Emotional Eating?

Willie84

Willie84

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I tend to be an emotional eater. I eat when I am happy and celebrating. I eat when I am sad and upset. I am wondering if anyone else is like this. And if so, do you have any strategies in place for coping with this in advance, before you want to eat?
 
Many people engage in emotional eating and it can be natural because humans are emotional beings. The main thing is to recognize the triggers and gain some coping skills to help prevent you from turning to the food during those moments. I would suggest that you keep a journal when you do emotional eating - its a good way to see the patterns. Possibly you could go to a therapist and they could work with you more closely. I highly recommend that option especially if you feel the emotional eating is getting out of hand.
 
I am an emotional eater too. I eat when I anxious or stressed out. I catch myself mindless eating when I'm not really hungry. I have been working on channeling that anxious energy into other activities like going for a brisk walk or doing jumping jacks. It does help. I don't feel like eating after walking in the cold air or doing jumping jacks.
 
I'm such an emotional eater. That is why I have such a hard time losing and controlling my weight! I usually eat more when I'm depressed and lately I have been quite depressed. The result is that I have gained 5 pounds over the last couple of months. I also eat when I'm feeling sorry for myself, which goes hand in hand with feeling depressed. It's very hard to be an emotional eater, because we all have our ups and down and eating makes me in particular feel even worse afterwards.
 
I'm such an emotional eater myself. I also have a slight problem of drinking 5-6 cans of soda a day. My stress levels stay high(thanks to work and idiot family members) so therefore, my tendencies are high. I've tried talking to people about how to help myself cope but nothing yet. I've even started the pounds away program but still, I'm eating way to much!
 
Yeah emotional eating does sound like it can be a problem. It's basically just a habit that needs to be broken. Try and find a substitute for eating when your emotional. I can list suggestions but different strokes for different folks so you need to explore other hobbies and outlets that suit your needs.
 
I tend to do this sometimes as well, and I don't really have any tricks to combat it other than self discipline, but if it really becomes a problem, I'd guess that just substituting something healthier to snack on would help substantially.
 
I do tend to eat more when I am stressed out. I also go for the fattening junk food when I am stressed. This is why I am overweight and I really need to lose these pounds. It is a hard situation to deal with though.
 
Most people do follow that type of pattern when they are emotionally or compulsively overeating. The thing that helped me was to write down EVERYTHING that I ate for several weeks. I also wrote what my mood or emotional state was; it really helped to see the patterns that I engaged in at times with my eating.
 
firelily99 said:
Most people do follow that type of pattern when they are emotionally or compulsively overeating. The thing that helped me was to write down EVERYTHING that I ate for several weeks. I also wrote what my mood or emotional state was; it really helped to see the patterns that I engaged in at times with my eating.
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That is actually a very good idea. I can see how that would work out well. In the past I have done this with our household budget ( excel spreadsheet of every dime we spent over a month period) I don't see why the concept could not work on eating. Thank you for the idea.
 
I use to be a terrible emotional eater. I still do it occasionally, but I have weened myself away from food. I find if I work out or do something else I won't eat emotionally. Even on days I feel the need badly I stay out of the kitchen.
 
Willie84 said:
I tend to be an emotional eater. I eat when I am happy and celebrating. I eat when I am sad and upset. I am wondering if anyone else is like this. And if so, do you have any strategies in place for coping with this in advance, before you want to eat?
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Emotional eating is something we all tend to do, but most of us are not aware of it. Sugar has been know to replace love. Think about what people call their spouse , "Honey, sweetie pie, give me some sugar." Salt can be associated with anger, yes emotions play a major part of our eating habits.
 
I think boredom is playing a large part in my emotional eating at the moment. I have been confined to bed since the beginning of November when I ruptured a disk in my back rather badly. I was doing OK until I came out of hospital at the weekend, but the last few days have been really hard on me because we are not seeing the progress that had been hoped for and it looks like that i may need a second operation to fuse my vertebrae sometime around March and also that the weakness in my right leg has not decreased in the slightest, so it may well be that the nerve damage is permanent.
I shall have to keep a very careful eye on my weight, but luckily for me in one respect is that being confined to bed and unable to negotiate our stairs, I only have access to the food that is brought up to me each day before my husband goes to work.
 
I eat according to what I feel like eating and when I need comfort food, it's usually some potatoes with some butter. I also reach for chocolate biscuits too as they are a quick fix and do soothe and calm me down. Comfort food is nurturing and can help you feel better about yourself. It may not always be the healthiest food, but the fact it can make you feel better is powerful in its own right.
 
Emotional eating is bad for your health because most people tend to gravitate toward comfort foods, which are fully of fats or sugars. When I am happy I tend to eat more, but when I am upset or stressed out, I find that I can't eat because my stomach is in knots. I guess that is the opposite of what most people do.
 
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