Emotional eating

jillaudraclark
jillaudraclark Posts: 4 Member
in Motivation and Support
I've been an emotional eater my whole life. Looking back, when pain or excessive stress was/is present in my life, I turn to food. I have fallen off the good eating wagon and slacked going to the gym the past week and can't stand that I'm sabotaging myself. I drive to the gym, park and can't make myself go in. I do good at breakfast and lunch, but then binge at dinner. I know I need to suck it up and just get back to the gym, but also need to know I'm not the only one with this struggle.

Replies

  • nwoutdoorgrl
    nwoutdoorgrl Posts: 168 Member
    You are not alone. Far from it. I can relate in many ways. Food has always been the most prominent coping mechanism for as long as I can remember. I still struggle with it and I binge often and can’t seem to get the wheel in this cycle to stop. I don’t have any words of advice but just wanted you to know that the struggle is real and you’re not alone in this. Sending hugs. 💗
  • jillianash
    jillianash Posts: 97 Member
    Hi! I am also a binge/ emotional eater!! Let’s support one another! I will add you as a friend. I can look at your food diary and see if there’s changes you could make to your earlier meals to not binge at night. Also it’s helpful to identify exactly what makes you eat at night, after what thoughts/feelings does that switch turn in your brain and you decide to eat? Let me know if that helps at all. I know it’s hard, but man if you drive all the way to the gym you can walk through the door! I’m definitely hearing a lot of negative self talk in your post there. I am the poster child of negative self talk and I can tell you it’s not going to get you anywhere. Try to stay positive and get yourself in the gym. I like to think any activity is better than no activity. Try telling yourself, okay I will just go into the gym and walk on the treadmill for 10 minutes then I can go home. Even if I you do leave then it’s 10 minutes more than you would have done. Once you’re in there you might stay longer! Let me know if any of this helps! - Jill
  • zzk0485
    zzk0485 Posts: 51 Member
    Im an emotional eater as well. We sound a lot alike. :( I will add you and maybe we can support each other through this!
  • theML2000
    theML2000 Posts: 13 Member
    Sorry that you are driving to the gym & not going in! Is your internal monologue telling you you HAVE to work out ? Or something else negative? Can you reframe the thought to reminding yourself you’ll feel better afterwards? And like the other poster said, just commit to 10 minutes?
  • cos4093
    cos4093 Posts: 23 Member
    I’ve had a hard couple of months emotionally and found myself this morning at the heaviest I’ve ever been. It’s hard when you’ve used food for comfort and coping for so many years to unlearn those habits. As a kid when I was upset/stressed/emotional I couldn’t eat anything, I would feel nauseous. Not sure at what point those habits turned into “eat all the carbs and you’ll feel better” but I wish I could go back to how it used to be.
  • cherys
    cherys Posts: 387 Member
    Could you arrange to meet a friend at the gym or promise yourself you only need to do 5 mins on the cross trainer then you are free to go?
    Like you I'm an emotional eater. I was doing well until a family problem last week. that on top of coronavirus panic in UK has set me back a fair bit.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    Emotional eater, too.

    I tell myself, no buying desserts, sweets, cookies, candy this week. Lasts until I get into the store. I have quite a stockpile of cookies (Nutter Butter is now in Canada! Chocolate coated ones even!!!) and chocolates. I put chocolates in the freezer and I still eat them.

    Sweets will always be in my house because I'm not punishing my family for my problems.

    Coming up on a year of being medicated for depression. I thought meds would help me out (they do for the most part). I'm now dealing with new birth control and menopause issues. I can only blame so much weight gain on hormones, though. I accept that I am in control of stuffing my pie hole with 4,000 calories of cookies.

    I've regained 24#, gone from "normal" BMI to "obese" BMI, and pretty well given up on, tbh, most everything.

    Anyway, here's a Chuck Jones' squirrel:
    90zasxnlaq9r.gif
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,464 Member
    @zyxst DONT GIVE UP!
    A trick to try. Make a grocery list. Promise yourself you won’t buy anything not on the list. Go to a different store. Completely different. You won’t know where the cookies are. Can’t buy them if you can’t find them. Don’t look for them.
    Menopause is hard! Keep trying.
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    I am an emotional eater. The only thing that has worked for me is to do my best to fill my day with things I love to do to cope. It takes me out of the eating mindset and also serves as an outlet for my emotions. Kind of pushing out the bad habits because there's no room, rather than cutting them out. There's a hole left when you just try to stop.
  • cherys
    cherys Posts: 387 Member
    @zyxst - some anti-depressants can give you almighty carb cravings. And they can also make you feel so mellow you never want to get up off the sofa. I had both these problems when I was on them long term for years and put on a lot of weight during that time. Don't be too hard on yourself.

    I find really upping the protein and veg helps, so I don't get the chance to feel hungry. I also avoid certain trigger foods like white bread and refined carb breakfast cereals as they give me almighty carb cravings too.

    It can help to stock snacks that the rest of the family like but you don't. My children love Oreos but I can't stand them. Same with Maryland cookies and Hobnobs.I'm safe around them. But if we have salted potato chips in the cupboard, I can't resist.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    jillaudraclark wrote: »
    I've been an emotional eater my whole life. Looking back, when pain or excessive stress was/is present in my life, I turn to food. I have fallen off the good eating wagon and slacked going to the gym the past week and can't stand that I'm sabotaging myself. I drive to the gym, park and can't make myself go in. I do good at breakfast and lunch, but then binge at dinner. I know I need to suck it up and just get back to the gym, but also need to know I'm not the only one with this struggle.

    Have you ever checked into CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy)? Not the quick fix flavors that are sold in many places now but the real see a therapist variety. It might help you build a toolkit for coping with stress and the underlying issues that causes it which includes eating more food than you need.

    Getting mad at yourself is not helpful it is hurtful. You can't always just "suck it up" when you get stuck and lots of people get stuck in one way or another at different times in their life.

    Done right CBT is short term not the years and expense of being on a couch for years discussing the time your mother gave away your favorite toy people tend to associate with therapy.
  • jojopops1
    jojopops1 Posts: 15 Member
    I'm a terrible binge eater, since January I've lost nearly 2 stone, now in isolation, board and stressed im eating junk again,
  • Amanda_mermaid
    Amanda_mermaid Posts: 25 Member
    I’m an emotional/bored eater too. Life is really rough for me atm too but been trying to keep myself in check. That’s why I came back to where I know where to get support. Mfp is a great tool where we are in this together. Let’s slap it in the face and make it cry ;) lol
  • CarolRo1
    CarolRo1 Posts: 13 Member
    Me too. I put on a stone when I switched jobs -> stress = emotional eating and less exercise.

    I don’t know if this will work but I’m trying to have planned go to healthy snacks as a first step for when stress or boredom kicks in rather than mindlessly scoffing a chocolate bar. Sometimes I find a peppermint tea is enough to calm/distract me.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    corinasue1143 wrote: »
    @zyxst DONT GIVE UP!
    A trick to try. Make a grocery list. Promise yourself you won’t buy anything not on the list. Go to a different store. Completely different. You won’t know where the cookies are. Can’t buy them if you can’t find them. Don’t look for them.
    Menopause is hard! Keep trying.

    None of that helps, but thanks.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    cherys wrote: »
    @zyxst - some anti-depressants can give you almighty carb cravings. And they can also make you feel so mellow you never want to get up off the sofa. I had both these problems when I was on them long term for years and put on a lot of weight during that time. Don't be too hard on yourself.

    I find really upping the protein and veg helps, so I don't get the chance to feel hungry. I also avoid certain trigger foods like white bread and refined carb breakfast cereals as they give me almighty carb cravings too.

    It can help to stock snacks that the rest of the family like but you don't. My children love Oreos but I can't stand them. Same with Maryland cookies and Hobnobs.I'm safe around them. But if we have salted potato chips in the cupboard, I can't resist.

    The only side effects of venlafaxine (Effexor) I have/had: yawning (20 yawns a minute, lol), strange dreams, and constipation (maybe in combo with other meds). I don't crave carbs, not the way most people mean when they say the crave carbs. I do get urges to eat certain foods which aren't solely carbs, but carbs & fat.

    I started having menopause symptoms 4-5 years ago. Got blown off because "you're too young". They've increased and I can't say I have menopause due to me being medically prescribed an IUD. The venlafaxine is the best medication for reducing menopausal symptoms, so my choice is to increase my dosage.

    Reducing at-home stress would help significantly. That would mean moving somewhere else.
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,186 Member
    Something to consider for those of you in danger of emotional over eating during this health crisis.

    The more you eat, the sooner you will be running out of food, which will force you to go out to buy more and risking the chance of infection, and the possibility that stores will be empty. <3

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