We all have eating issues. That is why we are here. We are a group of sad eaters, mad eaters, stressed eaters, happy eaters, lonely eaters, etc. Since being on LAWL we have all learned a lot about ourselves and our own habits. We have also been developing coping techniques along the way. Right now we have a few chickies that are under a tremendous amout of pressure. I thought that it would be great for everyone to share their methods to combat emotional eating.

I have found out the hard way that I really want to eat out of stress and anger. What do I do about it? I play games on my cell phone. I have a few fairly challenging games on my phone that I like to play, and before long, the urge to eat is gone. Tea and gum also help keep my tummy full and my mouth busy. The harder eating habit that I have is the "This day has been so bad that I really don't care right now. I deserve to eat whatever I want" attitude. The only combat that I really have for that one is to remember that treating my body badly in retaliation for a bad day is really dumb. It does not always work, but helps.

Hi Katie
Great idea for a thread
I guess my way of coping with emotional eating now (the last two weeks) is to exercise. It really does help in making me feel better right away. I can finally admit that. Also, by reminding myself that whatever I'm going through
"this too shall pass".

If I figure out a way to cope with my boredom eating, I'll let you know. The best way so far is avoid getting to that stage in the first place-the best strategy is to take care of myself, get lots of sleep, eat on-plan, keep busy, and exercise. For me it's all out prevention rather than actions I can take once I get to that point. Cuz when I'm there-I'm in trouble!

here are my tricks-

brush my teeth
weigh myself
call my sister
declare to my DH that I am "done for the day" to keep me accountable
sew
gum
mints
look in the mirror
re frame my thoughts
check out what everyone is saying on this website

Katie, you come up with such great ideas for threads!!

My "dangerous time" is between getting home from work and going to bed. I used to stop at the grocery store or for take out, and then spend the evening amusing myself with food and snacks.

Now I make an effort to do something else, like going to the mall to window shop for clothes or cosmetics, or going to get a manicure, or cleaning out a closet or cabinet or drawer - just to spend time doing something that doesn't involve food.

It also helps that now my cabinets don't have any junk food or high calorie foods any more. ;-)

To combat emotional eating:
chew gum
walk the dog
drink water
Take a bubble bath (I should do this more!)
Visit and post on 3FC
look at my food diary to see what's left to eat

Someone once gave this tip - hope it makes sense; If I'm stressed and want to eat something bad (like chocolate or a cookie or chips), I first try to convince myself that I'm really hungry and I need the food. At this point, you are supposed to tell yourself - okay, if you are hungry, then you can have an apple. If the apple doesn't thrill you, the odds are that you are going through an emotional moment and you need to find an alternate activity to do other than eating. If you are really hungry, you'll eat that apple, and that's okay. Nine times out of ten, I don't want the apple. So I go for a walk.

I go try on those clothes in my closet that don't quite fit, but will soon. That usually takes care of my desire for something I'm not supposed to have.

Patty

I eat because I like food and I like to cook food and I like to enjoy food. I don't have emotional triggers (except sometimes boredom, but then I want to go cook something elaborate to fill the boredom) I love the way Thai food tastes, and butter cream, and Alfredo sauce and baked ziti and cream cheese crepes. I miss tasty things in my mouth that are now forebidden. I tried making an alfredo sauce out of stuff that's better for you and it came out just nasty.

But at the same time I like how it feels not to overeat or fill myself with processed sugars and salts that I can definately feel in my body. I want to be able to enjoy food without guilt. I'm learning to enjoy the things I enjoy more by not having them but once in a blueblueblue moon. That's a good feeling.

I cope by asking myself, "do you REALLY want this?" Generally when I stop and think about it, no, I really don't want it.

I look at old pictures, I look in the mirror. I try on clothes in the closet... anything to remind myself how far I've come.

And then I remember... NOTHING tastes as good a Thin feels!

I look at a picture of me around 200 pounds and that about does it for me. No desire to eat.

What works for me (when I do it) is to drink a TON (I mean a TON) of water until I'm so full that I don't even want to THINK about putting food in my belly! The trick is to actually drink the water instead of choosing to eat.

Great idea, as usual, Katie!

For me, a few things have been working:
1. Like JM said, trying to prevent the boredom -- so I stay busy, and routinized. It would be VERY rare for me to snack at work, because I'm so darn busy. But when I get home, it's available to me, so I try to stick to my schedule -- light POP snack to keep the blood sugar levels up, exercise, dinner.
2. Hot lemon water between dinner and bedtime. Crazy idea for some, and yes, I do get up to use the bathroom a couple of times overnight, but it shuts my craving down immediately.
3. Sugarfree candy. If I have an urge for something sweet, I pop in a piece of sugarfree candy, and it usually takes care of that.
4. Don't make the bad foods easily availble. I know that I have snacking issues. I didn't get over 300 lbs by eating lots of fruits and veggies. But what I have found is that if the food is not out there in front of me, I am less likely to go for it. So, I make sure that if DH leaves his snacky foods out (chips, crackers, pretzels, etc.), then I immediately close them up and put them away. Because I am much less likely to snack on them if I have to make a conscious effort to go into the pantry, open the bag, grab a few, and go. Now, if they are sitting out, I still struggle with not grabbing a couple (every time I walk by), which is why I make certain to remind him to put them away, and if he forgets, then I do it.

I do have to consciously tell myself NOT to eat the leftovers off the kids' plates, not to eat the yummy gooey crusts from the kids' sandwiches or pizza or whatever. But I simply remind myself that I WANT this so badly, and have come so far! I don't want to turn back now!