Emotional Eating

Food addiction is hotly debated here. In my opinion it doesn't matter whether it is truly addicting or not if you are having an issue with it. The medical professionals that are helping me believe food is an addiction for some people just like drugs and alcohol are.

I have had some success by not having food in the house that I will overeat. The struggle isn't worth it to me because I can't rest knowing the cookies or whatever is in reach. I still mess up though. I will buy or make something that I think I will moderate but fail.

I log everything before I eat it. The good, the bad and the ugly. When I see lots of calories disappearing from my allowance it might stop me knowing that I am going to be hungry later.

I also leave room for a treat every day even though nutritionally I shouldn't because I am eating 1200 calories. Need those calories to be as nutritious as possible. think it helps that I know I have something I think of as a treat coming if I keep my calories where they should be.

I just sent you a friend request. You and I have the same struggle.

I think part of it is due to association, as it is the same case partially with alcohol and cigarettes (for me). When I quit drinking and smoking I realized I conditioned myself to link those things with destressing. Same with food and a relaxing day on the couch.
The most helpfull tip I found is to consiously try to dissasociate the bad habbit. In your case I would try to find another way that helps comfort emotional times, and see if you can teach yourself not to link dealing with emotion to eating.
A lot easyer said than done, I know. But it's information that helped me.

I have always done exactly what you describe, in fact I think it was/is ingrained in my families culture. I have so many wonderful memories, from growing up, that revolve around food. For instance when we would go snow skiing in the winter my grandparents would take the whole family out to pizza on our way home. The kids would play video games or play in the giant play place and eat pizza everyone always seemed so happy. Same with birthdays, so much so for years with my kids we would do birthdays at a pizza place because well I had lots of happy memories there.
When I was sad or stressed I would try and I guess recreate those positive family memories and order pizza or something. I would eat because I was sad, then I was sad because I was fat, and that led to more eating. Just today I have a 4-6 page diversity and inclusion paper due for school, I was stressed and I started to hit the vending machine at work for some snacks. I realized before i Put the money in I wasnt even hungry, I was stressed. Put the money back in my pocket and walked away...it is hard to be mindful of things like that and it takes constant practice.

Great thread and so many voices that make sense to me. All of that - recreating family memories, destressing ...

I eat for soothing those emotional raw edges, rewarding myself for staying on a tedious task, alleviating boredom when I'm too low energy to stick to a plan, comforting myself when I feel small or alone. Ironically the "best friend" food really is isolating and doesn't work in the longer long run, because it traps me in a body that can't do what I want to do.

Whether it's an actual "addiction" or not (and the debate is hot) -- overeating for me is a coping mechanism gone *horribly* wrong. That's why I need MFP. Logging really helps. An honest look at what I am doing keeps me far more accountable.

Good luck OP, you are NOT alone!

I started forcing myself to work out after having bad days. Almost my whole life, I dealt with stress, depression etc with food, and yo yo dieted a million times. It wasn't until I turned to exercise that I really started making headway in that area. It was extremely difficult at first. I would want to cry because I wanted so badly to lose myself in a big bowl of ice cream instead. But I kept forcing it, and over time it became much easier because the exercise actually does help, whereas in the past, food only helped temporarily then left me feeling worse afterwards.
I'm still a work in progress but I haven't done any emotional eating in over 13 months. Exercise is amazing for mental health. (Not a cure all, obviously. But helps immensely, at least for me).