knowledge from school and lots of books in my spare time, and working with people facing similar things.

So sorry you guys are going through tough times and I wish you all the best.

I'm sorry to hear about your mother. I don't know the details, but I hope things will be better soon.

I recommend reading as many books on emotional eating as you can. Watch videos on the subject. There is a forum called Happy Eaters, and in their book section, there are summaries of many books related to emotional eating and binge-restriction.

It's important to recognize that feeling sad or scared or anxious isn't going to hurt you. Those feelings will pass. You don't have to blunt them with food, etc. You're strong enough to sit with them. And a lot of times, they are worth feeling.

And if it is too much to do on your own, find a good therapist who is well-versed in emotional eating to help you.

don't really have an answer. Your aware of it... i'm my opinion thats pretty much the only way to kill it. to recognize it for what it is, your not hungry, your not even really craving a food or indulging in the taste... your compeled to do this becasue "X" happend.

Obviously thats a fight your going to have to have everytime. but there are those out there that really dont recognize it. they might understand on some level that there emotions are driving them to eat, but thats not the same as 100% owning it.

so i guess my strategy is to simply identify it when its happening, and try to remind yourself of your goals.