Emotional Eating

This is a little embarrassing, but I have a huge problem with emotional eating, and sometimes I just can't seem to stop when I start. I don't know the exact reason why I do it. I either eat because of my feelings, or I don't eat. I don't think either is very healthy, but.. I don't know why I do it. Sometimes it's controllable, and other times it isn't. It's kind of comforting in a way, like food will always be there when my friends aren't. Make sense? And I'm not talking about the little bowl of ice cream to cheer me up. I go waaay overboard, and I'm sick of it. Does anybody else have this problem, or did anybody overcome it? Please let me know how you did, because I really need help with it. I understand that it's not something you can really 'break' and that it's always a journey, everyday, but I need help on overcoming the urges to eat. I need tips on something to do when I'm sad, lonely, or whatever. It would help if someone who went through this or who actually cares replied. I don't want people to answer with an "awe, cheer up pumpkin" kind of answer, because that doesn't really do anything to help me solve the problem, and if you are tempted to be sarcastic in a mean way, I don't need it, so please refrain. It would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Hey,
Im bulimic so i know exactly how your feeling right now. You cnat stop yourself eating and you find comfort from it. Or you dont eat for a while and the hunger pains give you comfort again.

So anyways when you feel like bingeing try doing the following:

- Try distracting yourself- Draw, write a poem/story, go for a walk, call a friend and talk for an hour. Anything.

- Dont keep food that triggers a binge around you. Like if you binge on ice cream alot dont buy it. Try healthy eating? I mean if you binge on carrots is not as bad as junk food is it?

- Eat properly. 5 small meals a day. Then hopefully you wont feel hungry and you will be less likely to bigne.

- Eat when your not distracted with anything. This shoulkd stop you form over- eating.

- Keep a diary, write down why your upset whenever you are. If oyu odnt know why, then write down how your feeling. for example your tired, why are oyu tired? because oyu cant sleep properly. Why cant you sleep properly? Becuase you have nightmares. etc...

- Treat yourself, dont ban out food completly. Dont say you will never eat chocolate again. If you havent binged for a few days. Congratulate yourself. Go out to the shops and buy some chocolate. Buy some ice cream. And enjoy yourself, this is oyur reward.

Hope i helped, feel free to PM me if you need to talk or anything.
Take Care
xx

Yep, have been there. I can definitely relate to what you're going through. Not only did i go through anorexia, but binge disorder. It's like even when you want to stop, you can't. Here are a few things you can try. I hope these tips help:

- Try to keep things you might binge on out of reach.
- If you have a sudden craving, grab a fruit and try to find something to do that will take your mind off of it. (draw, write a poem, take a walk, hang out with friends, watch a movie, etc.)
- You can either eat 5 small meals a day, or 3 regular meals with two or three snacks in between.
- Make hekthy choices, veggies, fruits, even things like low fat yogurt, granola bars, crackers, or rice cakes. (make sure they are in individual packages so you can control portion size.)
- You shouldn't deprive yourself of the foods you love, so if you have been good, treat yourself to an ice cream or something. By that i mean going out and getting a kiddie size or smal at an ice cream shop, not buying a half gallon and eating the whole thing.
- Try not to think about food unless you're hungry. Your body always lets you know when you NEED food.
- Try not to be around food unless you're hungry, and need to eat. Otherwise, there is no reason to be around it.

I hope that helps. I can relate a lot to this problem, so if you want to talk more about it, feel free to send me a private message thingy.

I have the same problem too. It usually happens when I'm upset or lonely. What I usually do is:

- Do something to distract myself (a lot of the stuff mentioned above)
- If I want to eat because I'm sad I do things I know that will make me happy (watching funny movies, doing what I'm good at, whatever makes you happy)
- I agree with the small meals thing
- Exercise. It's fun and gets your mind off eating (especially if you listen to music while doing it)

Oh yeah, I definitely know where you're coming from. I do the exact same thing.
A while back I read a book by Geneen Roth called Feeding The Hungry Heart, and it was really helpful because it explained how sometimes people are very "hungry" for something, like a nice gesture from their partner, um, or a partner, or a hug, a kiss.
Some people are starving for affection, and so they silence that unfulfilled desire by stuffing themselves with food.

I suppose you eat sugary, bad foods, right? Well, I do, and it has nothing to do with hunger. In a way, it's because my heart is hungry, and so as my stomach is the least that I can feed, I go right ahead.

Once I had a dance show that went horrible. The audience didn't pay any attention, the music got mixed up, etc. I came home in tears and immediately dished myself up a cup of ice-cream. Then I sat down, put the ice-cream away and instead of eating (as I was not actually hungry) I wrote in my journal about what had happened that night and why it had been so bad. I promised myself that I would excel in the next dance, and then went to sleep.
I had been about to consume a large portion of ice-cream to compensate for the fact that there was no one to talk to about how bad I felt... instead I wrote it down, and managed to get away without stuffing myself.
Maybe you need to not look for "tips" and such, but rather look at the root cause for your eating.
Of course, it's never as easy as those health eating books seem to make it. It takes a lot of tries. It's good to remember that just because you ate something bad one day, it's still ok, you aren't a failure and all you've done is missed a day.
What happens with me is that I mess up a bit, and then I get angry and eat bad for the whole week. But there are small changes that we can all make to change our eating patterns.
It could help to keep a notebook and write down when you eat.. what triggers it, etc.
With me it's usually when I feel disappointed and lonely, but we all have different emotions to deal with. The best of luck :-D

//T.L.//

Thanks guys, that really helps a lot. I do eat bad foods, and especially since it's Christmas time and all of my family is on the other side of the country, with loneliness and all of the junk food that goes along with Christmas, it hasn't been good. But there's no way on earth do I plan to deprive my self. Moderation is key =)
I'm glad to know that I have a support group behind me, and that you guys have experienced the same thing. This in itself would probubly help me out a whole lot. Thanks to you all.

Good luck, sj. You really do deserve the perfect body to go with your perfect heart.

Thanks, TL. That means a lot, but this thread wasn't all about weight loss. It was just how to stop emotional eating. Although, I hope it does somewhat help with my weight ;)

Good luck with the emotianal eating and the weight.
Take care
xx

what if you eat........just to eat like when your bored!?? lol

exactly why im getting a treadmill today so i can listen to my IPOD and walk/run!!! =]]

tee hee

^ that is actually one of my favorite activities :D
It distracts you from everything it's so great

=]]

im going to do it right NOW =]]

I did that once. When I was down I would just eat and eat but now I don’t eat when I’m sad. I haven’t eaten right in about 5 days since my pop died on Christmas day. I was over weight and I just got sick of it so I started exercising and eating better. Then I just didn’t want to eat when I felt down, I don’t feel hungry at sad times and I have no idea how I changed that. Comfort food isn’t a bad thing you just need to learn how to control yourself, its not impossible!!!

millsy

my dad's got that thing too...
me a little,i can control myself
i had started a diet and it made me feel so confident cos i was losing weight,although i wasn't fat,i was just a little plumpish,i lost about 22 lbs and it's not just enough, iwant my body like cameron diaz,now looking like beyonce,i did this diet by myself not with a dietician,but i will go for a diet soon and with a dietician,so in my opinion if you go for a diet it would be a perfect solution to you,just dream and do it...!

lol.. i have the same issue. right now im hungry but only because all my friends are somewhere else, i have nobody to talk to, im bored, and im kinda stressed. we had to take my mom to the emergency room last night and shes asleep in her room now.

i suggest talking to a friend and writing poetry or playing a game. theres a game on yahoo called Fish Tycoon that i play when i get bored, and it helps a lot cuz its fun!

-Allanah