Comfort eater Needs help!

Right now I am using gum as my distraction. Seems like if I am chewing on something then my brain or whatever it is that makes me want to eat satifed.

So I'm kind of bulimic...and I'm definitely an emotional eater, too. My shrink helped me by suggesting that I think about why I'm eating, like before hand write down "I'm hungry" or "I'm eating right now because I am really depressed", whatever. And also to write when I'm feeling really emotional and as if I'm going to binge (not saying you do, saying I do)

Brush your teeth. Anything you put in your mouth will taste gross.
Drink a glass of water or calorie free anything, 16oz and drink it all at once.
Go for a walk.
If you crave chocolate, drink 8 oz of Silk light choc milk. 90 calories and its really chocolately! You can also drink diet hot choc. @25 calories.
Make a list of things you need to do and when you want to eat, head to the list, pick something and work on it.
DONT have bad stuff in your house. For me, that's the easiest thing to do. If it's not here I won't be tempted.
If someone brings in doughnuts, it's cruel! Ask them to put it where you wont see it.
My husband just ate a whole bag of cinnamon roll popcorn in front of me and asked me if I wanted a bag too. GRRRRR! I opted for 1/4 cup of roasted, salted soybeans. He was done with his popcorn before I was. I was mad at him at first but I got over it and had some soy in my body to help reduce hotflashes (ACK!) plus had a salty craving cured.
I read on here a few days ago that someone poured icky stuff on sweets so they wouldnt eat it. (Ex. , pouring mustard on cake so it's inedible) I don't really like to waste food but if I'm healthier without it, so be it.
Throw the 'bad' food out. I had a big bag of salted pistachios that I had been munching on and I found out that they are totally loaded with calories and I couldnt control my portion size, 15 nuts is one portion! I ended up dumping them in the trash. GONE!
Imagine that whatever it is you're wanting to eat will be added to the size of your.....(I look pregnant and I'm not, so I imagine adding to my tummy)
Add me as a friend! I'll try to help you! Good luck!

There is no problem so big that a plate of fried potatoes won't cure...:bigsmile:

I had to address this as a part of my goal motivation program.
Any action that moves me away from my goals is now an act that causes me distress. I needed a feeling of pain to burn my soul every time I thought of using food as a comfort in times of stress.
We either have that drive or need to find a way to ignite it.

To light that fire, be honest, and answer for yourself:
Why do I want to be healthy and fit? Discover the real answer, and attach great pleasure to that as you set your goals.
Feel and experience that joy when you think of being healthy and fit.

And then ask yourself why do you NOT want to be fat?
Connect with that reason burning pain that you can really feel every time you think about being fat.

This is the key to internal motivation.
Few people can actually do this which is why most people fail in their efforts over and over.
Take the time to do this, and you'll touch off a powder keg of determination and drive.
Sure, you may have challenges; we all do, but you'll keep punching and reach your goals.

All Is Possible!

I hear ya! I've been "eating my feelings" for years. I'm tired of feeling like crap because I have terrible willpower. I've been doing quite well this past month, although, I don't think I'm down this week. I find that eating a baked sweet potato every day is really helping with the sweet cravings, and the fibre keeps you full for a long time. Gum makes me sooooo hungry! Just give yourself a pat on the back for each day that you're able to stay strong. You can do this. We ALL can. We have each other for support.:flowerforyou:

I would like to suggest to everyone that has posted a book called "Made to Crave" by Lisa Terkeurst. I went from a healthy, active person to a very unhappy overweight woman due to the fact that I'm an emotional eater just like all of you. But then a very good friend of mine invited me to attend a local churches Health Challenge with them. Through the help of the health challenge I learned that the very first thing you need to do is address what's making you turn to food. For me it was a lot of anger and guilt and shame from a life full of abuse and anger. An ugly divorce and loss of a child. I addressed those issue through counseling. But I also turned to food because I was stressed out. We live in a stressful culture. We work long hours for crap pay and our lives are busy beyond anything we ever could imagine when we were young and dumb. This is where the book Made to Crave became a tremendous help. You see I'm a christian but I wasn't turning to God for my comfort and strength I was turning to food. I've since learned to ask God for help when I need it instead of grabbing a bag of chips for 20mins of pleasure. I use scripture to help me get through moments of weakness when I'm craving food due to a hard day at work. This works for me. God accomplishes all things for me and I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. He is my healer, my strength and my stronghold. And I'm not ashamed to share this with you. I'm not trying to tell you that the only way to achieve success over emotional eating is doing what I've done. What i'm doing is sharing with you how God has helped me successfully kick my emotional eating habit. I highly recommend God as your personal savior and helper in this and all matters but I also recommend figuring out what it is that triggers your emotional eating behavior and face it or ask for help resolving it. There are great books and people trained in this area. Find another tool that works for you in a short pinch like the 2 min. rule. When tempted to eat give yourself 2 min. and more often then not you'll find the temptation has passed.

I think a huge part of the weight loss/ lifestyle change process is really taking a look at just the type of thing you are talking about. We all have long standing patterns of dealing with difficult emotions and situations. I know for me, food is one coping mechanism. But just as important as finding concrete behaviors to replace the eating is replacing the thought process that leads to the behavior. So be mindful of your thoughts when you start getting the urge to eat or when you approach the scale. Potato2 mentioned journaling and I think that's an excellent idea.....try using it as a tool to record what you are doing right so that when the numbers on the scale are disappointing you've got non scale successes to reinforce the good work you've done.

I'm one of the those people that struggle with sweets also. For me it means not bringing it into the house, or having my husband put his sweets up high in a cabinet that I cannot easily reach. If they are in sight, they are in my mouth! How are you doing with logging your food? I find when I'm actively logging I'm less likely to just pop something into my mouth if I know I have to account for it.

The important thing is to make a plan, and if the plan doesn't work, try it again or try something different. Don't let negative thinking derail you further. You can do this.

Another book you might like to look at is "Eating Less" by Gillian Riley.
She has some really interesting things to say emotional/addictive/binge eating and some concrete strategies to try.
One thing I found interesting is that she doesn't suggest distracting yourself by doing something else, which is what I always try to do. She is more about facing the desire to eat head on and learning strategies to NOT eat when its for the wrong reasons.
Check it out, I bought it on Kindle for my iPhone.

I've read all the replies and thanks everyone, I especially liked the teeth brushing and mouthwash tip. FitKate tell me how to add you as a friend and I will do so. Goodnight for now. Tomorrow's a new day!

One thing that really helps me is imagining how i want my body to look when i have reached my goal, by the time you think about how great your going to look and feel, the moment has passed! i fell in lovewith an aussie when i was backpacking and ended up staying together (this is our 4th year)and i now live in a very small country town in rural western australia. i grew up in scotland and find it really hard to be away from all of my family and friends, and i always turn to food to make me feel better. Someone once told me that we comfort eat to push down our feelings with the food, so now when i feel homesick to avoid the temptation of bingeing, il ring my mum or best friend at home and just tell them i miss them, then my feelings go away and i feel better just talking to them :-) but my biggest motivator is imaging how good i want to look, so just picture that and imagine you look that good, you wont want to lose that feeling over a donut!