In need of emotional eating tips/tricks

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Replies

  • ems212
    ems212 Posts: 135 Member
    I start with water. I'll drink a glass, and see if that helps the urge to eat pass. If not, I find another outlet for my energy. I paint, I run, I clean...anything to get my mind off food. If that doesn't work, then I sit down, look at my food diary, and say "Do I really want to see garbage food in here today?". Usually, that last one is what gets me. No, I don't want to go over my calories, and no, I don't want to see garbage. That's usually enough for me to walk away from the emotional eating.
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
    drink water or tea or coffee, and chew gum
  • EmotionalEater84
    EmotionalEater84 Posts: 311 Member
    Join the club .. check out the login name, lol!

    Tricks, no .. coping mechanisms, absolutely! You need to find other things that can relieve stress for you. Some people use this build up to workout, which you've already expressed you don't have time for. However, if you take into consideration of driving, waiting in a line up for fast food, cooking or all the other obstacles you can avoid by not binging, you have time for a quick 20/30 minute video at home - How convenient!!

    And if you're really set on not working out try calling a friend, doing some reading, meditation (none of us do this enough).. Anything that would better yourself instead of digging into that bag of chips!!

    I know how hard this is .. I still have my days, but they are further and further apart. What they say is true, you CAN do this and if you replace bad habits with good ones, you can keep those for the rest of your life!! Best of luck to you xx
  • shrinkinginQualicum
    shrinkinginQualicum Posts: 131 Member
    Absolutely fantastic advice here! Thanks everyone. I usually eat when bored, also I've become trained to do it in front of the tv, (I know, that's the worst one.) I tried veggies or fruit, but still wanted the snacks. I finally found that tea tends to shut me up. I'll have an herbal tea, with a bit of sugar (15 - 30 calories) and that generally makes me happy. It takes a while to drink, and the slight sweetness takes care of the cravings.
  • AmbreMichel
    AmbreMichel Posts: 4 Member
    uhm so I get rid of food craving/emotional eating the way I stopped smoking: "you lasted this long today, wait 'till tomorrow and then eat it" by then the craving is gone, I haven t eaten just to feel better (and I still haven t smoked in 13 years).
    But then I'm a huge procrastinator so it might not work for anyone else lol
  • thefitcouchpotato
    thefitcouchpotato Posts: 10
    I'm an emotional eater as well, and one thing that has worked for me is cleaning as well but I try not to buy super duper junky foods that could lead to a super duper big binge (whichis the case for me normally.) SO, if I do end up eating I'll do something like carrots or celery, which are better than chips.

    Also learn to recoginze if you're actually hungry or if you're just emotional. Ask yourself "Am I hungry?" I tend to eat large amounts of food when I'm really upset, so that's helped me, because most of the time, I'm not hungry and just eating to eat and then I get an upset stomach. Tea and water are also a good idea.
  • jenmovies
    jenmovies Posts: 346 Member
    Tea. Learn to love all the different kinds of herbal teas! No sugar, no caffeine. Fills you up so much and is really good for you. I like the suggestion of chewing gum and cleaning too - maybe at the same time (haha). Good luck!
  • sanddollar
    sanddollar Posts: 192 Member
    Thinking about or actually finding someone else to help will get me focused on something else besides myself and what is bothering me. This is how I do it: If I am restless, irritated, bored, etc., I stop and think for minute to decide why I think I deserve to eat.... happy, angry, resentful, afraid, selfish, etc.? (Probably a lot of how we are feeling could come from selfishness... someone didn't do want we wanted, we didn't get what we wanted, etc.) Then I ask God to remove it (anger, etc.) from me. I will try to talk to someone about it, or say I'm sorry if needed. Then I will go find someone else to help or think about how I can help someone in the near future. Focusing on helping someone else instead of obsessing over myself really does help - its like magic!
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