Emotional Eaters and Food Addictions Area

I'm also an emotional eater, My husband was sick & out of work for 3 months & I gained about 20 lbs. I was stressing so much about bills, rent my car got repo cause they were Ahole couldn't work with us & to top that off school was starting in a few weeks which meant school shopping (uniforms & supplies) for 3 was tough. But we overcame it He's all better now back at work & im stress free (just a little). Now I can focus on me & lose these 30lbs!!

Has anyone been to a counsellor or support group for overeating?
Thinking of trying

I'm blown away by all the comments and stories. I've always felt alone and so ashamed about my relationship with food and overeating. On the weekends, it's like a free for all. What are meal times? Every time I'm bored or sad or frustrated or depressed... or bored. Did I mention bored? Snacking as an olympic sport!! BWhitty67 said it for me -- food has been my best friend too. Always there and never judgemental. Totally comforting. Like a lot of people, some childhood situations caused food to be what I went to whenever I had those feelings. As I've gotten older (I'm cough cough fif cough ty now) I've learned that food is not my friend, it is somewhat of a nemesis. I've gone through counseling, which was awesome in helping me really understand my reasons for eating. Those realizations don't cause the cravings to stop though -- my habits have been hard written. I admit also that I'm kind of resentful that I have to work so hard to be "normal" about food. That still creeps into my head. This can be very undermining to my determination. I do know how to do it though... I know what foods are triggers for me, so I don't keep them in the house for the most part. No perfection here. I also know that planning my meals with foods that I crave in reasonable quantities (and paired with veggies/salad to fill me) keeps me from flitting around looking for something to eat in my empty pantry, then going to the store and buying a bertolli's meal. I've learned to minimize my carbs -- I don't buy snacks like I used to or pasta or bread. And honestly the reason that isn't so hard anymore is because overeating carbs causes a not too pretty response in my digestive system... TMI? Sorry!! But, when things get tough... my automatic reach is still for food. If I could just break that link, I would be breaking the cycle for real. Just have to keep working it... I'm up for any suggestions on how to do this!! I'm just not going to give up on this. Gotta keep working it. One step at a time.

txfyreflye wrote: »

Anyone on here have any idea what the break down is with food and what to replace those elements with? I'm totally flummoxed on that one!

The main difference between food and cigarettes is you can't quit food cold-turkey.

As @txtfyreflye pointed out CBT, I'l continue along that path with being exceedingly mindful of WHY you're eating as well as the WHAT. I try to self-dialog with "Am I actually hungry?" when I go to graze, and if it's not an adamant "yes" start to dig to see why I want to eat.

I get that resentment feeling too...like why can't I just be like all the Normal weight people who don't have to log, obsess, change, avoid, etc. like I do. I've been doing better though the past few weeks...its like I have a disability that causes me to need all these extra tools to be ok. I don't want a "relapse"....if I have one, I hope it doesn't knock me out or make me give up, like it has in the past

I am an emotional eater, have always eaten when I'm anxious. This year I also realized I'm a food addict. I came home for lunch one day looking forward to the BLT I was planning to make but my 14yo daughter had used all the bacon I'd made the day before feeding her friends. I felt such a rage, and when I came down from that I felt so much shame about it and I realized I was a food addict. My eating/dieting history made so much more sense to me!

I've done much better since then, and tracking (and limiting) my food has been helpful, I'm "in control", and as a bonus my kids don't eat up the foods I'm looking forward to anymore because it's all too healthy for them ;-)

I do have issues with occasionally bingeing. I'm getting a handle on it and the binges are getting smaller and less frequent.... but I am always disappointed in myself when I allow it to happen. I had a bread binge this weekend. This is terrible for my blood sugar, which is an issue for me. I used to emotionally eat whole pints of Ben and Jerry's, but at least I have stopped doing that (prediabetes diagnosis. It really scares me into acting better.) Certain foods are like triggers that I mustn't even have a bit of or else it becomes a binge in an eyeblink. X()