Emotional Eating?

[septbride2002]

I have a problem with emotional eating. Today was a really rough day. Thankfully I had a very big and filling breakfast because by the time lunch came around I couldn't eat a thing. I was so upset and sick to my stomach that food wasn't an option. Of course by 3pm I was starving so I munched on some pretzels to tide me to dinner. Before dinner I had a snack cup of sugar free applesauce. So far I'm following my diet fine. Then we go out to dinner to a different resturant then planned (friends changed it) I am still very upset by this afternoon but now I'm starving. So I just order what I want. Now really what I ordered wasn't bad - grilled chicken wrap and a diet coke. But still it wasn't on program either. I just get so upset over stuff that all I want to do is eat to help fill the hole I feel inside of me.

Anyone else suffer from this? How do you get over it?

I'm really worried because I am very depressed over the events of today. So much so that I can't sleep. I know tomorrow is going to be a challenge for me period - not including the fact that I will not want to watch what I eat.

~Amanda

 

[Twinkles6892]

First of all

I do the same thing, whenever I'm sad/mad/anxious, whatever, I eat to comfort and take care of myself, it is our basic instinct as humans to nourish ourselves. But I don't think that means eat the entire cheesecake by myself, which only ends in pain! If you feel yourself heading towards the fridge, before you open it think, am I really hungry, or am I just upset? And if eating seems inevitable, tru to stick with something that you love that's not very bad for you, for me it's salad, and a lot of it! One thing I did that really helped me was to read "Feeding the Hungry Heart", it really gave me insight to, yes, other people do this too, I'm not alone. Remember, we're all here for you

 

[saturday97]

I was just discussing this with my DSIL. She is in a weight loss program with a local hospital and they recommend joining a support group or seeing a therapist for this issue. Emotional eating is usually a symptom of another issue. I do it too, believe me I know it is super frustratrating! Sometimes I joke that brownies are the only thing getting me through Grad school!

Hang in there, and let's keep in touch so we can share ideas about how to deal with this!

Amber

 

[YangYang]

I also used to be an emotional eater. Anytime I was upset, depressed or bored I would eat. I'm still not completely over it but I have discovered that as I have progressed in my new lifestyle, I don't turn to food as readily as I used to. One thing that I have found that really helps is exercise. If I'm bored, I'll go for a walk or even do some housework. Then afterwards, I feel double good - I didn't eat and I got some activity points!

I used to hate it when people would say "I was so upset, I just couldn't eat a thing". I couldn't imagine that! Then I had a rather rough spell this summer (grad school played a part in that, too!) and I just quit eating. I actually had to make myself eat - for those of you who do WW, I was lucky if I ate 20 points a day. I had just reached my goal weight and was actually supposed to be figuring out how many points I could eat and not gain weight. Anyway, it was a rather eye-opening experience for me. I was able to really evaluate the changes in my attitudes about food. Some of them were postive, some not. I tried to keep the good ones and lose the bad ones. Things are settling down now - last month I only lost .5 pounds. At this point that is a good thing!