I need help...lots of it!

Bump for later....I have the same problem.

Take small steps at at time, you have joined the right site, now just log everything you eat, everything that goes to your mouth, make the right choices and also start working out, you can start by walking and gradually building up to running, circuit training and strenght training. Have patience and be realistic,changes are not going to happen over night. If you start today start small, cut out soda and increase your water intake, load up your plate with vegetables, eat breakfast, eat whole grains. Also set a caloric intake goal for the day, you can find out your caloric intake at fat2fit.com. Its not easy but its certainly attainable. Good luck.

It's not easy to get stress eating under control, but it IS possible. First, you need to find better ways to control your stress.

The first part is to snap yourself out of it--literally. Put a rubber band around your wrist (not tight), and when you find yourself craving or reaching for food, snap the rubber band to remind you to take a moment to think before you eat. It sounds silly, but for some people, including me, it's possible to remind yourself to take a moment to think before acting.

So then the rest becomes mental: you take that moment--and ask yourself two questions:
1) Am I really hungry, or am I stressed out?
2) Is this food going to help me feel better right now?

The first question takes a lot of self-assessment. You have to know the difference between hunger pangs and butterflies in your belly, between real hunger and just an emotional hunger for something soothing. It takes a while to get this down, but you have to practice it.

So, if the answer to 1 is hungry, yes eat, but be conscious of what you eat. Make sure it's nutrient rich and tasty, and make yourself take the time to eat slowly and focus on it. Stress takes a lot out of your body, and to help control your stress response, you need to make sure you're getting the nutrients that keep your adrenal glands healthy--vitamins A, B complex, and C, calcium, magnesium, lean protein, and mono-unsaturated fatty acids are most beneficial for your adrenals, the glands that manage the stress response.

Back to the questions: If the answer to 1 is stressed, then the answer to 2 is important. Do you know why?

Because it's ALWAYS no. Food cannot fill an emotional need, and it never will. It will just leave you feeling just as stressed and, if you're like most of us, very guilty and depressed.

Food is fuel, not an emotional life jacket.

So now what? Put down the food and do something that WILL help. Call a friend to talk. Meditate. Go out for a walk. Or do something with your hands--write, knit, shadow box, play a game, do a crossword. Particularly helpful for me have been meditation and writing in a journal. They help me find other ways to control my stress response. Them, and exercise, exercise, exercise. When my stress and depression make me feel unmotivated about exercise, I remind myself that I always feel better after a good run or walk.

That's a start. It's hard but you have to make yourself take control--you're the only one who can. And you can do it! It takes some time and effort, but it's absolutely possible! I did it, and I'm sure you can, too. It takes that mental shift, if necessary stimulated by the physical reminder, and you can overcome the stress monster!

well i have to say that i have done my fair share of yo-yoing in the past 7 years or so, but you've made a effort to at least change this no?

i find that just evaluating what you eat over a couple of days is incredibly eye opening. you realize all these things that were once good for you no longer are. also if you are a stress eater, then you need to gear that stress another way. i'm a incredibly stressed out person. i work 3 jobs and i just graduated college. last summer i discovered yoga and i'm so thankful for that.

i can't believe that wonderful things that it does for me. see if you have a studio around or even better, see if a local library or community center hosts a teacher.

I'm a stress eater too. I wish I could tell you it's a completely defeatable but I don't really think it is, except for the very strongest among us.

For us normal folks, the trick is not to try to stop stress eating altogether but to learn to forgive ourselves and get right back on track as soon as possible after the binge. The idea is to keep your long term weight loss trending downwards but not get too upset over the upward spikes that will inevitably appear in that graph line. Don't turn slip-ups into give-ups.

It sometimes helps me to look at my body coldly and scientifically. It's a machine requiring fuel. When it's being stressed out - physically or mentally - it needs even better fuel than usual or else I'll feel even more like crap. It's sound logic, it doesn't always work but sometimes it does. If you're stressed and reaching for that highly processed, additive filled, piece of junk food, then sometimes you might be able to pause and remind yourself that it's the very last thing your mind needs right now.

I suggest getting a journal and trying to identify your stress triggers in detail. You might be surprised what you learn about yourself. Not all of the triggers will be avoidable but I'd bet my bottom dollar some will be.