emotional eating

margie

Full Member
hey guys

I never realised it before but I am an emotional eater, me and my man had a tiff last night and I found myself wanting to go straight to the fridge and eat - I managed to resist but I can't believe that I have never noticed this before :confused:

Does anyone else go through this???

How do you all stay strong when you have your downs :(

Love Margie

p.s learned more about myself in my first week on this diet than I have in years xxxx
 
Hi Margie yes I am an emotional eater but I have proved to myself the last week that I can change it. It was my birthday on tuesday and I had a funeral to go to, a friend, and it was a terrible day I wanted to eat so badly but I got through it god knows how. If we dont deal with this emotional eating now we never will.
I wish you good luck you have done so well so far.

Sharron
 
I'm realising that most of my eating is just through plain habit or boredom. Some of it may even have been because I was thirsty as I never used to really drink enough. It's not until now, now that I am drinking plenty that I realise it probably wasn't even hungry at all. I've learned that I can resist the urge to eat-whereas before I always gave in to that urge because I convinced myself I was 'starving'.

I had my lowest point last Saturday. I cried, came on here and posted then looked through all the before and after photos to focus me back on where I want to be in 6 months time. Sometimes I just have to take myself away from food. I still get strong cravings sometimes but I'm surprising myself with just how much willpower I've got. I just have to keep imagining myself slim again.

Good luck in getting to where you want to be too. :)
 
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Yep this applies to me too.I have found these 3 weeks very hard so far due to stuff going on at home.Managed to stick with it though, either by leaving the house, or calling a friend.Also looking at pics on here helps.
 
I am very much an emotional eater. I eat when Im stressed, upset, lonely, happy....any time!
When I eat when Im upset or angry I didnt even know I had eaten half the things I ate, I just shovelled it in then sat and thought 'what have I done' luckily I never got to the throwing it all back up stage.

My DH works away and I have struggled this week with out him here, we started it together. I have been calling when I need support, and my friends have been great.
 
Hi hon,

I reckon a lot of us are emotional eaters. I too was an emotional eater and I have now stayed on goal for over a month. It is possible to conquer this, with lots of willpower and the right help!

Please check out this other topic, it has a lot of tips and stories of others. Will contain some food references though so if you're sensitive to that please wait till you think you can handle it ;-)

http://www.minimins.com/cambridge-diet-100-forum/70911-emotional-eaters-any-advice.html

Good luck..

xxx
 
I didn't think I was an emotional eater, just greedy! However on Friday whilst having someone at work having a real go at me in a rather inappropriate manner...........I felt myself thinking that I needed to eat something urgently. I didn't eat but I did recognise that the want to eat wasn't borne out of hunger but out of irritation at the woman. It was a power struggle if you like and I didn't want to go there. I was pleased I didn't use food like I have done in the past.
I continued the discussion and got the situation round to a win/win as they say in business speak!
Today I wanted to eat as I was bored. I just had my last shake early and a cup of peppermint tea instead.
Like you I am learning a lot about myself just now!!
 
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I too am an emotional eater, well i'm hoping i can almost say was now! I agree with what you said about learning so much about yourself from this diet. I didnt realise when i started quite how much of a learning curve this would be, my main aim was to lose weight where as now it is to sort out my issues with food. Its great, almost like starting over and i'm determined to beat it once and for all!
It is really hard to know what to do when you are having a bad time when you normally turn to food, i havent really found anything to replace it, but i don't seem to think of it so much, almost like the habit is fading away.
I have been trying to find things i like doing which don't revolve around food, that was really tough at first, but i'm suprising myself all the time.
Any addiction is hard to kick, and this is no different, i never really thought of it as an addiction, but now i'm looking at it the same as i did when i gave up smoking, its going to be hard, but we can do it!

xx
 
This is an amazing thread and thankyou so much Lostris, for the other link - I've never seen that one and it's so interesting.
Emotional eating - oh yes! I find when I am alone I would sometimes wander round between the pantry and the fridge looking for something tasty to eat and I knew I wasn't hungry. It was a kind of 'treat' ? ( I don't understand it.)
If I was really upset I simply couldn't eat at all. And the thing I don't understand is how when I was 27 and 11.5 stones I really truly thought I was fat? I looked at my maternity card the other day and saw the evidence. What was I thinking? I was so concerned about it that I went to Weight Watchers - why didn't they turn me away, and tell me there was nothing wrong with me? I have also been surprised that I am/was so fat. 5 weeks ago I weighed 16st 3lbs. Sometimes I didn't feel fat, I have always been quite nimble and very active, but I knew I was fat because I couldn't find clothes to fit in 'normal' shops. My face, hands and legs weren't particularly big and those were the bits I could see. What has been/is going on? And like so many others on this site I would ask, ' Am I the same size as her?'
I know some weight has gone, but some days I think it's all a waste of time and there's still such a long way to go. But 5 weeks ago I would have given anything to be 2 stones lighter - what is happening here? :wave_cry:
 
I think i eat anytime. I know i eat when im emotional, bored and for what other reason. I just LOVE my food.
 
I think being on SS so far has allowed me to think about how much I eat when I am just not hungry. It has also made me review what I eat. This is the first time I have been on CD, and I am hoping by the time I am ready to start working towards maintenance in several months, my eating habits will be so much healthier.
 
Hi Margie
This is so true for me too. like everyone has said, I eat at times of extreme emotion- happy, sad, angry, confused.
CD has made me think a lot more about whether I am actually hungry or if i eat out of habit. I like that i don't have to think about food all the time- the decision is taken away from me. (i know its still hard though)
definitely lots to think about
xx
 
thanks guys for all your posts - great to know I am not the only one who reaches for food everytime things get on top of me xxx

Good luck to all for the week ahead :D
 
Has anyone else got to the stage where they watch others eat and think 'blimy, just how much are they gonna eat'? I do, and it feels quite weird! Your weight losses are fab guys, great inspiration to the 'newbies' among us! x
 
Hi guys! I am in this situation at the moment. I have seen hubby in passnig since monday. He was meant to finish at 7 and be home by 8 ish and is now only on his way home and My heart physically aches to see him. I had a fantastic loss earleir and wanted to weat to celebrate and also now want to eat cos i miss my baby! :( I wont but its hard.
x
 
Good to see this being discussed again... it's a problem for me too, but CD has helped me a LOT and no binges now for over 3 months, even now that I am on the 810 step and dealing with food again. I have eaten off plan a few times, and probably for emotional reasons at times, but nowhere near the binges I used to do. So I feel I am getting there, slowly! And that is a fab feeling.

As Mrs L says, the hard work is on the maintentance, but taking food out of the picture on SS gave me time to think and I read a lot about the subject too, and discussed it on the forums with successful maintainers, and began to talk about it with friends and family after a lifetime of keeping it secret. It feels like progress. Eating for any reason except being hungry - or fueling our bodies to stay healthy - is obviously a bit messed up, and is the reason many of us are on these forums to start with.

For me too, seeing what I was doing and facing it has been a turning point, and a few months on I have hope that I really can beat this. Good luck everyone... we can do it!
xxx
 
Oh I definitely have to agree that maintenance is quite a bit harder than SS. SS, for me, was just ignoring food I craved because it was 'not allowed'.

You're not allowed to have comfort-food on SS (unless you think AAM-week foods are comforting ;-)). When you get to maintenance you are allowed to have small snacks and this may be hard. :p

You will have to stop after a small snack, you can't go around binging again. No, you won't gain back all your weight after a 1 time binge but you have to learn from it and move on.

Once I was allowed snacks again I have really had times where I had too much! The important thing is to stop after having to much and to not keep having too much. I also am a firm believer of fixing your emotional-issues during SS because it will really help you in the long run with maintenance.

It has helped me to think about why I want to eat, why I did this diet (I have very emotional and personal reasons for wanting to lose weight.) and what a huge hurdle I've overcome and why I must stay slim ;)

I was slim till some bad things happened in my life and this lead to my emotional eating and post traumatic stress disorder.

I have seen a psychologist to deal with these issues and I can honestly say my cravings for food when emotional have gone down a lot! I've been at my CD-target weight for over a month now and I do fluctuate, but I tend to make up for 'bad' food by doing more exercise or eating less the next day!

I can talk about this for hours <3 If anyone feels the need to PM me.. feel free hahah! ;)

HTH xxx
 
I eat for every occasion - depressed, happy, sad, bored, lonely!

When you are down though youve just got to remind yourself that the problems will still be there after that bar of chocolate!
 
Oh I definitely have to agree that maintenance is quite a bit harder than SS. SS,

I would agree with that. SS gave me the pause and got me to goal, but the plans really helped me deal with the 'issues'. I learnt more about myself during that stage and after.

In fact...still learning :eek:
 
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