Emotional Eating???

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shellyscott0804
shellyscott0804 Posts: 13 Member
in Motivation and Support
I'm still kinda new here but as I log my food each day I realize how often I eat not because of hunger but because of emotions. Happy? Eat some ice cream. Upset? Eat some chips. Frustrated? Have some pudding. Unsure what your feeling? Obviously, that calls for a pig-out.
Surely I'm not the only one like this. So what have some of you who have had some long term success done to work around this?

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  • jerbear1962
    jerbear1962 Posts: 1,157 Member
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    I ate out of boredom and out of habit. I rarely was really hungry when I ate. I would be in bed and wake up hungry for a cheese burger only because I used to work 3rd shift and ate about 2:30 in the morning..so I would either get up and cook a burger or get dressed and hit a drive thru for that burger. I have since given them all up.
  • Jotell
    Jotell Posts: 139 Member
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    I eat like that still! It's an annoying habit and not a healthy one either. What I have done in the past and I am trying to get myself into it again was, CHEW GUM! :) It kept my mouth busy, low calories and freshens breath :) I still have my pig out days where I want to much on anything and everything. I try water first, then gum, if neither works I give in to the urges to snack. Usually the gum trick works for me, not always but most of the time.
    Hi, my name is Joanna and I am an emotional eater. ;)
  • starlikedolly
    starlikedolly Posts: 71 Member
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    I'm an emotional eater with binge eating disorder. It's a hard thing to break.
  • racemary
    racemary Posts: 52 Member
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    True, emotional eating is very hard to overcome. I read a book once that advised me to question every snack - Am I actually hungry or just bored/lonely/hurt? - If I eat this will itmake me feel fuller/better? The book also talked about food that just hums and food that buzzes. It's a bit strange, think of a bar of cheap chocolate and how much you'd have to eat of it to be satisfied vs an expensive praline.
    I gained a lot of weight through emotional eating. Now I try to do sth instead. I weed the garden, go on amassive bike ride, phone a friend, read success stories on MFP ...
  • houam002
    houam002 Posts: 3
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    I've been an emotional eater for years - any mood and any excuse to justify why i needed that whole block of chocolate, followed by a massive bowl of pasta followed by a whole packet of biscuits . . . you get the idea!

    My advice, start reading about emotional eating and ways to overcome or cope with it and educate yourself as much as you can about it. There are so many different strategies and not all of them will work for you. You could keep a food journal and log how you are feeling after eating something or contemplate before you eat anything why you are eating it - are you really hungry? Are you bored? Are you feeling lonely? Are you wanting comfort?

    Personally for me, food is an obsession. As soon as i have an emotion that triggers my food obsession, like stress, i start obsessing about buying that packet of biscuits on the way home and then it's the only think i can think about until i get it. Or devouring that left over bowl of pasta in the fridge. Plan ahead, always know what you're next 2-3 meals are going to be and even log them in your diary ahead of time. I still obsess about food but what i obsess about has changed. I start thinking about the fresh strawberries i have in the fridge or goats cheese i'm going to have on my salad for lunch. And if all else fails i start thinking about how awful i felt the last time i caved and devoured a whole block of chocolate.

    At the end of the day it's important to log your successes not your failures. If you managed 5 days of having your emotional eating under control and then have a set back for a day don't focus on that one day. Focus on the 5 days of success and next time try and make it to 6 days and so on and so on. Goodluck!
  • aclowe01
    aclowe01 Posts: 14 Member
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    I'm a stress eater, when I get stressed I eat. I also eat when bored, but i've found that if it's not in the house I can't eat it. That seems to help with the binge eating also. I recently looked in the pantry for something to eat because I was bored and there was nothing to eat but clean food and just a handful of nuts seemed to satisfy that craving. It's getting easier mentally to deal with this issue but it's getting better.

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