My name is Clarificity, and I am an emotional eater.

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I didn't think I was. That is my mom's area, just like antiques and gardening: two things that I have to admit I have come to appreciate in recent years. Wait, what?? Am I becoming my mother!?! OH NO!!! Stop the bus, I want off, this doesn't fit with my young adult plan of cool sophistication. I am supposed to be a svelte 30-something with a cool apartment and a Great Dane. Not a pudgy nerd that craves sugar and fights anxiety with cheesecake. When did this mother transformation happen? When did it even start?!? Ok, I guess it isn't that bad, she is compassionate and tender, hard working and tenacious. Funny, smart, talented. All things I aspire to be. So what she is on the overweight side, and has the habit of unconsciously eating. So what if she has a hard time cooking and ends up snacking. So what? I love my mother, and I do want to be her when I grow up. But I don’t have to fall into the same eating patterns. I can choose to be aware, to experience and enjoy food, to not use it as a crutch. I have joined MFP because I want to address my eating issues. Because I don’t want to have the self-loathing I see from time to time surface in my mother from the struggle she has with her weight. I want to be her, but I also want to be stronger, literally.

Replies

  • Tzavush
    Tzavush Posts: 389 Member
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    Welcome to MFP
  • jacquejl
    jacquejl Posts: 193 Member
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    Great post, I love your wit! Welcome to MFP :flowerforyou:
  • lisastrom
    lisastrom Posts: 108 Member
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    You picked a good place to start. Lots of motivation and encouragement found here.

    Good luck on your weight loss journey. Don't expect change overnight, take each day one at a time!:smile:
  • StartingOver4Me
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    You are very good with words!!!
  • lady_jules
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    It can be so difficult to let yourself be and let the emotions surface when you realise that you are not actually hungry. But you recognise this - high five!!!

    Important - we are spiritual beings living in a physical world, and it sounds from your post that you are recognise this in yourself, so you are more true to yourself than a lot of other people.

    XX
  • chrissym78
    chrissym78 Posts: 628 Member
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    OMGosh! I think I am your mom, too! Or at least I was :) Welcome to mfp, add me if you want.
  • care28
    care28 Posts: 28
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    Welcome! Hope MFP can get you on track. It's helped me so far!
  • rmeadows71
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    Great post...Couldn't have worded it any better myself! Welcome to MFP Feel free to add me :0)
  • X0x0desi
    X0x0desi Posts: 3
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    Wow.... This is truly me without the mother thing. Lol. So not all me. Except that I love to overindulgence in food when things are not going smooth. But I woke up one day and said that is it. So I'm here now. Thank u for the inspiration I will keep trotting down this road, well at least until I can run. No more crutches.
  • daniellemagnussen
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    thats who i am/ was as well - and then after years of it i finally realized it - now before i eat anything i stop before the first bite and ask myself why i am eating this - am i hungry? or just stressed? or happy or sad? - if the answer is not hungry then i put it down - it sounds simple but it really helped me
  • delilah122
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    Hi, Clarificity, it's nice to meet you. I'm you, almost 25 years later. I will be your inspiration because you'll see what will happen if you don't do something about those habits now, while you're young. I didn't believe I had an emotional eating problem. When I was your age, it was the opposite - my anxieties caused me to not be able to eat and I was very thin, then it morphed into overeating.. go figure. Fast forward a generation and I have a bipolar son with serious problems and eating has been my escape. The last few weeks I was doing my best to undo the 50 pound weight loss I worked so hard for the last three years. The hardest thing about living on 1200 calories a day this week is having to confront my feelings, not being able to swallow them, instead. So, I sit here with trembling hands and a grateful heart that there are others who understand and I believe that we can help one another. You certainly sound like an enlightened spirit.. this should be interesting :drinker:
  • mbgame
    mbgame Posts: 14
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    I'm the same way.. What has helped me aside from this wonderful ap is everytime I feel like I want to eat and I shouldn't I will do some sort of exersice 30 sit ups 2 min jumping jacks ect. most of the time I will drink water after but if I still want it I will enter in my workout and hopefully the effort would have bought me some calories. Good luck!
  • mbgame
    mbgame Posts: 14
    Options
    I'm the same way.. What has helped me aside from this wonderful ap is everytime I feel like I want to eat and I shouldn't I will do some sort of exersice 30 sit ups 2 min jumping jacks ect. most of the time I will drink water after but if I still want it I will enter in my workout and hopefully the effort would have bought me some calories. Good luck!