Emotional eaters

KD

Gone fishing
Okay. Just wondering. What exactly is an emotional eater? I hear this term all the time.

Personally, I can overeat when I'm stressed, but also when I'm happy, tired, busy, bored, anytime really. So I don't reckon I'm an emotional eater....even though those are all emotions.

What do you think? Are you an emotional eater?
 
I sometime am,

To me, its where you eat your emotions. Like if you eat healty food, its still bad for you because you feel bad!

Not nessically eating to fill a gap by eating!

Pierce
 
An emotional eater is anybody that eats not when they are hungry and does not stop when they are full!!!! This is the absolute basics of Paul McKenna's Easy Weight Loss system.

Emotional eaters eat when they are happy, sad, upset, angry, celebrating, lonely, bored basically at anytime an emotion comes up that they are, subconsciously, unable to deal with. In a nut shell, it is when we eat to change the way we feel..even if we are unaware that we are doing so!

Remember this is not a conscious, cognitive action - it is the subconscious that drives the action. So happiness may feel like a great emotion but for some people, subconsciously it can be overwhelming or it can mean something completely different to others.

Emotions are our warning signals...what we do with them and the meaning (ie the feelings) we give to them is quite something else. I'm sure I'm gonna be asked to clarify this so will do so when asked...otherwise could be here all night!! :)
 
Oh Diva. What a star you are. You are going to get me thinking about all sorts of things that I've been too scared to face.

An emotional eater is anybody that eats not when they are hungry and does not stop when they are full!!!!
Okay, to me that's a binger. So are all bingers emotional eaters?

Since I'm sure most of us (excluding my DH as he is weird;)) feel some kind of emotion all our waking moments, then do you think that everyone who overeats is an emotional eater? I do believe that sometimes I overeat because of some chemical imbalance in my brain ( serotonin or something), but I've dismissed the fact that I could be an emotional eater...worried about jumping on the bandwagon I think :D

Remember this is not a conscious, cognitive action - it is the subconscious that drives the action. So happiness may feel like a great emotion but for some people, subconsciously it can be overwhelming or it can mean something completely different to others.
I agree, though I've never looked at it like that. I fear happiness more than I fear sadness. When I'm happy, I'm waiting for the bump...not knowing how long the happiness will last. When I'm sad, I hate it but I know that things can only get better :D

If it's in our subconscious, then how are we to know that we are eating because of our emotions and not for any other reason? What other reason could there be?

Pierce wrote
I also moved this into the "Bring your Head Inside and your Body will Follow" as it seems more appropriate there!
LOL Pierce. I thought it should go in this room, but I posted my rather long embarrassing message earlier here and then ran out of it to hide. You've just dragged me back :eek::D
 
Definitely never, ever be embarrassed to voice how you're really feeling...this forum is about sharing and learning. We are not all gonna "get it" all the time and the process never, ever stops because so long as we are living, we are still feeling!

Just to clarify .... not all emotional eaters are binge eaters though they do have a greater propensity to move towards binge eating if the issues remain unresolved.

Binge eating is more compulsive than simply eating emotionally. Most of us will agree that a binge is a complete loss of control over eating. A binge can be on a particular food or a wide range of foods, often a bite from here and a bite from there....one of the main characteristics of a binge is that they have a very definite beginning and end. This is not just simply overeating...many bingers will hide when bingeing often eating in their cars, alone at home, anywhere so long as it is just them and their drug of choice.

It is the complete feeling of being out of control that defiines a binge.

There is a fantastic book called Binge No More by Joyce Nash which is a guide to Overcoming Disordered Eating. A must read for anyone who thinks this could be them!

:)
 
Isobel1965 said:
Don't be embarrassed, hun - I'm sure we all feel like this!! I know I do!
love
OMG. More loonies like me:eek:

I will delete it though as it's in the wrong place. I can imagine all these people looking for sensible resources wondering why on earth they have to scroll through my Sunday night ravings :eek::D
 
Oh come on Karion...if you felt that is worth saying and it helps other people to come to terms with similar challenges...would you really want to delete it?
 
By the way, its already been moved! ;)
 
Diva said:
By the way, its already been moved! ;)

Oh good :)
Oh come on Karion...if you felt that is worth saying and it helps other people to come to terms with similar challenges...would you really want to delete it?

Wasn't sure it was worth saying:eek: Just writing down my weird thoughts on this keyboard. I think I was more concerned that I put it in the wrong place.
 
A binge can be on a particular food or a wide range of foods, often a bite from here and a bite from there....one of the main characteristics of a binge is that they have a very definite beginning and end. This is not just simply overeating...many bingers will hide when bingeing often eating in their cars, alone at home, anywhere so long as it is just them and their drug of choice.

Okay. So I am definitely a binge eater..and probably an emotional eater too.

The bit about eating in the car brings back disturbing memories. Once I plucked up courage to see a dietician. She was very young and inexperienced. She mentioned about the car thing. I was really annoyed though, because I did eat alone. With my job I had to or I'd starve :rolleyes:

She asked me if I ever ate in the car alone. I said yes, because I ate lunch between jobs on the move. I didn't really get a lunch break. That was it...as far as she was concerned, my problems were because of this ...nothing more...nothing less. She told me that every overeater she knew ate alone. I asked her if that meant every person who lived alone overate. She said I was just looking for excuses.

Stupid girl. Never went back and never plan to. Took me months to pluck up the courage to go in the first place.

But...I do get your point Diva. My main binging attacks are always alone. As soon as they've gone out of the door. I used to plan and prepare them sometimes. Hiding food was another thing.
 
Diva said:
An emotional eater is anybody that eats not when they are hungry and does not stop when they are full!!!! This is the absolute basics of Paul McKenna's Easy Weight Loss system.

Yep, and this is the bit I am struggling with the most. I hadn't realised how much I ate to avoid 'feeling' the way I was feeling. CD helped in as much as doing SS meant I couldn't medicate myself with food, but it didn't solve the underlying problem.

Today is hard because TOTM is making me feel bleurgh, I'm tired and fed up - normally a recipe for food disaster, but I'm determined not this time. Once my client has been, I'm gonna snuggle down with the baby, a huge mug of coffee and keep out of the kitchen. :eek:
 
D_Q said:
Today is hard because TOTM is making me feel bleurgh, I'm tired and fed up - normally a recipe for food disaster, but I'm determined not this time. Once my client has been, I'm gonna snuggle down with the baby, a huge mug of coffee and keep out of the kitchen. :eek:

This is called using willpower, DQ - the dieter's nightmare that they insist on replaying!! Now since you're not on a "diet" using willpower is not gonna help...it's like using a hammer to change a fuse!

However, this is when you need to put all the reprogramming that you have been learning into practice. Willpower is effective when you are using an "away from" strategy which most dieters use (more about that some other time!) ...however, the ICMYT system requires that you use a "towards to" strategy.

By doing this you are allowing yourself to have WHATEVER your body wants....regardless of the quantities at certain times because of hormonal changes, etc. Remember the analogy with the pregnant woman who wants pickles one minute and cakes the next??? Our bodies know what we need and we choose whether or not to listen...
 
Forgot to mention....don't forget your hot water bottle and a tub of Ben & Jerry's! Don't forget the 80/20 rule - everybody needs some down time, hun! :) xx
 
Ah thanks babes!! The thing is I know I'm not hungry - anything I eat now will be to try to change the way I'm feeling. Client been and gone, so off to snuggle under the duvet ;)
 
Diva said:
Definitely never, ever be embarrassed to voice how you're really feeling...this forum is about sharing and learning. We are not all gonna "get it" all the time and the process never, ever stops because so long as we are living, we are still feeling!

Just to clarify .... not all emotional eaters are binge eaters though they do have a greater propensity to move towards binge eating if the issues remain unresolved.

Binge eating is more compulsive than simply eating emotionally. Most of us will agree that a binge is a complete loss of control over eating. A binge can be on a particular food or a wide range of foods, often a bite from here and a bite from there....one of the main characteristics of a binge is that they have a very definite beginning and end. This is not just simply overeating...many bingers will hide when bingeing often eating in their cars, alone at home, anywhere so long as it is just them and their drug of choice.

It is the complete feeling of being out of control that defiines a binge.

There is a fantastic book called Binge No More by Joyce Nash which is a guide to Overcoming Disordered Eating. A must read for anyone who thinks this could be them!

:)

Oh that make me cry reading that because it is me. I've always considered myself an emotional eater but I dunno. I do binge though, and I hide it from everyone possible - I sat on the toilet yesterday morning and ate a family sized galaxy bar. I can go through a huge amount of food, but I cannot tell you what I ate or what it tastes like - it is a complete loss of control. Hopefully I'll be able to get over this.

Lynne x
 
The thing is Lynne, you are with friends now, people who understand, empathise and can try to help. You WILL be able to get over this {{{{HUGZ}}}
 
Oh boy oh boy Lynne. You bet we understand. Done it myself loads of times...plus more and more.

Where is that off button? Why doesn't it click in and tell me I've had enough?

These days I can happily settle for 1/2 a small bar of choc. Still not totally sure why I can stop now.:confused:
 
Hey Lynne {{hugz}}

The first step to "recovery" is to not beat yourself up....you cannot change what you don't accept and you are on your way to accepting that this is a behavioural habit for you at the moment. Habits can be changed and they can be broken but they must be replaced by a healthier new habit!!

As part of accepting who you are, it is a requirement for you to be honest with yourself and commit to showing up in your life as a grown up on a daily basis so that you can start to do whatever is necessary. This is the hardest part for many people as they are quite happy to continue the way they are and only pay lip service to wanting to change because the requirements are too much! So the first question you need to ask yourself is how committed are you to having a more balanced and controlled attitude to food and eating?

Once you have that answer, the opportuinities will arise that will support you in that decision. Stay close, hun, we're here to help you on this journey and there will be many opportunities for us to discuss this in more detail as you go along ...:)
 
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