Nice to see you again,
CdubsGotGoats, and thanks so much for telling us some stuff about your eating issues. I'm a big emotional eater, too, as you might guess from the mini-goal in my sig. My big weakness is sweets, especially cookies, candy & donuts. I don't feel tempted to indulge when I'm happy, though, only when I'm angry, frustrated, or blue. I had gotten to a point a few months ago where it was so bad, cookies had become a
drug for me. I would think about them dreamily like a drug, crave them like a drug, seek them out like a drug, and savor the buzz I got from them as if they were a drug. I wasn't embarrassed about eating them in front of anyone else, but I developed a bigtime habit of eating them alone in my car, because I didn't want anything or anyone to distract me from my "drug experience." Like you,
Cdubs, I also appreciate the feeling I would get from being full. There is no way I was ever inclined to binge & purge.
I'm writing about this as though it were in the past tense, because I've been doing a great deal of thinking and reading about how to deal with this "drug problem" of mine. There are quite a few books on the market about emotional eating, compulsive eating, binge eating, whatever you want to call it. I haven't sampled them all, by any means, but here are two so far that I've found helpful:
—
The Emotional Diet: How to Love Your Life More and Food Less by Bill Cashell
—
If I'm So Smart Why Can't I Lose Weight? Tools to Get It Done by Brooke Castillo
I read Cashell's book first, and I found it really helpful as a kitbag of tools for dealing with cravings. The title is a bit of a misnomer, because it doesn't have anything to do with dieting
per se. Instead, he provides a whole range of techniques for helping you stay on plan, once you've chosen your diet and the lifestyle changes you want to make. Many of them will be familiar to y'all, like visualization and affirmations, but others were new to me. It's a very positive approach, definitely oriented toward self-acceptance and self-love.
I'm still reading Brooke Castillo's book, going slowly and trying to absorb everything. I'll give you an example, by summarizing her division of eating behavior into four separate categories: Fuel Eating, Joy Eating, Fog Eating and Storm Eating.
Fuel Eating is eating with awareness of nutrition and what makes your body energetic and well-functioning. Fuel foods are nutrient-dense: they include fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, healthy fats, & complex carbohydrates. Castillo suggests that you practice awareness of your hunger, on a scale from -10 for ravenously hungry, up to 0 for when you feel neither hungry nor full, then up to +10 for when you're absolutely stuffed. She suggests that you start doing your fuel eating when you are -2 level of hungry, and that you stop when you are +2 level of full. She says that fuel eating should be 90% of the eating you do.
Joy Eating is just that: pure and simple joy. Joy foods are not necessarily helpful to your body, and often they aren't, but they are foods that taste good in your mouth. They can be any kind of junk food. The important thing is that you eat them slowly, with full attention and pleasure. Castillo thinks that most diets fail because they don't allow for the real world, in which people like the taste of certain foods, and want those foods for the joy they bring. She says that joy eating should be 10% of your eating.
Fog Eating is unconscious eating. It's popcorn at the movies, chips in front of TV, food eaten out of the pot while you're cooking. You know you've been fog eating when you look at the empty can of nuts and you don't remember having eaten them. Fog eating is a bummer because you're distracted when you're eating, and you get no pleasure out of it. Castillo says you should NEVER engage in fog eating. She says you should pull yourself out of the fog as soon as you can, and reconnect to yourself: "This is your life; you don't want to miss it."
Storm Eating is like binge eating, but she calls it a storm because all storms come to an end. Storm eating is eating when you aren't hungry, knowing you are doing it, and feeling unable to stop even though you want to stop. Storm eating, she says, is usually caused by depriving yourself of too many forbidden foods. If you're fueling your body regularly and allowing yourself some joy eating, usually the storm eating disappears. Storm eating may also be brought on by intense emotions that feel out of control. The important thing, if you find yourself storm eating, is not to judge yourself. You need to be kind to yourself, and try to figure out what is really going on. The damage that occurs from a storm is not the amount of calories you eat: it's from disconnecting from your body and then beating yourself up over it. Think of it instead as a learning opportunity. After a storm eat, you may not be hungry for quite some time: wait until your body is -2 level of hungry again, give your body the fuel it requires, and stop at +2 level of full. Then see if you can't schedule some joy eating as part of your regular plan.
Thoughts? Comments? Experiences y'all have had with any of these types of eating?
I can't really afford to eat badly. It seems like one bad meal really sets me back, let alone many. I am waiting to weigh myself until I've had several good days in a row. It never seems to happen, but I need to MAKE it happen! I seriously have not lost a pound or more in months. 
to the group Ups & Downs, Fiona! I am thrilled that you found us! You will be a great addition to the group and I think we will be good for you, too! 
OMGosh, Zyprexa.........
.......I hate that drug!!! It gave me a totally insatiable appetite and I skyrocketed up 60 pounds in a year's time. 
BIG HUGS to all of you for listening! Please share more of your stories as we proceed on in this journey ~ TOGETHER! 
I feel so incredibly weight loss resistant right now that it depresses, overwhelms, and frightens me. 
