Sucess in letting go of junk food comfort?

sweetwilliams · May 2011

Hi, I have been using food to destress and sedate, and the habbit of feeling that food is a reward.

I was wondering if anyone has suceeded in working past this, and finding new things.

I feel sad at the loss of my crutch, and a little scared.

I have to loose this weight, it is bad for my health.

keljo05 · May 2011

actually I was thinking this thought this week. I've been under a lot of stress... at times overwhelming.. since November. This past week my workload is doubled, and my hours are thru the roof because my coworker had a massive stroke and is in a medically induced coma still at this point. I'm stressed from work and worry about her.

sometime wed or thurs it dawned on me that I was not even craving any 'comfort' foods. Not that I don't eat them occasionally.. but now I eat a portion or less (yes I did manage to eat just ONE potato chip yesterday). I think its partly because I don't and haven't denied myself these foods. I just eat much less of them because of the fact that I am aware of how many empty calories are in them.

so from my experience (not the same for anyone of course) yes you can overcome the emotional eating aspect... actually I now emotionally exercise instead of emotionally eat, lol

traceybett · May 2011

I too struggle with this and have learned that mine is cycle/hormone related. Here is what I do and what I try to tell myself:

1) I know I will have 1-2 BAD weeks in a month and try to be really strict and work hard during my 2 GOOD weeks. During PMS> I allow myself to give in just a bit...... but don't "gorge" and try to keep it somewhat in moderation.

2) I used to tell myself that I "deserved" treats with the hard work, stress, etc that I do. NOW I tell myself that I have not "earned" it unless I have done cardio and/or went a number of days doing well on the diet.

3) start gathering a network of friends on here. The boards are great, but having a supportive network on your homepage will help as you get to know people, have similar goals and challenges and it will help you stay more accountable.

We do NOT deserve to destroy ourselves with bad food...... CRAZY how we have let ourselves believe that!!
A splurge should be EARNED.

Anyway, I am still a work in progress myself... and my diary is FAR from perfect...... but these are things that are helping me do better than I did before.

Feel free to add me and we can support each other along the journey.

Congratulations on taking your first steps forward! We are all a work in progress..... we have bad habits, which is why we ended up this way...... and change does not happen overnight.

:flowerforyou:

sweetwilliams · May 2011

Thanks good advice.

I need to find something to reward myself with, and a new habbit to go with the cup of coffee.

webdiva1 · May 2011

I had an epiphany one day that the stuff I used to eat a lot -- lots of fast food (most of which I now consider junk food), regular coke, chips, ice cream -- made me really happy ... for, like, 5 minutes. Eating better is making me happy for the rest of my life.

Helped me to find a few things that were somewhat similar to what I liked, such as fat free frozen yogurt instead of ice cream, pretzels instead of chips. Coke is completely out of the picture now and I'm all about water. Lots and lots of water ... which reduces cravings and makes me less hungry. Don't know what your favorite foods are, but if you could begin to work towards rewards that include fruit and things like granola bars, maybe that will help. Everyone needs rewards; you just need to find the right ones. Finding some rewards that don't involve food at all would probably be good, too.

Losing weight because you HAVE to makes sense. Losing weight because you WANT to can help get your head in a whole different place. MFP has helped me with that, and it's made all the difference about how I think about food and food rewards. Hang in there!

DianaPowerUp · May 2011

I noticed that whenever the kids really stress me out, I automatically walk to the pantry and throw open the door. I've had to make a really conscious effort to THINK about what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. I've gotten into the habit of asking myself if I'm really hungry or just upset.

Now when I'm stressed, I still go and open the pantry door. I just don't eat anything. I guess somehow I still find some comfort in opening that door!

MisMolly · May 2011

I can relate to this. I have always found that eating is really related to emotions. When I was bored, cooking food gave me something to do. When I was stressed, it takes my mind off of things. When I am happy...let's get people together and eat, drink, and be merry! It is a hard habit to break and only you will know what works for you to get out of this cycle of emotion and eating then emotion because of eating. I think it helps to look at your life and why you're so stressed. If you can eliminate some of the stress that is going to help you all around. Then try to handle the stressors that you can't get rid of differently. Instead of eating, exercise or take up a non food hobby. When all that fails, be sure to have healthier snack options on hand and do your best to keep the junk food out of your environment.

Genie30 · May 2011

I agree with what the other posters have said!

Personally, I have found that since I started eating more healthy foods, I want more healthy foods now. Slowly I'm starting to look at junk and sweets and see them for what they are (rubbish). Don't get me wrong, I still have days when i crave a sweet binge or ice cream but they're less frequent now and easier to control. Once you start seeing the results of eating well, you don't want to spoil it by giving into cravings.

As for rewards, i reward myself with a relaxing bath or a new item of clothing. Days out to the country or beach where I can do a lot of walking are always welcome too!

sweetwilliams · May 2011

I can relate to this. I have always found that eating is really related to emotions. When I was bored, cooking food gave me something to do. When I was stressed, it takes my mind off of things. When I am happy...let's get people together and eat, drink, and be merry! It is a hard habit to break and only you will know what works for you to get out of this cycle of emotion and eating then emotion because of eating. I think it helps to look at your life and why you're so stressed. If you can eliminate some of the stress that is going to help you all around. Then try to handle the stressors that you can't get rid of differently. Instead of eating, exercise or take up a non food hobby. When all that fails, be sure to have healthier snack options on hand and do your best to keep the junk food out of your environment.

I know why I am stressed, there are five reasons that are out of my control and I can't eliminate, I am working on what is in my control.

I also need to find new hobbies other than distractions, which are great short term and rubbish long term.

MsMouseMouse · May 2011

Look at your basic calories. Mine is 1200. Now think of this 1200 as money, you have 1200 dollars to spend today. You can go shopping for your food. A steak is( example as they vary) 500 calories and your loaded potato is 300. that is 800 of your allowance for the day, and the day is not nearly over. So then you have to decide. Is this what I really want? This is very expensive.. maybe I could go with a Chicken salad and still have money left over to buy some more things later on. The very best things we like to eat are very calorie expensive. Things that are healthy and good for us are calorie inexpensive. So look at what you want and what you are willing to give up to have that. Its like I want to buy this beautiful outfit for my trip, but to buy this beautiful outfit you can not then afford the trip.. You have to choose.. get a less expensive outfit and still get your trip. It's all about choices.

Sucess in letting go of junk food comfort?

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