Bad Day :(

You have yourself trained to want food to soothe unpleasant feelings with food. So, it's time to retrain your brain, to find something else to do when you feel badly.

Maybe you go for a walk, physically remove yourself from where the food is for a while (and burn a few calories while you're at it).

Maybe you write in a journal about how you're feeling, just to get whatever thoughts you have bouncing around in your head out of there and onto paper. Or a screen, if you use a digital journal - you have a personal blog attached to your MFP account, you can set that to private if you don't want to share your thoughts with others. It's under My Home > My Blog on the desktop site, it's not accessible in the app at this time as far as I know.

Maybe you cultivate a tea habit, or similarly replace whatever comfort snacks you used to reach for with low- or no-calorie alternatives. Brewed tea, assuming you haven't put anything in it (creamer or sweetener), has negligible calories, and you can't gulp/chug hot beverages, you have to take your time and sip them. Make it into a whole self-care thing, wrap yourself in the softest and coziest blanket you can find, sip on some warm and comforting tea, watch some mindless TV or cute cat videos - just take the time to remind yourself, or convince yourself, that regardless of what heinous garbage comes out of some people's mouths, someone gives a damn about you and wants you to be happy, and that someone is you.

tristethrash wrote: »

Any tips for not eating emotionally? Someone close to me was very rude to me today about my weight and I could help but get emotional after and eat to comfort myself

I feel your pain, and know what it is like to turn to the comfort of food, to "heal" emotions. It is very saddening that someone close to you, would choose to hurt you.

I recommend that you start to take note of the things you enjoy doing. What makes you smile? What makes you laugh and giggle? Try to focus on those habits, and then call upon them, when you are feeling stressed, hurt, or upset. It takes practice. Do not be discouraged, as it may take several attempts, before you are able to successfully change your habits.

Other things you can do to support this change, are:

1. Make your emotional "go to food" unavailable. Make it more difficult to access, by leaving it at the store.
2. Call a friend.
3. Journal your feelings.
4. Have a storage of motivational quotes on your phone, that you can turn to quickly, when your emotions are off balance.
5. Take a nap - this will help you to stop thinking about the incident, and you won't eat.
6. Go for a walk - step away from the environment to refocus.
7. Cancel out that person's hateful energy, by putting a smile on someone else's face.

It is a process. When we eat emotionally, it is not something we can turn off like a switch. But over time, with the practice of alternative habits, we can start to put food back into it's proper place of being nourishment, and not an emotional healer.

Best wishes to you, in your journey of healing.