[Jannibanni]

I just went to try on clothes and a size 3x was tight...a size 3x. I have never been this big...instead of sticking to my diet, I went and bought a box of fiddle faddle toffee and peanuts and ate the whole thing in the car on the way home. then I watched Dr Phil about emotional eating. Everything he said is me. I need some support and encouragement and ideas from people who have gotten past emotional eating..or not turned to eating candy and junk when they are sad or lonely or depressed? Any ideas welcome.

[sdglamgrl]

I am an "anger" eater. It's hard, isn't it? One thing that sometimes helps me is this: I make myself wait for 15 minutes before I indulge in something. I mentally tell myself that I don't have to eat whatever it is I"m thinking about. Then-if after the 15 minutes I still really want something-I"ll have a small portion of it. Easier said than done sometimes, but it has worked quite often. Hang in there, you can do it!

[CountingDown]

Former emotional eater here. What helped me was to eat "clean". Once I started eating healthy foods (lots of veggies, few processed foods, lots of whole grains, balance carbs/protein/fat, etc.) my emotional eating diminished and eventually left (hopefully for good).

[the slim me]

I'm an emotional eater. I eat when I'm happy, sad, frustrated, angry.....just give me an emotion and I'll use that for an excuse to eat. We all know that eating doesn't help, just makes things worse. I have started keeping a journal. Writting down how i'm feeling and why, and how to handle it, and why eating won't make things any better, has actually helped me. Or, coming on here and letting the frustration out. Have you tried calling someone to talk, or sending an e-mail?

[meowee]

Oh wow . . . I think this is a problem that most of us have . . . I know I certainly do.

Try to stay busy; try to stay calm; try to stay away from the stores on those days when you just know you'll buy 'bad' stuff.

And I definitely agree with the philosophy of waiting for 15 or 20 minutes before going near anything and then trying to make do with some veggies. Sometimes it even works.

Good Luck to us all . . .

[JayEll]

Hey Jannibanni!

Alcoholics, or should I say "problem drinkers," do something similar. They drink when they're happy, they drink when they're sad, they drink when they're mad, they drink to feel sexy, they drink when they don't.

If they get a ticket for drunk driving, they head for the liquor store next.

So, some folks use food the same way. "Problem eaters"?

The hard thing to remember is that it is a choice. No one drove you to the store and forced you at gunpoint to buy fiddle faddle. No one opened the package and stuffed the fiddle faddle between your clenched teeth!

So the thing is--how do you make better choices? First, you have to catch yourself. You tried on the 3X and it was too tight. That made you upset, maybe even panicky, maybe angry. What were you thinking when you drove to the fiddle faddle store? I mean that as a serious question--if you can catch those thoughts as they fly by, while you're driving in search of the goodie that will fix everything, you can sometimes reverse course. You can remind yourself that eating is not the solution to your feelings--never was, never will be!

So... think about it--see what it is--

Jay

[Miss Bobbie]

We "emotional eaters" want to feel better about ourselves, right? Try to push that desire in another direction. I've been working at a "whole-house shovel-out" for over a year. I feel better (and less inclined to eat) when I accomplish a task related to clearing the clutter. (And there's plenty to go around in my tiny house, I can assure you!) Then I sit in my favorite chair and read.

I think I'd feel twice as guilty about eating something naughty if I were here at the message board while doing it...

[Sandypickle]

Gosh Jannibanni - I can so relate! I think you did exactly what I might have done (have done, in fact) given the same set of circumstances. That's why we're significantly overweight!

So to quote Dr Phil - how's that working for us? It's not, of course. We can't keep on doing the same thing and expect the outcome to be different. That's just craziness. Emotions are going to happen - they are inevitable. There will be times when we will be happy, sad, angry, lonely, bored, excited... whatever. None of these are a reason to eat! The only "feeling" worth eating over is hunger. Real hunger - the kind in our stomach that's a symptom of our bodies telling us it's time to refuel, the kind that most of us haven't felt in who-knows-how-long. All those other "feelings" are just excuses to eat - they are not justification.

Here is my commitment to myself (and maybe this will work for you, as well): I will not eat when I am alone in front of the TV, and I will not eat when I am alone in the car. For me, those are two of the worst places where I do my emotional bingeing. So I'm hoping that if I take the focus off not eating "bad" things, and instead focus on not eating in inappropriate places when I'm alone - that's gotta be a step in the right direction. Jannibanni, I hope something along that line will work for you, as well. I'll be rooting for you!

[CatR]

Thanks for the suggestions for alternative behaviors to eating when emotionally upset. I am also an emotional eater. It is probably the biggest factor with managing my weight for my entire life.

I also binge for all kinds of "reasons". It seems to be such an automatic response. The first step for me is learn to think about what is happening before I start shoveling food in.